7—Abigail
Abigail stalked through the yard, away from her foolish progeny, her own last words ringing in her ears:I disown her.
Stupid little girl, she thought.
Behind her, Rissa burst into tears, wailing, “He took Paisley, and now he’s going to take Frannie, too.”
“Shh, shh,” Mina said. “It’ll be okay.” But her voice was breaking.
“Stupid, stupid girl,” Abigail muttered, ignoring the twovixieand their whining. She needed damage control. Thoughts of what to do now swirled in her mind and she couldn’t choose one. It wasn’t supposed to be Paisley! The child was foretold to be released unharmed, but the foretelling said ahumanchild, while Paisley was halfshiften. WouldPaisleybe released unharmed?! Or would the demon realize what he had and keep her?
Abigail reached the corner of the house with no idea what to do next.
“Nana!”
Abigail stopped in her tracks. Mina hadn’t called her, ‘Nana,’ in decades.
“Please,” Mina said.
Abigail stood still, back to Mina, head down, eyes on the ground, willing to be swayed. She needed Mina’s cooperation.
“Please don’t disown her,” Mina said. “She’ll be taken by…” Mina trailed off, maybe thinking that Paisley had been taken even while under Abigail’s protection.
Abigail turned around to see Mina kneeling next to motionless Frannie. Rissa had come close and was also kneeling, her face twisted in concern. They’d turned Frannie over so shewas faceup, eyes closed, head relaxed, withvvystrestraining her limbs tightly to her body.
Mina spoke hesitantly. “She’s right about thevod,you know. Sage would never forgive any of us if we hadn’t called them.”
Two neighbors peeked around hedges, watching them. It was a good thing the neighbors were all family.
Abigail shook her head angrily, crooking a finger at Mina. “Don’t try to justify this—you can’t! Years and years of magic were all erased the moment that stupid little doe invited thevodhere. I’ll have to start over from scratch! It’ll be months before anyone can live here again! You have tomove,now.”
“Move!?” Rissa echoed, alarmed.
Mina shook her head. “We can’t move.”
“Thevodare coming here now. They’ll search the yard with a fine-tooth comb. They’ll go in your house, I guar-un-damn-tee it,” Abigail hissed, banging her fist on the siding.
Mina’s face lost its color, and she clutched at her throat. “First the demon, now thevod,” she gasped. “But where will we go?”
“I’ll move you up to the Inn.”
“Rissa, too?”
“Everyone.”
Mina gestured at Frannie, her eyes imploring. Abigail stared for a moment then softened.
“Fine,” she said. “Frannie, too.”
Mina gave her a grateful look.
The sound of sirens swelled in the distance, making Abigail’s heart rate speed up. She cast her arms wide and gestured to the houses all around with their backyards connected. Three more neighbors had come out and were watching silently.
“Thevodare on their way,” she called as loud as she could. “There's been an incident. Yes, the demon came to the Ula. Yes, he took… he took…” She couldn’t make herself say Paisley’s name. She leaned against the wall of Mina’s house, suddenly weak in the knees, feeling too old for this shit. She put a hand to her forehead, then dropped it, summoning all her strength and will—she would not look weak! “I’m activating the Vvyndicate,” she shouted, standing as tall as she was able. “And I’ll notify the elders. Thevodare on their wayhere, because that stupid little doe called them.” Abigail pointed at Frannie, then steamrolled over there to give her a good kick, but Mina shot to her feet and headed Abigail off. Abigail kicked some rocks around instead. “They’ll demand to go in Mina and Rissa’s house.” She pointed around at thefoxenwatching. “They're going to scour the yard, dozens of them. They’ll want to go inside all your houses if they get the slightest whiff of any of us being what we are. They'll come back anytime they want and they'll use any excuse to detain you. Flee now, and don’t come back. Take what you can carry. I’ll provide cabins for anyone who wants one, but youmust go now. Do not talk to thevodunder any circumstance. Donotuse texts or group chats. Each of you follow your emergencyvodplan, activate your call tree, and getgoing!”
Everyone ran back to their houses. Mina and Rissa were staring at Abigail with identical looks of horror on their faces.
“Will you go after Paisley?” Rissa whispered, almost too soft to hear.
