family? I. Am. Her. Family. I’m all the family she needs.”
“Rohan, this is hardly helpful,” Riona said as she stepped between them. “Cedar, what he means is that we will help you with Eden. We’ll teach her about who she is and her place in our world. You won’t have to worry about her.”
“No. I’m done with this bullshit. Get the hell out of my house. Now.”
“Cedar,” Riona began, but the others had already started heading toward the door.
Nevan walked over to Riona. “It’s her place,” she said with an almost respectful glance at Cedar. “And she’s right, we’re just sitting here. We’ve got to get moving if we’re going to track down Nuala before she gets too far.” One by one, they left. Cedar slammed the door behind them and turned to face Jane.
“Holy shit, Ceeds,” Jane said. “Who are those people? What kind of spell did that woman put on me? Is she a witch or something?”
“I don’t know,” Cedar said. She grabbed fistfuls of hair and pulled. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. But this is happening—it’s real. And the magic is real too. Damn it, Jane, I need those people. They know Nuala, and I can’t find Eden without them! But my mother says I shouldn’t trust them, and I’m so angry and scared and confused. What should I do?”
Jane hugged her tight. “I don’t know. I would have thrown them out too. But yeah, maybe you do need them. In any case, you’re not going to find Eden if you drive yourself mad. You need to focus—and rest. Why don’t you lie down for a bit, get some sleep. Then we’ll decide what to do next.”
Sleep was the last thing on Cedar’s mind. But she nodded to Jane and went into her door-less room. She sat in the back corner of the walk-in closet, where she curled up into a ball and dissolved like a sand castle hit by a ten-foot wave. She writhed in pain, her mouth open in a soundless scream. Over and over again, she drew her knees up to her chest, trying to stem the flow from what she was sure was a fatal wound. Eden’s gone, she’s gone, and it’s all my fault. Eventually, her voice clawed its way to the surface and her moans and cries ripped through the air. Then Jane was there beside her, holding her together, and the two of them cried and clung to each other for what felt like hours. When Cedar finally lifted her head from her hands, she saw that Jane had fallen asleep on the floor beside her. She got up stiffly and covered her friend with a blanket.
She felt completely spent, but her mind was clearer than it had been all day. She picked up her phone and her purse and headed out the door. She stood still for a moment in the hallway, then went back inside and wrote a note for Jane saying she had gone out, and then another one for Eden.
Eden,
Call me. Stay here. I love you.
Mum
She laid the notes on the table and headed back into the hallway and down the stairs. The fresh air hit her in the face like a splash of cold water. She looked at the time. It was already late afternoon.
She started walking downtown but reversed her course and headed in the other direction, toward Eden’s school. She walked by the library on the way and went inside, but the memory of coming through the sidh with Eden made her stomach recoil, and she quickly retreated.
She dug out her phone and called Maeve. It rang several times, and she had already started formulating a message in her mind to leave on the voice mail when Maeve suddenly picked up.
“Cedar?” she asked, breathing heavily as if she had run for the phone. “What is it? Have you found her?”
“No, but we know who took her. Where have you been? Why haven’t you called?”
“Someone took her? What do you know?”
Cedar recounted what had happened between Rohan and Jane, and the conclusion they had reached about Nuala. When she finished, there was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
“Dear God,” Maeve finally whispered.
“Mum, they seem sure that Nuala has Eden, but they didn’t say why, except that she wants Eden to open a sidh. Do you know anything more?”
“No, I don’t. But we need to find out,” Maeve answered. “Where are you now? Are you with them?”
“No,” Cedar said.