Hidden Deep (29 page)

At home I freshened up, changed into some walking shoes and headed out, noting with rising hope that Grandma was still out for the afternoon. Maybe she and Mom wouldn’t make it home in time to meet Lad today after all.

He was already waiting when I reached the pool, somehow looking better than ever. I was excited, nervous, and… relieved. Part of me had believed until that moment I’d never actually see him again. No longer bothering with holding back, I ran to Lad and jumped into his arms.

“Hi,” I said with a breathless laugh.

“Hi.” He beamed back, squeezing me tightly against him and peppering my face and neck with kisses. “You look beautiful. I missed you. Tell me all about your week.”

“It was fine. Long. Boring. Tell me what happened with
you
. That’s the important news. What about your father? I can’t believe he let you out into the light of day again.”

“He would rather not have. In fact, he literally had me locked away in my room for most of the week.”

“Oh no. How did you get out?”

“No elaborate escape or anything. I asked to speak with him. He probably expected me to apologize and abide by his will, but actually, I told him about the threat to our woods and to Altum.”

“Oooh.” I winced. “What did he say?”

“He immediately started planning the exodus of our entire population. The worst possible timing, since the Assemblage is a few weeks away. I assured him that would not be necessary as long as he let me leave Altum to see you. I told him we’re working together on a plan to save our home.”

“Good thinking. So, what’s the plan?”

His cheerful expression wilted. “I was hoping you had come up with one.”

“Oh. I’ve been trying and trying to think of something, but it’s such a huge amount of money. I’m going to see my father again tomorrow—he’s in town, by the way. Anyway, when I see him I’ll talk to him and find out if there’s any possibility he can help stop this.”

“Yes, perhaps. Well, it
will
work out somehow because it has to.” Admirable faith, baseless as it was. Lad gestured to the bag I carried. “What’s that?”

“These…” I said pulling them out like a shopping channel host on TV, “are your snazzy new human-clothes. You know, for meeting my family, that is, if you still want to. If you’ve changed your mind, it’s totally okay.”

“No. I have not changed my mind. That’s the first thing I wanted to do today, well, the second thing.” Lad bent down and kissed me. “All right,
now
to meeting your family.”

“Try them on then, I guess.”

I turned my back to give him privacy—kind of pointless considering he was usually barely clothed anyway. I heard rustling and zipping and snapping, and then he touched my arm. I turned around and did a double take.

“Wow. You look… normal… kind of. Well, better than normal. You look nice. Very presentable and… human.” Truthfully, he looked much, much better than the average human, even in his farm boy outfit. At least dressed like that, he didn’t look quite as much like the fairy tale character he was. “You definitely don’t look like an Elven prince in those.”

“Excellent.” He smiled, breathtaking as always. “I brought my shoes.” He reached down beside a large rock to retrieve some beautiful handmade-looking leather sandals and put them on. “I keep these in my treehouse for visits to the library.”

“Good call. I didn’t know what we were going to do about that. It’s no shirt, no shoes, no dating in my mom’s book.”

Lad looked at me quizzically. In spite of all his reading, there were some phrases he’d apparently never encountered.

“Never mind, it’s not important. Ready to go?”

We set off for the house, talking about the various activities that had filled my week. He was very interested in my reunion with my father, but as we neared the house, I cautioned him to drop the topic.

“Better not mention Dad in front of my mom and grandma, okay? Touchy subject. And—oh my gosh—before you meet my grandma, there’s something I really should tell you.”

Lad put his finger gently to my lips to stop me. “You know what? I’d prefer to just meet them both and form my own impressions, okay?”

“No, I really think you—”

“Trust me, Ryann. I can handle it.”

I went along with it, but when he found out what I’d wanted to tell him, he might regret not letting me forewarn him. All of my cowardly hope of avoiding the meeting faded when I spotted my mom’s car in the drive. Grandma’s car was home now as well.

“Okay, they’re here. Sure you want to do this? Last chance to chicken out…”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Lad smiled and gripped my hand securely inside his, and we walked up the steps to face my family. Inside, he looked around with an expression of wonder. It was funny to see him so agog over the interior of a very average home. But then, I’d probably looked the same way when seeing his home.

“I’ve never been inside a human house before,” he leaned down and whispered excitedly into my ear.

“Okay,” I shushed. “No more of that. My mother will be shocked enough when I tell her I actually have a boyfriend. If she finds out you’re also an Elf, we’ll have to resuscitate her. And stop looking so amazed. Pretend this is what you’re used to.”

“I’ll try.” He smiled a little too big.

My mom walked into the living room from her bedroom where she’d changed out of her work clothes into some jeans and a t-shirt. She stopped.

“Oh, Ryann honey, you startled me.” She looked curiously at Lad, and then down at our clasped hands. Her eyes widened. “And I see you’ve brought home some company…”

I dropped Lad’s hand and went to stand beside her. “Yes. Mom, I want you to meet someone. This is Lad. He’s a close friend of mine. Actually, we’ve been… seeing each other.”

My mother’s head whipped around as she looked from Lad back to my face again. She couldn’t even begin to hide her astonishment. After a moment, though, she regained her composure and stepped forward with her hand extended.

“Lad, it’s so nice to meet you.”

I prayed Lad would figure out what to do with her hand. I’d never told him about the custom of shaking hands in greeting. I hoped he’d read about it.

He handled it beautifully, reaching out and taking her hand in a firm, but not tight, grip and then letting it go. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Carroll.” Lad smiled.

I noticed my mom’s face soften in approval. She was a sucker for good manners and good teeth.

“Well, I have to admit, this is a surprise. Ryann didn’t mention she’s been dating someone. Do I know your family, Lad? What’s your last name?”

Yikes. I wasn’t prepared for that one. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Prince. Lad Prince. I don’t think you’d have met his family, Mom. They don’t really spend a lot of time in town, and Lad is home schooled.”
So far so good
. I could tell my mom was about to burst with curiosity, but she managed to resist firing a barrage of questions at Lad.

We’d just taken our seats in the den when Grandma Neena came down the hall. She started talking before seeing we had a visitor.

“Oh my. I tell you, I was so tired. I had to lie down for a little—” The sentence died on her lips as she spotted Lad.

He stood up respectfully, and all the color left Grandma’s face. I really hadn’t expected her to be so surprised. Unlike my poor mother, she’d at least had a clue about what was going on. I stood and joined them.

“Grandma, this is Lad. He wanted to meet you and Mom, so I brought him by today…” I studied Grandma with concern as she walked slowly toward Lad, her fingertips lightly holding her own face as if she wasn’t quite sure it was still there. Mom gave her a puzzled look as well.

“Lad,” I said, sounding strangled, “this is my grandmother, Neena Spears.”

He reached out to her and said gently, “Mrs. Spears… so very nice to meet you.” After taking her hand, he darted a quick glance at me and raised an eyebrow. He knew.

“Lad…” Grandma whispered. She looked at him as if she’d never seen a boy before. It must’ve been the shock of seeing one of her own kind after so long.

“Well…” Mom laughed uncomfortably. “Why don’t we all go into the kitchen for some iced tea?”

Sitting around the table with my mother, my grandmother, and Lad was an almost out-of-body experience. Grandma recovered her composure somewhat, and Lad did an admirable job of pretending to be ordinary, but there were some strained moments when he was forced to be evasive about his background.

My mother’s eyes narrowed slightly at those points. She would no doubt attempt a thorough vetting of his family history tomorrow in town.
Good luck with that
. After an excruciating half hour, I was more than ready for some relief and some alone time with Lad. I pushed away from the table.

“Well, we have plans, so I guess we’d better get going,” I announced. “Lad?”

He walked to the door with me, exchanging pleasantries with Mom and Grandma. Before we could step outside though, my mom stopped us with a hand placed lightly on my arm and an apologetic smile.

“You know what? I’ve remembered there’s something I need Ryann’s help with this evening. Lad, I’m sorry to interrupt your plans. I hope you don’t mind if I steal my daughter tonight.”

“Mom!” I started to protest, but Lad smiled and assured her it was no problem at all, much to my annoyance.

She turned back to me. “Honey, why don’t you walk Lad out, and I’ll see you in a minute, okay?”

I grumbled inwardly, already knowing what she wanted to see me about. I walked outside with Lad to say a begrudging farewell. “I’m so sorry. She’s just doing the mandatory mom freak-out thing. Can I see you tomorrow after I go out to breakfast with my dad?”

“Of course.” Lad took me in his arms for a gentle hug. “She loves her little girl, and I can’t blame her. So… I see what you wanted to tell me—your grandmother is one of us.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it’s great.” He laughed. “And it explains a lot. Now I know why I can hear your thoughts sometimes.” I saw another realization hit him. “And why my glamour doesn’t really work on you.”

“Well, I’m only a little bit. I don’t think I got too much out of the Elven gene pool.”

“You—got all the best parts,” he said and tickled my ribcage, making me giggle and squirm away from him. He took my hand and pulled me back. “I’ll see you around midday tomorrow. I’ve got something important to tell you.”

“Oh? Tell me now.”

“It can wait until tomorrow. Goodnight, Sweet Ryann,” he said, placing a chaste kiss on my forehead, well aware that my mother was watching from the window.

Back inside, I shut the door and gave her an exasperated expression. “Well? What is it you so suddenly need my help with?”

“Understanding what on Earth is going on, that’s what. Where did all this come from Ryann? And if you’ve known this boy for weeks, why am I just now hearing about him for the first time? This is not like you. You’re usually so open with me.”

“I didn’t tell you before because there wasn’t really anything to tell. I met him and I liked him, but it didn’t become serious until recently.”
Oops.

My mother seized on my unfortunate word choice, her tone rising. “Oh, so now it’s
serious
? I don’t know, Ryann. I’m not sure about this guy. How old is he? He seems nice, but there’s something… off about him. I mean, how much do you really know about him?”

“Enough,” I insisted. “He is kind of different, but please don’t judge him. You don’t understand. I really like him. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”

“Oh, I understand better than you think. I just want you to be careful. Your father was the good-looking, mysterious type. I know how irresistible that can be to a young girl. Please think about what you’ve seen me go through. I don’t want that for you.
You
don’t want that, believe me.”

“Mom,” I bellowed. “He is
nothing
like Dad.” She was being impossible. My dad wasn’t a toad or anything, but objectively, he wasn’t all that good-looking. And he hadn’t been mysterious a day in his life. Besides, this conversation was about
my
life, not about hers. “This is totally different.”

“What about Nox?”

“What about him?”

“I like Nox.” Mom had met him
once
. Like all other women in his sphere, she’d been immediately overwhelmed by Nox’s apparently limitless charm. She’d mentioned him over and over again since then.

“Why don’t
you
date him then? He’s got a lot of women your age throwing themselves at him, actually.”

“Ryann, watch your mouth and stop being ridiculous. Why
don’t
you date Nox? He has excellent manners. I can tell he really likes you, and he’s handsome, and charming, and talented…”

“Because I don’t love him.”

She looked like I’d poked her with something sharp. “And you love Lad?” she asked in her ultra-calm, dealing-with-an-emergency voice.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Listen, honey, you know I’m only concerned about what’s best for you. I’m worried. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something funny going on with that boy. I know he looks like an angel, but I feel like he might be… I don’t know. I wish you would date someone a little more…” She seemed to be searching for the magic word that would persuade me without sending me the other direction and prompting me to elope with Lad.

“More like Nox?” I finished her sentence for her, “Like Jake McKee?” She looked at me silently, clearly preferring both examples to the guy she’d just met. Lad didn’t like to use his glamour, but I wished he’d thrown a sprinkle or two her way.

“What do you think Momma?” She turned to Grandma Neena, who’d been sitting quietly, listening to the whole exchange.

“I think I’d like to chat with Ryann privately.”

My mother’s brow instantly lifted, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. She believed she had an ally and was clearly counting on Grandma Neena to get through to me where she’d failed.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to talk then. I think I’ll go to my room and call Davis—find out how his day was.” She was so obvious, rushing out of the kitchen to give us privacy for a little heart-to-heart.