Free Kaleidoscope (Faylinn Series) by Mindy Hayes Page A

been a little more swayed by the idea. We spent nearly the whole day outside on the swing.
    “I don’t want you to be mad at me, Calliope,” he said after a few minutes.
    “I’m not mad at you,” I said immediately, and then realized it wasn’t completely the truth.
    “You haven’t spoken to me in days.”
I hadn’t?
“The silent treatment is getting a little old.”
    “I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I just needed space.” I needed time to put all the pieces of my life back together in a different puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle, without the guidance of a picture to go off of.
    “How’s school?” he asked, changing the subject.
    “Small talk? Really?” I chuckled lightly.
    He sighed. “Being a faery can’t be the only thing we ever talk about now. It’s what you are, but it’s not everything.”
    I nodded. Even though it felt like everything now, I knew someday this would be normal. Someday I would wake up and it would be a day just like every other to me. I’d come to terms with my new body.
    I let my feet down to stop the swing and then turned to my dad standing with his arms crossed over his chest. “What do you want for dinner?” he asked and I let out a breath of soft amusement.
Someday
this would be normal. I guess I could try to make someday today.
    “What about some chicken alfredo?” I suggested.
    “That sounds delicious. Why didn’t you think of that?” he joked with a small smile.
    “Daaad.” I nudged him playfully and walked by his side to the house.
    It had been a few days since I let the forest control me. As soon as the urge became too powerful to control, I got in my car and drove away. I never knew my destination. Sometimes I ended up at Cam’s house, but I never got the nerve to actually go to his front door. I simply looked at his house, wishing I could just talk to him. But most of the time Isla was there or his car was gone.
    He didn’t need to declare his love for me. He didn’t even need to get rid of Isla. I just wanted someone besides my dad to talk to. Someone that wasn’t a part of this new world. Someone who would understand why I was so dang freaked out.
    Other times I ended up at Lia’s house. She would typically be studying or reading, so I’d hop on her bed and click on the TV, if for nothing else but to simply have the noise to drown out my thoughts.
    “You all done with your homework tonight?” Lia asked.
    “Yup,” I lied. I still had a little bit, but I couldn’t do it at home and I couldn’t tell her that. I guess I could have brought it to her house, but when that pull is tugging at me, nothing logical really crosses my mind.
    “Dang my ambition to go to an Ivy League. We have a never-ending pile of homework. I swear I’m never done.” She exhaled.
    “Oh, but think of the opportunities you’ll have because of your determination.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” She nudged me and nestled further into the pillows of her bed beside me. “Matt called home yesterday.”
    “Yeah? Did he just sit there and rub in how incredible Rome is?”
    “Basically.”
    “Has he gone to the Colosseum yet?”
    “I think he did that in the first week.”
    “Lucky punk.”
    She peered over at me from her books. “He wanted me to tell you hey and that he misses you.”
    I nodded. It had only been a matter of a couple weeks and my life had flipped to a life so unfamiliar. “I miss him too.”
    “Me too,” she said quietly and nuzzled closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder.
    • • •
    That night I lifted my window open to let in a breeze. It felt so stuffy in the confinement of my little room. I was about to pull the covers over my head to block out the world when I thought I heard my name. I sat up in bed and turned my head to my open window.
    “Calliope?” There it was again.
    When I got to my window, I lifted it higher and stuck my head out to scan our yard, but there wasn’t anyone in sight, only the swing wavering and the leaves rustling.
    “Calliope, back