12. Crumpled

Kelly suggested, "Let's leave dinner till after we pick up my mom, then the three of us can go out for a nice meal together, ok?"

I nodded and mumbled, "Yeah, that's fine."

Her mom had texted her flight details while I was resting, and we had to be at the airport for around six o'clock tonight. We had about two hours to kill before we'd need to get moving. For now we were just relaxing together on the sofa.

"Hey Kelly?" I asked quietly. "Is that spell still on me? The one that makes me react when you get dommy?"

She blushed but nodded. "Yes. You never asked me to dispell it."

I frowned slightly, "Why didn't you use it to distract me, when I started freaking out in the car? Or after you got me home? I mean, that's why you put it on me in the first place, right?"

She sighed and stared down at the floor. "Because I realized what a horrible thing it was, for me to use that to control you. Even if it seemed like it'd be helpful to stop you from panicking, that would still be me controlling your behaviour."

"Then why not just get rid of it?"

Her blush grew deeper and she confessed, "Because you enjoyed it when we used it together for fun. So did I."

She finally looked up at me and said, "I'll remove it right now if you want. Or if you want me to leave it, then I promise I'll never use it to control or coerce you. I'll only use it when you want me to."

I thought it over then sighed, "I'm not ready to make a decision yet."

We were both quiet for a while after that. Eventually I grabbed us a couple cans of cola. As we sat together sipping our drinks, I looked at Kelly and asked, "Can you tell me, what exactly is a 'changeling'? What does that mean?"

She had a gulp of soda then sighed as a thoughtful look came over her face.

"Ok. It's not actually that common. It used to happen more, a century or two ago? Nowadays, it's super rare to be honest. Sometimes, fae children were disguised as human and left with human parents..."

She gave me an apologetic look and said, "So your mom and dad aren't your real parents, Tegan."

I sighed. "I know they aren't my biological parents. I've always known that, I was adopted." I saw her eyes widen in surprise, I guess I'd never actually mentioned it before. "But they raised me, they looked after me. As far as I'm concerned, they're my real parents."

After some more cola I asked, "Why would fae parents do that? Like, why would they abandon their kids like that?"

"Like I said, it wasn't common. But there were different reasons. Sometimes it was done out of spite, like kidnap your enemy's child then hide them on Earth as a human. Sometimes it was done because the fae parents were too busy or just didn't want the hassle of dealing with a baby or little kid? So they'd leave them with the humans till the baby had grown up to a more manageable age. Or another reason would be, to keep the baby safe? Like if they were in mortal danger, they'd hide the kid with a human family till the danger passed."

I frowned as I thought through all of that. "So my biological parents could still be alive? How long are changelings usually left here, before the parents show up looking for them?"

Kelly replied, "Usually changelings are recovered once they 'come of age', which could mean sixteen, or eighteen, or even twenty-one. I think it depends on who's telling the stories, or maybe it just varies."

"I'm twenty-two," I said. "It sounds like I got forgotten."

My girlfriend leaned closer so her shoulder pressed against mine, "I'm sorry, babe. Sometimes changelings got lost? Like, the human family moves, or maybe the fae parents lose track."

She added "Don't let this stuff get you upset ok? Please? My mom will have more answers. She'll probably get my grandfather involved too, and he might be able to help figure out who your parents are."

That sent a series of weird feelings through me. I loved my parents, I had a good childhood, my folks were good people. I'd never been curious about my biological parents before. As far as I was concerned, they ditched me so good riddance to them.

The thought that they might actually turn up and be some kind of mythical magical creatures from another world started freaking me out again.

"So... I'm not human, I'm not from Earth. Will I get shipped off to this Otherworld place you mentioned? If my bio-parents are alive, will they demand I pack up and move in with them or something?"

Kelly shook her head, "Nobody here is going to make you leave, or go away. Fae can blend in just fine and live among the humans. That's what my grandfather did, that's how my mom was born. Grandfather hooked up with a human woman and nature took its course. He's still around, though I know he does spend time in Otherworld too."

She continued, "As for your folks trying to haul you away..." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't think that will happen, I don't think they can actually do that? But my mom will probably have better answers for you. She's had a lot longer to study and learn all this stuff, and she's a lot more in-tune with it than me or Keira. She's half-fae, right? My sister and me are just a quarter."

I nodded slowly, then took a deep breath and asked the big question. "If I was really a girl, like born a fae girl, why was I disguised as a guy? Or is that like, a normal changeling thing?"

From her expression I got the feeling she'd been hoping I wouldn't ask that. She hesitated and had some more of her soda before answering.

"It's why we call them 'changelings'. The fae aren't showing up and asking some human couple to look after their kid. They do it in secret. They're replacing a human child with their own. Disguising their child as the human baby. In your case, the human baby you replaced would have been a little boy. So that's what you were disguised as."

That left a slightly sick feeling in my stomach. I knew better than to ask what happened to the human babies. I knew that answer would be somewhere between 'bad' and 'horrific'.

Instead, I slumped back on the sofa and had a sip of my drink. Finally I asked, "And this is considered ok? Fae civilization or whatever, think that's just a normal way of dealing with children?"

Kelly shook her head "No, it's not. It wasn't common in the old days, and it's almost unheard of now." She sighed, "I'm sorry Tegan I know this sounds awful. And it is. I don't support any of this, I'm just telling you what I was taught."

I sighed, but I understood. She didn't need me being bitchy at her when she's just the messenger. "Ok. Thanks Kelly."

Eventually it was time to head out to the airport. As we made our way to my car I asked, "Do you mind driving? I'm still feeling a bit out of it."

"Ok Tegan," Kelly nodded, giving me another hug.

It was about an hour's drive, and happily the traffic wasn't bad. Five o'clock on a Sunday evening was still busy, especially on a nice August weekend, but it wasn't anything like rush-hour.

When we got there, Kelly parked the car and the two of us went in and found the right gate. There were some seats not far from the gate, so we could sit down and watch for her mom. We sat with arms around each other, Kelly's around my shoulders and mine around her waist. I was feeling a little better, but I wasn't feeling good yet. Not even close.

Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long. Her mom's flight landed on schedule, and only about ten minutes after we sat down Kelly stood up and said "There she is."

I got to my feet and looked. I may have done one of those cartoon double-takes.

The resemblance was unmistakable. Kelly's mom was about the same height, around five-foot-eight. Her figure was pretty similar to her daughters' as well. She was slim like them, though she may have had another five or ten pounds on her. She had the same emerald-green eyes, and her fiery red hair was cut a little shorter than Keira wore hers. She had the same dusting of freckles on her cheeks.

What had me stunned though was the fact that she looked for all the world like Kelly's older sister, not her mother. If I had to guess, I'd have put Mrs. Connolly's age at somewhere in her late twenties. I certainly wouldn't have believed this woman was thirty, let alone that she's old enough to have twenty-two-year-old daughters.

Mrs. Connolly was dressed in comfortable sneakers, stretch-jeans, and a black t-shirt. She was pulling a modest-sized navy-blue suitcase behind her, the kind with wheels and an extending handle. She was looking around, and quickly spotted Kelly and I.

As she approached I could see she had a slightly irritated look on her face, and her body language suggested she wasn't in the best of moods.

Kelly and I moved towards her, and Kelly gave her a neutral smile as she said "Hi mom. Thanks for coming."

I watched quietly as Kelly and her mom hugged. Neither seemed that thrilled about it, Kelly's body language told me she was nervous. And her mother just seemed a bit cold to me. Maybe she'd had a rough flight, or maybe she just didn't like flying. Or maybe she was unhappy about having to drop her plans for the week and fly out here to clean up her daughter's mess.

The embrace was fairly brief then they pulled apart and Kelly introduced us. "Mom, this is Tegan. Tegan, this is my mom."

I gave her a polite smile as I said softly, "Hello Mrs. Connolly, it's a pleasure to meet you."

She frowned slightly as she replied, "It's Ms. Connolly, in fact. Or ma'am."

"Oh... I'm sorry." I blushed, feeling more awkward. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

She didn't respond to that. Instead her eyes just flicked up and down over me, then she turned toward Kelly again.

"So this is him? Your former boyfriend? What was his name again? I recall you wrote it on that picture of the two of you, that you sent last Beltane."

A cold, heavy feeling of dread settled in my stomach. It seemed like Ms. Connolly was a lot more like Keira than Kelly. And I was supposed to rely on this woman for help? I could feel my cheeks starting to colour as my eyes began welling up with tears again. Needless to say, I was still feeling pretty fragile after my meltdown this afternoon.

"Her name is Tegan," Kelly stated forcefully. She put extra emphasis on the 'her' and on my name.

Through clenched teeth, she added "I know you're mad at me mom, but you will Not take that out on Tegan. If you upset my girlfriend or go out of your way to snark at her, then you can get your own dinner, and find your own damn way to the apartment."

I was still feeling awful, but it lifted my spirits slightly to know that Kelly was going to support me and stand up for me, even against her mother. And I felt a flutter in my heart as I realized she'd just called me her girlfriend. I'm sure that was the first time she'd said it.

Kelly and her mother had their eyes locked on each other. Kelly's expression was brave defiance, her mother looked angry and indignant. They kept this up for a few seconds, just staring at each other.

To my surprise, Ms. Connolly backed down. She seemed to suddenly relax, as her shoulders slumped and her expression softened.

She gave me a compassionate look and in a much friendlier tone she said "I'm sorry Tegan."

Then she looked back at Kelly and added, "And I'm glad to see you're sticking with your friend through all of this, Kelly."

Kelly let out a quiet sigh of relief, "Thanks mom."

Ms. Connolly smiled and said, "You can both call me Kelsey while I'm here. Now, let's get to the car and find someplace to eat. I'm famished."

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