"So how is this going to work?" I asked once we were all settled on beds or in chairs. Finny and I were sitting on one bed, while my father was standing and Maria was in a desk chair with a piece of paper to map out our plan for rescuing my mother.

"We aren't entirely sure yet, I'm afraid," Maria admitted. "We know that we have to keep you out of sight from the scientists, but with what's happening to you, and the pain its causing, it will be harder to keep you out of sight and mind. We may have to leave you behind, if worse comes to worst."

"You can't leave me behind if I'm the only one Mom can communicate with!" I protested. "I need to be with you!"

"We have already thought of this. From the information that your mother has passed to you, and what out of that you have chosen to pass to us, we have come to the conclusion that your mother doesn't know where her body is, only the regional location. And from what we have observed," Maria continued, looking at the small paper in her hands, "you can only communicate with your mother while unconscious, which means if your mother calls you and you faint, one of us will have to carry you. I am thinking that it would be best for you to stay here with Finny, while your father and I look for your mother. You would be safer that way as well."

"What if they track me down here?" I asked, trying to find any hole in Maria's scientific reasoning. "Dad won't be here to help, and I can't fight them off or even fly away in my condition."

"Finny is here to help you," Maria said, gesturing toward him. "He's more capable for this job than he looks, I promise."

I looked over to my father, who had been standing by the wall silently. "Dad?"

He sighed. "I believe you will be safer here as well, and Maria and I will return every night to check in and ask if your mother came up with anything that would help us find her."

"What?" I asked. "Dad, I- I wanna help. I can't do that from here!" I was so close to crying that Finny had pity in his eyes, and I thought I saw him almost reach out to me.

My father walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "You can help by staying here and safe, and making sure your mother doesn't need you in some crazy circumstance that would otherwise get you killed. This is a rescue mission, not suicide. Please, Selena. Stay here and safe for both me and your mother, alright?"

I felt my tears start to slowly fall down my face as I looked up at my father. He wiped my tears, and then I hugged him, crying into his stomach, because I was sitting on a bed. He hugged me back and smoothed my hair, then let go and walked toward the door.

"Maria," he said, "we'd better get started. Finny," he looked directly at Finny with the most seriousness in his expression that I had ever seen, "if anything happens to her, you will regret the day you became a Phantomhive gardener." And with that, he left the room, Maria trailing behind him.

"See you tonight," she said before closing the door behind her.

***

"Why wouldn't they let me go? This is my mom we're searching for! Dad's in as much danger searching as I am!"

Finny was watching me rant without a word. I was pacing the room, he was sitting on a bed, watching me with sympathy.

"How am I suppose to tell them if mom finds out anything new while they're gone?" I asked. "If I can't tell them, then they could be out there searching for meaningless hours, not knowing anything about what's going on here, and Dad can't protect me if a hunter finds me here because he'll be too far away to know anything, and- ah!"

I stopped pacing and fell to my knees, feeling my wings changing again, but it felt more painful this time.

Finny was at my side in an instant. He picked me up gently and set me on a bed.

"I... I just want to know if Mom is alright." I spoke quietly, trying to hide the sadness in my voice. It was no good, because I started to cry anyway. I wasn't sure if it was because of physical or emotional pain, but it didn't matter at this point.

Finny held me gently while I cried, and I lay my head on his shoulder.

"I can't even fly us away from here if someone did find me. I guess I really am useless at this point. There's nothing else I can do to help."

"You keep believing," Finny said. "You believe that they're going to find your mother, and that keeps them going. You are your mother's voice, guiding them to her. You are not useless. Without you, this search wouldn't be possible."

I sat up and sniffed. "Really? All I did was get them started on this whole thing. They would be fine without me now."

"That could be true. But they would be looking blindly all over the country without you. You are helping by giving directions, and by being here to support the others, and they are here to support you."

I smiled at him, and wiped my tears from my face. "Thanks."

"No problem," he smiled.

My smile fell, and I cried out in pain as my wings shifted again, my head falling back onto Finny's shoulder.

And then before either of us could say anything, someone opened the door to our room. I jumped out of Finny's lap, thinking it was either my father or Maria or both, and only ended up hurting my wings even more. Finny put a hand on my shoulder, and started at the slowly opening door.

Once it was opened, a man stepped inside that looked familiar. It was not my father, and it wasn't anyone else from the Phantomhive manor. It was someone I had met while recuperating at Maria's after she fixed my wing.

"Hello there, little Selena," he said, pulling out his weapons. "It's been a while since I saw you. Wasn't it the day you kicked me out of my own home, and took me away from my wife and son?"

Finny put his arm out in front of me, blocking the man from me.

"Selena?" he asked. "Who is this man?"

"Maria's ex-husband."