Sam awoke to an empty bed. He immediately sat up and looked around. The room was quiet and still, but he could sense his wife somewhere near. They were not staying in the manor with the others; they had opted instead to stay, one last time, within the home they had made in Lux. Like the manor, evil had not been able to touch it. It had stayed standing with little effect.
He got dressed and left their home and walked into the backyard. A heavy fog had come that morning, proof of the sun being cut off from Protea—a dangerous thing indeed—but it could not entirely block his sight. He found Clara standing at the edge where their backyard butted up to some trees, and she was staring at nothing in particular. He came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. "Hey." He nuzzled her ear. "Still surreal?"
"You can't just forget millions of years." She leaned back against him. She had learned to put the past behind her, to never go back, but sometimes it was hard even for her. "There's a lot of that time that is blurred to me. I learned long ago to shelve and move memories of lesser importance to make room for more important ones, but as I look back now on purpose, I wonder if I was ever really living until you and Shanae came into my life."
"I believe it." He rested his chin on her shoulder and cuddled her closer. "How long had you known about the Cores?"
She sighed softly. "From the beginning. I always knew how they could be saved if it was ever needed, but I didn't actually think that time would come. Maybe because it affected my own future. Maybe because I wanted to believe it would not be needed. It's like how doctors know how to mend the most terrible of injuries, but always hope they never need to do it. It's just knowledge in the case of the unthinkable. But now . . . I see how everything was planned carefully. I can't think of anything that wasn't done deliberately even back at the beginning. Racine alone is proof of it."
"You mean that it would take that long for a second Statice Dual Cultivator, descended of your own aunt, to happen to be born to someone who was close friends with the High Priestess of the Rebirth Era, who was in turn the ancestor of the Lead Defender of the Resurrection Era where the second Statice Dual rightfully belonged?"
Her lips curved wryly. "I answered directly to Time, but that did not mean Destiny didn't have control of my life." She tilted her head. "I've often envisioned Destiny as a Lead of sorts herself. She is in charge of the team of highest beings."
"You know, I've never asked how the ranking works," he mused. "Because we say Destiny is the absolute force, but then we've got Apexes . . ."
She smiled. "Destiny is the absolute force of the universe, so she's at the highest of the hierarchy. Controls everything, sees everything. The Ultimate Goddess who is the beginning and end." She opened her mouth and then closed it. "There is technically another absolute force," she murmured. "Hope. But he faded at the moment he appeared alongside Destiny. Only his power has remained for millions of years. Were he to exist, he would be Destiny's equal."
"And the Apexes follow them in rank?"
"You know . . . that's a little sketchy?" She smiled as she said it. "I've always thought of them as her gatekeepers and emissaries. We knew all the way back at the beginning that the universe needed Apexes to stabilize things. Someone capable of filtering the arcane forces that Destiny had created to build and support the universe." She sought a proper analogy. "Destiny built a universe that has three rivers running through it, let's say. She then arranged for the Apexes—dams—for the rivers to exist. The Apexes filter and control the flow of the rivers to ensure they are balanced and not able to just flood hapless worlds. They also can use the rivers as power, not unlike a hydroelectric plant does—but no one else can. Not even Destiny herself."
"This is making sense," Sam decided. "So the three rivers of arcane forces born from Destiny make up part of the Apexes, and then there's a lake somewhere that they can each fill up with the arcane force of Hope before dropping the lake's own dam—which all three are connected to—in order to make their miracles happen."
"The lake concept is more fitting than you know, given that the lake had to be a certain level full before those dams on the rivers could be built, and the birth of Apexes in turn filled the lake more. And given that Liena's birth mother, Anastasia Courimay, was the demi-goddess daughter of the God of Hope, and their descendant is Tasia—"
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me. Tasia learned that during the Dragon War. She opted to keep it quiet, as I had." She shook her head. "Anyway, given those things, it is fitting. I've suspected that was Destiny's intent when she paired Tananeen to Anastasia. Liena's birth catapulted the force of Hope in the universe, and only thirty or so years later, Sayena and Shanae were born. Fast forward to Jean, another descendant of Hope who just . . . oozed good majik, and you've kicked up the lake more." She turned in his arms to smile. "And then, finally, the universe had finally matured enough, the lake filled enough, that Tasia could be born. A descendant of Hope himself who also descended of one imprinted by Chaos."
He digested all that, and then asked dryly, "So basically, you're saying you knew all along what Tasia was, and who her parentage was?"
She coughed. "Well, to be fair, my future isn't as entwined to hers. I definitely did not know or expect any of the events around the Activation of the Resurrection Cultivators, as much because of Racine being involved as Racine's very existence of owning this Era and beyond, but when I met Tasia, I realized I knew far more about her than I had expected to know. I just didn't say anything about it. I learned long, long, long ago that even when I could interfere, there are times I should not, no matter how terribly I wanted to. I could not say I knew the events that would happen to have her understand things, other than a few expected things, but I knew the things she would come to understand. I wasn't alone, though. Shanae and Sayena knew Tasia was an Apex, and so did Kacey."
"Kacey!" Something dawned on him. "Wait, hasn't she always been able to hear the Whisper of Hope inside the Apexes? I seem to remember Talon mentioning something like that once."
"No one has ever really been able to determine why, but she does hear it. She heard it before they were born, in fact. She describes it as hearing their voices whispering inside her soul that there will always be hope, and she hears it every time they meet. She had effectively learned to stop hearing it as more than in the background, and then Tasia came home from Aria as a sorceress with arcanistry, and Kacey suddenly heard a new voice whispering. Which reminded her that the first time she heard the Whisper, she had heard three voices. She cornered me and Shanae and demanded the truth, which we gave. She did deserve to know."
"Does Tasia know she knew?"
"Probably. I haven't asked." A laugh bubbled up before she could stop it. "Tasia and I long ago agreed that we would never harangue the other for knowing things first. Is it terrible of me how much I enjoy watching her exasperate our daughter? It feels like such perfect symmetry, given Shana and her ability to know things she shouldn't has been vexing me forever already. How do you stay ahead of someone who knows everything, or almost everything? I still haven't figured it out. At least, as time passes, we won't need to worry as much about it. I am glad that if this is where my role ends, I will end it ensuring of a future where terrible events will all but fade. I want Racine to be a Librarian who only has to watch for Pivots, help past-seeking witches, and maybe now and then push and shove future generations to a place where they might not want to go, but still belong."
He started laughing. "She's proven to do that last one quite well." He tugged her close again and brushed a kiss over her lips. "I know you're still not quite sure what to do with yourself now that you have turned in your hourglass, but I promise I shall endeavor to keep you entertained for however many more million years we get. I'm thinking you'd still make a great advisor for people in the Realm. I'd bet they have issues arise often enough that some All Sight-enhanced legal know-how would tidy up."
"I believe you." She slid her arms around his neck and smiled. "You know, I've never actually died before." He arched a brow, and she nodded firmly. "Never once. Every time it even got remotely close, my Lead retreated me. I was willing to do it twice, both times for Shana," she said readily. "I would have done anything for her. However, the first time I attempted it, Pallas retreated me. Surprised me that he could, actually. I had not realized he had been given that skill. The second time, Shana retreated me personally. That . . . still stings a bit. The one reason she had been given actual Lead skills despite Virginia existing had been to save me from my own desire as a Defender to protect the one I loved most. Virginia had been willing to let me make that choice, twice, but not Pallas or Shana."
"It's probably against the rules for a Librarian to do that," he said solemnly. He linked his hands at the small of her back. "Though you've been bending rules for ages. Something Racine definitely has in common with you."
"Ah, but it's your thirst for life that drives her. She has never been your sister, Samuel. She was always our daughter. Just as Allister might be your brother by blood but he was always more like a son to you. The ties that connect us . . . complicated, yes, but they are important." She smiled. "I don't regret anything that has ever happened. I feel oddly happy. I could not give Shana the freedom she craved, but, someday soon, I can share it with her for all time, and I can see again all the ones before her that I loved as well."
Racine stepped from out of rolling fog, and her feet were soundless on the ground. She carried her Memory Ankh in one hand, and Allister walked at her side. "I won't let you down," she said intensely. "Either of you."
"I never thought you would." Clara stepped closer to her daughter and cupped her cheek. "There's never been a day where I wasn't proud of you. I have never been bothered to not see much of this Era or the next because I fully believed in you."
Curious, Sam asked Racine, "Have you yet seen the next Era yet? We thought you might not see it because you were not yet full Librarian, but you are now, so . . ."
She shook her head. "Not yet. Everything is this huge gray space. Destiny has been planning this for a long time, but it's up to us to make sure it happens right. She has left it to us to create the future that I will fight for." She tapped her ankh on the ground and smiled. "Well! I guess this is it, huh? What place of memory are we going to, Mom? I mean . . . you've got millions."
"But only one stands out right now," Clara murmured. "The most important moment in my very long life. We are going to Statice. To the only flat plains on our otherwise forested world. The place near where the capitol city and kingdom were built."
Racine cocked her head slightly in curiosity and then called the transport magic to take all four of them there. It had been devastated of course, but still stood, and it could still be seen where trees surrounded the large ring of land. "Such a special spot," she said. She smiled. "Trees on Hyacinth are special, and plains on Statice. There is always something special where something unexpected appears. What memory do you have here?"
"Well, the first time I stood here, I was fifteen years old."
"That . . . that is a daunting realization." Allister lifted a brow. "I thought you predated the planets."
"That is more daunting," Sam groused.
Clara just smiled. "I didn't predate the planets. I predated life on them. They had been frozen and barren and poor Life had been trying so very hard to do his job, but something kept his power from penetrating the soil. I just . . . really loved Statice for some reason, so I came here to see if I could help. I walked here and . . . flowers bloomed around me. Pink statice flowers the same color as my hair and eyes. The Core took its first breath, and it breathed through my lungs. That was when my two Flower Marks appeared and named me as Statice's chosen Daughter. That set off a shockwave, and the rest of the Cores took their first breath and Protea and Delphinium literally created their first Daughters from the flowers in their fields—Shanta and Enaya."
Allister grinned. "So, as always, Statice is always the odd one in the family."
"One gets used to it. Relisha will as well." She was smiling as she said it. "It was meeting Shanta and Enaya that I found my Mask for I loved them so, so very much that I wanted nothing more than to protect and, well, defend them. Destiny explained everything to us, what it would mean for me, and I accepted willingly. After that, the rest of the First generation of Rulers and Defenders bloomed from their worlds, and finally Life could use his power properly! It did not take long until there were animals and plants of all sorts and humans as well. While Blossom began to thrive and set the rhythm of the universe, Life started work on other galaxies and worlds, which proved easier."
"Blossom blueprint," Racine said gravely.
In a sotto voice, Clara said, "I honestly think he had an actual blueprint he carried." She let out a little breath as everyone laughed, and then smiled. "I think I'm ready. No, I know I am. There is nothing left to do. I have seen my place of memory, and I have been traveling my memories all morning. Let's go to the Core of Statice and I will, finally, give my last dedication."
The entrance to the Core of Statice was not far away. It had been located right on the outskirts of the capitol, and the city beyond it remained quiet and still. People huddled together for warmth and stayed inside what few structures were still standing. There was no hope to refill that lake for the Apexes. Not yet.
The males pried up the hatch leading down into the ground and they all jumped inside. Sam and Allister insisted on going first and then the two Cultivators followed. They realized how dark it was only when they were at the bottom. The chrome tourmaline suspended in Racine's ankh began to glow, and the light allowed them to see where they were walking as they went down the endless tunnel. Admittedly, there wasn't much to see, but it still helped.
A point of light appeared and began to grow stronger as they drew closer, and Racine's orb stopped glowing. They followed the new light until it filled the area and they found themselves standing in front of massive doors more than double Sam's height. They had been made of wood and carved with the symbols across the ages that represented the Memory Flower Element. In the very center could be seen a carving of a statice blossom alike to the ones that had only ever marked three people: Claret, Racine, and Relisha.
"Cypress, right?" Sam studied the door. "The most common tree on Statice, but one not seen anywhere else except the edges of the Immortal Fields. I suppose I recognized it being like the pink statice or the chrome tourmaline and only being on our world, but maybe didn't realize they would all be equally significant."
"Every world has a flower first, stone second, and wood third to represent it and its chosen children," Clara explained. "And there is usually a sort of connection across them. If something is represented across all three, it is a dominant trait, and the rest are more subconscious, though not always." She smiled at Racine. "You're the Librarian. You tell them what it all means."
A little warmth filled Racine. "The pink statice is, of course, about remembrance and eternity. Cypress is an undying wood resistant to age that always endures. Chrome tourmaline is also about endurance, but it also represents rarity and dual-tone/natures. So Statice is about enduring the trials of time, always remembering the past, and it will only ever have two Defenders. Talk about everything being planned deliberately."
A familiar presence filled the air around them. They all recognized it. They had felt her near, sensed her hovering, many times in their lives. More than any other, Clara recognized it. She had been wondering if she would be here for this important moment. "Destiny. It's been a long time."
The door shimmered with all the colors of life then began to ripple with the pink and lavender of Statice. I feel before me the two Mothers of Statice; the young Daughter is not present. Who is it who comes to make the final sacrifice?
Clara stepped forward. The words were there inside her where they had been waiting all along. "I do. I am the eldest Mother of Statice. I have come to give back my life and magic to the planet that brought me forth. I give myself in place of my daughter so that she may fulfill whatever need you have of her."
Then you must make the first sacrifice. The sacrifice of mind. Your memories will remain here as you travel, and they will slowly leave you as you progress. You will remember only the people you love but not any experiences you shared with them.
Clara slowly nodded. "I had expected such a thing. I am prepared."
"I'm not," Racine muttered. When Allister pulled her close, she clung onto him with all her strength. His shadowy power curled around her and soothed her deep inside.
Sam stepped up calmly. "Destiny, I am here as well to offer my life and magic, to follow my Cultivators into the next plane. I ask only that you shield my twin from suffering until he is able to follow me."
It will be done, Samuel. However, your sacrifice will come later. To reach the Core, it must be Clara's sacrifice to open the way.
Clara took a calm breath and stepped forward further. A bright glow centered at her chest and pushed forward to bring her Life Orb. It was the biggest that Racine had ever seen, and it had billions of facets. It was so old, so packed with memory, that it had beautiful tarnish along the edges. It floated toward the door and merged with it so that it disappeared.
The first step was the hardest and the most painful. There were a great many memories to be lost, and they fled at a shocking rate. Millions of memories over the years. Even secluding herself in the Hall of Records, she had built up many. Cultivators she had known over the millennia. Queens and princesses she had protected. Times she had seen, worlds she had watched be born. They were gone before she knew how important they were.
Further steps brought memories of more importance. It was the Resurrection Cultivators that fled next. Not even she had ever imagined what the Resurrection Era might bring. Partially it had been her daughter's influence, but partially it was because there really was no predicting the movements of these fascinating witches. Each had taught her something, each had brought something new that had never been seen before. The memories faded like morning mists.
The Dual Cultivators of the Light and their Caretakers followed next. This team of her partners . . . she had known them the longest. Loved them the most. The Cultivators had amused and fascinated her, and they had gently coaxed her out of her shell. The Commanders had treated her with respect, but they had teased her mercilessly about their shared queen. Family. All of them had been her family, and they faded away.
Pain spread as she watched her fellow Dark Defenders and their Caretakers leave her. She had never imagined how special Desiree and Kellie would be to her, never dreamed that Alexandria would be her favorite Hyacinth Cultivator. The things they had endured together had bound them deeply. And the Commanders. Tyson and Uwe and Diaz. She had loved watching them chase their prince around—better them than her—and she had enjoyed their companionship. All of them left her painfully quick.
Reagan and LeAnn's faces filled her mind. Her youngest queens. They had dogged at her heels since they could walk. Always asking questions, always wanting to know anything she would be willing to share. She had told them the stories of the past, had laughed watching them be so much like their parents yet different. She had also watched them endure things at a young age that she would have stopped if she had known they would happen. Perhaps that was why she hadn't known. Her precious nieces. Gone.
Siobhan, Rocky, and Edgar's images flit past her eyes. One of her queens and her two kings. She had never quite known what to do with Siobhan and yet she had always been drawn to her easy friendship and anxiety-repelling love. Edgar's Dark-based calm had always been such a contrast to Rocky's Light-based cheer, and she had been entertained by them from the day they had been first born. She forgot everything about them, did not remember how much she had loved them.
Shana. Her heart wept as she saw her queen's face. The one she loved most. She had protected thousands of princesses and queens, and none had gotten to her the way Shanae had. From the first moment Shanae had been born, she had loved no one but her soul mate more. Memories of her patient meddling, her ready smile, and her unquestioning love slipped away. She would have done anything for this one person. She would have died time and again for her. She would have given her the very power of Time. And she forgot all of it.
Racine's image was the next in her mind. Her beautiful daughter. Had she known this would happen when she had taken Racine to the Care House? She couldn't be sure. From the very day mink brown eyes had smiled up at her, she had been hopelessly in love. Racine had changed her life in too many ways to count, had made her world a better place. She hadn't been alone. And while she had taught Racine a great deal, her daughter had taught her how to live, had given her a reason to emerge into the world where the others she loved resided. Losing her memories of this precious person broke her heart.
And Sam. She stumbled over her own feet as pain ripped at her. She had never, ever, ever imagined she would find the one meant for her. Find that perfect soul mate. Yet, there he had been out of nowhere. She hadn't even recognized him for what he was until many years later after he had reached adulthood. He had shown up at the Protea Castle where she had been visiting, marched into her room, and he had blindsided her. They had needed a hasty betrothal too! She lost those memories for the second time, and her soul cried out in pain.
She would have fallen if Sam and Racine hadn't caught her and balanced her. The second door instantly appeared, and she stared at it a bit blindly. How empty she felt! On the other hand, Racine could feel something throbbing hotly and powerfully inside. If she tried, she was sure she could see and feel Clara's memories inside her. "What is that?"
It is your final evolution. When this journey ends, your mother will no longer exist on this plane, but her very memories, emotions, reason for being, and strength will become your power. You will be her living legacy.
"I accept her legacy." Racine somehow found a smile. "I think I've proven I can be anything she, or you, need me to be." She tilted her head slightly. "Destiny? Why was there ever only one Dual Cultivator of Statice until me? Was that really necessary?"
The power of Statice is the power of Memory—the power of Time itself. To purify the Core, only one who has lived since the beginning of Time, who is the grandchild of Time, could ever be strong enough. Moira and Horatio . . . they knew well what might come. Horatio defended time. Moira fought for it. In the coming final war, we knew we would need someone to fight, not to defend. It was always intended for this torch to pass to you. As you remain the Guardian of Memory in the living world, and the true Librarian, your own daughter will now carry on the Ruler lineage of Statice. There is no more need for there to only be one—but Statice will always be a little different. That is part of its charm.
It was an oddly comforting thought for everyone present. Clara slowly straightened and stood tall and proud. She let Sam keep his arm around her, but she did not lean on him. "I am ready to continue."
Then it is time for the second sacrifice. The sacrifice of heart. As you progress, you will lose your love for all those around you.
Allister said something explicitly rude under his breath in Vericin. Racine still didn't speak the language, but she had a feeling she concurred. Clara smiled a bit even though she did not remember that her son-in-law didn't usually cuss in public. "It is yours to take."
So be it.
The second glow centered at her chest and came forth with a beautiful force shaped like a statice blossom. Her two Flower Marks had begun to fade, and Racine's Defender Mark had begun to sparkle—but only that one. Her daughter, her Activated daughter, was also a Ruler. The sign of the change. The flower glimmered brightly as it flew toward the door and merged with it. Both dissolved, and the tunnel ahead loomed. Painfully, slowly, Clara moved forward. Like her memories, feeling the love of the people in her long life disappear was brutal and agonizing.
The fascinating and enduring Resurrection Cultivators . . . gone. The Light Defenders and their Commander Caretakers . . . gone. The Dark Defenders and Commanders . . . her dearest friends . . . gone. Reagan and LeAnn, her young confidants . . . gone. Siobhan and Rocky and Edgar . . . gone. Something cried out as Shana was taken from her, and it cried out louder when Racine was torn away. Sam's face loomed in her mind, and for the first time, the very first time in her entire life, she rebelled against what was asked of her. "No! You can't have him!"
The third door was instantly there, and Destiny's presence was soothing. I could never take a Cultivator's Caretaker from her.
"You took him before," Racine whispered. Tears slid without check down her face and she didn't bother to wipe them away. They just kept falling. "And they were taken from the other Elders. Even Rocky and Edgar and Shana and Siobhan did not really remember each other for a while, and Rocky and Edgar even died for their lovers."
The latter was a temporary necessity to evolve my beloved Apex of Dark. The memories had been removed from the Elders in order to protect them, and Clara especially. Waiting five thousand years for his rebirth? Five thousand lonely years alone after knowing how it felt to be complete? I could never have done that to her. Every memory I requested sealed over the millennia was only to protect the one I sealed it from. I cannot, will not, apologize for loving my Cultivators.
"We do not want you to." Clara took a ragged breath and tried to straighten. She could not wholly manage it. Racine moved to help her as well, and she leaned on her daughter without question. "What is left to take?"
The reason for your existence: your Seed. The first Seed ever in existence.
"I give it freely."
The third glow centered at her chest and brought forth her Seed. She had never felt the pain of losing her Seed, and did not remember seeing others suffer it, yet the pain somehow felt familiar. The Seed floated to the door and merged with it, and it dissolved to reveal as yet another path.
Only Sam and Racine gave her the strength to walk forward. It hurt. It was agonizing pain. For millions of years she had been the only Dual Cultivator of Statice, and she lost all knowledge of it. Forgot every skill, every magical gift. Forgot that she had been chosen solely to be Statice's namesake. And yet, even though she forgot, she kept going. She was a Defender Cultivator. The driving need to make right all wrongs burned inside her still.
A point of light appeared and began to grow larger. It rushed toward them and became not a door but a doorway. Light blinded them, and when it cleared, they found themselves standing in a circular room. In the very center rested an immensely large chrome tourmaline covered in pink statices slowly being eaten by the evil tar dripping from the ceiling. The Core of Statice.
Clara, it is time. It is your time as well, Samuel.
She carefully straightened and walked beside her mate as they crossed the room. The evil gathered itself and attacked, but it was repelled by a bright pink and lavender shield from Clara that obliterated all evil in the room. The Core tried to glow in response, but it was simply too weak.
She climbed the dais and lightly touched the Core. It was sick and pained, but it reached out for her lovingly as it had so long before. She placed her Mask on the Core and then covered it with her hands as she let her great lifeforce and remaining magic well. Sam's hands surrounded hers, and he too gave willingly of his life and magic. As their power filled the Core, both began to fade. And in that beautiful moment, everything came back to Clara. Every long year, every friend. It had all been worth it. "Thank you for choosing me," she said softly.
Clara, you are everything that is Statice. You endured through trials and resisted anything that tried to harm you or your loved ones. You bravely defended time across millennia, and now you can rest. You have done all that was ever asked of you, even when you did not know you were being asked.
She turned and held out a hand to Racine. Though she was nearly gone, she still felt the warmth of Racine's fingers clasping hers. She smiled. "Remember to not let LeAnn get away with too much. Those of Protea are always troublemakers."
Racine's lips trembled as she found a smile. "I'll leave it to Tasia. I'll just go behind and clean up the mess."
"It always worked for me," her mother agreed.
Finally, slowly, at last, Clara faded away entirely, everything that she was returning to the planet that had given her life. Sam, too, faded away. The Core began to quiver and shake and then produced a glow more radiant than anything anyone had ever seen as every statice flower burst back into life. Racine could feel the pulsing warmth of Clara's magic. It was her memories, emotions, existence, and life. She had become her living legacy.
Her Mask appeared before her and all of the tiny fractures mended as the entire thing began to sparkle softly. Her magikry and more, her nearly demi-goddess like gifts, all expanded in a rush as she felt her Flower Marks beginning to burn against her skin.
It is time, Racine, came Destiny's voice. You are powered by the oldest of magic, the rawest force of the Memory Flower Element. Take this destiny thrust upon you and bloom!
Racine donned her Mask with no hesitation, and a third statice blossom appeared on her Defender Mark before all blossoms across both Marks opened into full bloom. Her armor rushed in to cover her with a new shine and glitter that seared the eye. Allister had not expected this evolution, and he felt her power throbbing inside his. It felt, a little, like Clara had never left. She was there, living inside her daughter, becoming the power that fueled her.
Her mind went static on Allister, and he shot up the stairs to catch her as she fell. She landed safely in his arms, and he removed her Mask again. He returned it to her bracelet and then lifted her gently. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her bronze skin had paled. Yet, there was no room for grief inside her. She could feel her mother and father still. They would always be there if she needed them.
Destiny's power swirled around them both and she said softly, I will return you to the manor with the others for now. There is time as yet to rest. The final battle is not here yet. I believe in you, young Racine. You do your ancestors proud.
Racine's lips curved slightly. She was kind of proud of her ancestors, too.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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