"Dad sent mom up the stairs. He stayed behind to hold the beast off." My voice cracks. "He made his last stand here."
I point to the floor beneath my feet.
My father died on this spot. He died so my mother and I could live.
Turning slowly, I go to head up the stairs, and Torben stops me.
"I'm not stopping you," he says quickly. "Let me come with you. We don't know what we may find up there."
I nod. To be honest, I'm almost afraid of what's at the top of the stairs.
Each step upthe flight of stairs, my feet feel made of lead.
As much as I want answers to what happened—or even why it happened—I know I'll never get them. Closure is all I'll get out of this leg of the trip.
Dad died protecting me and mom.
Did mom live?
I don't know. As we near the top to what's left of the second floor, I have a sinking feeling we're about to find out.
Torben stops me, and Easton goes flying down the hallway ahead of us. Diaval moves alongside me and gives me a gentle nod.
They know something.
Deep gouges from claws mar the walls, as if whatever it was dragged its claws to frighten my mother.
I poke my head into each room on the way down the hall. One room, scorched by fire, appears to have been my parents' room. A large metal bed frame sits under the missing ceiling. Leaves and debris litter the floor. A heap of what I guess was the bed sits in the middle of the frame.
Nothing to see here.
Turning back down the hall, there's but one room left.
Easton comes out squawking, using his wings to stop me.
"Maybe I should go first..." Diaval offers.
I nod.
Easton lets him pass, and I stand and wait.
I can only imagine what he found that made him stop me.
My heart pounds against my ribs. My mother could be in that room. Her bones could be lying on the floor, waiting for me to find them.
Or maybe—just maybe—there's a window. An escape route. Evidence that she got out.
I cling to that hope like a lifeline, even as everything in me knows the truth.
If she'd survived, she would have come for me.
She would have found me.
The fact that she didn't tells me everything I need to know.
Chapter 36
Diaval
