Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

suddenly doubled over. “Shit, shit shit! I hope I remembered pads!” She practically ran to the bathroom, and I took the sheets to the laundry room and smelled the spot. I could feel my eyes darken and turn red as my half-dead heart pounded, my stomach tightened, and I became excited. I shoved the spot under my nose and sniffed.

I could feel someone staring at me. I turned around and saw Sarah’s grandmother, Mrs. Cresley, and my mother, both staring at me. Mother looked amused, while Mrs. Cresley looked downright furious.

“Sarah got her period,” I squeaked. “I was pretreating the spot.”

“Monsters,” Mrs. Cresley said, taking the sheets from me. “I don’t want you sleeping with her again. You can sleep in the living room on the couch.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “There’s no excuse for acting like that. I should have better control.”

“Damn right.”

“I hope Sarah’s okay,” Mother said, looking worried.

“She told me that Alexander’s adopting Sabine?” I said.

Mother smiled and clapped her hands. “Oh, yes! I am, too. We would adopt Sarah, too, but she’s already legally an adult. But I told him I think we should try to adopt her, anyway, even if the courts won’t recognize us.”

“No!” Mrs. Cresley dabbed soap on the spot. “No way am I going to let a bunch of ticks adopt my granddaughters!”

Mother’s smile fell. “You will have to fight me, old woman, to get them. I won’t let them go without a fight.”

The two women glared at each other. Toby came in just then, carrying a basket of eggs.

“Good haul,” he said, smiling. “I think I remember how to cook eggs. And I milked two cows and a goat. It was fun. I remember the McCree farm. We had cows, too, and pigs. We had a lot less cats, though, but we did have some. We also had a lot less dogs. I saw two pregnant ones in the barn. One of them, a golden retriever I think, she's getting ready to have her pups. I can go help her if you want.”

Sarah came out then, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and cashmere cowl neck sweater. Her makeup was already applied, and she was in the middle of brushing her hair. She brushed it back, then tied it back into a loose bun. She smiled at all of us, until she saw her grandmother.

“Grandma, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“They say they want to adopt you and Sabine,” she said.

“Yes….”

“I won’t allow it!”

“Grandma, what’s wrong? You knew what he was when you saw him, and…” Her eyes widened. “You’re a fairy.”

Mrs. Cresley’s eyes widened, then she shoved the sheets into the washing machine.”

“Yes, I am a fairy.” Wings burst out of her back, large purple ones with feathers. Her features changed. Her skin smoothed, her hair became light and blond, her eyes became brighter, and she took off her glasses.

When she finished the transformation, she was a beautiful, blue-eyed, blond sun fairy. “I am a fairy. A sun fairy, which means I use energy from the sun to survive. That’s why I ache on grey days. Your father is half-fairy, or he was. The first one I ever knew who needed glasses.”

Sarah’s eyes were wide now. Then she winced, grimaced, and took off her shirt and bra. BOOM!

Wings burst from her back. The same kind as her grandmother; purple, feathery, large. She cried out in pain, her eyes brimming with tears. She covered her chest with her sweater. Her wings flapped, then she started to lift from the ground. Mrs. Cresley and I both grabbed an ankle.

I pulled her down and into me. She was shivering, trembling in pain and cold. I touched her wing. It was soft, like a bird’s wing. Her back was bleeding, I noticed. Her skin was attached to the wings, making her bleed.

Mrs. Cresley and Mother had cleaned up Sarah, who was now hiding in her room. Mrs. Cresley still had not changed back into an old woman, and by now, everyone had seen her, including Sabine.

“Does this mean that Uncle Brody, Aunt Juniper, and Aunt Caitlin are half-fairy too?” she asked. Mr. Cresley nodded sagely. That also mean that Francine and their other cousins were a quarter fairy, and so was Sabine.

No one seemed surprised that Sarah was the first “kid” to get her wings.

“I always said she was the sweetest one,” said Aunt Juniper.

“I keep seeing Becket everywhere,” I said. “I see his ghost, or his spirit, or something.” I didn’t bother looking at anyone else. I was sure I was being looked at like I was crazy. I was embarrassed for myself and for Sarah. I wished I knew how to help her.

I got out my phone and called Father.

“Hello, son,” he answered.

“Hello, Dad. Um...I’m here with Birdie Cresley, and Mr. Cresley, and Sarah’s aunts and uncle. Um...Sarah has wings now. Mrs. Cresley is a sun fairy.”

“Oh? That’s interesting. Did she show herself?”

“She did. Now Sarah has wings just like hers.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s embarrassed, and in a lot of pain. Her wings are beautiful, though.”

“If it causes her pain, maybe we should cut them off.”

“NO!” Mrs. Cresley jumped up and flipped a chair. “WE ARE NOT CUTTING HER WINGS OFF! TELL YOUR FATHER THAT HIS OPINIONS ARE NOT WELCOME!”

“Your opinions are not welcome.”

“So I heard. Now my ear hurts. I will have to consult Ethan; maybe he knows a fairy doctor or healer.”

“Do that. I will keep you updated.”

“Thank you, son. Bye now.”

I hung up and looked at Mother.

“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted.

“Neither do I,” she replied. “But the one thing we don’t want to do is mope around the house. You need to talk to her.”

“Mrs. Cresley should.”

“We all will,” Mrs. Cresley said.

We went into her room. She was sitting on the bed, her wings touching the wall.

“Don’t squish your wings like that, dear,” Mrs. Cresley said.

“Why me?” Sarah asked.

“I have ointment,” Mrs. Cresley said. She produced a jar of green ointment and smeared it all over Sarah’s back. “You can retract them, you know.”

“I tried, but it hurts too much. It feels like giving birth.”

Mrs. Cresley’s eyes flashed, but she said nothing. “Lay on your stomach, then.”

Sarah turned and laid on her stomach. Mrs. Cresley smeared more green ointment on her back, then started instructing her.

“Focus on your wings. Focus on pulling them in. You don’t want them to be seen. There we go.”

Slowly, her wings turned flesh colored and started going into her back. She pulled them in fully, then smiled softly. I noticed that Mrs. Cresley had done the same. Her hair turned grey, her wrinkles reforming.

I sat down beside Sarah. She leaned into me, and I wrapped my arm around her.

“I want to go home,” she said.

“Now?”

“You are home,” Birdie Cresley said, looking hurt. “Please, stay the whole week. I promise you, it will be all right. I will explain.”

“Start explaining,” Sarah said.

“There’s really not much to explain. I fell in love with a human and married him. It’s not the first time this has happened, and it will not be the last. You can control your wings with focus. Eventually, the pain and bleeding will stop.”

“Will it elongate her life?” I asked.

“I do not know. It certainly didn’t help my son.”

“What would happen if I turned her?”

“Into a vampire?! Certainly not!”

“Grandma, it’s my decision,” she said. She looked at me. “I choose immortality.”

“Oh, baby,” I said, nuzzling her with my nose. “I promise, I’ll be the perfect husband. I’ll take care of our children.”

“Children?”

“I’ve seen them in my dreams. Two girls and at least one boy. I already have their names picked out.”

“Oh, Reese. I’m not sure that I want more children.”

She burst into tears again. Birdie rubbed her granddaughter’s shoulder, then looked hurt when Sarah shoved her off.

“I need sleep,” she said. “I’m so tired.”

“Of course,” I said. “Take a nap.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She slept for a few hours, whimpering and whining in her sleep, until I snuggled in next to her and held her. Her wings burst out of her back again, hitting the wall, and I had to readjust her. She woke up briefly, mumbled something incoherent, then went back to sleep.

She woke up just after lunchtime. By then, Birdie had explained everything to Sabine and Mother and Alexander.

“We would like to leave,” Mother said.

“I want to go home, too,” Sabine said.

“My wife and I do not like being lied to,” Alexander said.

Birdie went into another room, and I heard her sobbing. Becket Senior went into the room with her.

Sarah came out, looking terrible. She had puffy eyes, her cheeks red, her hair tangled.

“Can we go home?” she asked Mother.

“I suppose,” Mother said. She leaned forward and kissed Sarah’s forehead. “But it would be a shame to leave now, and you must have some guidance for the control of your wings.”

“You’re right,” Sarah said. “Okay, let’s stay the whole week. I do need guidance.” She winced, tears pouring out of her eyes. Mother licked the tears away and kissed her.

“Come, let’s watch a movie or something together.”

“There’s a swimming pool,” Sarah said. “But the chlorine would probably sting my back. Yeah, let’s watch a movie.”

I sat beside my girlfriend as we watched The Lion King, then Phantom of the Opera, then Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Halfway through the last movie, Sarah seemed to calm down some. She’d cried during The Lion King, which was probably a bad choice anyway, given the plot. She loved Phantom of the Opera, which she’d never seen before. I’d read the book before and seen the movie.

Birdie came in after the last movie was over, saying it was lunchtime. Sarah and Sabine ate by themselves. The rest of the family ate in the dining room.

The rest of the week went well. Sarah practiced using her wings with the help of Birdie, who was proud of her. We used the pool, rode horses, went shopping, and Cirino came in on Wednesday. He was promptly cooed over and admired. He was thoroughly confused by all the attention, but it wasn’t as if he never got any back home. With his thick blond hair and green eyes, he was a beautiful baby.

I met the rest of Sarah and Sabine’s cousins. There was Jacqueline, who was a ballerina and never got dirty if she could avoid it, there was Kaz, who was a gorgeous seventeen-year old boy with curly red hair, there was Archimedes, a five-year-old, who hung around me like dust on carpet, there was Philip, who was ten years old and thought I was a superhero, there was Bow, who talked constantly about her cat and her new kittens, and there was Riley, who was genderfluid and preferred to be called she went I met her.

Despite myself being bi, someone being genderfluid didn’t make sense to me.

I also met Uncle Brody’s wife, who was also named Sarah. They were the parents of Francine and Kaz and Bow, who all had red hair. Aunt Caitlin and her wife, Eliza, were the parents of Archimedes and Philip, and Aunt Juniper was the mother of Riley.

Sarah explained that Riley was biologically female, but after she had cut her hair short, she realized one day that she wanted to be referred to as a he. I told Sarah that boys and girls can like the same things. She smacked my arm and said that was not the reason why Riley identified as genderfluid. She said she didn’t fully understand it, either, and doubted that even Riley did. Apparently, Riley’s father had left when Riley was just three years old and was never seen again.

Jacqueline, who preferred her full name to Jackie, was obsessed with being thin and having perfect skin and hair, and was probably the healthiest member of the family, physically. Kaz himself was bi, and was currently dating a famous soccer player. Did I mention that Kaz was gorgeous? I’ll say it again. He was drop-dead gorgeous. Full, pink lips, wide, anime blue eyes, high cheekbones, fit body, large biceps, thick legs.