A Treacherous Path

Chapter 3

Over the next few months, Rose took any opportunity she could get to spend time with her family. Every so often the Huntsman would leave town for a few days—usually for some business at the Academy—and most of the time, he allowed Rose to stay behind in the city. It was only during these times that she felt safe visiting her family, when she was certain the Huntsman was away.

With what little time she had with them, Rose got to know her parents and her brother. She learned that her father worked for a publishing company, and her mom was a manager at a high-end furniture store in midtown. They had both put in for vacation days at the beginning of summer; they were planning a trip to Florida in mid-July. Adam would be attending a two-week robotics camp in Chicago around that same time.

Adam wanted to be a robotics engineer; he and his best friend Brett had been building their own robots ever since they were nine years old. Last year, he told Rose excitedly, they had even won a statewide competition. It was especially meaningful for Adam because it was his first time using his chosen name in anything official; he was concerned at the time about pushback from the event organizers, but they allowed him to compete in the boys' division with surprisingly little reluctance.

Rose learned that Adam had begun his transition the previous year. He had a gender-affirming therapist who was going to help him get a testosterone prescription when he was older. In the meantime he wore a binder, bought clothes that were a size too big for him, and visited a vocal coach once a week to learn how to deepen his voice. His parents were completely on board with all of it. Even so, Adam admitted that, although he knew he was a boy from a very young age, it took him a long time to work up the courage to come out to them.

"It wasn't that I thought they wouldn't accept me," he explained to Rose one April afternoon while they were sitting on the stoop in front of his house. "I knew they would. It was just...they had already lost one daughter. I was afraid if I told them the truth...they would feel like they were losing the only daughter they had left."

Rose felt her heart break for her twin. She moved closer and put her hand on his arm. "Did you tell them that?"

"Yeah, I did," Adam nodded. "And I'll never forget how they responded." A slow smile spread across his face. "Mom just hugged me really tight, and dad said that I was never really their daughter to begin with—I've always been their son, and now I could finally be the real me."

Rose stared at him in awe. "That's amazing."

"Yeah," Adam said, eyes shining. "Mom and dad are pretty great."

They sat out on the stoop for a while longer, until Jake and his friends rode up and suggested they all go to the skate park.

Jake, Trixie, and Spud had immediately welcomed Adam into their group. They invited him to hang out, listened with interest as he talked about his robots, and even tried to teach him to skateboard. He didn't have his twin sister's natural athleticism, but he did manage an ollie after a little practice. He then built a miniature skateboard and a tiny half pipe for one of his robots, which sent the others into raucous laughter and enthusiastic applause when he demonstrated it for them.

Things were going so well that by the time summer vacation rolled around, Rose was beginning to think that maybe everything would work out after all.

Then she was thrown a curveball.

She entered the electronics shop one bright Monday morning to find Jake helping Fu Dog reorganize all of his potions.

"We have a problem," she told him.

Jake looked up from a vial of thick purple ooze that seemed to be growling at him. "What is it?"

"The Huntsman left town again this morning," Rose began, "and he agreed to let me stay here, but with a condition this time—I have to bring him the wings of a pixie when he gets back."