Page 15 of Ashes

“They got Sam,” Sarah repeats.

“Where were you at this point? What did you do when you left the house?”

Sarah moistens her lips and sighs. “I’d been working as a bank nurse in Solleville. Saving money. I planned to fight Sam’s grandparents for custody. When he was placed with Nova’s parents, I moved to Ridgemore so I could stay close to him. But when I met them—Alice and Charles—and I saw how happy Sam was…” Tears have filled Sarah’s eyes. She wipes them with the back of her hand then selects another photograph and hands it to me.

I study it carefully. A woman with vivid auburn hair, a man with a dark brown beard and small round glasses. Between them, a small girl. Five or six years old. Auburn hair in bunches tied with pink bows. She’s staring at a boy. Sam. Wrinkling her nose at him while he grins a gap-toothed grin back at her.

“I decided that maybe just staying close to him would be enough,” Sarah says as she tilts her head at the picture. “They were so happy for such a short time.”

I put the photograph down and add it back to the pile. “You were in Ridgemore when Nova’s parents died?”

“I was living opposite. A small apartment. I often saw the kids playing outside. Alice and Charles had both taken time off work to help Sam settle, but I planned to introduce myself when they got back into their routine. Offer to babysit…” She stops and shakes her head as memories of what could have been dance in front of her eyes. “The night of the fire, I was coming back from work. I saw the smoke. Heard sirens in the distance. All the neighbors were standing watching, but I ran inside. I found Sam near the door. Passed out. I grabbed him and carried him out to the sidewalk. I was about to go back for Nova when she appeared. From nowhere. From the flames.”

“Without a mark on her?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Not even first-degree burns.” Sarah sits back and folds her arms in front of her chest, hugging herself as if she’s suddenly chilled. “She was taken to a human hospital. Sam was in the same ambulance, but when they realized he was a wolf cub, they called a supernatural facility nearby.”

“You went with Sam?”

Sarah nods. “I called his father and told him what had happened. I truly expected him to come, but he didn’t even return my call. The next day, Supernatural Child Services turned up and took him away. I pleaded with them not to. I begged them, but they didn’t listen.”

“And Nova?” I swallow hard, my chest flickering with heat as I picture her. So small, and all alone.

“She was placed with a foster family in Ridgemore.” Sarah is staring at the photograph of Sam and Nova together. “I tried to find out where Sam was. They wouldn’t tell me, but they let me write to him. I didn’t think they’d passed the letters on, but when he was nine years old, he started to write back. He told me he was in Maple Lakes.”

“But you stayed in Ridgemore?”

Sarah sucks in her cheeks and shakes her head, as if the decision to stay weighs heavy on her to this day. “I tried, but I couldn’t find work there. Maple Lakes isnotthe kind of town that welcomes un-elementals. Not a single place would employ me. So, I had to stay in Ridgemore.”

“No one there knew you were a witch?”

Sarah shakes her head. “No.”

“Did you make contact with Nova?”

Again, she shakes her head. “She moved around a lot, and her foster families weren’t exactlywelcomingto outsiders. But I kept an eye on her from a far. Always told myself I’d be there if she needed me.”

As Sarah stops talking, I breathe in slowly and try to lace the facts together in my head. Something snags in my brain. “Sarah?”

She meets my eyes.

“Who is Sam’s father? This man who got hooked up with H.E.L?”

For a moment, Sarah doesn’t move. Then she glances out to the parking lot, scans it, checks behind her. “His name is Ragnor Larsen.”

Even though I’ve never heard the name before, something in the way Sarah speaks it makes me shudder. “Is he still with them?”

She nods, almost imperceptibly. “These days, Ragnoristhe League.”

The gravity of what’s just happened hits me slowly; for years, we’ve been searching for a name. For the super who pulls the strings. The super who so desperately wants to end humanity. Just like that, this woman has given it to me.

As Sarah stares into her coffee, more pieces drop into place. I lean closer and duck to meet her eyes. “Sarah… a few days ago, one of my brothers was kidnapped by the League—”

“I don’t know anything about that,” she says quickly.

“They kidnapped him because they knew Nova would go after him.”

She blinks at me slowly.

---