Page 112 of My Eternal Light

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Zadie watched as the children colored at the long tables in the dining room. They had been making cookies, but had run out of sugar. Kyrn had smiled sheepishly at her when he admitted to making several dozen a day before he left to get some from Cord. Kincaid’s parents had run down to the Border City to offer healing, leaving her with the kids.

She was helping Cody lay out his crayons when, as one, the children quieted. They all turned toward the door.

“Kids?” she asked.

Aeron stood and pointed to the kitchen. Like a perfectly aligned set of cogs, the five years old grabbed the infants and they silently filed into the kitchen. Aeron took her hand. She bent down, grabbed her backpack and he led her behind them, holding a finger to his lips. Aralea helped Giles with his siblings. When they were all inside the pantry, he closed the door and they all hunkered down.

In the distance she heard heavy footsteps.

She looked to Cody. Bad men. He mouthed.

Zadie realized that the children had been so in tune with their surroundings, they had recognized the sound of the men’s footsteps from a distance and hid themselves.

Your fathers? She mouthed back.

He shook his head. The others.

Reaching into her backpack she felt every type of pissed to see she had neglected to charge her phone. Not that she had anyone’s number anyway. Feeling disgusted with herself she went to hand her taser to Aeron, but he shook his head. Aralea held out her hand instead. Nodding, she pointed to the button to turn it on, then made a jabbing motion. The girl nodded.

She took out her pepper-gel and regretted how much she had used on the asshole witch. She shook it, she had less than half a canister to defend them.

Cody passed Dillon to Aeron. He met her eyes, then before they could grab him, he opened the door and darted outside.

She turned to Aeron. “Stay hidden.”

She ran after the small boy. Seconds later she heard his voice from the kitchen. “My tummy hurts, I’m hungry. Help!”

When she raced in she saw he had tapped the crystal that allowed the squires to communicate with one another.

“Is everything okay there?” a deep voice asked.

“Help! The bad men are here!”

From the other side of the room the door swung open and men she didn’t know moved forward.

She grabbed Cody, opened the pantry door and shoved him inside. She took up a position outside the door. When the first guy got close enough, she sprayed his eyes. He went down screaming. She went to spray the second, but her canister was empty. He brought his meaty fist down and clipped her cheek. For a moment everything went black, and she saw literal stars.

“Move, bitch,” he growled.

“No, I do believe you will have to move,” that same deep voice from before said from behind the men.

Zadie looked up, blinking repeatedly. Cord, Kyrn, and three other men was standing in the kitchen. And they all looked pissed.

The man holding her threw her to one side and tried for the pantry door, but it wouldn’t move.

Kryn’s face twisted. “Never again! You will never hurt this family again.”

“Not while we live,” Cord said, his hands glowing. Seconds later he threw bolts of pure light at the men.

“How dare you?” the familiar deep voice said, as he held both hands out in front of him and made a rising motion. The men levitated unable to get their bearings as gravity ceased to exist for them.

The last two stepped forward. One was dual wielding butcher knives as he sliced upward, then sideways. The second, using his clawed hands, pulled bowels out and let them spill away from the bodies.

Kryn simply used his great strength to rip the heads from their shoulders.

It felt like a lifetime, but in under a minute the squires had eliminated the squad sent for the children.

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