Paper Doll Chains

"Nedra is your mother?" Maggie repeated slowly.

How was that possible? Nedra had created this island. She had been here just as long as the rest of them. If she had been pregnant, they all would have heard about it. And a pregnancy here was a terrifying thing… what would the vampire do to the offspring of an alylko?

She studied Sage more closely now, and it struck her—the resemblance. Not many people had black hair and green eyes. She should have realized it right away, but who would have thought…

"I have never met her," Sage added, pulling his palm away from the glass as Maggie walked back up to him.

"You have never met your mother?" she asked as she approached, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the wall that separated them. Sage sat to do the same, shaking his head as he did.

"That must be hard. So she must not know that you are here," she said.

"No," he said softly.