AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wish she wasn’t,” Zach mutters under his breath and my heart breaks a little that he feels that way.
I clear my throat, choking down the emotion threatening to spill out at the atrocities committed against my children by their own mother. Maybe it’s not the right thing to do, to ignore his statement, but I do, easily changing the subject. “I heard that your Ya-Ya was looking for us.”
With thoughts of their mother behind us, I stand, holding out my hands to each of them, which they each take and the three of us continue our walk.
“I like it here, Daddy,” Amelia says after a few moments of silence, and I chuckle. That was probably the longest she was able to stand the silence.
“I’m glad,” I tell her, squeezing her hand.
“Me too, Dad. I like Pearl too,” Zach adds, and I look down at my son, giving his hand a squeeze as well.
“Yeah, Pearl is nice and really pretty. Can I have hair like Pearl when I grow up?” Amelia asks.
“I heard some of the older girls talking about a spell to change their hair color. I can ask Skarlyt to teach me,” Zach says, a smile on his face as he looks at his baby sister, I raise my eyebrows in surprise. Of all the things I thought he could possibly say, him offering to learn something from Skarlyt was definitely not one of them.
“Really, Zachy?” Amelia says and he nods. She lets go of my hand and starts clapping excitedly.
“It’s not permanent, is it?” I ask.
“I don’t think so, the one girl said she changes her hair every week.” And with that, Zach starts talking about the other spells he heard kids talking about today, Amelia joining in, telling me about the different things she learned. Despite saying the classes were boring, it seems he learned some things from the other kids. I allow myself a minute to imagine that this is how our life always has been. That we’ve walked home from school each day, talking about what they’ve learned. That their days were full of laughter and love. When the first homes come into view, I let go of their hands and wipe the tears from my cheeks.
“Ya-Ya!” Amelia exclaims, releasing my hand and running into my mother’s open arms.
I glance down at Zach. “You’re not too old to still want a hug from your Ya-Ya, are you?” He looks up at me, biting his lower lip but only for a moment before he releases my hand and runs to his Ya-Ya, creating an Amelia sandwich. The sight in front of me makes tears threaten to spill out once more but I blink them back.
“And where have you guys been?” she asks them as she looks behind me. “And where’s Pearl?”
“Nice to see you too, Ma,” I tell her. She pins me with her ‘are you kidding’ look making me chuckle. “Pearl and I took thesetwo munchkins to tour the academy and then she had to go,” I tell her with a look trying to convey that I’ll explain it away from the kids. I know that they know a little of the situation just from being around, but I still don’t need them worrying right now.
“All right then. Guess we’ll go check in with the parliament. You two run along,” she says, shooing the kids off ahead of us. “Now tell me what’s going on?”
“A member of Pearl’s pod was captured by humans.” She sucks in a breath, her hand going to her chest. “So, she, along with a large number of other supernaturals that live here, have gone on a rescue mission.”
“And you didn’t go with her?” she asks, a little accusatory.
“We agreed that because we just got here, and with everything that's happened, it would be best if I stayed with the kids.”
She dips her chin in understanding, linking her arm with mine. “You know, when Pearl showed up to convince us to come here, I thought for sure it was a trick. I mean when was the last time you met anyone who cared about someone other than themselves? And then, seeing Amelia with her and the King of Dragons.”
“Andres,” I supply.
“Andres, I still thought that it was too good to be true. Sure, they might take us to a safe island, but they had to expect something from us. But then, we got here, and not only is it beautiful and safe, but the amount of people who have been coming and offering us assistance in getting settled is astounding.” As she talks, I glance around recognizing members of our parliament working on building homes for us, but not only them. Mixed in with the familiar faces are new ones. People I’ve never met, people my family and friends have never met, are walking around, swinging hammers, lifting beams, handing outfood. And as I catch the eyes of my parliament, each one bows their head slightly in submission.
“Why did they want me in charge? I’ve been gone for so long…”
She stops, pulling me to stop in front of her, this little slip of a woman with the same hair and eyes as my own. “You were only gone to protect us. Everyone knows that.”
“But if it wasn’t for me, Dad…” I begin, never having the courage to bring it up to my mother. I never wanted to put a damper on the limited time we had together.
She takes my face in her hands. “Your dad would be so proud of you and the man you’ve become. He would’ve willingly given his life to see this day come to pass. Don’t for a second blame yourself. The blame lies solely with that monster.”
“But ma, that’s the thing,” I begin, placing my hands on hers and holding them out in front of us, “That monster wouldn’t have known anything about us or where we lived if it wasn’t for me.”
My mother opens her mouth to say something, probably to tell me once more how the entire situation is not my fault, but she doesn’t get the chance.
“Loukas,” Skarlyt calls out, running over to us.
“Skarlyt? What’s wrong? Is it Pearl?”
