Serafina and the Black Cloak - Robert Beatty Page 0,83

form…” Serafina said in amazement.

“Yes,” Leandra said, her voice ragged. “I became sick with grief. I couldn’t find your father and feared that he was dead. My soul, my body, my love—they had all been torn apart, shredded to pieces. I did not want to live.”

Her mother’s voice faltered from a whisper to nothing at all, but Serafina moved closer to her. “But you were pregnant…” she said, urging her to continue.

“That’s right,” her mother said, lifting her head. “I was pregnant. It was the only thing that kept me going. I gave birth a few months later, but it was not as it should have been. You were the only one of my four children to survive, and I did not know if you would make it through the night. And what was I to do from there? You were human, and I was not! How could I care for a human baby?”

“What happened next?” Serafina pleaded.

“That same night, I heard the steps of a man walking through the forest,” her mother said. “Thinking him an enemy, I almost killed him. I circled the stranger in the darkness and watched him for a long time, trying to look into his heart. Was he a good man? Was there strength in him or weakness? Would he defend his den with tooth and claw? This was not your true father, but he was a human being, and he was the only choice I had. I made the decision to let him take my baby. I prayed that he would carry you into the human world and make sure that someone took care of you, for though it broke my heart, I knew that I could not.”

“That was my pa!” Serafina cried out.

Leandra smiled and nodded. “That was your pa. You were curled into a ball and so covered in blood that I barely got a good look at you that night. I honestly didn’t know whether you would even survive, Serafina, and if you did, I worried that you would be terribly deformed. I had no idea whether you would come out normal.”

Serafina went very quiet, and then she lifted her eyes and looked at her mother. In the frailest of voices, she asked, “Did I?”

Her mother’s face burst with joy, and she threw her arms around her and laughed. “Of course you did, Serafina! You’re beautiful. You’re perfect. Look at you! My God, I’ve never seen a girl so lovely and perfect in all my life! That night when you were born, I thought that man might take one look at you and drown you in a bucket like an unwanted goat. I had so many crazy, dreadful worries. But here you are. You’re alive! And you’re perfect in every way.”

When Serafina looked up at the sky, the stars were all glimmering and splotchy as she wiped her tears from her eyes. It felt like her heart was overflowing. She reached out her arms and hugged her mother. She wrapped her arms tightly around her, feeling her warmth and her strength and her joy and her happiness. And her mother held her close, almost purring, and tears fell from their cheeks, and the little cubs, Serafina’s half brother and half sister, tumbled around their feet, joining in the family reunion.

“I can see that your pa raised you well, Serafina,” her mother said, separating them a little bit and looking into her face. “When I saw you the first time here in the cemetery, I thought you were an intruder, and I attacked out of pure instinct. After twelve years, I was far more animal than I was anything else. It wasn’t until tonight when I saw your eyes up close that I slowly began to realize who you were. And now here you are! And you freed me, Serafina. After twelve years, you have healed my soul. Do you realize that? I am whole again because of you. I have arms, I have hands, I can laugh, and I can kiss you! You saved me. And just look at you! You are the most perfect kitten I could have ever hoped for: you’re fierce of heart, and sharp of claw, and fast and beautiful.”

Serafina’s cheeks burned with heat, and her heart filled with pride, but then she looked at the children waiting for her.

“It was the Black Cloak that did all this,” she said.

“Yes.” Her mother looked around at their confused and frightened faces as they huddled together among the