“I’m sorry, it must have slipped my mind as I woke up and you told me that a fairygobbledmy tooth and grew five feet in size!” I roared back. And the realization that Ruben had died completely gutted me and made me forget I’d even told the truth witch about TheEye.
He took a hard right and started back toward the cemetery. “Okay. Good point, but I’m not strong enough to shield The Eye. We needEva.”
I whipped out my phone and sent a text toEva.
–Oopsie forgot to mention the druids might now have The Eye. Can you shieldus?–
No reply. She was probably very busy with my mom’sremains.
“Okay. Don’t panic,” Danny said out loud, almost tohimself.
‘Everything okay?’I asked Logan. What if the druids were at the cemetery now, fighting Logan for my mother’s priceless necklace? I’ll bet Ardan could somehow take power fromit.
‘Fine. Why?’came hisreply.
‘Tell Eva to check her phone…’ I told him. I was too scared to admit what I’d done. I should have told them sooner, but I’d been too preoccupied with the fairy and then Danny’s mention of getting my mom’s necklace and Ruben’spassing...
A second later I could feel nerves through the bond.‘Get back here.Now!’
Crap.If there was a class in screwing shit up, I would get anA+.
Danny drove hard and fast back to the cemetery, flying through the opengates.
The second we reached the end of the road I saw a brilliant white glow. Logan, Keegan, and Eva were all illuminated by it. Isaac was on his knees doing something to the ground, which is where the light was coming from. My throat tightened as I fled the car. That light, I was so drawn to it. It was soft yet magnificent. As I came closer, Logan turned and rushed towardsme.
“You’re safe,” he breathed, taking me in hisarms.
I nodded and stared at the light. “Is that…?” I couldn’t sayit.
Logan took my hand and led me to the mound of dirt Isaac kneltbefore.
‘Isaac said it’s your mom’s essence finally joining with the Earth.’He told me mentally.‘All of the bones are buried so you won’t see anything …unpleasant.’
For that I wasgrateful.
The light was leaking out of the dirt mound in slivers now. Isaac’s wand was shoved into the earth as his orange crystal ball pulsed at the tip. I hadn’t had my earth wand long, but my fingers ached to touch it again, to feel that power and safety. What if my mom’s necklace never gave me that? The light pulses grew faster as I stepped closer, then suddenly it flared so bright I had to shield my eyes and look away. After a full thirty seconds of glowing, it abruptly stopped and I looked at the mound withwonder.
“What is it?” I asked Isaac, as my eyes roamed over the single white flower that now stood in the center of the mound that held my mother’s remains. Isaac’s eyes were lined withtears.
“It’s a life flower. Confirmation from the Earth that your mother’s essence has been received, and redistributed into the Nwyfre. She is now a part of the energy you will use to fight and to heal. She is one with Mother Earth again.” His voice croaked a little inawe.
I fell to my knees before the single white flower. It was a poppy flower, I realized, my mother’s favorite. Tears were streaming down my cheeks freely, my throat tightening. This whole time I’d kept my mother in a box and away from the Earth. I didn’t know. Now she was … everywhere. I could almost sense a sliver of her unique energy when I placed my hands on theground.
Isaac leaned closer to me. “The last life flower I saw was my own mother’s. If you smell it, its scent will be uniquelyhers.”
His proclamation shocked me. This poppy was going to smell like my mother? My deceased mother? My heart cranked up a notch as I leaned forward on shaky hands. What I wouldn’t give to breathe her aroma again. I’d kept one of her sweaters, but it barely held her perfume anymore. It had taken on the unique aroma of “living out of acar.”
As my face got closer to the poppy, I inhaled. When the scent hit me, a sob ripped from mythroat.
Mom.
Rosemary, lavender, andMom. Itdidsmell like her. My sob turned into a full-blown laugh then, it was socrazy.
Isaac laughed too. “Amazing, isn’t it?” he asked, beaming at me. He alone knew what this waslike.
I nodded. I wanted to pull the flower and keep it forever, but I knew if I did it would die. Better to keep it here and hope it stayed alive so I could come smell her any time Iwanted.
“I love you, Mom. I’m going to make you proud,” I told the flower. A warm hand fell on my shoulder then, and I knew it wasLogan.
