Page 11 of A Bloodline Redeemed

“Please, goddess,” Moon whispered, her eyes tearing up again like a baby.“I’m scared, and I’m cold, and I’m hungry, and I want to go home.”

She didn’t know what the goddess would do about that, since they didn’thavea home anymore.The house was burned up.And mommy and daddy and gran with it.But gran said that the goddess could do a whole lot of things that seemed impossible.So she asked anyway.“I don’t wanna do the hard spells anymore.They hurt.And Sky is hungry and scared too.Can you please just send us home?Pretty please?”

She waited and waited, kneeling there on the hard ground until it was fully dark and she was sure she was frozen there and would never be able to get up ever again.Rain started falling outside, pattering on the tin roof of the wooden shed.Sky whimpered and snorted in his sleep.“Please,” she whispered.

Then she really did cry like a baby.

They were bad kids.And the goddess was punishing them.

“I’ll be good, I promise!”she whispered as the rain fell harder, clutching her hands together.There was magic in the air, in the elements around them, in the rain that was falling.Surely the goddess was listening?“I’ll never be mean to Sky, and I’ll eat all my yucky vegetables, and I’ll pick up all my toys and never make a mess.If we can’t go home, can you please just make the big people not be mean to us anymore?They were supposed to help us.They said they’d take care of us now we don’t have a mommy and daddy.They said we would help them do big, important things and protect the world frommonsters.But the magic feels icky.I wanna go back to my old home.I… I… I…” she hiccupped, and a big ol’ bawl came out of her.“I want my mommy and daddy!”

She barely heard it when the goddess finally answered her.The voice was so soft, almost drowned out by the rain.But it came with a little flare of magic that made her feel the feeling you get when your mommy hugs you and calls you silly names.I’m here,it whispered.And Moon thought maybe the voice wasn’t talking out loud after all.Maybe it was in her head.Did that mean it wasn’t real?Or was that just how the goddess talked to everyone?

I’m real, little one.I’m here.You are not alone.

“I wanna go home now,” she whispered into the darkness.“Please.I don’t like it here.”

The voice was quiet for a while.Then it spoke, but she could only make out a few words here and there for some reason, like a wonky phone call.

Not now.A little longer.Until they’re near.

Moon was tired of being the big sister.She didn’t want to wait.It was hard to stop crying, but she made herself do it eventually, as the soft, pretty voice of the goddess ebbed and flowed in volume, whispering words in her mind that she didn’t quite understand, but that made her feel less alone anyway.She started to feel less like crying.Crawling over to Sky, she snuggled up under the covers with him and put her thumb in her mouth too—just for a little bit, because she wasn’t a baby.Her eyes fluttered closed.

Just before she finally fell asleep, she prayed one last prayer, her sleepy voice barely a whisper.“Dear goddess,” she said with every ounce of hope she had in her body, because gran saidintentionwas important.“Please stay here with us.Please don’t leave us alone again.”

“I will stay with you,”the goddess whispered.And this time her voice was stronger.Moon heard it not just in her head, but in her ears, too, and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard in her whole life.“I promise I will not leave you, little ones.”

Chapter 8

Andy

Istoodinthebackcourtyard next to my chaotic, unstable portal, waiting for River and Bis to return.

The shifter’s insistence on going back to Magea just for some silly sentimental memento was a ridiculous risk.But to make matters worse, when Hibiscus found out what we were doing, he threw an absolute fit.The little guy was still pissed at me for not letting him come out with us when Bella summoned us into danger.He had begged to go with us this last time and I told him no in no uncertain terms.Turns out I was right to deny his wishes, cold comfort though it was, since one of us haddiedon that particular cursed outing.For all I knew, we could have lost BisandHasumi if I’d let him come with us.

But this time, when he crossed his little arms and stomped his little foot, insisting that he wasn’t going to let River go back to Magea alone… well, Aahil is right to constantly accuse me of being stupidly soft.Bis had been curled up in a prickly ball of grief ever since we came back without Hasumi.And I knew he was growing quite attached to River.I could guess what he was feeling.That he hadn’t gone with us last time, and he lost Hasumi, and now he didn’t want to let his new friend out of his sight for fear he’d lose him too.

I ground my teeth together and looked at my watch.They had exactly ten minutes to step through that portal before I went after them and dragged them back.Not only would I be risking the attention of everyone who wanted to kill us the moment I stepped through that portal, Ialsowas going to fucking murder River for making me do it.Then everyone else would murderme,for being idiotic enough to allow this dumb ass mission in the first place.So… best if River and Bis just hurried the fuck up and saved us all a whole lot of misery and murdering.

“Come on,” I whispered, crossing my arms over my chest and impatiently tapping my fingers on my arm.“Move it, jackass cat.”Zhong was quietly pacing in the background, and his anxiety only made my own fear that much worse.

I was two minutes away from stepping through that portal when I felt a shift in the magic and a grinning jaguar shifter stepped through with my best friend perched on his shoulder.“There!”he said with the first genuine happiness this place had seen in a couple days.“See, no harm done.”

He held up what appeared to be a slender case of some sort, and he had a weird-looking roundish bag slung over his shoulder.I waved a hand and dispelled the portal, hissing slightly as the frisson of unstable energy gave me a little smack on the way out.“That’swhat all the fuss was about?”I demanded, narrowing my eyes.That bag resting on his hip looked suspiciously like the ones some of the elder witches toted to solstice parties.

He better not have just risked his life for a fucking drum.

River sighed and gave me a sad look.“I know you have been cut off from having a coven or a clan—but it’s important.Ceremony.Coming together with a group of people who share the experience of being alive—in this case, people who share your love and pain.It can be healing.”

Seeing my mutinous expression (becausefuckcovens and groups of elitist witches, thank you very much) River shook his head.“Please let me do this for you, Andy.For me.Forthem.”He waved vaguely in the direction of the house, where the others were tucked away, unaware of River’s little side trip.“Since I failed so miserably at doing anything else to spare you this pain.”

Zhong stepped up beside me, for once not waiting for my decision.Not deferring to the wishes of his master.Apparently, he reallydidlike River.That, or he was concerned that I would stubbornly refuse anything that might help me with this gaping black hole of grief that was eating at my core.

“What do you need?”Zhong asked the shifter.“Blankets?Cushions?Candles?Herbs?”

River gave him a soft smile of gratitude.“All of that would be lovely.Anything you think we need to make ourselves comfortable out here for a while.And maybe… wood for the fire pit, if there’s any left to spare?I know resources are tight here.”

Aahil snorted.“Don’t worry about the fire.I’ve got that covered, no fuel needed.”He had also been waiting nearby while River and Bis were away… but I think he had been more worried for our rodent child than the shapeshifter.

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