Claus

Two

When Faryn returned inside, her mother wasn't where she left her. The television was playing in the common space and as stepped into the room, the three students on the couch looked over at her. It was evident by their faces that they would have rather been anywhere else at that moment.

"My mom?"

"She left," Liliah, a Laihr said.

When Faryn saw what they were watching, the three of them grimaced. It was a Hallmark or Lifetime movie about a woman falling in love with Santa's heir.

Faryn shifted onto the balls of her feet, forcing the soles of her boots to bend. "I'm . . . I'll be back later."

"Where's Nick?" Liliah asked.

Faryn shoved her hands into her coat and shrugged. "Leaving."

She returned to the courtyard. Nick's sleigh and his team were still here. She passed them, ignoring the Thorines' barbed jabs, and opened the large wooden door that put her out on Oxford's streets. She headed up Abingdon Road and Folly Bridge where the River Thames flowed underneath, its water not yet frozen and a dark brown. In the warmer months the river would be full of punt boats. She'd be in one along with her friends from school.

Oxford was quiet, most of the shops closed. She passed Christ Church and Pembroke and turned onto High Street. A few blocks later she came to the tavern that was open every Christmas. It was where her and Clora had high tea. Their tradition. A tradition Nick ruined today.

Faryn was shown to a table. The humans paid no attention to the dagger strapped to her side. What did they see? Was it invisible or did it look like something else? Maybe it appeared as tassels. A part of her hoped her mom would walk in, that she didn't really leave to return to Ruhnerium already.

Clora never appeared though.

If given the chance, Faryn would outlive Nick, but he still most likely had another seven hundred years. Twenty-two years of him were exhausting. She had no idea how her mom had managed to be married to him for a hundred and five.

Faryn finished off the biscuits she had spread with an ungodly amount of clotted cream and paid before returning to the boarding school. Barely into Christmas afternoon, she was ready for the day to be over.

*****

Once the sun had finished setting and wasn't shining into her room, Faryn climbed under her covers. The school hadn't even served dinner yet, but she couldn't face everyone. Not after they had witnessed her fight with Nick. It was a family matter, and while most of them knew her situation, she didn't like to see it reflected in their faces. Her eyes were swollen and puffy, and she really just wanted to close them.

She curled up on her side, facing her nightstand where she left the dagger. All the furniture in her room was new, if two decades could be considered new. The room itself was a few hundred years old. When she reached eight hundred, would two decades seem like a few days? What was time like when you had so many days under your belt? With each passing year, time seemed to move faster. Does it even feel like a year passes between visits for her mother?

Goosebumps prickled up Faryn's arms. The room felt as if it had grown smaller. Something brushed against her shoulder, the back of her neck. She tugged on her lamp cord before rolling over. The orange glow from her lamp spread across the room, not quite reaching the corner beside her closet where a figure loomed, wreathed in darkness. Two addax horns were sprouted from the top of his head where is dark hair hung. Even in the limited light, she could tell his eyes were solid black, no trace of white to be found. His black clothing fit his form tightly and revealed his tan chest underneath.