Page 112 of The Shade of Things
Juliette unsuccessfully stifled a laugh. I didn’t even bother trying.
Eli sat back, his arms crossed. “All right, child. I get it.”
Sadie wasn’t done. “I’m not the Lieutenant Uhura of Team Feldman-Chu. I’m Kira Nerys. Got it?”
Eli shot me a triumphant look. “She’s Kira, not Buffy.”
There it was. His real fear, that he was losing Sadie to magic. A world that I was part of in a way that he could never be. He wasn’t mad at me, he just craved reassurance that Sadie was still his baby girl, and if he got it from her being Star Trek crew instead of the Slayer, that was perfectly okay.
“Yes, she is,” I agreed. “And thrilled that I am that all this is out in the open, it doesn’t explain how Sadie animated her shadow. That’s a Banim Shovavim power, but hers was made of light, which is pure Ohrist.”
“That’s the confusing part,” Juliette said. “I will have to dig deeper into how this is possible. Again, it might go back to your pregnancy.”
“Sades,” I said, “do you know what you did with that man’s magic? Did you absorb it or did you null it?”
She scrunched up her face. “Both? I’m not more powerful, and I didn’t take on his powers, just kind of sucked them out and killed them. I didn’t even think about what I did. It was pure instinct, and it shocked the shit out of me.”
“Language,” Eli chided.
“Dad, I eat magic. I can swear.” She flexed her fingers and slowly released a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about it, but I have no idea if there’s anything else I can do.”
“You need to train with Nav,” Eli said. “He has light magic.”
“She should train with my uncle as well,” Juliette said. “He’s the only one with both types of powers. Sadie has a cross signal with your Banim Shovavim magic, even though it’s not genetic.”
My daughter groaned. “Does that mean more running?”
“It means whatever they tell you,” Eli said. “Right, Mir?”
I smiled, glad he wasn’t shutting Laurent out as a resource. Or me. “Right.”
Juliette told Sadie to call her if anything about her magic didn’t feel right or she had any questions.
After Eli and Sadie thanked her, I walked Juliette to the door, adding my profuse gratitude, while she artfully threw a large scarf around her neck and shoulders.
“Sadie will be okay,” she assured me. “It’s a bit of a puzzle, but I hear you like those.” She grinned.
I blushed. Laurent had been speaking about me to her? I stepped onto the front stoop with her, some kids across the street groaning as a basketball bounced off a backboard in their driveway.
“Laurent told me about Delphine,” I said. “About all of it. I’m sorry. It must have been awful losing your aunt that way.”
Juliette pulled car keys out of her small leather bag. “It was. She was wonderful, but life must go on, yes? We owe it to the dead to live as fully as we can to honor them. My parents impressed that on me after we lost her.”
“It’s a lovely sentiment and not true as often as it should be.” Here I was, forty-two years old, only feeling like I was accomplishing that for the first time since I was a kid.
She slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Some of us need more help than others.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, your father and Laurent. Are they estranged because he left the pack?”
“No. My uncle finds it easier to believe that everyone is mad at him and run away than see anyone else’s grief. Tatiana had hoped to break him of that, but she’s the same way.”
“What do you mean?”
“She blames herself for Delphine’s death. Tatiana isn’t close to most of her family, but she adored her niece. She believes that if she’d been less focused on her career and been around more, that Delphine would have turned to her.” Juliette shook her head. “She wouldn’t have. That wasn’t Delphine’s way. My mother was her best friend and even she didn’t know that Delphine wasn’t sleeping well, never mind about the pregnancy.” She gave a wry smile. “That’s the problem with people who heal or grow things. We tend to everything except ourselves.”
“I hope you break that pattern.”
“I’m trying. It’s part of why I came here, regardless of what my uncle believes. Plus, I missed him.” A wistful look crossed her face. “Missed who he used to be. But I am seeing glimpses of that man again.” She leaned in and kissed both my cheeks, then ran lightly down the stairs to her car.
I’d witnessed such depraved behavior since I’d reclaimed my magic, and the Human Race had been some of the worst. Right now though, the sky was bright, and my chest fizzed with giddy lightness. Maybe we’d needed to experience that evil to bring out the best in ourselves.
I snorted. The adults kept fumbling along taking baby steps out of our negative patterns, while my daughter had shown how to handle a curveball with confidence and resiliency. Be more like Sadie. I smiled. I could do that.
