AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just about Ezra leaving again,” I said as I moved to his side and began to cut up a red pepper, my fingers expertly dicing it.
He lightly ruffled my hair. “She’ll be back.”
I smiled warmly. “I know.”
“Wake up, child.” A voice eased my frantic mind—a vivid, brilliant light among an endless void. I chased after the orb, and when I grabbed ahold, my body jerked awake, my mind still trapped in the aftershock of my nightmare.
“I couldn’t save him,” I panted, my cheeks wet. “I couldn’t save Kaleb.”
Ezra brushed my tears away, her voice a whisper. “All is well. Kaleb is right here.”
I looked beside me. Kaleb was asleep, his chest rhythmic in its rise and fall. Peaceful. Safe. I looked to Ezra, my voice hushed. “You’re back.” It was strange for her to be back so soon; she hadn’t even been gone for a full day.
She nodded, crawling her way over to the loft ladder. “Come downstairs and we can talk.”
I peeled my sheets off my sticky, sweat-soaked legs. I rifled through my bag, plucked out the enchanting onyx feather, and followed her to the main floor.
When we were nestled on the settee, warm teas in our hands and a heavy, patchwork blanket draped over our laps, I looked to her. “Yesterday, when we got home, I thought you would be gone for a while.”
She took a loud swig from her cup, her shaky hand nearly spilling the steaming liquid. “I thought I would be too.”
“What changed?” I asked, using a wee bit of my magic to command the tea to lie dormant—I didn’t want her to spill it on herself. I couldn’t determine if her shaking hand was caused by old age or something more.
“Things change.” She gave a half shrug.
A cryptic answer. I didn’t care. I pried some more. “Where do you go?”
The same question I had asked a thousand times before.
“To a place that fills me with hope,” she said, her aged voice softening. And I swore, for a second, her milky eyes began to clear. I blinked. No, I’d just imagined it.
“Why must you always give such cryptic answers?” I pleaded, my frustration growing. I turned my head to the side, too annoyed to look at her blank stare. This déjà vu conversation never went anywhere.
Then Ezra said something she had never said before, and the shaking in her hands stopped. “I believed I could protect you.”
“Protect me? From what?” I asked, my brow hooked on a lure of confusion.
She let out a withheld breath, her lips flattening as her blank orbs stared past me. “From this world and the next, and all that it will ask of you.” Her shoulders sagged in relief, and although she’d unloaded a mighty burden, by the look of her face, it seemed tainted with defeat. I didn’t like it. I had never seen such an expression written in the hollows of her face before.
“I don’t need protecting anymore,” I replied softly, warmly, my hands placing my cup of tea down on the side table and then clasping the one in her lap. “I’m no longer a little girl.”
“No.” She chuckled, and although it was warm, it tasted of sadness and longing. “I suppose you’re not.”
“If anything, I should be the one protecting you now.” My fingers gently squeezed her hand, time stitched with age spots, wrinkles, and scars. “Oh, I almost forgot. I found another one.” I dug into my pocket and revealed the shimmering black feather, radiant with starlight.
Gently, I set it in her palm.
She raised it, studying it for a second with her vacant gaze, as if her blindness couldn’t stop her from seeing it. A soft smile touched her lips. “It is just as beautiful as the others,” she said, returning it to my palm.
“What do you think they mean?”
“I don’t know.” She chuckled, her bony shoulders shrugging a bit too theatrically. The curious smile on her lips prescribed the opposite meaning to her statement. I might have bought her answer when I was younger, but not anymore.
“You know. Don’t you?” I countered softly, not looking for a fight but still not quite willing to let this go.
Her smile grew wider. “I might have an idea or two.”
“Will you tell me?”
