The Dark War: Book One by Abby Greenbaum

Author:Abby Greenbaum [Greenbaum, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2021-02-28T06:00:00+00:00

19

Atoo familiar voice, right behind me. Calling me “little daisy” because daisies were her favorite flower. She’d told me that I reminded her of daisies because they were beautiful, like me.

I turn around and freeze. My mother—my supposed-tobe-deceased mother—stands right in front of me. I almost don’t believe it. I shouldn’t believe it. But she looks so real and three years of grief bubbles up inside of me, and I can’t help myself.

I bolt into her arms and squeeze her tightly. I don’t want to let her go. I’ve missed her so much, and seeing her again —just one more time—is something I always wished for. Now, it’s like she’s never been gone. She’s wearing the same thing she’d worn the day she and Lennard left on their last voyage: a knee-length dress with a rose-red, ruffled skirt. The top of the dress is white, with loose sleeves that drape down to her wrists. There’s a black belt around her waist and a black lace choker with a ruby in the middle. Her black boots reach up to her calves, the foldover brown. Her fiery red hair is gathered in a messy braid over her right shoulder.

I study every detail, looking for signs this is a hoax. But it can’t be—she’s perfect.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, smiling through my tears as she takes my face in her hands.

“I’m here for you, of course,” she says, meeting my grin with her own. “Serena, I have come to talk some sense into you.”

I breathe in, trying to calm my sobs, my shaking shoulders. “I have so many questions . . . the book, Mother, why did you give me—”

“Hush, Serena, we needn’t rehash the past. Listen to what I am saying now.” She puts her hands on my shoulders, leaning down just slightly so she can look in my eyes. “You know you can trust me. And you can trust your father.”

I blink. “What?”

My mother only smiles. “He was always a wonderful man, and I could not be more thrilled that you have finally found him.”

I shake my head, trying to step away. But my mother holds me firm. “What? But Elias told me that—”

“Don’t listen to that old man, little daisy. Listen to me, your mother who loves you so much.” She tucks my hair behind my ear. I shiver at her touch. Something isn’t right.

“But, Mother—”

“And Tellerous,” she continues. “After all, he knows me better than anyone. He knows a whole other side of me that I cannot wait for him to share with you. Once you’re gifted the Cretion magic you’ll be the most powerful being in the world. Don’t you want that? You’ll make me proud.”

No, stop . . . this isn’t her. I look around and the walls are fading again, crumbling into a cloud of black around us. This is what I saw in one of my visions.

“No,” I breathe. “You’re not real, are you? None of this is real!”

I tear away from my mother’s grasp, back away as that smile remains fixed on her face.

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