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Jessica squeezed Lily’s hand.

Lily couldn’t smile through her puffy face.

Someone loved Kate this much. Lily couldn’t remember how long it had been since someone talked about her this way. Jessica and Arthur had come pretty close a number of times. Lily cherished them for it with every piece of her heart.

But then Jessica spoke again, “Survive, Lily Baker. I know you can. Even when life gets hard, there’s no one stronger than you. You’re a good daughter. You’re a good person.”

Lily’s breath caught.

“Please, Lily…” Jessica’s lashes fluttered, her words falling away as her head rolled to the side. A few seconds went by where Lily was too stunned to speak or move. Something began happening to the machines around the room; noises sounded, and Jessica’s grip loosened in Lily’s hand. But Lily leaned in—Jessica hadn’t finished what she was saying.

“J… Jessica?” she asked.

Jessica didn’t respond this time.

Lily stared at the woman as nurses rushed in. Lily was shoved, her hand ripping from Jessica’s as the nurses surrounded the rolling bed, all shouting in medical language. They pushed Jessica out the door and rushed down the hall.

All at once the hospital room was quiet. Only Lily stood there. Rain lapped against the window. The sky flashed yellow in the distance. The echo of thunder sent vibrations through the hollow space.

It took Lily several minutes to respond. But then she said, “I’ll protect them, Jessica. I’ll never leave their sides.”

She got the news from Grandma Lewis an hour later that Jessica Lewis had died. Lily sat for hours in the hospital waiting room as it dawned on her that every family she’d found had left or sent her away, and the only parents who’d ever wanted to keep her had died.

She never told Kate about Jessica’s final words. She worried Kate would be hurt if she found out Lily had been with her mother in her last moments and Kate had missed it all.

“Survive, Lily Baker… there’s no one stronger than you. You’re a good daughter. You’re a good person.”

Little did Jessica Lewis know that those words would become the spark in Lily’s heart. That they’d be the fuel that would get Lily out of bed in the morning in the days and years that followed. That one phrase of truth by a loving mother would be the anthem she heard when she pulled on her police vest in the morning, the testimony she believed when trouble would come her way. The inspiration for the works of art on her flesh; the victory seals for every year she survived on her own after that. And she wore her paint like armour.

21

Lily Baker and the Present Days that Followed

The soft smell of sweet metal filled Lily’s nose as she was gently shaken awake. Her mouth was dry, her ears rang, and her head throbbed in pulses. She moaned as she opened her eyes, but the sound drifted away when she fixed her gaze on a set of blue eyes and a shock of white hair.

She thought it was Shayne. She almost said his name.

But her vision sharpened as the being’s face spread into a twisted smile. And she realized this person leaning over her was the furthest thing from Shayne that existed.

“Hello, Human.” The greeting had a musical pitch.

Lily inhaled shallow breaths as she looked around, finding herself in a room with dragons carved out of dark wood in the bedposts and dressers, and rich crimson curtains at the window. She couldn’t remember how she got here.

Where were the baristas? Why wasn’t she home with Kate?

A fuzzy memory flooded in of looking for her sweater in the forest. Of coming face-to-face with…

This fairy who sat at the foot of the bed.

“Where am I?” she demanded. Her voice cracked.

“Get up, Human, and I’ll show you.” The fairy’s cold gaze narrowed. Then, when Lily didn’t rise, he said, “Lily Baker, I saidget up.”

A gasp slipped out as Lily found herself sitting, tossing the covers off, and jumping out of the bed. She looked down at herself in horror, not sure how she even did it. It was like someone had tied puppet strings to her limbs and was jerking her around.

The fairy reached for the pillow she’d been lying on and carefully lifted a pinecone. He turned it over in his fingers. “You’re quite a mess, Human. You brought half the forest in with you. We’ll have to get you cleaned up.” He tossed the pinecone back to the comforter. “I hope you enjoyed your beauty sleep in my brother’s bed.”

Brother.