Page 234 of Gift from the Source
I’ve been dreading this day for two weeks now.
When Willow came and sat me down with tears in her eyes and her bond pouring sadness, I knew she was going to tell me it was time for him to go home.
She had already explained to all of us, her blood would tell her when there was something she needed to do.
Apparently, that morning as she went to check on Tanith and spend some time with her, it started thrumming through her veins. Flashes of the Forsaken Forest before the vampires were trapped here kept crossing her mind.
She said they needed to go home, and she needed to heal the land.
I begged for more time.
She gave me what she could.
Jamie started that day whipping up a new batch of the Bane of Essence so our Nexus, Oakly’s, and Lyker’s could come into the forest. The first batch—somehow, not at all aware of how—got spilt and he had to start again.
That little incident bought me an extra week.
“Dishonor. That was cheating, son.” Keeper laughs as he catches up to me.
“I did a countdown. You just weren’t ready.”
“You completely skipped three!”
“Lies.”
The two of us grin mischievously at one another before we kick it into high gear.
He pushes my arm and I push his back. I throw a couple fireballs he has to dodge. He does dramatically as he runs up a damn tree and jumps off the branch in front of me.
We don’t actually pay any attention to whether there’re any vampires left hiding around the forest. I already know there aren’t. I don’t sense a creature anywhere near us. He doesn’t either or he’d go and snatch them up like he did the others.
We’re both just delaying the inevitable.
As we prepare to round and start the long straight shot to the other side of the forest, I make a last-minute decision and cut through the center.
He grumbles, then hollers my name.
He wants me to stop going in the direction I’m going, but I can’t let him avoid it any longer. He insisted on another round, which means this rendezvous was meant to be.
In only a few seconds, my skin pulls as I cross the parameter line, and I keep going until I skid to a stop in front of the small house.
The door is open, but there were none strong enough in this forest to get through the barrier he left behind. Like our wards, he can place something like that too, but instead of magic, he used his blood.
Which means the day we rescued him, he came in, got his book, and left. Not bothering to look back.
He’s silent as he walks up beside me and presses his shoulder to mine.
“I know you didn’t want to come here.”
“I don’t care much for goodbyes.”
Clapping him on the shoulder and squeezing, I take a step toward the house. “None of us do. This isn’t goodbye, though.”
His footfalls sound behind me as I reach the door and push it open further. I stand at the threshold and let the sight of it now collide with the memory my little wanderer showed me.
In true me fashion, I paint a picture that never happened.
My mom sitting there on the couch singing while I play on the floor at her feet. My dad’s in the small kitchen humming to her tune while he cooks us dinner. We’re just one little happy family.
