My nerves flared when we pushed back from the gate and prepared for takeoff. I bit my lip to keep from screaming in anticipation. I was on my way to meet McKale! Crazy butterflies dive-bombed inside me. I’d been suppressing uncharacteristic psycho-girly giggles all morning, especially since my family seemed subdued.
I understood why. If I allowed myself to go down the path of how much I’d miss them when they returned home, leaving me in whatever situation I was in, my heart would break and my nerves would shred.
As soon as we were in the air Mom started acting strange, fidgeting, messing with her hair. I watched her stare distractedly out the window while Cassidy read a magazine on my other side. Mom’s hand drifted up to her throat and a look of nervousness crossed her face as she shifted her body toward me.
“There are a few things we need to discuss, Robyn. Let’s get our drinks and then I’ll glamour us so the flight attendants won’t pay us mind.”
Things to discuss? O-kay… What more could there possibly be to say?
When she leaned down to pick a piece of lint from the bottom of her brown trousers she shot a covert look toward my dad that screamed, Help! He raised an eyebrow of sympathy to her before shoving his face in a sports magazine.
Uneasiness invaded.
“Uh, Mom?” I said. She fiddled with her tennis bracelet and pushed her hair around some more. “Mom, what’s going on?”
She held a finger up at me and politely ordered a glass of red wine from the flight attendant. Cassidy ordered one as well, but Mom shook her head and Cass begrudgingly changed to ginger ale.
Mom guzzled the glass and ordered another. She sipped wine all the time at home, but I’d never seen her drink this fast. I eyeballed Cassidy who shrugged a shoulder. Once Mom had her second glass in front of her she whispered for us to pretend we were sleeping. The three of us slumped down into cozy positions with our eyes closed, and I felt the familiar static-tingle across my skin as Mom draped us with glamour. Now anyone who looked at us would see three people napping while we went about our business under the protective bubble of magic.
“Okay, Mom. You know how I feel about surprises. What’s going on?” My brain needed time to process things. She took another big gulp of wine.
“You know that McKale’s clan is of ancient roots.” She cleared her throat and proceeded to stutter and shift. “Far more ancient than ours. But there are a few things you’ve not yet learned about them.”
Oh no. Oh-freaking-no.
“What things?” My palms began to sweat as I watched her fiddling.
“Centuries ago, McKale’s people were specially chosen to receive magic because of their cobbling talents, er, shoemaking skills. You know Faeries love to dance, sometimes for weeks on end. So, naturally, they need new shoes often, and there are so many of them. Long ago, a country sprite brought this Irish clan of human cobblers to the attention of the Fae, who then offered to bless the clan with magic if they focused their trade solely on providing shoes for the Fair Folk.”
Cass leaned over. “McKale’s a shoemaker for the Fae?”
Mom nodded, but her eyes were too big.
Tidbits of folklore swirled through my mind, but a hard sense of denial set up camp inside me. It couldn’t be the same tale I was imagining.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“Hm?” Mom eyed her almost-empty glass. “Where is that stewardess?”
“Mom…” My heart pounded and I chose my words carefully. “What is McKale’s clan called?”
She wouldn’t look at me. The cabin space seemed to close in on me. It was forever before she answered in a cracking voice. “They’re the Leprechauns.”
“That’s not funny,” I said. Mom stared at her hands. She didn’t laugh or say, “Gotcha!”
I was going to suffocate. Cassidy gasped next to me and I flung off my seat belt, jumping up from my seat with my hands in my hair, breaking the magical bubble with a loud pop that only the four of us could hear. My father sat straight up, dropping the magazine and looking around with a hardcore expression of seriousness. My action had sent him into work-mode. When he was sure nobody had noticed he gave me a severe look that kind of scared me.
Mom grasped my arm and I shrunk down to the edge of my seat. I couldn’t look at her yet. My heart was banging and I could hardly breathe as I fought the wide expanse of emotion.
“Leprechauns?!” I demanded. The word tasted wrong in my mouth, like I was expecting a sip of water and drank lime juice instead.
Cass leaned over me. “As in, the Leprechauns?”
“Sh,” Mom said, looking around to make sure the people up front hadn’t heard. Then she chewed her lip as her eyes flitted to me, a horribly guilty expression on her face. I gaped at her.