Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite

Part III - Chapter 15: Aloha (Part 1)

PART III

Suitcase-hopping through four different airports without detection was a feat of courage, perseverance, and quick wit. Once safely over the Pacific Ocean, in the baggage compartment of a plane headed to Honolulu International Airport, the five fairy travelers had a chance to rest and regroup.

Chris gave up first—he hit a point where he was trying to sleep rather than succeeding—and he put himself in charge of coming up with a plan. Compared to his brother, he was more knowledgeable about the city of Honolulu because he had lived in Hawaii on two separate occasions, both times when he was an adult, or close to it anyway.

Joe, not quite able to relinquish control, began walking around on a map of Oahu with Chris, joining the effort to figure out where their father might be.

There was a cat in a crate nearby. At the sound of Joe's voice, it awoke from its nap and started hissing at them again. Chris gave it a look that did nothing. And while he was forced to listen to it complain, he wished he possessed some fairy magic, something he could use to silence the damn thing without hurting it.

"Who knows if he's even in Oahu?" Chris suddenly groused, glancing at another, less detailed map that included the other Hawaiian Islands.

"We'll cross that bridge when the time comes," Joe said. "For now, I say we track down Alana's family. Do they still live in Manoa?"

"Simona does." Chris strided over to the residential neighborhood on the map. "I might recognize the street name if I see it."

"What about her brother or mother?" Joe asked. "You used to be friends with Kale, right?"

"Yeah," Chris replied grimly, "but that was before I became involved with his sister. Now he'll want to kill me more than ever. And her mother—let's just say she severed ties with reality a while back. She's in some nursing home in Honolulu. I think Simona is our best bet."

"Aren't there two others?"

"Kale, Alana, Simona, Jasmine, and Bane," Chris listed, in order of their birth.

Saying their names aloud made him realize how long it had been since he had seen anyone in Alana's family, other than Simona, her closest-in-age sibling. Simona had been able to visit a few times in Massachusetts, while Jasmine and Bane never could, and Kale never would.

The last time Chris had been in Honolulu, Jasmine was wearing braids in her hair and Bane was barely more than waist-high, with dimples and a near toothless smile. Now they would both be teenagers.

Chris wondered if he would even recognize the two youngest if he saw them. The thought made him cringe. Alana had never had the opportunity to visit her family after the twins were born, and Chris felt partially responsible. They never seemed to have enough money, or his candid blessing to use the money they could have borrowed or scraped together.

And now she was gone.

"Who do you think has the fairy blood? Their mother or father?" Joe wondered.

Chris shuddered out of his reflective silence and his eyes zoomed back in on the map. "I'm guessing their father. He's been MIA since their childhood. Catching on to a pattern like I am?"

"Yeah, deadbeat fairy fathers and the dysfunctional families they left behind."

"Yup."

Joe pointed to their old street with his foot. "Hey, here's where we used to live."

"Yeah, I saw that already." Chris continued to scour the map a few inches away, his frustration peaking. "I know it's right around here! Why can't I—" He was interrupted by a nudge to the ribs. "What?" After a sharp glance at Joe, he looked where his brother was looking.