Windburn

Below us, Shazer gave a full-body shake. “Where to?”

I made a snap decision. “The Deep.”

We flew without trouble all the way to the hidden island. The early morning sun peeked over the edge of the horizon when we landed on the sandy beaches at the edge of the Deep, home of the Undines.

“Are you sure, Lark?” Ash slid from Shazer’s back and stared up at me from the ground. I gave him a smile that wobbled at the edges.

“Keep Bella safe. Please. I don’t trust anyone else to this.” I’d sent Blossom to watch over Bella two years ago, but I had no idea if she’d followed through. If Cassava had come back and taken over, I had no doubt she would have recalled all her guards and Enders.

I bent at the waist and kissed Ash. “Give her my love. Tell her . . . tell her we’ll make this right somehow.”

He winked. “Maybe she can come with us for that pedicure.”

The laugh that escaped me surprised me. “Yes. It’s a deal.”

I dug my heels into Shazer and he leapt into the sky with a buck that had Peta gripping my thighs with her claws.

“Stupid horse!” she shrieked, which only made him whinny with laughter.

“Dumb-ass cat!”

The baby woke and I fed her the only bottle I had, the only milk Elle had sent with us. A single bottle was not enough to take us far. “Head to the east coast. We’ll stop when I can’t console her.”

Shazer stretched out. “I have no desire to listen to her scream.”

“Nor do I,” I said, running my finger down the little girl’s face and soothing her back to sleep.

Three hours ticked by and she woke, her hungry cries nothing I could console.

We circled an area of brick houses and tall fences. Midday with the sun high was not the time to be strutting about the human world. But there was no choice. I had to put the girl somewhere safe.

We landed in a green space with the same strange manicured grass and perfectly kept flowers and trees that did not produce anything we’d seen the last time we’d stepped into the human world. I leapt from Shazer’s back. “Wait here.”

Peta stretched and bounded out ahead of me. I hurried after her, and my walking soothed the baby to a soft whimper. There was no time to be picky about where she went.

“Peta, can I cover her with Spirit? Make her invisible to the supernatural world?”

Peta came to a full stop and craned her head around. “I suppose it would be possible. But it would wear off after a time, I would think.”

“How long?”

Her eyes went thoughtful. I jiggled the baby to keep her from fussing. “Peta, think faster.”

“Depending on how much you put into it, you might be able to keep her covered for a decade. Maybe longer.”

“It will have to be enough.” Sweat popped out on my forehead as I thought about what I was about to attempt. Using Spirit had not gone well for me in the past.

Licking my lips, I held the baby close to me and called Spirit up. “Protect her from harm, from those who would hurt her for as long as possible.”

A flickering answer beckoned from the baby’s Spirit. From what made her mother a Tracker, from what would make the babe a Tracker one day. Spirit flowed through me like a gentle creek curling around us both, tying us together. I went to my knees as my energy was pulled from me. I let it go, knowing it would protect her. Keep her safe.

And even if Elle hadn’t asked me, I would have done it. There was something about the child I couldn’t quite put my finger on . . . but I knew she was special. The daughter of a Slayer, the daughter of a Tracker, a joining of two powerful blood lines. I opened my eyes and stared into her face. She lifted a hand and touched my nose.

“You . . . I think are going to need all the help you can get, my little friend,” I whispered to her.

Peta butted her head against my thigh. “Over there. Two women talking about not being able to have babies.”

The scene was too perfect to not have fate’s hand in it.

I lifted my head to see a slender young woman with long blonde hair almost as pale as my own. Tears hovered in her eyes as she pressed a hand to her belly and shook her head.

I felt a pull toward her and listened to my instincts. “Peta, we will come back for her. To check on her.” I didn’t have to say why. We both knew Elle wasn’t coming for her daughter. Not in this life.

Peta bobbed her head in agreement. “Of course we will.” As though there was no other possible solution.

I strode up to the woman. Her friend had left and she was alone on the bench. “You wish to have a child?”

Her head jerked up. I stared down at her tear-stained face. “What?”

I didn’t wait for her to say anything else, just placed the baby into her arms. “She needs a mother. Take her.”

The woman’s mouth dropped open as I backed away. “You need her too.”

She clutched the baby to her. “How . . . why?”

“Because sometimes . . . things have to happen. Good and bad. This is one of the good things. Love her. Protect her. Teach her. Be her mother.”

I kept backing away, a part of me feeling as though I’d abandoned the little one.

“Does she have a name?”

Smiling, I nodded. “Her name is Rylee. A warrior’s name for a warrior’s heart.”

The world seemed to still around us, as though the universe had paused to take note of that exact moment. I knew it for what it was; a fork in the road, one I would look back on and wonder if I made the right choice.