"Of course, I am. It's your birthday, and I didn't need to ask to know what you'd want for dinner."
Her homemade meatballs were my death-row meal, that final meal I would ask for if the occasion ever arose.
Ha! When I really thought about it, I was getting my final meal. Part of me wondered if that was a twisted joke on my mom's part, because she always glared at me when I called her meatballs my death-row choice. Probably not, though. She was too sweet for a devious plan like that. Jordan may have subconsciously suggested it, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
"Why don't you girls have a seat in the living room while your father and I go get some snacks?" Mom suggested.
"Sure thing, Daliah," Jordan answered before tugging me along.
Dad's shoulders tensed as Mom drug him from the room.
"Do you think they’re fighting? What if they’re not happy together anymore?" I feigned panic when we both noticed the obvious tension.
Pretending things seemed worse to Jordan was just payback for the hell I went through after learning I wasn't who I thought I was, from a freaking owl of all things.
Jordan choked on the water she'd just drank, then spit it all over her lap. "Excuse me? Why on earth would you think that?"
"They seem really stressed. Actually, all of you do. Do you know something? Is this some sort of last family meal before you all break the big news to me?" My voice rose, and I coughed to cover my laughter as Jordan became increasingly nervous.
"Kali, what the hell is coming over you? Your parents are the two happiest married people I've ever met. They're life goals. Maybe they're just anxious about your gift. Yeah, that has to be it."
My brow raised. "My gift, huh? Do you know anything about that?"
She muttered a few curse words under her breath. "Daliah, Brooks! Are you two almost done in there?" She paused. "What's that? You need help? Gladly."
Jordan raced from the room before I could say anything else, and a smirk tugged at my lips. Maybe I was taking it too far, but all of the build-up from the last year was coming to the surface. This was it. There were going to be no more secrets, or so I hoped, and I wanted to move on to my new life without animosity. Giving them grief was the only way I knew how to move past everything.
Just a few minutes later, I could hear raised voices. They were attempting to be quiet and therefore still muffled, but I didn't mind. I knew their secrets. I was merely interested in how and when they were going to reveal them.
Finally, the three of them came back into the room. "Where are the snacks?" I asked with a grin.
Mom blinked a few times. "Oh, we thought maybe we'd do presents instead, since you had a late breakfast. What do you think?"
Presents. Right.
"Sure, but you guys really didn't need to get me anything. I'm not a kid anymore.” I was barely even human.
"Well, no matter how old you are, you'll always be our baby girl, so let's get started." Mom pulled a small box from behind her back, then handed it to me before taking a seat next to Dad on the loveseat.
Leaning back, I settled further into the recliner while Jordan perched on the arm of it, seeming more eager than me to see what was inside the package.
My fingertips slid under the carefully folded silver wrapping paper and tugged on the tape. Moving slowly, I unfolded both sides of the box before working on the middle.
"Seriously?" Jordan huffed. "The paper isn't made out of money. Rip it to shreds, Walker."
Deciding I'd tortured them long enough, I finally tore through the backside of the wrapping to reveal a black velvet jewelry box. My eyes met my mother’s. Neither of us had ever been big on flashy things. The only jewelry I'd ever seen her wear were her wedding ring and the necklace currently hiding beneath her beige shirt.
The gift threw me off even more, because I thought I was the only one with secrets for this birthday. Turned out my parents were still capable of surprising me.
"Go on. Open it up," Mom encouraged while Jordan was practically panting above me.
My fingers opened the box, and it snapped open to reveal a thick silver chain with an unusually bright amethyst pendant wrapped in thin white-gold wire hanging from it. My breath caught as my eyes traced over the stone. It reminded me of the foggy lavender hue that radiated from the waterfall Stryx had shown me the night before.
"This is stunning, Mom. Thank you so much," I said while I pulled it from the box.
"The necklace last belonged to your grandmother Taliah. It's been passed down for generations, and we thought you were ready for it," she replied.
My throat tightened as guilt for giving them such a hard time poked at me. It was a thoughtful gift, and this was probably just as hard on them as it was supposed to be for me if Stryx hadn’t intervened.
Jordan held her hand out, and I gave her the necklace before bunching my hair together and pulling it out of the way. When the cool metal of the chain hit my skin, I let out a small hiss, but once the stone settled just above my chest, a warming sensation took over.
My parents watched me cautiously, but when Jordan took a seat on the chair next to me, they seemed to relax as well.
“Now, here’s one from the both of us,” Dad said, handing me an unwrapped wooden box.
Intricate filigree and feathers were carved into the dark oak. My fingers traced over the aged wood before I flicked a golden latch open. As I lifted the lid, Jordan leaned in closer again, and since I was still feeling feisty, I turned the other way so she couldn’t see.
Once the box was open, I took a moment to appreciate what lay before me and ignored the edgy silence around me.
This was my life journal. A book that would tell of my birth, my death, and my rebirth, followed by every major event after that until my practically immortal life was over. Stryx had spoken of it before, but he hadn’t prepared me for the connection I’d feel to the book as soon as I touched it.
My fingers slid over the cover as a magic pulsed from it so heavily that I swore I was in Arvayta, but the moment was broken when Mom spoke.
“Kaliah Grace, do you know what that is?”
Deciding to end the façade, I nodded, and chaos descended all around me.
Chapter Three
All three of them spoke in louder-than-necessary volumes, so I ignored their outbursts until they calmed down and only one of them talked.
“Sweet girl, how do you know what that is?” Dad asked more evenly from his spot on the couch in the living room.
Stryx hadn’t said I couldn’t tell them about him once I was ready for the transition, just that I couldn’t do it any day before. If it had been important to keep him a secret entirely, then I assumed he would have reminded me to keep him out of the conversation.
Since he hadn’t, I was going with the old adage that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
“Well, about a year ago, I had a visitor in my dreams, except it wasn’t really a dream. My subconscious was transported to another world, and I learned everything I know from an owl.”
Nobody moved, and I wondered if I really was crazy. Crap. Maybe I should have played dumb and pretended I had no idea what the book was. Maybe I had just been imagining their nerves and nothing I thought was impossibly real was true.