I know in my heart that if the roles were reversed, Dessin and all of his alters would never give up on me. Not ever. They would take care of my body and protect me until their dying breath.
It’s well past midnight, so I make myself cup of chamomile and lavender tea, sitting at Dessin’s bedside while I read to him.
“Mom.”
I lift my head from the book, locking eyes with Krimson in the doorway. He has his father’s height, build, and eye shape. Nearly all of his qualities except for his one emerald-green eye on the left.
“You’re back,” I say with a sleepy smile.
“Mom…” he says again, this time I catch the tension in his voice, the static in the air.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sapphire left the tavern with Niklaus.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Do I really want to hear this?”
They’ve hated each other their entire lives. But I don’t want to know what my daughter is up to when she’s drunk.
“I can’t find them anywhere.”
I almost suggest that maybe she doesn’t want to be found. But there’s an alertness in his eyes. A piercing expression that’s trying to tell me something else. Something out of fear.
“You already know what my response is going to be. That maybe they don’t want to be found right now because they went back to Niklaus’s house. But there’s something you’re not saying…”
Krimson nods, pressing his fist over his mouth with wide eyes.
“I have this feeling,” he says in a deep, low voice. “She’s in danger.”
“Is she hurt?!” I toss my book to the ground and rush over to him. “What’re we still doing here? Get Aunt Marilynn and Uncle Niles up. Let’s go look for them.”
My blood is charged and generating bursts of adrenaline. The sleepiness that once hung over my eyes is now completely gone.
I go over a million different scenarios in my head before I can blink again.
“No. It’s…fuck, I don’t know how to explain this.” Krimson tightens his jaw and looks to his father’s bed for answers.
“Try,” I say through my teeth.
“There is no point in searching for her here.”
I wave my hand in a circular motion for him to get to the point before my anxiety really takes over.
“Sapphire isn’t here. No where we can look.”
“WHERE THEN?!” God, I feel like Dessin’s temper has taken over my senses. I never snap at Krimson like this.
“I-I don’t know, Mom. It’s as if she blinked from existence.” He crosses his arms and shakes his head. “She went somewhere we can’t reach at all. I know that doesn’t make sense. But I swear to God, Mom, I can feel it in my gut. Sapphire needs me. I can practically hear her calling out to me.”
My mouth falls open, and I’m at a loss for words.
“Fuck. I sound crazy!” Tears glaze over his piercing stare. “It doesn’t make any sense, I know! But something happened to her!”
“Stop. No. I believe you. You’re not crazy.”
I pace the room, drumming my fingers against my mouth in thought. The void would have alerted me to find my daughter. But it didn’t. That must mean she’s outside of my reach, wherever she is.
When Krimson and Sapphire were little, I wondered if they would have any special traits like Dessin and me. I wondered if I kept them away from any traumatic experiences, which I did, would they have unexplained abilities.
