Closing her eyes, she tried to remember what it was like to live in her nest, among her own. She could barely even remember what her brother and sister looked like.
Simi had long forgotten the sound of her mother’s voice and that hurt most of all.
She missed her mother and her family.
Like the bears here. She saw Dev fighting with his identical brother Remi. They shoved and then hugged. That was family. You might fight, but you always came back together. ’Cause family was everything.
She believed that.
A sudden wave of sadness went through her. That wasn’t like the Simi. She was always happy.
Well, she tried to be. There was enough sadness in the world. She didn’t need to add more.
But that awful heavy feeling had moved into her chest. She didn’t like it.
Was this what it meant to grow up? To stop being happy all the time? Most the adults around her carried awful sadness inside them.
She didn’t want that. They all seemed to have a part of them missing. A part of their soul that was so scarred that it kept them from seeing the good things in their lives.
The little things that made her so giddy. Like hot sauce and music. A pretty sunset. Good eats.
Simi didn’t want to fight or judge others. She just wanted to live in peace and find the unique beauty that surrounded everyone and everything.
What was it that killed hearts? Too much pain? Or living too many years? She wasn’t sure. Whatever caused it, she just hoped that she never had it. ’Cause the Simi liked to laugh, and she wanted to always appreciate all the different kinds of people and creatures around her.
If growing up stole that from her, then she hoped she always stayed young. Maybe akri was right. She just needed to be a little girl longer.
At least as long as she could.
19
July 6, 1970
Simi paused as she saw akri-Thorn sitting alone in one of the booths in Sanctuary. It wasn’t like him to hang out in the bear restaurant, as he preferred much swankier kinds of places. She very rarely saw him here.
And it definitely wasn’t like him to be all mopey.
Hmm …
Worried about her friend, she headed toward him and took a seat across the table. Without a word, she slid her bowl of ice cream over to him.
He looked up with a scowl that turned into a smile. “What are you doing?”
“You look like you could use some hot sauce covered chocolate magic. It never fails to make the Simi feel all better whenever she’s feeling all bluesy.”
Laughing, he pushed it back toward her. “While I appreciate your thoughtfulness, I don’t think this is going to help. I’d rather you enjoy it.”
Simi pursed her lips. “You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Okies.” She took a bite while he returned to being fretful. “So, what’s wrong, big guy? You look like akri when one of them Daimons eat too many human souls.”
“I feel like Acheron when the Daimons eat too many human souls.” Sighing, he rubbed at his forehead. “I just found out that Cam did what all of us told her not to do.”
Simi licked the spoon. “She a goddess. She kind of does what she wants all the time. Isn’t that the whole point of being a primal goddess?”
He didn’t appear amused by her comment. “It’s bad, Simi. There’s a baby out there that Cam intends to use to birth a Malachai when the poor girl’s old enough. None of us know where Cam’s hidden that baby or who she is. It’s an innocent child who’s going to be used and abused and that’s wrong.”
