Francis Flamingo looked odd, standing in the snow wearing a bright pink cloak, the hood over her dark hair. Snowflakes accumulated on the fabric, making her look like a strange symbol of summer lost in a wintry mix.
I took a few steps closer to her, Ben following me, even though I didn’t want to speak to her. I could tell by the way she was standing there on the sidewalk outside of a hardware store that she wanted to speak to me. She wouldn’t have stopped walking if she was just saying hi. “How are you?” I asked as I stepped back on the curb to match her height.
“Not good, I’m afraid,” she said, shaking her head. “This is our first Christmas away from Fionna, and I’m not sure how it will go. I am missing her desperately.”
I nodded. “I can understand t
Francis Flamingo didn’t look like the deranged tropical bird in a snowstorm she had a few moments ago now that I was hovering above her eye level and she had to look up to see my face. If anything, she looked more like a frightened child. I could certainly see the resemblance between her and Fionna, her own daughter, who had been terrified so many times in my presence, I wasn’t sure what to think of her parents. For all I knew, her off-balance existence might be because her parents were just awful to her.I didn’t have time to dig into the psychosis of the situation at the moment, though. I needed to set something straight. “Listen here, Mrs. Flamingo,” I said, refraining from wagging my finger in her face, but just barely. “You don’t get to threaten me or my pack. I’ve done more for you and your family than anyone else has, maybe ever, unless y
What was meant to be a fun day of giving back to our community was quickly becoming something else--a day full of conflict. I didn’t like that idea at all, but here Starla was, standing on my front porch, waiting for me.I tried not to make assumptions that she was there to mess with me, but after interactions we’d had recently, I had zero expectations of it being anything other than her here to gripe at me about something. “What’s up, Starla?” I said, the words practically falling out of my mouth in a sigh.“Hi, Harlow. Sam and I heard that you are helping some of the kids and elderly people in town with Christmas presents, and we want to help.”I could only stare at her, my mouth agape, for a few seconds. “You do?” I asked her. It didn’t sound to me
Shopping was so much fun! Even though Ben isn’t much of a shopper and usually doesn’t like this sort of thing, we had a great time picking out the toys for the kids and other items, like warm blankets, for the elderly people on our list. By the time we had collected everything we needed, including a ton of wrapping paper, and got it loaded back into the truck, it was snowing pretty hard outside. I wasn’t worried about us making it home safely because I could make sure that nothing happened to the truck, as I had that one time when Sam and I had almost gotten hit head on going to the jewelry store, but I was concerned for everyone else. I sent them a text telling them to be careful going home, and once we had Raven and Tony loaded up in the truck, we headed out. It would’ve been a tight fit if we hadn’t put everything in the back of the truck secured from the weather beneath a large tarp.
While the rest of the pack was at home wrapping presents and listening to Christmas music, probably sipping hot chocolate and eating fresh sugar cookies, Ben was driving me over to Francis Flamingo’s house so I could put the mage in her place. The entire way there, my hands were in fists as I seethed with anger. It wasn’t just that she had been so brazen as to try and attempt to mark my home as her territory, which is a huge threat against my pack and my forest, it was a disrespectful insult against my family, particularly my grandma, and I just wasn’t going to stand for it.Ben pulled his truck to a stop outside of her house, which was the same shade of sickening pink that she had colored our house with. As I reached for the door handle, his hand came down on my arm. “Are you sure you want to do this, Harlow?”&ldquo
Ben didn’t say a word about the war I’d started with Francis Flamingo on the way home. Not that I’d struck the first blow, but I was sure he was thinking that what I’d done was unnecessary, and I should've left well enough alone. He might’ve been right. After all, she’d already shown she had no problem attacking my home. Who knew what might come next? If she was half as crazy as her daughter, it would be a problem. I hoped my threat of getting Fionna kicked out of the academy would be taken seriously, but with unstable people it is hard to know what they might be thinking.I answered a few questions about what I’d done when I got home, but most of the pack was preoccupied with present wrapping, so we concentrated on that. Melanie had the great idea of color-coding the gifts by family with different kinds of wrapping paper. Since we had enough varietie
“Who is that?” Melanie asked, obviously seeing my face and knowing there was something wrong. I clearly didn’t want to answer my ringing phone.I scowled and said, “It’s Mage Jaye.” Both Raven and Melanie made faces, their eyes popping out of their heads, as they backed toward the house. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to stick around and hear how this conversation was going to go.I answered the call, “Hello?” hoping I was wrong to be alarmed and the head of the council of mages was actually calling with some good news. Since I couldn’t even imagine what that might be, I didn’t hold my breath waiting for her to tell me everything was rosy.“Harlow,” she began, her tone wiping away even the faintest traces of hope I’d held out fo
“What do you mean Fionna’s not there?” I asked, sinking down onto the porch in disbelief. I couldn’t understand how what Mage Jaye was telling me could possibly be right. The thought of Fionna on her own, wandering around the streets of Paris, causing all sorts of chaos and mischief, made my stomach tighten into a knot. I visualized the evening news reports with videos or her lighting people on fire or picking people up with her electrical storms. This was not good, not at all.Mage Jaye replied, “We couldn’t keep her here, Harlow. She was too dangerous to herself and others, so we sent her to a place where she’d be safe and where she might be able to get some of the training that she needs, once she starts to settle down.”I began to breathe a little easier now that I knew that Mage Jaye hadn’t lost Fionna.
“What’s going on?” Melanie asked me as I put my phone in the pocket of my blue jeans. “That was Jaye?”“Is Fionna all right?” Raven asked before I could answer the first question.“Fionna has been sent away from the School for Mages,” I told them. Both of them just stared at me with their mouths hanging open for a long time. That’s exactly how I felt. “Her parents are about to get on a plane and fly to France to see her, and she’s not there.”“She’s not even in the country?” Melanie asked.I shook my head. “Nope. She’s in Portugal.”“Wow,” Raven said, her hands on her hips. “Man, that Mage Jaye h