Page 51 of Scarred

“Here we are.” Shelly said and stopped in front of the cutest house. If Amma didn’t know better, she would think her mother Lily lived there. “As you can see, Jo has been nesting a lot.”

“Jo did this?” Amma was surprised.

“Pregnancy is turning her into a hearth witch.” She banged on the door. “Jo, I have a visitor for you.”

“The visitor better have a nice juicy hotdog,” Jo yelled. “With ketchup, mustard, and relish.”

Amma pushed open the door and walked in. “Really, cousin, that’s what you want? A hotdog?”

“Amma!” Jo shrieked and raced into her arms. “I never thought I would see you again.”

“It has been a long journey.” Amma hugged her cousin but was surprised by the show of affection. “You hadn’t left the house when I left. I worried something had happened to you.”

“I was the last of the cousins to leave.” Jo pulled away and wiped her tears. “Our house was burning. All those generations of blessings, gone.”

“What about the willow tree?” Amma’s heart broke hearing her childhood home had been burnt to the ground. “Please tell me it survived.”

“I don’t know,” Jo said. “I hope that it’s protected by the celebration and all the protection we gave it, but there was dark magic working that night.”

“What do you mean?” Amma asked. “Wait, you need to sit down.”

Jo grinned and patted her belly. “I am treated like a queen here. They don’t understand morning sickness. Even though it doesn’t always happen in the morning.” She sat down. “If I didn’t force Ru to leave me alone now and then, I wouldn’t have to do anything for myself.”

“You’re getting lazy is what I’m hearing,” Amma teased. Shelly laughed.

“I’ll show you ‘lazy.’” Jo held up her hand and purple flames danced along her fingers.

Amma rolled her eyes. “Always showing off. On that note, I saw what you did to the yard. My mom would be proud.”

“You think so?” Jo asked. “I think my baby is going to be a hearth witch. I’m cleaning and decorating like crazy.”

“Have you spoken to her yet?” Amma asked. “I remember one of the other cousins saying one of the perks of being a witch was the ability to communicate with their daughters in the womb.”

“Not yet.” Jo rubbed her stomach. “I think she needs to develop a little more.” She laughed. “Ru is confident we are having a male.”

“Not a chance.” Amma sat in a much larger chair while Shelly dropped cross-legged on the floor. “You know we have never had a man in our bloodline.”

“I tried telling him that. He said we are breaking the mold.”

Jo laughed. “I want to see his face when a daughter pops out screaming her lungs out.”

Shelly leaned back on her hands and said, “Unless…Do you think we will start having males now that we are here?”

“I doubt it. This is something that has survived over centuries. What would we do with a male witch? Would the power even be passed down to a boy?”

“It will be fun to see what happens as we start to find our family, as scattered as we are,” Amma said. “I wonder how many others are going to show up with a mate in tow.”

“Hopefully all of them are of age.” Jo said. She glanced over at Shelly. “Although I think most of our cousins and sisters and nieces have more sense than to get seriously involved with someone when they themselves are still too young.” Shelly blushed at that. Jo continued, “There is so much about this world that we need to learn to survive. By the way, I saw Mia and her daughter Julian. They are happy in a different village, named Lnuuk.”

“I heard,” Amma said. “It makes me wonder if some of the family who had already left our property were able to escape to this world when shit hit the fan.”

“I hope so. We keep looking for them,” Jo answered. “Ru and I send out search parties every few days to check our borders.”

Amma leaned forward with a grin. “I also heard you kicked butt in a fight. I want to know everything.”

“There’s not much to tell.” Jo shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I just did what any of us would do if a black witch tried to act like a bitch.”

“A real black witch?” Amma’s eyes widened.

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