Page 46 of Magic Forsaken

“And… can we just… sit in the grass for a while?” Logan’s quiet, simple request broke my heart.

“All the grass you could possibly want,” I promised him, putting an arm around his narrow shoulders and squeezing, just for a moment. “Although you might want to be careful. We’re in Oklahoma and sometimes the grass bites.”

He shot me a startled look.

“Apparently there’s something called fire ants,” I explained ruefully. If there was one thing I’d noticed about this place, it was that there were way more bugs than we’d had in Colorado.

Ari was already skipping along the sidewalk in front of us, watching the traffic on Sheridan Avenue, her eyes alight with curiosity and anticipation. Everything was new and exciting, filled with possibility. How she had survived her ordeal with so much of her joy and innocence intact, I would never know, but I would fight to protect it. Fight for her to never truly understand how much danger she was in, or what might happen to her if anyone realized the truth.

Myriad Botanical Gardens covered the equivalent of four city blocks on the south side of downtown. There were trails and fountains, a children’s garden, an ice rink, a pond, and a cylindrical glass conservatory called the Crystal Bridge. Even in October, the grass and trees were still mostly green, and a fall harvest display spilled out of the children’s area, strewing corn, pumpkins, and scarecrows along the sidewalks.

Tonight, even at half-past nine, the gardens were teeming with people from some sort of public event. There were foodtrucks, booths filled with vendors, and live music from an outdoor stage. We mingled with the crowds for a moment—with a tight grip on Ari’s hand—until I saw that Kes was beginning to look even more nervous than usual.

“Can we… go somewhere quieter?” she asked.

So we meandered around the paths, past a fountain, and down by the pond, crossing under the Crystal Bridge and watching the ducks floating quietly on the water. After a near-miss with Ari attempting to pet one, we climbed back up and found a dark, open patch of grass to sit on.

Logan lay flat on his back, palms to the ground, eyes closed, while Ari darted back and forth, pointing and laughing and gazing with undisguised fascination at the people—especially the other children.

Kes was watching her, sadness bleeding from every taut line of her body.

“You okay?”

She turned her enigmatic gaze on me, and even in the dark I could sense the deep well of grief that she seemed to carry with her at all times.

“Will any of us ever be okay?” Her quiet question hit me hard, and I heard her sigh. “I believe things will get better. I do. I believe someday we will find a place that is safe and we will have no need to live looking over our shoulders. But… I cannot undo what I’ve done. I cannot erase what was done to me. No one can give back what was stolen from us, and… I don’t know that I will ever stop being afraid. Being ashamed that I can do nothing to help you. Feeling as if I don’t deserve this freedom after all that I’ve done.”

“You didnothingto be ashamed of,” I insisted fiercely. And I would keep saying it until she believed me.

“Raine,”—her soft smile broke my heart—“you are the strongest person I’ve ever met.”

I scoffed silently, though I would never express that sentiment aloud. She didn’t need to know the doubts I carried. The mistakes I’d made. The times I’d wished so desperately that I didn’t have to carry the weight of our safety. I did it gladly, but there were days I believed it might break me.

“If it weren’t for you,” she continued, “none of us would have a chance. And I hope you know that I’m grateful you chose to bring me with you.”

“We wouldn’t be here without you, either,” I reminded her. “And this is just the beginning. Don’t give up on any of us just yet. Not even yourself. As long as we’re alive…”

My little pep talk was interrupted by the sounds of chaos from over by the food trucks parked along Sheridan. The crowd split, and a man broke free from the milling people to race across the grassy lawn, angling towards Hudson Avenue, pursued by screams and shouts. There was a bag over his shoulder, and I heard a woman scream that he’d stolen her purse.

Time slowed as I watched him run, looking over his shoulder for pursuit. There were no lights on the grass, so he probably didn’t realize that he was about to run right past us.

There was no good reason for us to intervene. We were trying to hide—to blend in. If we helped to apprehend a purse snatcher, the police might get involved, and everyone wouldnotice.

But it took less than half a second for me to decide that I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. If I was fast enough…

I rolled to my feet just as Ari let out a giggle and disappeared.

Only to reappear an instant later, right in front of the fleeing thief.

I screamed her name, but there was no way to avoid a collision. No chance that he would hesitate to shove her out of the way as he made his escape. I was already moving towards them, ready to defend her with every weapon at my disposal.

But her sudden appearance out of nowhere seemed to startle the thief as well. He jolted to the side, like a football player avoiding a tackle, but his momentum was too great. He wobbled precariously, let out a loud curse, and that’s when the ground jumped up and hit him in the face.

Well, technically, it grabbed him around the ankles. He was too stunned by this unexpected development to do anything but fall flat on his face, and I could swear I heard a crunching sound followed by a scream that was choked by a mouthful of grass.

My head whipped around to look at Logan, who was still laying on his back… with a deeply satisfied smile on his lips. And when I raced over to check on Ari and whisk her away from the gathering crowd, there was no sign that the grass had ever been disturbed.

I returned to Logan and Kes, feeling about a million years older. If my hair hadn’t been white already…

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