Enchanted Revenge by Theresa M. Jones Page B

was right, I had no way to avenge my parents. I just had nothing else to live for. Nowhere to go. No home. No family. Not even any friends. I just wanted the last two days to go away. Man, to think that only two days had past. Two days ago they were alive and I was complaining about a stupid broken phone. Two days ago I wasn’t alone. Two days ago I had a home and family.
    I miss you, Mom. I miss you so much, Daddy .
    I wasn’t sure if I was saying it out loud between sobs, or merely in my head. And really, it didn’t matter. Even if I was poisoned, who cared? And if I was stuck here forever, it would be okay, as long as the bastards who took my parents from me were here and I could still get to them.
    Alec came back in once the tears ebbed, and I was zoned out, just staring at a random spot on the wall. He didn’t speak, and I was thankful for that. No questions. No accusations. And even more than that, I was thankful that it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was just a normal, regular silence.
    He refilled my drink and took out lumps of stuff from the bags, placing them in front of me on the table. No plate or napkin.
    I drank, because it tasted good and I really was thirsty. And whatever harm it would cause was already done. Then I picked up the four inch lump of blackish stuff in front of me. It was soft to the touch, softer than it looked, considering it looked like a glob of tar. I lifted it to my mouth, and before I could even take a bite, I smelled the strong, sweet aroma that oozed from it.
    I placed some of it in my mouth and bit down, the juice from inside it spilled over the corners of my lips and down to my chin.
    “Cheslins are very juicy,” he said, finally breaking the silence. “But they can last many years after being picked. They are plentiful here in Ardennes.” I nodded, wiping the juice away with the back of my hand. I guess the black tar glob I was eating was a cheslin.
    I ate four more before I felt full.
    Later we sat on the couch, which wasn’t green or brown. Probably the only thing in the whole tree that wasn’t. It was a deep burgundy, almost purple. And it was thick, soft and comfortable. Heaven. My feet loved this couch and the reprieve it offered.
    Alec had lit a fire in the fireplace, and who knew how the smoke got out or where it went, or how the entire tree didn’t catch fire. But I was thankful for it. As the sun set, it grew colder outside, and without electricity and heating, the rooms grew colder as well. Anyway, fires were just comforting altogether. They offered warmth and security, like a false blanket of safety.
    “It’s only a myth,” he said, after we had been sitting in silence for quite a while. His statement caught me off guard, since I had been deep in thought. I was thinking about my parents and about this place. About how everything had changed so quickly. About how strange it was that I was sitting in a tree that looked like a house. So, when he said it, I had no idea what he was talking about.
    “What?”
    “About eating or drinking. It took me a while to figure out what you were thinking and why you were acting like I had poisoned you. You should have seen your face. It was like a betrayal, like you couldn’t believe I would do something so terrible. And I couldn’t figure out why.” He chuckled, and shook his head slightly, which caused his hair to whoosh around and drift over his eyes. “We need to eat too.”
    I looked over at him and didn’t really know what to say. No wonder he had looked so confused.
    “I mean, if you were a human, you might have to be more careful. There are foods and drinks that could cause issues with a human metabolism, but you are not human. You are Fae. So you have nothing to worry about.”
    “Oh,” was the only thing I could think to say. I wasn’t human, was I? How strange to think. I mean, I guess I knew that now. But it still didn’t feel right. I’d always been human. And until a few days ago, I didn’t believe in