Chapter Five
Annila
My life has devolved into a waking dream.
Sometimes I hear the cries of my newborn grandson nearby.
Sometimes Nic speaks to me. Sometimes his mate.
I barely know his mate but I know he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Nic and the baby safe.
The future generations are secured but I can’t come back.
She won’t let me. There was a price for her help that I didn’t know about until it was too late.
She let me come back to watch my grandson being born but then she snatched me back up again.
Somedays I think she’s mad. She paces and growls about her own grandson born not so long before mine.
Her son doesn’t want to be a dad. He doesn’t want to be involved in her grandson’s life at all, and she’s done something – or perhaps many somethings – and the baby’s carrier doesn’t want her around either.
I knew what she’d done once upon a time but now I can’t remember any of it.
Only that she believes the baby’s carrier is evil.
I don’t think he is. He helped me get out of the hospital so that I could stop Tops from coming after my son.
The fog drags along my skin, dampening me and my dress as I wind between the trees looking for whatever little air pocket that might lead me back to the world I know.
Sometimes I see Topher. I guess he goes by Tops to everyone else.
I try to remember that, but I forget a lot of things these days.
He’s so damn angry at me. I guess he has that right.
Even now I hold his beating heart in my hand.
It pumps an endless supply of blood and leaves a trail for Sharon to follow.
That’s how she always finds me. I think we’re in the Pit but I can’t find Frost. I can’t find the dragon who drags all the souls in need of a good talking to here.
If I could, perhaps he could put me on Earthside.
Maybe he’d kick Sharon out too because she’s alive.
We’re not like Topher and Chard and Jon. We’re alive but we’re here.
“Come have tea, Annila,” Sharon calls for me.
I’ve forgotten what I was looking for again. I’ll try later. There’s always later.