Chapter 45: Sister’s Situation

A much needed distraction came in the form of Sarah’s return home from school for the midsummer break. Her train got in at noon, and Wil drove his parents from the Embassy to the train station, silently wishing he could go faster than a crawl.

“Slow down, maniac,” said Bob from the backseat. “We ain’t in a rush.” His aversion to cars was of great amusement to Wil. He had gone much faster on their horse Percival when they’d been much younger.

Sharon laughed and shook her head. “Relax, hon. You saying you don’t trust Wil to be careful?”

“I’ve seen that thing he flies around on. The boy is reckless.”

Wil cleared his throat. “‘The boy’ is right here, and is also a good driver. I have the extrasensory spell on and can feel people coming from a ways off. Relax and enjoy a lazy Sunday drive.” Still, he slowed down.

During his trip to Faerie, it had been nice to see and talk with Jeb for a bit. The closer Wil got to the train station, the more he missed his sister and her cat-like personality. She deserved the opportunity she had to go study art and make a real career of it, and he couldn’t wait to ask her all about it.

They arrived ten minutes early, with enough time to get drinks and for Wil to set up an illusion of floating words saying, “Welcome Home Brat”. He’d wanted to write something far more insulting or vulgar, but his mother hadn’t let him. He may have been a powerful wizard, but she was mom and he trembled at her power.

The train came sliding in with a loud whistle, puffing smoke overhead. As much as Wil loved trains, maybe he could improve them. He shook himself out of the mindset and waved his hand. The illusory letters grew and bounced in place. The first people off the train saw it and laughed, but it took another five minutes before Sarah came into view.

On the surface, nothing was different. She still had short, blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She was nineteen now, and still resembled an overgrown kid to Wil. But there was a sharpness that hadn’t been there before, a confidence and swagger that hadn’t been there before. She sauntered over to them with her luggage dragging behind her.

“Oh look, the feds let you go. What did you have to give up?” Sarah asked.

“Sarah!” Sharon groaned, but Wil didn’t mind.

“My dignity and pride, mostly. It took a while to get through it all, and now I’ve made a discovery that’s going to make us the richest family in the country, if not the world.”

Sarah sniffed. “Apparently you got to keep some of your ego after all. Anyways, let’s go home. Or whatever counts as home now.” She walked past him and slashed her hand through the illusory letters before hugging her parents.

Wil blinked. That sounded way more bitter than he’d expected, and the look on Bob’s face said he felt the same way. It wasn’t the time to bring it up. Wil joined in the hug behind her, and took her luggage for her. They headed to the car soon after, where she joined him in the front seat.

“Pretty nice, right?” He asked as he ran his thumb over the steering wheel. “We managed to grab a few from Cloverton to help with research. This one got tweaked a lot by Darlene and Thomas…” His throat tightened.

“Huh,” said Sarah. “Yeah, it’s not bad. There’s tons of cars in Manifee City, and it’s really easy to get used to them. Any chance I can get a car too?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him theatrically, flopping over to goofy once more. That was more like it.

“I could probably be persuaded,” Wil said, before hitting the switch to turn the car on.

Once more he took his time and enjoyed the early afternoon summer with the windows down. The air streamed through and left a light roar in their wake. Loud enough to be pleasant white noise, but not too loud to speak over it.

“Things picked up after the election, but we’re keeping things relatively smooth going, even with the Fae changing things up and Wil’s spy problem. We haven’t touched your room though, so you’ll be right at home.” Sharon said.

Surprisingly, Sarah didn’t say anything, not even a sardonic jab or feigned disinterest. She nodded and stared out the window. Wil thought he understood. Returning to Harper Valley after leaving changed how you looked at the place and the world. He’d gone through the same thing after a much longer gap between seeing family. Even she would be affected.

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Although she did scoff when the lane going to the McKenzie’s home, now the Faerie Embassy, had a line to get in. Wil had to slow down for a mix of fae and humans coming in from town to explore the diplomatic services, meet a friend, or grab a bite to eat at their incredible restaurant. By the time they got to the house, Sarah groaned and Bob chuckled appreciatively.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain sometimes, but we’re pretty happy about it. And we’re even more happy to have you home. Anything you want to do before dinner? Take a nap, maybe?”

“I napped on the train,” said Sarah. “I guess I’ll go walk around where our fields used to be. Kind of weird they’re all gone. I kind of like the look of this better, but it’s a pain.” She stepped out of the car and headed for her room. Wil grabbed her luggage and floated it behind him as he followed.

He deposited the luggage on the floor in front of her small bed. It had been months since he’d been in there, and before she’d left for Manifee City, everything changed. The one thing that didn’t change was the fact that the walls were covered from floor to ceiling with her art, as well as the occasional picture cut out from a book or newspaper and pinned to the wall.

Sarah threw herself on the bed with a huff. Wil stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before he finally asked, “Is everything okay? You seem moodier than usual.”

She turned away from him, facing the wall. “School’s hard,” she said, with none of her usual playful whine.

“Don’t I know it,” said Wil. He risked sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“With you?” Sarah scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

Wil chuckled and patted her leg. “Mom and Dad will crowd you and be concerned. But you’re my bratty little sister. I’m only doing this out of big brother obligation, so you can be secure in the knowledge that I only care so much. I’m the perfect person to talk to.”

Sarah rolled over “You might have a point. The problem is, I don’t know where to start.”

“Well, what do you like about school? What’s giving you problems? I thought you’d be happy at an art academy. Did something happen?”

His little sister’s face screwed up as she thought about it. “No, nothing happened. Not any one thing at least. There are a couple of people I don’t get along with. One of the teachers deserves to have her bad wig set on fire.”

“Yeah, I had a few similar teachers,” said Wil. “I don’t recommend actually setting it on fire. They get touchy about that.”

Sarah laughed and sat up. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked over them at him. “I guess…I thought I was good.”

“You are good,” Wil insisted. “I get to cheat with magic. Your drawings genuinely look better to me than my illusions.”

“Yeah, but everyone at school is good. Being good doesn’t matter anymore, you know? And it’s so damned hard.” She nibbled on her lip while she decided whether to continue. “I just want to draw and get better at it. If I could spend all day playing around and making things, I’d be happy. But they want me to learn history, and different kinds of art that have nothing to do with me.”

That made sense, and Wil had once had similar complaints when he went to school. Now he had to communicate that without sounding smug or too knowing. Sarah would hate that. He took a deep breath and blew it out.

“There’s a method to their madness. Schools today are more up to date and modern than they’ve ever been, and I think they’re trying to make sure you get a chance to understand and try a bunch of different forms of making art. For example, when I first went to Saint Balthazar’s, I thought illusions were useless. Everyone likes to joke about that. But I fell in love.

“Don’t think of it as being forced to do things you don’t want to do. They’re opportunities to try new things and see if you might like it better. Are there no classes you like more than you expected?”

Sarah sighed, but thought about it. “Sculpting and painting. That was pretty fun, and extra hard. I really liked getting my hands dirty, and it was tricky to get things to look how I wanted them.”

Wil lit up. “That’s perfect though. That’s a trifecta of skills. You draw out an idea, sculpt it, paint it, and bam, you have something special.”

“Gods, you sound like Professor Lynne,” Sarah groaned. She swung her legs over the edge of her bed. They sat side by side for a little while, before she inclined her head. “Thanks, I guess. Does it ever get less tiring?”

Wil shook his head. “Not even a little. You get used to it, and it gets easier. The first year is the hardest, except for years two, three, and four.”

She shot him an unamused look. “Five and six were easier, then?”

“They were.” Wil stood up. “C’mon. You’re home. Or what used to be home. It probably feels different than it used to. Let’s do something fun, or take a nap, or whatever. Anything you want.”

Sarah took a long look around her room, as if seeing it for the first time. “It does feel different. I’m fine, but I don’t think I want to spend time here right now. Even if I do want a nap. I don’t know, let’s get ice cream or something. You know Wil, you might not make a terrible dad.”

“Thanks,” said Wil. He shook his head and opened the door. “Ice cream sounds great. It’s my treat.”

“As well it should be, rich boy. I’m a starving artist and I’ll be in debt before I graduate.”

Wil laughed and they went downstairs. Maybe after the dust settled and the presentation was over, he’d see about paying for her education, even if she didn’t want him to. She had all the potential in the world, and if he could do anything to boost his family and give them the best chance possible, he would. She deserved it.

Even if she was forever a brat.