"Hello," Kaye said.
"Hi." The boy grinned up at her imploringly, and she plucked the fruit. It came free from the branch with a snap.
"Where's your mother?" Kaye asked, shining the apple on her coat.
He scowled at her, one lock of dark brown hair covering his eye. "Gimme."
"Did you always live with faeries?"
"Uh-huh," he said, eyes on the apple.
"For how long?" she asked.
He reached out one chubby hand, and she gave him the apple. He took a bite immediately. She waited while he chewed, but as soon as he had gulped down one bite, he started gnawing on it again. Then, as if he just remembered her, he looked up guiltily. He shrugged and mumbled through a full mouth. "Always."
"Thanks," Kaye said, ruffling the chestnut hair. There was no point in asking him anything. He knew about as much as she did. Then, she turned back to him. "Hey, do you know a little girl called Kaye?"
He wrinkled up his face in an exaggeration of thinking, then he pointed toward one of the blankets. "Uh-huh. Prolly over there."
As though all her blood rushed to her head, she felt a flush of heat and dizziness as if she'd been hanging upside down. Her fingers were like ice.
Leaving the boy to his apple, she walked among the cloth blankets, stopping each little girl she passed, no matter what they looked like. "Is your name Kaye, sweetie?"
But when she saw herself, she knew. The almond eyes sat oddly against the mop of blond hair, making the child look fey despite her chubby body and round ears. Asian and blond. Kaye could manage nothing more than staring as the girl—far, far too young to be Kaye in any reasonable world—picked a weed and, wrapping the stem carefully, flung the head in the direction of a pretty faerie lady who laughed.
All the questions Kaye wanted to ask choked her. She turned on her heel and stomped back to Roiben and Ethine, grabbing his arm hard.
"We have to go now," she shouted, furious and trembling. "Corny could be dead."
Ethine was wide-eyed as Roiben swallowed whatever he might have said and nodded. Kaye turned on her heel, stalking back to the car, leaving Roiben to follow her.
Chapter 14
"In the hills giant oaks fall upon their knees
You can touch parts
You have no right to—"
—Kay Ryan, "Crown"
She didn't make it to the car.
"Kaye, stop. Just stop." Roiben's voice came from close behind her.
She paused, looking through the trees at the minivans and the highway beyond. Anything to not look backward at the Seelie Court and the ageless children and Roiben.
"You're shaking."
"I'm angry. You're screwing around while we have stuff to do." His calm was only making her angrier.
"Well, I'm sorry for that." He didn't sound sorry exactly, his voice hovering on the edge of sarcasm.
Her face was hot. "Why are you here?"
There was a pause. "Because you just wrested me from a conversation with a none-too-polite scolding."
"No… why are you still here? Why are you here at all?"