Free The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard Page B

said from behind me in his thick Irish brogue.
    “Oh, is someone there with you?” Ethan asked.
    “Uh, yeah. I just bumped into Liam while I was out for a run.”
    “Okay,” he said, something off in his voice. “Just give me a call later then.”
    I put the phone back into my pocket and closed my eyes, trying to reconcile the image of Ethan’s face in my mind with everything I’d just heard. What would he think if he knew about all of this?
    The answer was simple: he could never know about any of it.
    I turned around just as one of the giant black birds landed on a branch just over our heads.
    “You have these dreams often, you said?” Liam asked, his eyes darting up to the bird.
    I nodded. “Almost every night for about six months.”
    Niamh’s gaze flickered between my father and me as I told them about the dreams. Liam stared at the ground, stroking the back of his neck as I recalled the different scenarios I’d witnessed.
    A loud caw came from the trees, and Liam looked up at Niamh, some kind of silent conversation taking place between them.
    I put my hands up. “Don’t do that. Don’t make it so I can’t tell what you’re saying. Not after all you’ve put me through already.”
    Liam cleared his throat. “It was a mistake for us to have met with you out in the open like this.”
    “It’s time for us to go,” Niamh said. “It’s not safe to stay here any longer.”
    “So, that’s it? You’re just going to leave? What am I supposed to do now?” I asked.
    “I will see you soon,” Liam said, taking one more look at the house where my mother was.
    The black bird cawed again and flapped its wings in the tree above.
    Go home, Allison.
    Niamh and Liam turned as if they were going to walk away, but instead they completely disappeared.

Monday evening I was at the hardware store closing out the cash register when the bells hanging over the door clanged. I looked up from the receipts to see Ethan strolling up the aisle.
    “Oh, hey, Ethan.” I looked back down, ignoring the jolt in my heart. I hadn’t called him back yesterday after my run-in with Liam and Niamh.
    “I was just wondering what time you get off work?”
    “Well, as soon as I finish counting up these receipts.” I kept my voice casual, keeping my eyes on the papers in front of me.
    “Something wrong, Al?” he asked in a low voice.
    I shook my head, pretending to be confused. “Not really. I just have a headache.”
    He shoved his hands in the pockets of his faded blue jeans and shrugged. “You busy tonight?”
    “The only thing I’ll be doing is taking an aspirin and lying down.”
    Ethan’s mouth tightened, but he nodded.
    I wrapped the totals sheet around my receipts and locked them in the safe, avoiding his eyes.
    “Everything else is okay though, right? You seem a little...distracted,” he said. “And you never called me back…”
    “Everything’s fine,” I said. “Just busy.”
    I turned off the lights, grabbed my purse, and walked around the counter. He walked by my side to the door, his arm brushing mine as I reached past him to set the alarm. The air felt thick and charged.
    Ethan walked me to my car silently. I took a deep breath, and as I turned to face him, a flood of emotions washed through me. Who was I kidding? I’d loved him since before I could remember, reputation and all. But I had a plan: get through school, get a job, and take care of my mother. Being in a relationship was not part of it.
    I knew he wouldn’t walk away without a fight, but I didn’t want to pull him any deeper into my life than he already was. If all of these things with Liam and my mother made no sense to me, how would I ever explain them to Ethan? And if they were true…he’d be in danger. There’d be a rogue fairy out to get me.
    “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I said softly.
    He was quiet for a minute, and I started getting even more nervous. “I took the day off Wednesday,” he said with an odd note of