Page 33 of Firefly

“Sarah, I know you’re scared, but please don’t worry about your mama. Even when I’m gone, I’ll watch over you and make sure you’re safe.”

Sarah nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks. “Thea says you’re going to live in Heaven.”

Rebecca dipped her chin. “As we all must one day. But I’ll never stop thinking about you, my sweet girl.”

“Then it will be just me and Thea and Grandpapa.”

Rebecca’s arms tightened around Sarah. “I need you to promise me something. Can you do that?”

Sarah nodded, her small brows furrowing.

“Never let your grandfather see your magic. And when you’re old enough, leave this estate. Get as far away as you can. Do you promise?”

Sarah bit her lip, considering the request seriously. “Grandpapa is bad, isn’t he?”

Pain pierced Rebecca’s heart. The last thing she wanted was for her child to be afraid in her own home, but if she lied, this could be Sarah’s fate one day, too.

“He wants magic. If he knows you have it, he’ll try to take it. You must keep it secret.”

Sarah’s brow crinkled as she considered carefully before saying, “I promise.”

Chapter 25

Simon

Dawn was approaching, and the moment Simon had dreaded most was nearly upon him. Since becoming the thing he was now, he’d never trusted a soul with his body while it lay unattended. On the estate, he’d barred the room with his twisted magic, knowing no one could bypass it.

In this foreign land, he’d found creative places to hide, and every day, he returned to it, hoping he wouldn’t find his body ravaged by beasts or buried beneath the earth. Being buried alive once was enough to haunt him for the rest of his existence.

Now, he would be forced to rely on eighty-nine men with his secret.

“Williams. Come here a second.”

Williams slid beside him along the dark wall of a shipping container.

“I had hoped we’d be aboard a ship before morning, but it’s not looking like luck is on my side. For this next part, I’m going to need your help.”

Simon looked over his shoulder at the men sleeping slumped beside one another. They’d slept in far worse conditions, and after a night of running and very little food, they would need rest if they hoped to make it home.

He swallowed, the words sticking in his throat. “I… I’m not… Well, you see…”

Williams clapped him on the back. “I know you’re not human.”

Simon froze, going preternaturally still.

When he said nothing, Williams went on. “You only come around at night. You move too fast for a human, and sometimes your eyes glow in the dark. It wasn’t hard to guess.”

In five years, no one had seen what he truly was. No one had seen his odd behavior apart from Rebecca. But even she hadn’t seen his eyes. He’d begun to believe no one ever would.

Simon stared into Williams’ eyes, searching for the same glow, but seeing nothing. “What… What are you?”

Williams laughed. It was a deep belly laugh that settled some of the tension in Simon’s taut limbs. “I’m a witch.”

Simon slouched against the shipping container. Rebecca was a witch. Alexander was a witch, and it wasn’t as if he’d ever asked Alexander what he looked like. Could witches see him as he truly was? Was he this way because he was a witch?

For a moment, he dared to hope Rebecca would become like him when her strange illness took her. But that made little sense.

“What gift do you have?”

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