“The other distinction is how we maintain this lifestyle, although it isn’t that different really.” She looked thoughtfully out the window. “Human children have their boarding schools, but they prepare them for a life of servitude. That’s not what we want. We want a life of complete and total freedom. That is why we have changelings.
“Changelings are a practice that date back hundreds, maybe thousands of years.” Elora looked at me gravely, and I gulped back the growing nausea in my belly. “Originally, we were more forest dwellers, less … industrialized than you see now. Our children would be prone to starvation and medical problems, as well as our lack of a serious educational system. So, we’d leave our babies in place of human children so they would have the benefits that only their childhood could offer, then when they were old enough, they would come back to us.
“That practice evolved because we began to evolve. Changelings were healthier, more educated, and wealthier than the Trylle counterparts that stayed behind,” Elora elaborated. “Eventually, every child born was a changeling. Now we could easily match the healthcare and education of the human population, but to what ends? In order to maintain that level, we’d have to leave the solace of the compound and spend our lives doing menial jobs. The changeling is essential to our way of life.
“We leave our children with the most sophisticated, wealthiest human families, without them being celebrity. Everyone would notice if when the JoliePitt children turned eighteen, they suddenly vanished,” Elora looked disgusted at the thought of them. “So we go just below that. The changelings live a childhood that is the best this world has to offer, and then return with a hefty inheritance from their host families that infuse our society with cash. That, of course, isn’t the only goal, but it is a large part of how we can live like this. The money you obtain from your host family will be how you will be able to live the rest of your life.”
“Wait. I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to interrupt, but…” I licked my lips and shook my head. “I just had to clarify a few points.”
“By all means,” Elora said, but venom dripped from her voice.
“I’m a princess?” I pointed unsurely at myself. It sounded stupid and immature just saying it aloud. “And when I was baby, you gave me to strangers to raise so I could have a good education, a good childhood, and I would bring money back. Is that right?”
“Yes.” Elora raised an eyebrow, daring me to question it.
I wanted to yell so badly I was shaking. But I was still afraid of her.
She looked like she could snap me in half with her mind, so I just twisted my thumb ring and nodded confirmation with her. According to her, I was the last of her legacy, and she had dumped me off on a crazy woman that tried to murder me, just because Elora never wanted to work and needed cash.
“Shall I continue?” Elora asked, and she didn’t even try to mask the condescending tone in her voice. I nodded meekly. “I don’t even remember what I was saying.” She waved her hand in irritation. “If you have any other questions, I suppose you can ask them now.”
“Just… um... where’s my father?” I asked timidly.
“Oh.” Elora looked away from me and stared out the window. “Dead.
I’m sorry. It happened shortly after you were born.”
Finn had promised me a different life where I belonged, but really, it seemed to be the exact same life with different trappings. My mother here seemed almost as cold and crazy as my fake mom, and either life, my dad was dead.
“Also, I don’t have any money.” I shifted uneasily.
“Of course you don’t,” Elora thought I was being ridiculous. “You probably won’t have access to your trust fund until your twenty-one or so, but with persuasion, you can change that. Finn tells me you’re very advanced with that, so I’m sure you can easily lower it to eighteen and get at it then. Maybe even add more to it.”
“What?” I shook my head. “No. I don’t even know if I have a trust fund.”
“I specifically chose the Everly’s because of their wealth.” Elora looked incredulous. “There is money set up for you. There has to be.”
“Yeah, I know you chose them for their money, because it certainly wasn’t for their mental health.” I lowered my eyes, realizing I had been smart with her, but quickly plowed through it. “My dad killed himself when I was five, so none of his insurance paid out. My mom never worked a day in her life, and she’s been in a mental institution for the past eleven years, which has eaten a lot of her funds. Not only that, we’ve moved around a lot and wasted tons of money on moving and houses and tuition. We’re not poor by any means, but I don’t think we’re anywhere near the kind of rich you think we are.”
“Stop saying ‘we.’ They’re not part of you,” Elora snapped and sat up.
“What are you talking about? The Everly’s were one of the wealthiest families in the country! You couldn’t have bled them completely dry!”
“I don’t know how much money we - they - have, but we don’t… er…
I didn’t live like they were that rich. My brother drives a Prius!” I was almost shouting in frustration. “And you said the money isn’t the important thing, but that sure seems to be what you’re hung up on. If you weren’t listening, I had a terrible childhood! My father, well the man I thought was my father, killed himself! And then, six months later, my fake mother tried to kill me!”
Elora had been more shaken about my confession that my family wasn’t loaded than she had about Kim trying to kill me. She sat very still for a moment, then took a deep breath.
“Oh. So she was one of those.” That was all Elora had to say about that.
“What do you mean by that?” I pressed, and by now, I was livid. The casual, callous air that she had about my death. She hadn’t cared at all if they tried to kill me, except that it would’ve upset her plans to get my inheritance.
“One of those?”
“Oh, well.” Elora shook her head as if she hadn’t meant to say that.
“Every now and again, a mother knows. Sometimes they hurt the child or kill them.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You knew there was a chance that she might kill me?” I snapped and stood up. “You knew that I could die but you just left me?
Unmonitored? I know you didn’t follow me because Finn kept telling me how hard I was to find. You didn’t care what happened to me at all!”
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Elora rolled her eyes. “This is the way we live. It’s a very small risk, and it rarely happens. And you lived. No harm done.”
“No harm done?” I pulled up my shirt, showing her the scar that stretched across my belly. “I was six-years-old and I had sixty stitches. You call that no harm done?”
“You’re being disgusting.” Elora stood up and waved me off. “You’ve had a long travel, and I’m sure this is all very confusing. You have much to take in, and you’re not in your best light right now. I think it would best if you got some rest, and we can speak later.”
I wanted to protest, but I knew it would be a moot point. As soon as I had started getting upset, she had stopped really listening to me. I let my shirt fall back down on my belly and Elora glided over to the window. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared out the window. She never said a single word, but a minute later, Finn appeared in the doorway.
“You need something, Elora?” Finn did a small bow to her back, but she probably had ways of seeing him even when she wasn’t looking.
“Wendy is tired. Set her up in her room,” Elora commanded diffidently. “See that she has everything she needs.”
“Of course.” Finn picked up my bag off the floor and looked at me.
His dark eyes felt comforting, and even though I knew this was just his job, I felt relieved knowing he was there.
He left hastily, probably at Elora’s behest, and I hurried after him. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, trying to steady my nerves. Everything felt too shocking and too upsetting to really understand. I was reeling from everything, and I couldn’t make sense of how I really fit into it. Elora was right, though. I probably did need rest, and maybe if I slept on it, everything would seem better somehow. But I doubted it.
Finn led me up a winding staircase and down another elaborate hall. At then end, he opened a heavy wooden door, revealing what I assumed was my room. It was massive, with high vaulted ceilings, and one entirely windowed wall that made it seem even larger. A massive four post bed sat in the center, and everything was rather modernly furnished. A laptop, flat screen, gaming systems, iPod, and every other gadget I could possibly want. Finn sat my bag on the bed and opened the closet door, which was already stocked full with clothing. He opened another door and flicked on the light, showing my own private bathroom that more closely resembled a spa.
“How do you know where everything is?” I asked. He seemed to know this house very well, and thinking about Finn helped calm me some.
“I stay here from time to time,” Finn replied nonchalantly.
“What? Why?” I felt a terrible pang of jealousy, terrified that he was somehow involved with Elora in a perverse fashion. He did seem to revere here more than I thought he should.
“Protection. Your mother is a very powerful woman, but she’s not allpowerful,” Finn explained vaguely. “Since I’m tracker, I can get tuned into her.
I can sense danger and aid her if it’s required.”
“Is it required?” At that moment, I didn’t particularly care if a band of raging marauders tried to do her in, but if there were frequent attacks on her
“castle,” I thought I should know.