Rootbound

My father touched my face, drawing my attention back to him. “A legend, a story. That the mother goddess we know, she is not what she seems. That she is . . . mortal, like we are. Long-lived, but mortal, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

I blinked several times, his words settling in my head. “That is not possible, Basileus. She is the mother goddess, I have felt her power.”

He tightened his hold on my face, breathing shallow gulps. “I am not long for this world and I would tell you this. I am one of the oldest of any elemental left. I have seen rulers come and go. I waited until I thought the world was safe to have my children, and even now they are torn from me, killed by each other and by themselves.”

I gritted my teeth, knowing I was one of the reasons his children had been harmed.

“Basil—”

“No, I have to say it.” His eyes were intense and he didn’t blink once. “I believe the legend; the mother goddess is not a goddess. She is an elemental. Like you and me and all the others. And she will destroy you if she can. I have seen in her mind, in my madness I have walked with her. She will make Cassava look like the sweetest peach in the garden if you see the truth of what she is.”

His words shivered along my spine, but I knew them for what they were. Madness, pure and simple.

I looked again to Red. “You’ve been with him a long time, my friend. What say you?”

Red shook his head, his eyes sad. “It is as you fear: madness. I stay with him now out of loyalty. The other two have disappeared.”

The other two. Red had to mean the bear shifter, Karhu, and the husky, Hercules. I let go of my father, and kissed him on the forehead. “Go to the Spiral. I cannot be sure you will be safe when I bring up the body.” I couldn’t say his name, even now. Ash’s body. That was what I would raise, not the man I loved.

My father’s eyes fogged and he looked around him. “The darkness climbs the vine, closing in on the blooms and the flower petals drop in decay to the ground once more.”

A cool breeze accompanied my father’s words, blowing through my hair in a whisper that almost echoed what he’d said. I shook off the sensation. There was no room for fancy in this world of ours.

“Come on, old man. Let’s find a place to sleep the day away.” Red flew into the air and a long trailing rope hung from his claws. Father reached up and took hold of the rope and Red led him away from the graveyard.

I watched them go, knowing I was stalling.

“Lark, you will not rest until you see his body in the flesh. I know you well enough to know that is the truth.” Peta touched the headstone with Ash’s name engraved with her nose.

I went to my knees to one side of the grave. The last thing I wanted was an explosion of power when bringing a partially decayed body out of the ground. I swallowed hard and gently called the power of the earth to me. Within the power, I wove all the love I had for Ash, the hope that he was alive, and the belief I knew he’d always had in me.

Spirit flowed with it, quiet, reverent in its feel against me.

The ground shimmied and shifted under my hands, shaking like a giant flour sifter until the shape of a body began to emerge. My hands trembled as the dirt slid from his face. I gasped and let go of the power under me. Brushing the dirt off the face, the features emerged; high cheekbones, delicate bone structure, tiny ears; it wasn’t Ash.

It was a woman.

A cry escaped me and I raised my hands over my head as relief flowed through me, hope growing in leaps and bounds once more.

Ash was not dead . . .but then why would Bella say he was? Did she not know either that the body was not his?

Peta seemed to read my mind. “Someone using Spirit could have made this body look like Ash’s. I doubt your sister, or even Griffin knew that it wasn’t him.”

I sat there staring at a new reality I’d have never have thought possible. As long as his heart beat, I could find him. We could make a life together. There was a chance that all we’d faced would be over soon.

Sobbing, I slung an arm around Peta. “He’s alive, he’s alive.”

“You can find him. I know you can,” she whispered through her own tears. “If anyone can make this right, you can.”

We clung to each other for a few minutes before I got control of myself. I let Peta go, and took a deep breath. “I’ll put her back, then we’ll go see if—”

Peta leaned forward. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

I followed her gaze and looked down at the body in the shallow grave.

Clutched in the woman’s hands was a tiny box with . . . my name on it.

I brushed a hand over the box and the woman’s fingers clenched it. I scrambled back, my heart rate flying to the tops of the redwoods around us.

“Worm shit.”

Peta crouched beside me, her body quivering. “Is it a booby trap?”

Damn it, I should be smarter than this. But the idea that Ash was alive had made me reckless and stupid. Blackbird knew me too well, he’d done this.

On my belly, I crept toward the partially covered body. The fingers clenched the box until the wood creaked. Her body arched so she was raised on her heels and the back of her head. Her mouth opened, dirt falling into her gaping maw.

“Laaaaarkspuuuuuuur.”

A snarl rolled out of Peta and I waved a hand at her. “Stay back.”

The body twitched and rolled, until the empty eye sockets faced me. The only thing I could think was that at least it wasn’t someone I recognized, a nameless face. Small comfort when looking into the eyes of the dead come to life.