Page 4 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Nani, where are you?”
The slam of the door had me hurrying to the top of the stairs in time to see Nani peering up them, a small basket clasped in her hands. “Leela?” She beamed at me, and all the shit of today seemed to fall away.
I rushed downstairs and into her arms, filling my nose with the scent of cinnamon and lemon soap and her. My beautiful loving grandmother. “I missed you so much.” And I had. I’d missed her every day, and all those days came crashing in on me at once, bringing tears of guilt and remorse. I should never have left her. “I’m sorry I didn’t call. I don’t know why, I?—“
She pulled away and cupped my face, her dark, shrewd gaze boring into me. “Oh sweet child, it doesn’t matter. You’re here now.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek. “What happened, beti? What’s wrong?”
I didn’t want to go into it. It didn’t matter. Matt, thefight, the end of it all, none of it mattered now that I was home. I pulled away, shaking my head. “It’s nothing. I’m just glad to be here. Glad that you’re okay. I had an awful nightmare on the way down.”
Her eyes flinched. “You did? Tell me what you saw.”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
She gripped my shoulders tightly. “Tell me.”
My scalp pricked. “Um…I saw you, and…you were frightened and running from something. It was a dark shadowy…thing. You told me to run.” I put a hand on my belly as an echo of the dread from the dream bloomed there. “When I couldn’t find you here, I got worried. What were you doing out at three in the morning?”
Her gaze dropped to the open V of my shirt. “Leela, where is your amulet?” There was a wary tone to her voice, one that warned that there would be consequences to my response.
Crap. “I’m sorry, Nani, I meant to tell you. I lost it and?—”
She made a soft keening sound that had the hair at my nape quivering. “You promised. You vowed tonevertake it off.”
“Ididn’ttake it off. The clasp must have broken and?—”
She pressed her hand to her mouth, eyes wide with a foreboding that I didn’t understand.
“I’m sorry, I know itwas?—"
“Hurry.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hallway toward the kitchen.
“Nani, what is it? What’s going on?”
“Tonight, of all nights…” she muttered, chewing on her cheeks. “Samhain of all nights. It is no coincidence, and the dream…”
I yanked free of her grasp. “You’re scaring me.”
“And you should be scared. You have no idea what…” She trailed off with a shuddering breath and closed her eyes for a beat. When she opened them, there was a steely determination in them that I’d never seen before. “We don’t have much time. The Tulla plant died last winter, so I can’t brew the shield to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
“Whatever they’ve sent to find you.”
She started pulling jars of herbs off shelves and crushing stuff with her pestle and mortar.
“Who are you taking about? Who arethey?”
She ignored me, her focus on whatever concoction she was blending.
Despite her eccentricities, Nani had always been shrewd and sharp, but it crossed my mind now that maybe she’d succumbed to an age-related mental illness. What swayed me otherwise was the fear beating off her. It was sharp and real and infectious, sending my pulse into overdrive and waking a primal part of me that recognized it as true and valid.
“Nani, what are you making?”
She glanced up briefly. “A reveal spell. It’s the only way for them to find you.”
“For who to find me? Nani, seriously what the fuck is going on?”
She paused long enough to throw me a stern look. “No swearing in my house.”
