Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,124
asked tentatively.
The man nodded. “Hey, Mom.”
She crushed him with a hug, almost knocking him down. “My son,” she said resolutely, which was all it took for Kes to lose it.
The body he wore was middle-aged, bald, and muscular, and if I was being honest, he looked at little like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
But he felt the same to me.
Dad walked toward me, staring between my face and Kestrel’s body in my arms. He stopped in front of us and tenderly brushed my twin’s hair. “Kes explained everything.”
The truth was finally out in the open. While he finally understood why things were kept from him for so long, it didn’t assuage the pain of losing his son all over again.
“I’m sorry, Larken. I’m sorry this burden fell on you.”
“I’m not, Dad.”
He gave me a wobbly smile. “I’m glad you killed him, though.”
I nodded, unable to speak. At the end of the day, I was glad to have kicked Taurus’s celestial ass, even if it meant I took his place. Now, my family would be safe for the rest of their lives. I could protect them.
As Kes walked toward us with Mom, I noticed a few similarities between his old form and the new. His gait. The protective arm he threw around her shoulders. The concern in his now-brown eyes.
“Hey, Kes,” I cried when they reached me.
He smiled as best he could. “Sis.”
Kes encouraged me to use my wings when I told him my plans to demolish Taurus’s castle along with his memory, and to make my own home someplace much more pleasant. I wasn’t sure they would hold me or that I could even fly until I flapped once and rose several feet into the air. “Keep going!” he shouted, running beneath me like a kid trying to encourage the wind to lift his kite.
Finally, I spotted it in the distance. My new home.
I used Aries’s advice to pave a new path. I wanted to pick where I would live before burying Kestrel, so he could always be close. There was no one in the sprawling amusement park, so I removed the once-magical rides with no more than a thought. They were blocking my way one minute and gone the next.
The grounds, without all the fairytale commercial crap, were stunning. Lush grass. Enormous live oak trees with thick branches that dipped close to the ground before rising back toward the sun.
It was perfect.
“I found it!” I shouted to him as I tried to figure out how to land, circling a few times awkwardly.
“Just,” he waved me down, “do it.”
“What are you, Nike?” I was terrified.
“No, but you’re basically indestructible, so what’s the worst that can happen?”
The breezes were stiff and changed directions every minute or two. What was the worst that could happen? Life, once again, gave me perspective. Not much could be worse than what I’d already experienced.
I closed my eyes and felt what I was supposed to do – in my heart. Aries had described feeling his next steps, important words, and magic swell there. I had to trust myself, trust my wings, and know they would carry me to the ground. When my toes brushed the tips of the grass, I smiled.
“Show off,” he teased. “Not only do you learn to fly in thirty seconds, you make landing look as easy as breathing.”
Because it was. I grinned at him. “Don’t be jelly.”
He quirked a brow, wrinkling his forehead and… bald head. “Oh, I am definitely jelly.”
“My castle is that way,” I told him, pointing southeast. “You won’t be able to miss it.”
“How did you make it?”
“I didn’t actually make it… I felt like repurposing was best, in this case.”
“Repurposing? But the only thing around here is Disney World…” he trailed off.
I grinned.
“Are you serious?”
I nodded. “The teacups are gone, and so are the other rides, but my new castle is stunning.”
He threw his head back, laughing. “I… um… wow. I have no words.”
“That’s a first,” I quipped, before the weight of what we had to do pressed down on me again. “I found the perfect place for Kestrel.”
“I’m glad.” Kes’s easy smile fell away. He slung an arm over my shoulder, an easy feat now that he was a foot taller than me. “Love you.”
“Love you back.”
ARIES
At sunset, Kestrel’s family lay his body to rest near a live oak tree beautifully draped with Spanish moss. Kes and I dug the grave while Larken lay her twin’s body in the earthen void and deftly covered it, moving the earth