Page 112 of Elora and the Crow

“You don’t remember me?” Jonah asked. He glanced at Elora. “We hooked up about three years ago.”

Shawna shrugged. “I was in my slut stage. I slept with a lot of guys.”

“Slut,” the little girl said brightly, and Shawna sighed.

“That’s a Mommy word only, sweetheart.”

The little girl giggled before turning to Cece and struggling to hold up three fingers. “I three.”

Cold fear washed over Jonah, and he stared at Shawna. “Um…”

“Relax, Casanova, she’s not yours,” Shawna said dryly. “My husband is her father. If you and I did hook up three years ago, it was at the tail end of my slut stage just before I met my husband.”

“We hooked up,” Jonah said. “We spent the weekend at your apartment, and when I woke up Monday morning, your mother was there, and you were making wedding plans.”

“Oh shit,” Shawna said as her eyes lit up with recognition. “Now I remember!”

“What exactly is it that you remember?” Elora asked, her voice thick with anger. “When she tried to kill him or when she cursed him to live as a crow forever.”

Jonah took her hand, rubbing her knuckles to ease the tension from it. He was relieved when she relaxed slightly, and the faint blue glow in her knuckles disappeared.

Looking embarrassed, Shawna said, “My mother was over-the-top about my sleeping around. I’d promised her I would stop, so when she showed up unexpectedly and realized I had a guy at my apartment, I, maybe, sort of, made it sound like we were serious and getting married.”

“Are you fu -” Elora glanced at the toddler, “Are you kidding me?”

“Look, it was a dumb thing to do, okay? I admit it,” Shawna said defensively. “I shouldn’t have told her that, and I shouldn’t have pretended to be upset when he didn’t play along. But I didn’t realize at that point how much my mother had embraced dark magic and -”

“She tried to kill Jonah,” Elora snapped, “and she cursed him as a crow.”

Shawna frowned. “She told me that she released him from the spell once she took him away from my apartment.”

“She lied,” Jonah said. “I’ve been a crow for the last three years, and I was only freed when Elora figured out how to break your mother’s curse.”

“Shit,” Shawna said, leaning back in her chair. “I had no idea.”

“Shit,” the toddler gleefully told Cece.

“Mommy word only,” Shawna said absently as she stared at Jonah. “I’m sorry, I really am.”

Elora scoffed. “Like that means anything.”

Jonah leaned forward. “Your mother found me again and tried to kill me and my friends before she kidnapped my brother. She says that you’re still heartbroken over what I did to you, so maybe you could talk to her? Because it seems to me like you’ve moved on.”

“I’ve gone no contact with my mother,” Shawna said.

“You can make an exception,” Elora said.

“No, I can’t,” Shawna said flatly. “She has no idea where I am, and I’m keeping it that way.”

“She’s a powerful dark witch,” Elora said. “You’re fooling yourself if you think she doesn’t know where you are.”

Shawna’s eyes flashed fire, and every cupboard in the kitchen suddenly opened and slammed shut.

Her daughter squealed laughter and clapped her hands. “Again, Mama!”

“She’s not the only one with power,” Shawna said. “The spell I’ve performed on my family has kept us hidden from her for the last two years, and it will continue to do so.”

“Mama, I hungry. I want a bana,” the little girl said, pointing to the fruit bowl on the counter.

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