Page 13 of Bad Bunny
My breath comes out in a relieved whoosh, which immediately turns sour. I feel terrible pushing her like that. Especially when I know Mom will do almost anything I ask these days. She’s told me over and over how sorry she is that I gave up my life in Colorado to come back to Maryland and be with her.
My little condo. Weekends on the trails. Nights out drinking overpriced microbrews with friends who knew me when things were easy.
I told her it didn’t matter. That she was more important than any of it. And I mean it.
But sometimes, late at night, I miss that old life so much it aches like a bruise.
One I try not to poke at.
“Great.” I clap my hands together, loud enough to make us all flinch. My thoughts snap back to Sorren. The car is probably stuffy by now. “Well, um, I need to go take care of something.” I point behind me. “I can come back in a little bit. Help you pack.”
Renee is already up and moving. She pats my shoulder as she walks past. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ve got it.”
I give her a soft, “Thanks,” and hope she hears the gratitude in it.
Then I’m out the door, flying back down the stairs and to the car.
Sorren wakes with some prodding, enough that he can walk into the house. Thankfully, there’s a spare bedroom downstairs, one my mom and aunt never go into. I tuck him into bed, tell him I’ll get a glass of water, but he’s asleep again by the time I come back, so I settle into the chair across from him.
I reach for my back pocket to pull out my phone and come up empty.Crap. No phone. I’d left it shattered in my classroom. Now what? How am I going to stay in touch with Mom while she’s at Renee’s house? I’m on my feet before the thought finishes forming, heading back upstairs.
Renee meets me in the hallway.
“My phone’s toast,” I tell her. “If something happens, if you need me—”
She presses her cell phone into my hand before I can finish. “Take mine. I’ll be with your mom the whole time. I still have the landline at home too.”
I give her a quick hug, breathing in the same citrus shampoo she’s used my whole life. “That’s the second time you’ve saved me today.”
A small shrug. “That’s what family’s for.” She leans closer. “You sure you’re okay? You seem a little…off.”
At this moment, I love and hate how well she knows me.
“Fine,” I say quickly. “Just nervous about Seth. Meeting his family and everything.”
“I’m sure it’ll go great, hon. And if it doesn’t…” Renee raises her fists like a boxer and throws a quick one-two punch. “I’ve got a mean right hook.” She bumps my shoulder. “You know I’ll fight anyone who messes with my girl.”
I laugh, because I love her and I know she actually means it. But along with my chuckle comes a stab of guilt for lying to her. I shove it down. There’s no time for that now. I need her to leave. To get out of here as quickly as possible.
“Thanks,” I tell her. “If anything feels wrong while I’m gone,anythingat all, call me.”
“I will,” she promises.
The tightness in my chest loosens, just enough to breathe.
***
Sorren
I wake in a strange room with unfamiliar walls and sunlight that smells wrong. My memory of getting here is blurry. The monster Nora calls a car. Her hand braced at my waist. My back burning like fire beneath skin.
Low voices murmur down the hallway. Nora, her smell threaded with my own magic and someone else. I lift my nose and scent. Nora and a blood relative, but not direct. Not enough to be recognized by my uncle, the bastard. Another slow inhalation tells me Nora’s mother is here as well, but farther away. Her smell is tinged with sickness, the slow failing from the inside and the bitter taste of death in the distance. I hate it, knowing the pain that is coming for this small family. Her mother had been kind, had stroked my fur gently this morning.
If I could stop it, save her, I would, but even royal magic has limits.
I roll to my side and stare at the wall, my mind whirring. So much has happened in the last two days. My father’s death, grief fresh and raw in my mind. My uncle’s betrayal. How I fled, wounded and bleeding.
I prayed as I entered the portal. Asked Eldryn to guide my steps. Not for a sign. He does not give them. But for his will to be made known through the path that opened before me. Silently, I begged him to send me to a safe harbor.
