Once Blessed, Thrice Cursed: A Sister Witches Urban Fantasy #1, стр. 60

“Clementine.” Heriberto del Valle wasn’t much taller than me, but he almost tossed me over his shoulder and to the ground in his enthusiasm.

“Hey, Dad.” I wriggled until he put me down and hugged him hard once my bare, banged-up feet touched the grass. Guilt tore through me. My heart wasn’t fully in the embrace. Maybe later, after a hot bath, hot food, and clean clothes, I could sit down with him and my sisters and we could do some catching up. In my mind, two of them—Alderose and my dad—owed me an explanation.

Dad grabbed my cheeks and kissed them then went to check on Alderose. Rémy cradled Zazie in his lap. Her eyes were closed. Tears were streaming down the mage’s face. A grocery store delivery van roared along the dirt road leading to the clearing and stopped. Beryl tumbled out, followed by Kostya.

My sister opened the sliding door and began to toss blankets onto the ground. I jogged over to her, claimed one, and wrapped it around my body.

“You okay?” Beryl asked, squinting into the sun to look at me.

“Doing great. One hundred percent.” I kicked at the haphazard stack of blankets. “Why didn’t you and Kostya portal here?”

“Tía left us with a list of supplies.”

“Bring some of these over to her right now. She’s working on Gosia.”

I watched Beryl depart with an armload. Kostya emerged from the driver’s side, pulled me into a hug, and rubbed my back hard. Warmth began to trickle into my muscles. “We ran into a few challenges,” he said.

“You missed an exciting morning.”

He snorted softly and handed me a bar of dark chocolate topped with crushed hazelnuts and sea salt. “Eat. There’s water in the van.”

“Got any juice or soda?” I’d ingested more than enough water for one day.

“Got all of that and those drinks with electrolytes.” Kostya settled me on the passenger’s seat and tucked the blanket around my legs. He kissed my intact cheek, told me to get the scraped-up side looked at, and left.

I rested the side of my shoulder against the seat’s padded back and left the door open to watch the triage. The entire tableau had an otherworldly feel to it. People I’d barely met and people I hadn’t seen in ages, working together to reunite a husband and father with his wife and daughter.

When Rémy passed Zazie off to Laszlo and lifted Gosia, she wrapped her arms around his neck. A collective, exhausted cheer went up. Everyone gathered around the two, and Laszlo and the little girl, offering congratulations and support. Hands thumped backs and arms linked as a loose circle of celebration formed.

The cluster shifted to the side, abandoning the one body still on the ground. I snapped off another square of chocolate and set it on my tongue to soften. I’d go to Jadzia in another minute and stay with her until she showed signs of life or was declared dead. I almost didn’t care which way things went for her, as long as I got an answer or two.

I was folding the foil lining around the chocolate when Jadzia curled into a ball before rolling onto her belly. My heart sped up. She shouldn’t be able to do that, being shackled and all. I swallowed the bit of chocolate and tossed the bar onto the dashboard.

As I slid off the seat, the almost-dead fae transformed into a very alive, blade-wielding fae. She whipped around, releasing the fins hidden along her limbs and over the crown of her head until they flared bright and metallic in the clear morning light.

When One-Becomes-Three unfurled to her full height, she was as tall as the demons and Alabastair. She headed for the gathered Magicals. My father was the closest.

“Dad!” I screamed, fumbling at my jumpsuit as I ran, hoping I had at least one of Alderose’s blades left. I had nothing, only the unused collar around my neck. Screaming again, I watched in horror as the fae wrapped one muscled arm around my father’s neck, leaned back to lift him off the ground, and plunged her bladed fingers into his side.

She stabbed him again while dragging him to the edge of the cliff. Without a backward glance, the fae leapt, taking Heriberto del Valle with her.

I didn’t plan, I didn’t think, I just jumped. I hit the water four or five seconds after they did and sank into the stirred-up murk. I couldn’t see a thing. Until I surfaced, spat out, and breathed in. The fae, trailing Dad behind them, was swimming toward the side of the quarry where I’d found the stacked cages and the metal door.

I poured every bit of chocolate-fueled energy into my best version of the crawl. I felt the impact when another body hit the water behind me. I didn’t care who it was. If it was another fae, I’d figure it out. I kept swimming. My hand hit a body and I popped up. My father floated, facedown, arms out, legs sagging. Blood colored the water around his chest.

I spun in place. Jadzia smirked at me before she disappeared into the quarry. I let the desire to exact an immediate revenge go. I had to get my dad to Maritza and Alabastair. Kicking, I grabbed his shirt, positioned him faceup, and kicked and kicked until my back hit Laszlo.

The demon took over. We got my dad to the ledge. Alabastair was there, waiting, and helped haul the body—no, not the body, my father—out of the water. “I’m taking him right to the hospital. Your aunt knows how to get there.”

He portaled away before I could ask him how Laszlo and I were going to get out.

“We can go back the way we came,” he said.

I had no words. I curled into his chest and the circle of his arms. I was spent. I didn’t know if I had the energy to walk, then swim, then crawl through a tunnel and convince a