“Tell me what you said to her.” Cassava bit out the words and with each one she slapped Belladonna again.
“I said nothing, nothing! She gave me a pastry. I didn’t even like it.” That wasn’t the truth, though; it had tasted of strawberries, Belladonna’s favorite. And Ulani had made it for her, made it special for her.
“Who braided your hair then?” The words were deadly soft and Belladonna knew what was coming, knew she’d been caught in a lie. She tried to back away. Her six years on the planet had taught her the mood swings of her mother, and that lying was her only hope of avoiding a beating. Even if she got caught, it could be the only chance she had of surviving. “Not Ulani, she didn’t do it.”
“You little liar.”
The blows went on and on, raining down like a thunderstorm that seemed to never end. The pain lanced through her, and at one point she wondered if this time she wouldn’t wake up. That would be good. To just go to sleep and not hurt anymore. The mother goddess would be kind. At least, she hoped she would be. Maybe the mother goddess looked like Ulani. Yes, she could imagine that easily.
As suddenly as it started, the beating was over and Belladonna lay on the floor, shivering and aching. Hurting in both body and heart. Alone. Scared. Night fell and she crawled into a corner, taking the tiny blanket she loved so much with her. Blue and green, stitched with her namesake, she lay down on it.
“Mama,” she whispered. “Mama, why don’t you love me?”
I jerked hard out of the memory unable to stomach yet another truth of our family. I fell away from Belladonna and vomited all over the ground. Burying my fingers into the hot sand, I struggled to breath around the sobs that built in my chest. Sorrow and pity flooded me. Just a little girl, she’d been so tiny, so afraid. The sorrow and pity were gone in a flash, wiped away in a flush of anger so intense I couldn’t see straight.
This had been going on for so many years and the mother goddess had done nothing. Nothing but let the smallest of her children suffer. I drove my power deep into the earth, the fury I felt akin to when I’d lost Bramley. “You let them be hurt. You LET THEM!” I screamed the words, didn’t even think about the pain that would hit me when I grabbed for my power. The ground shook with a violence that bucked the whole island, sending the ocean away from the shore in a rush that left fish flopping on the wet sand.
“ANSWER ME! WHY?” I couldn’t contain it, the rage, the pain, the loss. Belladonna was a creature of her mother’s creation. But she’d been a child once. A child who’d needed and deserved love and protection. Yet she’d been left to her mother’s mercy which was anything but.
“Lark, have you lost your mind?” Belladonna screamed at me, grabbing my arms, dragging me up the beach. “The water is coming back.”
I let go of the earth’s power and spun around. The ocean was rushing toward us. I’d inadvertently caused a tsunami. We ran, Belladonna tripping and falling over her dress. I scooped her up over my shoulder and bolted for high ground. She bounced and screamed from her perch. “Hurry!”
All my training came together in a split second. I knew I could outrun the water on my own, but not carrying Belladonna and her dress. She was going to have to help. “Pull the ground up, block the water!”
“I can’t, I can’t feel the earth!”
What the hell was going on? There was no way I could carry her and try to reach the earth’s power. I dropped my sister, and faced the oncoming water. I pushed past the fear of the pain, reached for the power beneath our feet and felt . . . nothing.
You have no right to chastise me, Larkspur. The mother goddess spoke to me, her voice firm and calm. Apologize and I will allow you access to the earth again.
I couldn’t do it. My anger was too new, too raw.
With a snarl, I grabbed Belladonna around the waist. “Hold on.”
“Are you serious?” She screeched as the wave swallowed us whole. For just a moment we floated in a stillness that seemed peaceful before we were thrown forward, farther up the beach. The water was murky and I struggled to see through the churned up sand and plant life. We brushed against the top of a tree and I grabbed hold of the branches. Belladonna clung to me like a monkey and at first, I thought we were going to make it.
Then the wave began to recede, the water pulling on us with the force of an entire ocean behind it. Belladonna slipped, her grip nowhere near as strong as mine. Letting go of the tree with one hand, I grabbed a handful of her hair and buried my fingers in deep. She might have a few less strands when we were done, but I couldn’t lose her to the water.
Not when I was the cause of the tsunami in the first place.
The ocean dropped around us, our bodies slowly lowering until we were standing on firm ground. So to speak. The branches of the tree tangled around us. Below me, Belladonna gave a groan. “Let go of my hair, Lark.”
“You’ll fall,” I pointed out.
“LET GO OF MY HAIR!” she screeched. I did as I was told and opened my fingers.
She tumbled down through the tree, her dress tearing more than once before she hit the ground below with a thick thud.
I shimmied down, dropping beside her. Carefully, I put a hand on her back, her body shivering under my fingers. “Belladonna, are you okay?”
She slapped my hands away. “What the hell is wrong with you? What are you trying to do, show me up?”
“No, of course not.”
What was she talking about anyway? It wasn’t like there was anyone to see what had just happened except her and me.