Page 2 of Bombshell

“Euphemia,” came Aunt Willow’s patient voice, telling me that hiding behind the grandmother tree’s massive trunk wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

With a heavy sigh, I stepped away from the grandmother tree and into the clearing. Standing awkwardly, one far too-human bare foot on top of the other, I waited for them to reprimand me.

Aunt Willow’s long vining hair swayed around her hips as she crossed to me, the grass and flowers straining to touch her brown bark-like skin in a way that they’d never bothered to do for me—I could sometimes make a stray flower bloom but none of them ever yearned for my touch the way they did for the other nymphs.

“Now, Effie, what have I told you about eavesdropping on conversations?” she chastised gently as she lifted me into her arms with ease even though I was already half of her height.

“If you didn’t want me to eavesdrop then why did you talk out loud?” I questioned, my little mouth struggling with the big word.

Aunt Willow’s laughter was warm as she held me even more closely. “Your tongue is just as sharp as your mother’s was.”

I tucked my nose into her rough neck and inhaled the sweet scent of flowers that always wafted off of her, ignoring Aunt Oak’s snort as I was carried back into the circle.

“Euphemia, child, look at me.” Aunt Alnus’s voice was soft but carried the kind of authority that I never dared to defy.

Slowly, I pulled my face from Aunt Willow’s neck and stared at her. Aunt Alnus was now the tallest amongst the nymphs of our grove, standing a few heads taller than the rest of the sisters gathered around her. The bark of her skin was also far paler than the rest, making her stick out as she gently pulled my hand into hers. It was the most contact I ever remembered having with her.

“Child, would you like to meet your father?” she asked, a soft smile on her lined face. “Because he would like to meet you.”

I could almost feel Aunt Willow’s frown directed at Aunt Alnus, but I was too busy thinking about her words to care.

Did I want to meet him? What was having a father like, anyway?

I had so many questions, but the one that came blurted from my lips was one that I always thought about whenever the subject of my father came up.

“Does he look like me?”

There was a tittering somewhere off in the crowd as Aunt Alnus’s smile dropped a bit. “There is no one who looks like you, Euphemia, you are the only one of your kind.”

My shoulders sank as I deflated a bit, upset by her words.

“But,” she continued. “You do resemble him more than you do any of us and as do the supernatural creatures that reside down in Port Haven.”

“Port Haven?” I asked, confused.

“The town by the ocean, Effie,” Aunt Willow provided and when I turned to look at her I found her green eyes round with sadness. “That’s where your father lives.”

So close!I thought with surprise, thinking about how Aunt Fir used to always point it out and whisper that it was protected by a very old shield. I never quite understood what that meant.

“If he was so close, then why couldn’t he come see me before?” My voice sounded snotty even to my own ears.

Aunt Alnus’s gaze shifted to Aunt Willow. “That is because some here felt that you were better off growing up here amongst your mother’s family. But your needs require more than we are used to giving, such as clothing and food.”

The other sisters began to murmur their agreement and I heard Aunt Oak mutter about having to bathe me so often.

My throat felt tight as an emotion I’d never felt before filled my chest. I feltbad,I realized as I continued to cling to Aunt Willow. It was my fault that they had to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Just by being alive.

But the grove was all I’d ever known.

“Do I have to go with him?”

“Not if you don’t want to, Effie,” Aunt Willow reassured me quickly, her lips making a scraping noise as she pressed them tightly together.

Aunt Alnus gave my hand a squeeze. “All we ask is that you meet him, child, no more, no less.”

Two days later, I was watching as a tall man with dark hair appeared in the middle of the clearing in a blaze of white light.

“Alexander,” Aunt Alnus greeted him coolly as he straightened the clothing he was wearing and stepped up to meet the line of sisters that had been waiting for him to show up. “We were wondering if you got our message.”

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