Free Shadow Silence by Yasmine Galenorn

Have you and your brother and sister been good babies?” I turned on the flame beneath the teakettle, then popped a couple of pieces of bread into the toaster. I glanced through the refrigerator, trying to find something quick and easy to eat with my toast. Finally, I opened a can of soup, poured it into a large mug, added a little water, and put it in the microwave. By then my toast was ready, and I buttered it and set it on the table. I poured the steaming water into the teapot and added raspberry tea bags, and carried that over to the table. Finally, my soup was ready, and I settled myself in a chair to eat, and poured a cup of tea.
    I thought about the Fae creature. While the meeting was fresh in my mind, I called Ivy and left a message that I needed to talk to her, Ellia, and Oriel—they would be gone all day at the Matriarchs’ tea. Then I went back to my lunch as the storm railed outside.
    By the time I finished eating, I had finally warmed up enough to stop shivering. I carried my dishes to the sink, thenturned back to stare at the tub of my father’s effects. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find in there, and I wasn’t even sure how I felt about opening it. So much had happened in the past couple of months to change the way I felt about him.
    I had gone from secretly hating him because I believed he abandoned my mother and me, to mourning the fact that he had been murdered. The shift was abrupt and difficult, leaving me with a massive dose of guilt about ever doubting him in the first place.
    I approached the tub cautiously, circling the table. I knew that Ivy wouldn’t give me anything to distress me, but I still felt like I was entering alien territory. Finally, I reached out and removed the cover. As I edged my way over to peek inside, I felt someone watching me. I turned around, and there, in my kitchen, was a glowing white wolf. Bryan was also a white wolf, but he was actually alive. This was a spirit—the spirit of my father.
    â€œAvery, I didn’t expect to see you.” In fact I had seen him once, when he led us to the remains of my mother and himself. Since then, he hadn’t been around. Or if he had, I wasn’t aware of it.
    He stared at me, his glowing eyes soft and warm like caramel. I felt invisible arms wrap around me in a gentle embrace, and I wanted to lean in and rest my head on whoever’s shoulder was there. The embrace was protective and caring, and I realized that I was sensing Avery’s spirit in more ways than one.
    â€œAvery, I wish I could’ve known you. I wish you could have survived. My mother loved you so much. I’m sorry for what Duvall did to the both of you.”
    I realized then that I was crying, a trickle of tears tracing down my cheek. I eased into the chair next to the tub, and leaned my elbows on the table. I hadn’t really cried for my parents since we found out what happened to them. But now, it was as if my feelings were a wall of water, and the dam couldn’t hold them, crumbling as they lashed themselves against it. I rested my arms on the table and leaned my headagainst them, letting the tears come, feeling the wave of loneliness, fear, and abandonment from my childhood wash over me again.
    The soft pressure of hands rubbed against my back, soothing me until my tears began ebb, and I glanced up to see my mother standing there, smiling at me. She vanished, fading gently, and I pushed myself back in my chair and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. I sniffled, and reached for a tissue from the sideboard, blowing my nose. It’d been a long time since I had faced those feelings and let them come, and now I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
    I glanced over at the wolf, who still stood there. “Thank you. I think I needed that. I hope you don’t hold it against me—that I thought you ran away and left me and Tamil. I didn’t want it to be true, that’s why I used to pretend