Page 16 of Clarity
It wascool.
And then it got into the betrayal, one of our own, distantly. Driven mad by power, she sought more and more, sought control and reverence, at the cost of… anything.
She didn’t care.
It was history that actually overlapped with the Eonians. History I’d have to talk to Brosia about, and introduce her to others in Blackwood as well.
Many had suffered because of one overzealous witch with unchecked power.
Power we always thought we’d never get back.
Until this grimoire.
“Oh there’s your name, Larivye!” Aunt Clerie exclaimed, looking up at me with a smile as my mother sucked her teeth.
“Yes, herrealname, notRiver.”
I sucked my teeth too. “It means the same thing, old woman,” I teased. “And besides, River matches the job of collecting weird stuff. People expect a quirky name.”
“Mmmhmmm,” she hummed. “Hush up, I’m trying to read. This says…”
Clerie sucked in a breath.
Obviously she’d been reading ahead.
“A vampire?!” Mama exclaimed, pressing a hand to her chest. “Is that what that says? Mwen li sa a dwat??*!”
“Not justanyvampire,Firstdescendants!” Clerie yelped. “Senyè ede nou?*!”
“Do you see what is here? Bonding?! Is that… What does that mean? Will you have to become one of them? Would you even be yourself anymore?” Mama asked, her voice getting weaker with every word.
“Mama?” I said, dropping to a squat beside her. From this close, andreallylooking at her, I was picking up on things I hadn’t before. How much deeper her wrinkles seemed, how pale and fragile-looking her skin was, how muchsmallershe seemed.
My head whipped up, finding Clerie’s gaze.
Her eyes were wet.
“The same as Este?” I asked, grabbing onto the table to steady myself when she nodded.
“It’s going to be just fine,” Mama said, covering my hand with hers. “I’ve lived a good life?—”
“And you’re going to live even more, like our elders did,” I said, pointing at the book. “If you do the math, you’ll see. When the leech queen died a few years ago, some type of depression happened. Maybe her last desperate attempt, I don’t know. But that’s when Aunt Este got so sick, so fast, and remember, wefeltthe power siphon away.”
Clerie nodded. “I do remember. But what…?”
“I won’t let Mama be next,” I declared. “You saw what it said. That when Ibind with the descendant of Firsts…we’ll be restored. Ihaveto do this.”
“You will not put yourself in danger for me,” Mama denied. “You’ve heard the same stories we have about First Vampires, their power.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Youshouldbe,” Clerie countered. “And besides… there may not be time.”
My eyes went wide. “May not be… it’sthat bad?! And you weren’t going to tell me?!”
“We were going to tell you!” Mama assured me. “In another week or so. When it was closer, so you wouldn’t be hanging around here watching me suffer.”
“Well good thing that won’t happen.”