eyes shot open and his skin crawled.
He could sense it. The darkness. Thick and powerful. It was far away, but not as far as he would have liked.
With a knot between his brows, Devon glanced at the forest, where in the distance, the darkness awaited.
Perhaps the gods weren’t mistaken after all.
Present
Kenna
The sales associate opened the door for me. “Come back soon.”
“I will,” I said, with a small smile. “Thanks.”
I walked out of the small store and inhaled the fresh spring air—this town could be little and hickish, but the streets were clean and beautiful, with lots of flowerbeds around well-manicured bushes and trees.
And the people were nice. The lady in the store had been a little curious, wanting to know where I had moved from, which school I had gone to, if I was going to college and what my major was—everyone Lia and I met so far had wanted to know the same things—but she had been kind and helpful.
I started home, swinging the bag in my hand. Finally, I had found my favorite perfume. It was a sweet cherry perfume done by a small perfume company. They didn’t distribute to bigger grocery and drug stores, thus making it hard to find. But I never gave up looking for it. The cherry scent … I loved it. It warmed my soul and made me happy.
In an unusually good mood, I skipped back home.
I turned the corner to my street and skipped to a stop when a little girl and a little boy came running my way. They slammed into me, and the girl latched on to the strap of my bag, pulling hard.
I held on harder. “Hey!”
She tugged again. “Let go!”
I reached for her and grabbed her wrist. “I don’t think so.” The girl couldn’t be older than ten, and the boy? He was probably eight. The girl shot daggers at me with her blue eyes, and the boy kicked my shin. I glared at him. “That’s not nice!”
“What do you know about nice?” the girl snapped.
What did she mean? I took a good look at them. Their clothes had holes and stains, their hair was messy as if it hadn’t seen a brush in months, and they were way too skinny.
Were they homeless?
My heart sank.
“Here.” I pried the girl’s hand from my purse. “I can give you some money and you can buy yourselves some food. Is that okay?”
The girl and the boy exchanged a meaningful look. Could they read each other’s minds? Impossible.
Well, I knew of impossible things that were real …
They turned back to me and nodded.
I grabbed my wallet and fished out a twenty-dollar bill. Cash was limited right now with our meager funds and Lia’s low salary, but something tugged inside my chest. I wanted to help them. Needed. Hopefully, they would be able to buy dinner with that.
“Thanks,” the girl said, reaching for the bill.
I pulled the money back. “Just … don’t steal anymore, okay?”
The girl frowned. “I’ll try.”
I stared, not expecting such honesty. I thought she would downright lie to my face.
I handed her the money.
The two kids took off running.
A second later, the school bus stopped a few yards from me and Carol hopped out.
“Hey.” She walked to me as the bus left. “What are you doing out here?”
I gestured to the other side of the street. “I was almost robbed by a girl and a boy.”
She halted by my side. “The girl is yay high—” She put a hand beside her shoulder. “—with long blond hair and blue eyes, and the boy is a little shorter, with brown hair and grayish eyes?”
I stared at her. “Yes? Do you know them?”
She nodded. “Everyone in town knows them. Sabrina and Kevin. She’s eleven and he’s nine. They are siblings, but they live with foster parents a few blocks from here.”
“A foster home? They looked homeless.”
“I know.” Carol sighed. “Their foster parents don’t really care. Social workers tried to take all the kids from them, but apparently, it isn’t that easy.”
“So they go around robbing people?”
“They probably only did it because you’re new.” Carol hooked her hand around my arm and steered me toward our houses. “They are good kids, but don’t really have anyone to take care of them.”
My heart tugged again. I didn’t even know them, and yet, I found myself wanting to go after them and help. To do more for them.
As we walked the few yards to our houses, Carol told me about her day, citing the names of