Free The Aetherfae by Christopher Shields

days. It was unnerving. Then she came right out and asked me.”
    “Candace, she asked you what?”
    Candace looked down. “She asked what I knew, asked me who taught me to hide the images in my mind, project false emotions. I was stunned.”
    “What happened?”
    “Well, I told her everything. She asked me why I wasn’t more upset that your memories had been erased. I tried to tell her that I was very upset…”
    My head spun. “She knows it didn’t work.”
    “Yes, Maggie. I denied it, I swear. But she knew better. She told me to pass along a message: find her. Then she left. Is she okay?”
    The new information swirled in my head. I’d often thought Sara was on to me. That confirmed it. She left the Seelie and went back to the Sidhe because she knew. The Sidhe had banned any non-Sidhe from Ireland. Oh my god, she went there to protect me.
    “Yes, I think so. I believe she’s in Ireland.” I finally answered.
    “What about Billy and Faye? They disappeared, too.”
    “They’re waiting for us.” I wanted to change the subject. “Tell me, what did you do with Dylan?”
    “I left him a note and split. What would you have done?”
    Ronnie chuckled. “I bet he stayed in the lake for an hour. Candy, you’re totally cold-blooded.”
    Candace ignored him. “I hope you don’t mind, I read the journals.”
    I thought about it for a second. “No, I don’t mind.”
    “Good, ‘cause I sorta read them, too.” Ronnie said sheepishly.
    A knot grew in the pit of my stomach. “Doug?” I asked.
    “Yes, me too—a few pages.” he said just above a whisper.
    Yikes. I felt embarrassed. There was so much in the Journals about him and Gavin. It couldn’t have been easy for him to read. Candace mouthed the word “Sorry.” I patted her hand.
    “What happened that day, the day you followed Ozara?” she asked. “You didn’t write about that.”
    “When I got back, I came looking for you but everyone was gone.”
    “We were in Fayetteville with Billy, Faye, and Sara. Your family was there, too,” Doug said.
    “Oh,” I said. “Well, when I couldn’t find you, I…” With Doug listening, I didn’t want to say I went looking for Gavin. “…I went back to my room and projected. I got yanked back to my body and Ozara was there with Zarkus. She was trying to erase my memories.”
    “Why didn’t it work?” Candace asked.
    “I don’t know. Maybe because I was, well, out of my body. Maybe my brain works differently. Maybe…really, I don’t know.”
    Candace turned to me, frowning in deep thought before saying, “Mom has experimented with astral projection—she says she’s had out of body experiences unconsciously, but she’s been trying to learn how to do it…on demand, I guess you could say. She not at all good at it—nothing like you—but she’s read a lot. She told me that some experts think you have an astral body that detaches from the physical body. So, I guess if your consciousness in in that, well, other part of your body, then maybe there was nothing to compel.”
    “But you knew I wasn’t compelled?” I asked.
    “Yeah. You gave me tons of clues. You said a few things …” she directed her eyes to Pavati in the driver’s seat, apparently not wanting to reveal our code word. “…and it was written all over your face.”
    Ever observant, she always knew when I was keeping something from her. “One of these days you’re going to have to tell me how you do that.”
    “Never.” She smiled.
    By six o’clock we had crossed Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania, and were darting east through New York State. In the Utica, we veered off I-90 and took Highway 29 through a patchwork of rolling farmland and trees, then 29A, where the woods grew much denser. Pavati silently told me that Wakinyan wanted to stay away from the interstate as we got closer to Vermont. The two-lane road seemed especially narrow at our velocity, and Ronnie began to moan.
    Candace cooed, “Ronnie, I have to tell you,