the booze that things didn’t go so well?” I asked.
His expression lightened, and he snorted softly before taking a small sip of his brandy. He gestured me to the sofa, and we sat on opposite ends.
“It went about as I expected,” he said. “We all immediately agreed that it was imperative we work together to keep you safe. And then we spent the next three hours arguing over how best to do that.” He laughed, shaking his head and taking another sip of brandy.
It didn’t sound particularly funny to me. “So what did you decide?”
“We decided that we’d talk more tomorrow.”
I groaned. “You have got to be kidding me.”
His smile was wry. “We are all politicians, my dear. Coming to a consensus will take some time and energy. We did agree that we need to arrange a safe house for you.” I must have looked alarmed, because he continued hastily. “Not that you aren’t safe here. You’re just … too accessible.”
“To who?”
He shrugged. “When you have enemies as serious as yours, it is best that those enemies not know where you are.”
Gee, I was so glad Dad was still being open and honest with me. Did he think I didn’t notice that he didn’t answer my question?
“Don’t worry,” he said, taking another sip of brandy. “My home is as good a place as any right now. It’s just not the best permanent solution.”
I didn’t say anything, because I was beginning to feel the bars of the gilded cage rising around me. I was already under a sort of twenty-four-hour watch, and I saw the little freedoms I had now—like going shopping—slipping away. If they put me someplace where no one else could find me, then I’d be even more in their power. They’d be cutting me off from the outside world.
It was a depressing thought, but if I had any hope of arguing the Big Three out of it, I had to have better fuel than “I don’t want to be hidden away in some secluded location like a princess in a fairy tale.” Right now, that was all I had, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. Maybe after a good night’s sleep, something would come to me.
I started to force a yawn, and it turned into a real one very quickly. Dad gave me a look of paternal sympathy.
“You’ve had a long day,” he said. “Perhaps you should get some sleep.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I swallowed down another yawn.
There was an awkward moment, as neither one of us seemed to know what to do. It wasn’t like I was going to kiss him good night or anything, but there was still an uncomfortable feeling like I should make some demonstration of affection. I think Dad felt it, too, but was just as flummoxed by it as I was.
“Well, good night,” I finally said.
“Good night,” he replied with a formal bow of his head. “Sleep well.”
And I supposed that was about as affectionate as we were going to get.
chapter twenty-one
I couldn’t sleep. I felt exhausted from today’s ordeals, but my mind refused to shut down and let me escape for a few hours. Tonight, the futon felt as hard as I expected a futon to feel, and I tossed and turned restlessly. I had come to Avalon in part to get away from my mom and her drama, but I think in part I’d also hoped that I would find in Dad the parental care and guidance I was missing in Mom. I had wanted someone older and wiser to help me make sense of my life and plan for the future.
You know that old Chinese proverb about being careful what you wish for? Man, did I ever understand it now.
I shoved the tangled covers away from me, sitting up and turning on the light. If I wasn’t going to sleep, then I had to find something else to do, or else I’d be lying there making myself into a nervous wreck until morning. I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost one A.M. Which was prime time in the United States. Maybe I’d get lucky this time and my mom would answer the phone. You know what they say about the third time being the charm.
I held my breath as I dialed, hardly believing how badly I wanted to hear my mother’s voice, even if it was all drunk and sloppy. Even if she screamed and yelled and then burst into tears, which I would