Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(68)

Oh, how I miss you, Mama!

Despite the lurking dangers of the early morning forest, I lost myself in the motions of running with disregard. The only way to endure the sorrow of missing Mama would be to find a greater pain, so I ran until my lungs burned. My knees ached. My heart beat so hard it threatened to crack my ribs.

I remember, my heart wept. I remember!

The grief opened up, flooding me with spikes and barbs and wretched sorrow. I let out a cry and slowed my pace. It was the first time since Mama’s death that I’d given the grief any kind of respect, and it threatened to rupture me. My legs gave out. I lowered to my knees.

“Mama,” I sobbed, pressing my face into my hands. “Mama!”

Like the mourners in the West, I wailed my torment. The cries came from deep in my belly. I held nothing back. All my ugly heart scars opened and I bled. I cried for minutes; it could have been hours. My eyes had almost swollen shut when I heard her voice again.

It’s going to be okay, Bianca, Everything will work out.

I looked up to find Mama standing a few paces away, her eyes focused on a spot in the distance. She looked calm and lovely in the white mourning dress she’d worn to Grandmother’s funeral. It had been the last time I’d really seen or spoken to her. The words came again, but from farther away this time.

Everything will work out.

Mama began to fade, first from her feet and then her hands. The ethereal substance trickled away, born on a gentle wind. She gazed down on me and smiled. The last thing I saw was her gray, gentle eyes.

I love you, Bianca.

Mama was gone.

“I love you, Mama,” I whispered, but she had already disappeared. The words choked in my throat. “Always.”

Something new clicked inside me, filling me with warmth. I felt spirited and strong. I lifted a hand and pressed it to my heart.

The magic.

It moved inside me with calm, languorous waves now, settling next to the swollen part of my heart that still mourned Mama. The magic and I were enemies no more. Startled by the swift change, I stood. It moved through my body, strengthening the muscles and sinews. I started to run and the magic ran with me.

It felt wonderful moving along the trail without struggle. I reached out to a dead, overhanging tree branch and let a little of the magic go. A shot of light spiraled through the dead mass. The wood trembled, shifting from the deep, dead gray to the same vibrant brown as the surrounding forest. I pressed my palm to the branches blackened from a dragon’s breath. They sprang back to life, jolly and green again.

“Yes,” I whispered with a smile. “Yes!”

I took off again, springing up hills, dodging low branches. I would have run forever, reveling in the magic, if a narrow pair of yellow eyes hadn’t startled me. My foot caught on a root and I pitched forward, rolling down a hill until I crashed into a pair of gleaming claws the length of my arm.

When I looked up, I gazed into the eyes of five towering forest dragons.





Really Quite Simple

“Blessed be,” I whispered, my chest heaving.

The dragons loomed so far above me that I had to crane my head back to see them. Their scales glittered with marbled veins of sapphire, crimson, emerald, and a deep mauve, seeming both colorful and dark. Heat radiating from their bodies flooded over me.

I crept to my feet, keeping my eyes trained on them until I had finally straightened, unable to determine if they meant me harm.

The smallest dragon, one with longer wings and mauve scales, leaned toward me, his nostrils flaring. He stomped and shuffled a second step closer. His great head came within an arm’s reach of me, nearly obstructing my view of his body. Beneath his mighty claws, the ground gave a little shudder. He suddenly backed away as if I’d touched him with something hot, then roared, sending a spray of fire into the trees directly in front of him.

A dark feeling spread from my heels up through my spine.

Let’s not frolic with the dragons tonight, Bianca, I thought. They don’t play nice.

I dodged a stomping claw and ran a few steps, but the long tail of a dragon hidden in the trees whipped around to block my escape. When I changed direction, another claw landed a few paces away. It didn’t take long to realize they had me hedged in, each dragon taking their turn sniffing at me and roaring to the treetops. The ground shuddered as two dragons barked, attacking each other with teeth bared. Their spastic movements catapulted me onto the end of a stray tail. The heat of the warm scales nearly sizzled my sweaty palm. I jerked away with a cry.

A new pair of sunburnt orange eyes and pulsing nostrils lowered right next to me. This dragon had a red tinge running through his scales like little flecks of blood, turning the ebony into a dark, seething black, like a breathing chunk of coal. I froze, unable to look away. Three of the other dragons screamed, fire bursting from their nostrils, while the red dragon and I continued to stare at each other.

Just when I thought this surly forest dragon would be the last creature I’d ever see, a shout broke into my thoughts.

“Lay off, you rotten lizard! She’s no harm to you. Bianca, stay behind me.” It was Sanna hobbling over, yelling in a surprisingly calm voice. “They are quite agitated tonight, the dirty rotten—”

“Sanna?” I gasped.

“Yes. Who else did you expect? Isadora? I told you, she’s a wimp. Do as I say. Unless you want your bowels hanging out.”