Page 48 of A Shade of Myself
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When I opened them again,I was on my knees in the dirt next to my sedan, my cheeks stained with tears.
Nav stood over me, his eyes clouded with worry and a hand outstretched to me. Beyond him, the tiny ferry bumped against the dock, while ancient trees stretched tall and proud to the sky.
It took me a second to process that I was back in the Park. Sadie wasn’t dead, and the illusion that convinced me otherwise was broken.
“What did you do?” I scrambled to my feet and lunged at Nav.
He grabbed me, twisting my arm behind my back. Not hurting me but keeping me in place. “Calm down. You said something about ice cream, and then you hit the ground, crying, like you were in a trance. I couldn’t get you to respond.”
A kernel of logic burrowed up through my fury. Nav didn’t have illusion magic, and even if he did, he’d never mess with me that way.
“Someone made me think my daughter was dead.” I was breathing heavily, white-knuckling my keys for the bite of pain to convince myself that the nightmare was over. “Did Kirby lie about the necklace? Is there really magic on it that screwed with my head?”
“He can’t lie. None of the demons can,” Nav said. “Not with those collars on. The necklace is harmless.” His jaw tightened and he assessed the woods with a wary look. “Someone was here and cast that illusion on you.” He phoned Clea asking for trackers to be sent over.
I rested my back against the car, waiting until he’d wrapped up the call. “I’m staying.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Make me go, then.” I laughed, bitterness spewing out of me. I wanted to destroy whoever or whatever had made me feel that way. If Nav and his people thought they could stop me, then I’d love to see them try.
Especially, I smirked as I drew my cloaking over myself, if they couldn’t even see where I was.
Nav swore, his eyes darting over my vanishing form, then stomped his staff against the ground. A blinding light shot out to envelop me and he screamed in pain, tendons in his neck straining as his magic hooked into me.
“I cultivated a new ability just for you, poppet,” he rasped, and tore my cloaking away.
The black mesh hung in tattered shreds, binding my arms and legs together. I couldn’t free myself.
Nav dumped me in my car like a trussed-up turkey while I called him every name in the book.
“I’ll free you the second you promise to go home.”
“Naveen, you bastard!”
“Miriam.” I reluctantly looked up at his sharp tone. “Let my people find whoever did this. Go be with Sadie and shake off what you just experienced.”
The fight drained out of me, my mama-bear urge to protect my cub stronger than my need for vengeance. I sighed. “You win. Will you text me if you find anyone?”
“I promise.”
I ignored the speed limit in my dash home to see my daughter for myself and ensure this wasn’t yet another illusion. A much worse one, giving me a brief, shining joy before plunging me back into the darkness.
After the world’s worst parking job, I ran inside, calling Sadie’s name. My heart stopped for what felt like an eternity until she poked her head out of the kitchen.
“Finally,” she said, pulling out her phone. “I’ll text Jude to meet us at—oomph!”
I crushed her in a hug, breathing in the scent of strawberry lip gloss. She was real. This was real. But her death felt real, too.
I grabbed her by the shoulders. “What was the name of the made-up language you spoke as a kid?”
“Why?”
“Answer me!”
“Zzz language,” she said warily.
