Dying Dreams (Book 1 of Dying Dreams Trilogy) by Katharine Sadler Page A

whole lot about them. They can supposedly see when someone is going to die and they obviously dream about death if they touch a corpse.”
    “A banshee?” she said again. “Is there someone I can talk to who can explain what I am? Can I look it up on the internet?”
    Ellison looked nervous for the first time. “Well, you have fifty percent fae blood in your system, so–”
    “No.” She gasped. “Holy shit.” She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and started dialing.
    “Sweetie, I really think we ought to discuss the ramifications of this, before–”
    “Ooooh,” she said, her voice a growl. “Don’t sweetie me, you asshole. You knew didn’t you?”
    “Liza, I–”
    “I told you what I could do. You met my mother. You fucking knew and you didn’t—” The phone was still ringing, why wasn’t anyone picking up?
    “No, Liza, it’s not normal for a mom to mention to her daughter’s boyfriend that masturbation can be dangerous if you have a heart problem, but I kind of thought you’d figure that out on your own. I was the one sweating bricks and getting my heart checked out. Not to mention how it feels to know how I’m going to die someday. I should have turned her in to be registered, but I didn’t. Really, if anyone should be angry here–”
    “Hello,” Liza’s mother said, her voice gaspy like she’d run to get the phone. It must have rung ninety times. Whose phone did that? Maybe if she called home more than once every six months she’d know those things.
    “Mom, I’ve just had a very interesting interrogation by some lovely government officials who seem to think I am a fucking banshee. Care to explain.”
    The silence on the other end stretched out like a living thing. She could almost see her mom’s facial expressions change as she considered the best way to handle Liza. She’d always been one of those daughters. The kind parents feel they need to handle.
    “Now, dear–”
    “Does Becky know about this?”
    “Now, Liza, Becky’s only sixteen.”
    “I know how old my fucking sister is, Mom.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Are you a banshee? Because I hate to tell you this, but I’m pretty sure some government officials are going to be knocking on your door to find out why you aren’t registered.”
    Her mom gasped and Liza felt a bit gratified to have finally broken through her calm reserve. “What did you tell them?”
    “I didn’t tell them anything, Mom. They took my blood and found out I’m 50% banshee, so it seems logical they would assume one of my parents is 100% banshee. If you had ever told me any of this, I might have known not to let them take my fucking blood.”
    “You let them take your blood? Now that wasn’t very well thought out was it?”
    She banged her head on the table and growled.
    “Calm down, Liza. It will all be fine, but I think maybe your father, Becky, and I should head out of town. We’ll call you as soon as we can.” And just like that, her mother was gone.
    She stared at the phone in her hand. “She hung up on me. She tried to twist this all around to be my fault, then she hung up on me.”
    She looked at Ellison and found him watching her with pity in his eyes. “Sweetie, you’ve known her how long? Did you really expect anything else?” She just stared at him. She wanted to be angry with him, because she couldn’t yell at her mother, but she knew he was right. She was the idiot for thinking her mother would apologize or offer to tell her everything she knew about being a banshee. Her mother wasn’t a bad mom, she just didn’t waste a lot of thought on other people, unless they were her husband, the love of her life, the only person she really saw.
    “How bad is this?” she asked.
    Ellison stood, took her hand and led her to the couch. They sat down together, and he didn’t let go. “You’re on their radar now. They won’t arrest you. I convinced them you didn’t know you were fae, and I’m