The Earl's Childe by T. J. Wooldridge Page A

and a pinched face.
    Mum sighed. “Look, I know it’s not easy for you right now. You know I know…just…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what else to say, right now. But you have to fix it this time, Michael. And you have to do it the right way, without putting anyone else in danger.”
    His glare at Mum intensified, but I could tell it was fueled with more hurt than anger. This time, she stood and glared right back.
    Neither gave in. The energy in the room started to feel hot and prickly, even though the sun was barely making it through the clouds and windows. It was getting difficult to breathe.
    I cleared my throat. “Um…”
    Without looking away from Dad, Mum said, “You are excused for now, Heather. And while I understand why you did it, you are still grounded and you are still not to leave the inside of this castle without our permission. Do you understand?”
    â€œYes, Mum,” I squeaked.
    â€œGood. Now, go see if Mrs. McInnis and Ms. Eliza need any help putting some tea together for our guests.”
    â€œYes, Mum.” No argument here. I wanted out of that office even more than I had when they were both mad at me for getting involved with the whole kelpie mess.
    Leaving the room, though, didn’t settle the sick churning in my stomach. I could feel the fight still going on between my parents. Making me even sicker was the thought that if I hadn’t gotten involved with the kelpie and the faerie, they wouldn’t be having this argument at all.

    My brother Rowan joined Lily and me (me being there with permission, this time) as we fed Erwnmyr. We filled in both the kelpie and my younger brother on what had happened today. Rowan took my dad’s mania better than Ermie did, which was kind of surprising.
    In fact, Rowan pulled me aside while I was filling Ermie’s trough. “You can’t stay angry at Dad.” I could tell my brother was nervous because he spoke especially slowly and enunciated each word. “You know he didn’t mean to hurt you. He doesn’t know better, and he gets…like I do, when people are angry.”
    I swallowed, taken aback by my eight-year-old brother’s insight. “I made sure Dad knows I still love him, and I do. And he’s listening to Mum. We-we’re getting through it.”
    Eherwnmyr, for his part, closed his mind so forcefully it almost hurt. When I sent him a feeling of a question without any words, like how he sometimes communicated to me, he paused and looked at me.
    You would be angry and unhappy with what I am thinking .
    That made my already sick stomach feel even sicker. Yes, I…appreciated, if that’s the right word…him not sharing his perfectly awful kelpie thoughts with me. But obviously, he was having perfectly awful kelpie thoughts about my dad, and I certainly didn’t want Ermie to think of that at all, ever! No matter how angry I was at my dad!
    I will not harm your family. You’ve ordered such .
    â€œI don’t want you to want to hurt anyone!”
    The kelpie narrowed his eyes at me. That is unfair to desire of me. It is impossible even for you!
    â€œI don’t ever want to hurt anyone.”
    Lily cleared her throat, but didn’t look at me.
    Oh, yeah. Her mom. Jess. The one thing Lily couldn’t forgive me for was hating her mother. Her mother, who had kidnapped Lily twice, and nearly killed her, almost ruined my dad’s life, and just about dragged him away from my mother, because of some lawsuit over Lily, back when Mum nearly died in the hospital from having Rowan.
    Admittedly, hurting Jess was something I had thought of on more than one occasion. And maybe had even written about two years ago, in my journal that my teacher promised to never read but did…xand then summoned me, Lily, and Dad into a rather difficult conference.
    Lily had forgiven Jess; I hadn’t. I wouldn’t . She was still making our