Feyland: The Dark Realm

Chapter Fifteen

A shadow crossed in front of the window, and then a metal cover in the door slid open a bare inch. An eye regarded her.

“Hi,” Jennet said. “Um - Tam, is that you?” Somehow she didn’t think so. Unease tightened the back of her neck and prickled down her spine.

The eye looked at her a moment more, then the peephole cover closed abruptly. Jennet waited, but there was nothing else - no greeting or dismissal, no opening door. She bit her lip. Should she knock again? Maybe it had been the little brother, and he didn’t know what to do. Although, whoever had been looking at her, it hadn’t felt like a kid.

“Hello?” she called. “Is Tam home?”

The silence continued on the other side of the door.

She waited for what felt like forever. Finally, Jennet turned away. Disappointment was sour in her mouth. She took one step down the rickety stairs. Then another.

Behind her came the quiet jangle of a chain, the clunk of a deadbolt being drawn back. Whoever had been standing there was opening the door. Half-afraid to look, she made herself turn around.

The door swung back to reveal a woman on the threshold. She clung to the knob, as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. She was tiny, and not just because she was emaciated, though that didn’t help. Her green eyes were ringed with weary circles. Brown hair, cut raggedly short, framed her too-thin face.

“Who?” she whispered, the question a bare thread of sound.

“I’m a friend of Tam’s,” Jennet said, making her voice soothing. This woman looked like she could be knocked over by a loud voice, an abrupt move. “Is he home?” Please, let him be here.

“Mom?” It was Tam’s voice, calling from inside.

Thank god - he was all right. Relief poured through her, making her knees weak. Tam was here. Not collapsed on the floor because the game had ripped out a piece of his soul. Not bleeding away from some game injury that crossed the boundary into real life.

“Hey mom, where are you?” he called again, sounding worried.

The woman glanced over her shoulder, and then looked back at Jennet. She nodded, once, and then Tam was standing beside her.

“What are you doing?” he asked, all his attention fixed on the wraith of the woman still clinging to the doorknob. “Come back inside now, Mom. You shouldn’t be up.”

Then his gaze moved past the woman. He looked unhappy to see Jennet standing there.

“Hi,” she said. “I wanted to see if you were ok.”

“I’m fine.” He put a protective arm around his mom and steered her back into the house.

Jennet took a hasty step forward, before he could close and lock the door in her face. “Can’t I come in? There are some crazies out there, you know.”

“Whatever.” He didn’t sound at all pleased about it. “I’ll be right back. Close the door, and make sure it’s locked.” Without looking back, he guided his mom inside.

“Nice,” Jennet said under her breath.

She hadn’t thought Tam would throw a party when she showed up, but she hadn’t expected this borderline hostility. Especially after running together in Feyland so successfully the day before. She’d thought they were allies, at the very least.

After closing - and bolting - the door, she stepped into the middle of the room. Tam’s place was slightly better than a shed, but to call it a house would be a stretch. It smelled musty, with an underlay of old grease and rust. The main room had a thin couch along one wall, with bedding pushed down at the bottom. In the corner was a sleeping-bag and worn pillow. Pretty obvious that Tam and his brother slept here. A bathroom was wedged in beside the kitchen, but it was too small to even qualify as a room.