| |
The crush of thinking I might find my daughter in the darkness, only to lose her so suddenly all over again, tore at my insides. The raw emotion pushed a mournful cry from my lips that was so painful, I winced at the sound of my own torment. Terraway was cruel, and I had been an idiot once again to think I would get anything other than a harsh slap in my sore spots from the land that had given me nothing, and demanded my everything. I shook from head to toe with grief, barely able to see the little guy who was clothed only in a dark scrap of fabric that fit him like a loincloth.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I worked out as I bent down to reach for him. “I’ll help you. You must be freezing out here. Where’s your coat?”
He was helpless and innocent as he blinked up at me with his big, round brown eyes. I couldn’t believe he’d ever done a naughty thing in his little life. “What’s your name?” He didn’t seem to be able to talk, so I made up a name to add a little humanity to the Jungle Book vibe he had going. “How about Bobby? Bobby Brady is a good boy. His mama loves him and takes care of him.”
Bobby’s crying stopped as he reached for me, and I felt that cozy warmth Allie must’ve felt when I cried for her when I’d been a kid. Though I didn’t have a baby anymore, something in me was still a mother, and it could calm a child that wasn’t even mine. It felt like finally being able to use a superpower I’d given up on and labeled as useless.
“Stop! Don’t touch it!” Lang and the others started to form a circle around Bobby and me, weapons drawn.
I scowled at the men, but my mouth fell open at Von’s attack stance and focused, yet tear-stained face. “Von! Put that knife away! You’ll scare him!”
Von met my gaze with a pained expression. “Listen to me, Peach. Don’t touch him. This is how they lure you in. Come to me right now. They’re right, and I should’ve realized it sooner. It’s not a baby. It’s a twisted spirit. It’s a Tiyanak, darling.”
“His name is Bobby Brady, not ‘it’.” I wanted to scoop up the little boy, at once protective of his trembling, brown-skinned body. “We can help him, Von. He needs us!”
“It’s not...” Von let out a bleat of agony that came from something scraping at his tender innards. He stared at me, like I was the culprit that caused him such torment.
Lang’s voice was steady in the dark, “Everyone, hold your positions. Did anyone bring garlic or salt?”
Various “no”s echoed around me. Ruiz and Klark caught my eye as they took their jackets off and turned them inside out, shoving their arms back through them.
I couldn’t help but address the weirdness. “What are you doing?”
Klark answered with a slight waver of fear in his tone. “It’s rumored to turn Tiyanaks away. Everyone turn your clothes inside out!”
I cast Klark a withering look, pacifying him by tossing my backpack to Danny, taking off my jacket and turning one of the sleeves inside out while I spoke. “Seriously? Bobby’s a little kid, and you’re all scaring him. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” I couldn’t bother with my coat anymore when a fat tear dribbled down Bobby’s cheek, his lower lip trembling. I felt powerful in my femininity as I dropped my jacket into the snow and scooped the little guy up in my arms. I knew this was what he needed, and I could give it to him.
“No!” Danny shouted with fear I didn’t often hear in him.
The chubby arms clung to me, afraid of the Frankenstein monster with a knife. I couldn’t blame the kid. “I’ve got you, babe. I’ll take you someplace warm and safe.” I brushed the dark hair out of his eyes. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’m a good mama,” I promised him, vowing that if I couldn’t save my daughter, I could at least help this poor, lost boy.
Then, as if in slow motion with strange sudden purpose, little Bobby Brady turned his head to look up at me. His teary eyes turned into determined slits as he gripped my shoulders and leaned his head to my breast. I rocked him gently through a shiver, and I swear I could feel him smile against my thin shirt atop my thermal, his cheek dragging up the material. I was shivering in the cold winter of Sombi, but I didn’t care. Bobby Brady knew that I had true warmth in my soul, and that would be enough to get us through.
September would never feel the warmth that was her mama holding her. She would never fall asleep on me, her little baby breath tickling my neck. I was a mother without a baby – and then suddenly a baby without a mother found me in the woods. What were the chances?
It was fate; it had to be. The world had finally been kind, doling out a sweet bit of mercy after taking too much from me.
I felt nothing but calm as I held the sweet little guy, ignoring the panicked shouts of the others. The toddler turned his face to hide in my breast, like a tired little sweetheart. Then opening his mouth, Bobby shocked a scream out of me when he bit down, sinking razor sharp teeth into my skin. He started at my chest bone and ripped a bloody line down to my breast.