Page 44 of Searching for Thanksgiving

He lowered himself to one knee and bent his head in deference to who she was regardless of her age. Every Valdier child knew of the powerful Priestess to the symbiots. Fear of what his symbiot could do to her and the other symbiots coursed through him. The three smaller symbiots were playing more than attacking now.

“Priestess, you should not be near mine. It is… dangerous,” he said, his voice low with urgency as he tried to connect to his symbiot.

The damn thing was ignoring him. He rose when Crystal placed her hand on his shoulder. His focus was locked on his symbiot which looked as if it were being colored with gold stripes.

“No. He’s good,” the tiny Priestess announced with a regal toss of her head. “I can tells.”

“He’s so cute! Rainbow likes him,” the little girl with bright green eyes exclaimed, sitting down next to Devon’s symbiot.

“I likes him better when he was all black. Can you makes yours black, James?” the young Sarafin asked with excitement.

“I don’t knows. I’ve never seen one befores. I’ll have to experiments with Prime,” James replied.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Crystal asked.

“We came to help you,” she said.

“Help me? Do what?” Crystal asked in confusion.

“We came to helps you not be scared and lonely. Alice says you needed help. That you needs friends to help you find the magic inside you so you can protects yourself and find the one you loves,” the Priestess explained.

“The one I love—,” Crystal repeated, growing even more confused.

“I don’t likes that part of the story. I wanted you to be a zombie with blood and guts and your eyeballs hanging out, but Morah says—,” the Sarafin boy piped in.

Morah turned and glared at the boy. “We didn’t wants a Halloween story, Leo. No zombies!”

Leo made a face and sat down to stroke Devon’s symbiot.

“I likes Halloween and zombies. Your symbiot looks like it could be a zombie,” Leo said, looking up at Devon.

“I—” Devon began but the other boy interrupted him.

“He don’ts look like the demented symbiots my sisters make. They are a lot smaller and go like this.”

The boy walked around with his eyes going round and round, his tongue hanging out, while his arms and legs were moving in jerky, awkward motions. He stopped when one of the Sarafin girls pounced him.

“Hey, what’s you do that for?” he growled.

“Because that’s what we does to Amber and Jade’s minions,” the girl giggled.

“I think we should start with a simpler question. Where are your parents?” Crystal asked.

The group immediately grew quiet. They exchanged guilty glances with each other before looking at Morah. It was obvious she was the impromptu leader of the group.

“We’s on a quest,” she stated.

“You’re on a quest… to save me?” Crystal repeated.

“We’s searching for Thanksgiving. The map says Thanksgiving lives here,” the girl with the pretty nails explained.

“What’s your names?” Crystal asked.

“I’m Leo. I’m a Sarafin prince and a mighty warrior!”

“I’m James. I guess I’m a prince, but I would rather make things like my mommy does. My daddy makes things too, but my mommy’s stuff is more funs.”

“I’m Sacha and this is my twin sister, Pearl,” the girl with the pretty nails said with a smile and a curtsy. “We are Sarafin princesses. Our daddy is the King of the Sarafin.”

“I’m Hope. I’m not a princess, but my daddies are the Twin Dragons. They are the most powerful dragon warriors ever,” the petite girl with vivid green eyes added.

“I am Morah Reykill-Groves. I’m a Priestess to the Hive in trainings and a princess! I gets to talks to the Goddesses and my daddy is the bestest daddy in the whole universe,” Morah said.

Crystal’s lips twitched. “I’m Crystal Anderson,” she introduced before turning to Devon. “This is Devon.”

Devon stared at the group with a mixture of horror and panic. He had stepped into his worst nightmare. He was surrounded by his royal kin!

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