“No. It’s eating time.” Simi smiled at her so wide that she flashed her fangs.
That made Xedrix laugh.
Simi still didn’t understand why her sissy was so angry all the time. Or why she didn’t like akra-Apollymi who was always nice to Simi.
The world confuzzled her. But maybe one day, it might make sense.
Today, however, wasn’t that day. Today was just another day where Simi would aggravate her sister, eat some meat and try to figure out why her mother was so upset.
2
Simi lay in her room with her feet propped up along the wall. She was watching shadows play across the ceiling when she heard Xirena cry out.
It was an awful, terrible sound. Like her sissy’s entire heart had been shredded. The only other time she’d ever heard such a horrible sound was when akra-Apollymi had cut her baby boy from her own belly and handed it off to another goddess to be taken to the human world so that the Atlantean gods wouldn’t kill her baby boy.
Worried that her sister had cut out a baby, too, she quickly rolled over and flew to Xirena.
Only Xirena wasn’t the only one crying. Xedrix cried, too. Just as hard, but in silence.
Xedrix never cried. Not for any reason. Xirena said he hadn’t even cried when their pappas died.
“What’s wrong?” Simi asked, approaching them slowly in the air. “You gots aches in your hearts? Why?”
Xirena cried even harder. “I can’t tell her, Xed. I can’t.”
Xedrix grabbed Simi out of midair and held her so tight against his chest that it hurt. Her wings were crimped against his muscled chest.
“Simi can’t breathe!”
He only loosened his hold slightly. “Our mother’s dead, Simi,” he whispered in her ear.
Those words hit Simi harder than one of her sissy’s blows as she tried to understand them.
Matera dead? No.
No!
It was a lie. It had to be. Their father had died long ago.
Not their mother. They were confused.
Matera wasn’t dead. She wasn’t allowed to be. Not when Simi needed her.
Akra-Apollymi needed her, too.
Unable to believe them, she teleported from his arms, into akra-Apollymi’s garden. Sitting on the edge of her dark fountain, the goddess was crying even harder than her brother and sister were.
No. No. No …
No!
“Akra?” Simi asked as tears blinded her. “Where’s my matera?”
The goddess pulled her into her arms just like Xedrix had done. “I’m so sorry, Simi. I wasn’t able to protect her. I never meant for this to happen. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Simi wailed at the loss of her mother. How could she be gone? How?
Why?
