Read Me, My Elf & I for Free Online

does only some of the religious stuff?” I ask.
    Mercedes rolls her eyes at me for the umpteenth time today. “Girl, you really are out there, aren’t you?”
    “Out where?”
    She snorts, then laughs fully. “But it’s impossible not to like you.”
    “Thanks,” I say. “I think.”
    “Don’t mention it,” she adds dryly.
    “Goth is how I dress, Zephyr. This style,” Ari says as he motions up and down to his entirely black wardrobe. “Because I don’t want to be just another jerk in Gap jeans and an Abercrombie shirt. Really, though. How can you not know what goth is but you do know Drake Addler’s music?”
    “Ari,” I say, laughing hard, happy to be the one who knows something this time. “Drake Addler is my dad.”
    Ari freezes in the middle of the path. He shakes his head from side to side slowly and pushes his hair back to expose his broad forehead. I see that beneath all his unruly hair, he has brown eyes with long lashes like a deer. “Drake Addler is your father?” he asks me.
    “Yeah,” I say. “Remember? Zephyr Addler, that’s me.”
    Mercedes doubles over laughing so hard I think that she’ll fall down. “Look at him!” She points to Ari. “Boy’s going to dookey in his pants.”
    “Are you for real?” Ari demands. “You’re not just yanking my chain?”
    “Yes, I’m for real, Ari. Drake’s my dad. We just moved here a couple of weeks ago so he could play with his new band and record another album and go on tour. He couldn’t do all those things in Michigan and he didn’t want to be away from us so much anymore.”
    Ari walks in little circles, hands still in his hair. “Drake Addler is your dad,” he repeats over and over again and I continue to say “yes” each time he does. Suddenly he drops to a park bench. “I can’t go to your house.” Then he pops up. “I so badly want to go to your house!” he exclaims. He plops down on the bench again. “But I can’t meet your dad.” He’s up again, pacing. “Oh my God, do you know how long I’ve wanted to meet him? I’ve been to his concerts. Snuck in when he played Irving Plaza last year. Made my mom drive me all the way to the Berkshires for an outdoor festival last summer. I have a bunch of links to his music on my Facebook page.”
    “Ari,” I say gently and put my hands on his shoulders. “Relax. Stop. He’s just my dad. He’s nothing all that special. Believe me.”
    “Nothing special?” Mercedes says, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. “This boy would follow your daddy around like a sick little puppy if he could.”
    Ari nods his head rather pathetically.
    “Look,” I say. “He’s not even home. He’s on the road right now. I think he’s up in Vermont or New Hampshire or something until the weekend.”
    Ari takes a deep breath.
    “Son, you best start kissing booty,” Mercedes says to Ari.
    “What’s that mean?” I ask.
    “Sucking up, you know, getting on your good side,” Mercedes explains. “So he can meet your daddy.”
    “You can meet him anytime you want,” I tell Ari. “And you don’t have to kiss my boots.”
    “Honey,” Mercedes says to me with a snort. “We gotta teach you how to talk.”
     
    When we come out of the park, I spot the tall pine tree obscuring the front of our house. I think the tree is the reason my parents moved us to this place. Passing beneath its branches and seeing birds, like the hawk circling high above me now, reminds everyone of our real house in the woods of Alverland. But, as soon as I open the front door, I realize bringing Ari and Mercedes here was a mistake.
    My sister Poppy has built a nest of blankets and pillows on top of the bookshelves in the living room. She loves birds and doesn’t understand why she’s not allowed to climb trees in the park to sing with her feathered friends. From her perch, she’s reading aloud from a big, leather-bound Audubon guide, practicing different bird calls. Below her on the floor, my brother