Page 9 of Children of Blood and Bone

I picture the way he was before I left, passed out in the emptiness of our ahéré. Even asleep, he looked worn, like the longest slumber couldn’t grant him rest. I had hoped he wouldn’t wake until I returned, but I should’ve known better. In stillness, he has to deal with his pain, his regrets.

And me…

Me and my stupid mistakes.

The crowd gathered outside my ahérémakes me stumble to a halt.People block my view of the ocean, pointing and shouting at something I can’t see. Before I can push my way in, Tzain barrels through the crowd. As a path clears, my heart stops.

Almost half a kilometer out at sea, a man flails, his dark hands thrashing in desperation. Powerful waves ram against the poor soul’s head, drowning him with each impact. The man cries out for help, voice choked and weak. But it’s a voice I’d know anywhere.

The voice of my father.

Two fishermen row toward him, frantic as they paddle in their coconut boats. But the force of the waves pushes them back. They’ll never reach him in time.

“No,” I cry in horror as a current pulls Baba below the water. Though I wait for him to surface, nothing breaks through the vengeful waves. We’re too late.

Baba’s gone.

It hits me like a staff to the chest. To the head. To the heart.

In an instant the air vanishes from my world and I forget how to breathe.

But while I struggle to stand, Tzain launches into action. I scream as he dives into the water, cutting through the waves with the power of a dual-finned shark.

Tzain swims with a frenzy I’ve never seen. Within moments he overtakes the boats. Seconds later he reaches the area where Baba went under and dives down.

Come on. My chest tightens so much I swear I feel my ribs crack. But when Tzain reemerges, his hands are empty. No body.

No Baba.

Panting, Tzain dives again, kicking harder this time. The seconds without him stretch into an eternity.Oh my gods…

I could lose them both.

“Come on,” I whisper again as I stare at the waves where Tzain and Baba have disappeared. “Comeback.”

I’ve whispered these words before.

As a kid, I once watched Baba haul Tzain from the depths of a lake, ripping him from the seaweed that had trapped him underwater. He pumped on his fragile chest, but when Baba failed to make him breathe, it was Mama and her magic who saved him. She risked everything, violating maji law to call on the forbidden powers in her blood. She wove her incantations into Tzain like a thread, pulling him back to life with the magic of the dead.

I wish Mama was alive every day, but never more than this moment. I wish the magic that coursed through her body ran through mine.

I wish I could keep Tzain and Baba alive.

“Please.” Despite everything I believe, I close my eyes and pray, just like I did that day. If even one god is still up there, I need her to hear me now.

“Please!” Tears leak through my lashes. Hope shrivels inside my chest. “Bring them back. Please, Oya, don’t take them, too—”

“Ugh!”

My eyes snap open as Tzain bursts out of the ocean, one arm around Baba’s chest. A liter of water seems to escape Baba’s throat as he coughs, but he’s here.

He’s alive.

I fall to my knees, nearly collapsing on the wooden walkway.

My gods…

It’s not even midday, and I’ve already risked two lives.

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