face. Savannah stood at her side making a weird grimace with her eyebrows twitching like she was trying to not to cry and barely succeeding.
I turned back to Saffie and Myrtle. They still clung to each other but were now rocking back and forth. They visibly shook and their cries carried in the breeze. In front of me, Emersyn spun with makeup smeared tears down her face and buried herself in Deacon’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her but he too looked damn near ready to fall apart. He blinked rapidly and his lips trembled. Henley coiled her arms around Royce and Cooper and pulled them in close to her.
“Let me see you,” Myrtle half-sobbed, half whispered. She unhooked her arms and leaned back – her eyes widened but even more tears burst from her silver eyes. She cupped her daughter’s face. “Look at you.”
Saffie nodded and I heard her sniffle. “I’m here…I’m here…I’m free.”
“I can’t believe it – after all this time.” Myrtle shook her head and tears splashed into the air. “You look exactly the way I remembered you.”
“So do you,” Saffie cried. She collapsed into Myrtle’s chest, burying her face in her shoulder. “Goddess, I missed you.”
Myrtle closed her eyes and held her tight, rocking her side to side like she was a small child. “My Saraphina. I am so proud of you.”
Someone sniffled but then Tennessee looked down and his eyes widened…and then I felt the wetness on my cheeks. It was me. I sniffled. I’m leaking. Tenn’s eyes watered. He shook his head, then reached up with both hands and used his thumbs to wipe the tears off my face.
“We did it,” I whispered up to him. “We brought her home.”
He nodded and cringed. I knew he was trying to keep it together. This had to be painful for him. After all, he hadn’t gotten a reunion with his own mother — Bettina! I gasped and spun around searching for her.
I found her just a few feet away, standing with her back against Jackson’s chest and his arms wrapped around her tight. She hadn’t known Saffie before all this and she’d only barely known Myrtle…but I knew this would be hard for my best friend too. Part of me wondered if that entire family was somehow cursed with all the pain they’d been forced to endure.
B? I whispered into her mind.
She looked over at me.
Are you all right?
She smiled and nodded.
I sighed and leaned my head against Tenn’s chest — but then a warm wave of energy rolled into me and my own magic sparked to life. I stood up straight and pulled myself out of Tenn’s hold. Something is coming. A split second later, Tenn stiffened beside me and I knew he’d felt it too. I frowned.
But then Riah’s head snapped to the right.
I followed his stare just as light flashed on the horizon and then two figures materialized in the courtyard with us. They stepped out of a shadow and I recognized them in an instant. One was a man with deep suntanned skin, long curly blond hair, a scruffy beard, and massive white wings flapping in the breeze at his back. The other was a breathtakingly gorgeous woman with big bright lavender eyes and bright red hair that fell almost all the way to her ankles. They both wore the same white sheath gowns that were customary to Crone Island. They walked toward us with calm, unhurried steps and gazes locked on Saffie.
And they were holding hands. Keltie and Leyka. Sea goddess and angel. HOLDING HANDS.
I gasped and turned back to the mother and daughter still holding each other. The air pulsed and shimmered and I felt their power radiating across the island.
Myrtle must have felt them, too, because she glanced to her left. A wide smile spread across her face. She squeezed Saffie’s arms and then pulled her back to meet her eyes. “Look who’s here…”
I couldn’t see Saffie’s face but I watched her slowly look to her right — and then she squealed. “UNCLE LEYKA!” She jumped up and sprinted toward him.
He grinned and leapt forward to meet her halfway, then caught her and spun her around in a circle. “Saaaaaaffieeeee.” He sat her back on the sand and beamed down at her. “Finally. Look at you, you look exactly the same!”
Saffie giggled. “Look at you! You’re an ANGEL!” She reached out and ran her fingers through his white wings.
“Though he hardly acts it,” Keltie said with a sideways