And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 22-2

I REAPPEARED IN THE cemetery in front of my father’s grave. My mother was laying down next to it. When she saw the flash of purple light, she jumped up to wrap her arms around me.

“Oh, thank the Lord,” she said, her voice full of grateful joy. “I thought you were dead, child!”

“Are you okay?” I asked, hugging her.

She nodded, her face still pressed into my shoulder. “I’m fine, child. Nothing from that town ever came for me here, but I saw it all from a distance. Did you kill that dragon and close the portal? It was quite a sight. I was sure you were dead.”

“Aziolith is not dead. I returned him to his lair.”

Mama pulled away from me. “After all he did, you didn’t kill...him?”

“No. I took pity on him,” I said, pulling a gold coin out of my pocket. “And I was rewarded for my mercy.”

I handed the coin to Mama and she looked at it with wonder. “Oh my...that is a pretty sight.”

“And that’s not all.” I pulled a whole handful of gold coins out of my pocket.

Mama started to cry. “This is wonderful, baby.”

Gunshots rang out behind us. “What are they fighting now?”

“I don’t know. Military men have been funneling through for a long time now. I don’t think it’s safe here anymore.”

“We don’t have to stay here, Mama,” I said. “We can go anywhere we want.”

Mama looked out at the town, then back at Daddy’s grave. “It’s funny. Suddenly, I don’t feel as connected to this place as I once did. If feels different to me, cold even. Like I have nothing holding me here.”

I nodded. “I know, Mama. It’s because the magic is gone from this place.”

“Your daddy will understand...if I leave—won’t he?”

“He will,” I said, solemnly. “He wouldn’t want you to be bound to this place.”

Mama reached for my hand. “Then I think I’m ready for a new adventure.”

I clasped my hand in hers. “Me too. Where should we go?”

Mama thought for a minute. “Paris always sounded nice. I loved that postcard your daddy bought for me one Christmas—the one with the Eiffel tower on it. He always wanted to take me there. I would love to see it.”

“Is that the picture that you kept on your bedside?”

She nodded. “That’s the same one. I could never get up the nerve to see it for myself, but I studied it almost every night.”

“Imagine that card, Mama. Every detail of it. See where you want to go in your mind’s eye. Let your mind pull yourself toward it.” I grabbed a pinch of pixie dust. “Do you see it?”

“I see it, baby.”

I dropped a pinch of pixie dust onto the ground and we disappeared, hand in hand.