The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin by Gigi Pandian

Author:Gigi Pandian [Pandian, Gigi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781938213199
Publisher: Gargoyle Girl Productions

Chapter 27

“You know what really happened?” I asked Eve.

“Some of it.” Eve tugged at her ponytail again. “My biological mother, Ridley Price, was almost seventeen when I was born. She was the perfect daughter, so she didn’t tell anyone she was pregnant. She threw herself into her studies instead, knowing after I was born, she’d be busy for a while. She found Mom—Aggie Messenger—through an online permaculture discussion group and convinced her to take her on as an apprentice that summer. It was something she usually only did for college students.

“The timing worked out that she could hide her pregnancy under bulky clothing for a while, and then she told Mom—Aggie—when she arrived at her homestead. Ridley knew that Mom was also a midwife, so Ridley knew she was in good hands both to learn and to have someone delivery her baby—me.

“At first, Mom said no to doing all of that in secret, but Ridley swore she’d run away if she told anyone. Mom finally consented—especially since Ridley promised she’d tell her whole family about me once I was born. That was the plan all along.

“A few weeks after I was born, Ridley went home to her parents’ house. She planned to make my birth a big, joyful surprise. She was going to reveal it like a riddle, because she loved those. And then Mom was going to bring me to Portland a day or so later, after Ridley saw how they reacted and if she’d still be welcome at home.

“But she never called Mom. Local police came to the homestead, since Aggie was one of the last people to see Ridley before she went home. By then they knew Ridley was dead, so Mom was scared to death that whoever killed her would also kill me. She pretended I was her own child. She was a really private person, and never wore form-fitting clothes, so even though people were a little surprised when I arrived, they didn’t question it. It was just the ‘weird plant lady’s’ way. That’s how they thought of her, so it allowed her to keep me. And keep me safe.”

“She never told you?” Brixton asked.

Eve shook her head. “When I was old enough to ask why it was just the two of us instead of bigger families like my friends, she told me there was someone who loved me more than the sun and the moon and every single plant and organism in our little homestead, but they’d died. But it wasn’t just the two of us. I felt Ridley’s presence without realizing it. Whenever I worked with Mom in the garden, I could feel the love of someone absent. Mom said it was the time they put into it with their hands many years before.”

I understood the feeling. For most of the years of my life, it was plants that gave me the most love. I suppose that might sound sad, but it’s not. Being connected to the world through nature is a magical feeling.

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