But Agnid had never treated me as though I was different. She treated me as though I belonged, and I would always be grateful to her for that.
"Yer such a good lad," she said, tears in her eyes now. "Always with that hellion smile on yer face, no matter what life throws at ye. That must be why Gaia chose ye for whatever mission she has decided to send ye on. She sees yer strength of character. She kens that ye will not be swayed, regardless of the forces bent against ye."
I pressed my forehead against hers. "I wish I had yer confidence," I murmured. "But I don't. If Gaia wants me to save some girl, why won't she just tell me where she is?" I kept my voice even, but I was vibrating with frustration inside. It was my motto in life not to get too attached to things, to approach issues with a carefree nonchalance. But when that vision had hit me, when I'd watched that woman fall into the lake of fire, something had changed inside me. Indescribable pain and horror had filled me as I watched her scream and writhe, watched the skin and flesh sizzle away as her bones burned into nothingness.
She'd been beautiful and fierce, dressed in leather, a bow of glowing blue energy in her hand that had not saved her from the fall. And though I'd never seen her in my life, a connection had sprung up between us in that moment, strong as the thread that bound my life to this world. Just the sight of watching such a bonny lass, so full of life and fire, fall to her death had made my soul cry out in agony. I could no more leave her to that fate than I could choke off my own windpipe.
Agnid only smiled. "Journeys start where they start, Brodie." She clapped a hand on my shoulder before turning to stare out at the meadow. "The butterfly doesna ask why it must begin as a caterpillar on a tree. It just must, and so must ye."
"Yer sayin' I'm a bug now?" A smile crept across my face despite myself.
"Aye, but a bonny one." She reached up and pinched my cheek. "One I'd say is destined fer more than he's willing to credit. Ye dinna think ye were going to stay in the Moors forever, did ye, lad? A man must make his way in the world. That's what makes him a man, and I ken in my very bones that by Gaia's good grace, yer going to be the kind of man who makes an old woman proud."
A reluctant grin passed over my face. "I dinnae see an old woman," I teased, kissing her cheek. "Just a bonny lass who sees too much good in me."
"Well, someone has to." Chuckling, she turned away. "Go on now, then, and when ye finally become a butterfly, you come back to yer mother."
After that parting remark, she headed back to our humble house on the hill, leaving me alone with the grass.
2
Arabella
I didn't remember the car accident. Nor did I remember the haze that descended upon me as I navigated rush-hour traffic on the I-5. I never remembered the moments when I was pulled from reality. When I blinked and somehow lost seconds, sometimes even minutes. Anything at all could happen when I slipped away. I could be mid-conversation. Halfway through cooking eggs on the stove. Or, in this case, changing lanes on the highway.
But when I came back to myself, lying on my side with the gearshift poking uncomfortably into my rib cage, I knew what must have happened.
I'd had another absence seizure.
"Damn it," I groaned, struggling to orient myself. The car was on its side, and I was still strapped into the driver's seat. The roof and doors had buckled, the metal squeezing in on all sides to create a claustrophobic cage. The windshield had cracked so badly that I could barely see anything through my already-blurry vision.
I blinked hard, several times, trying to clear my eyes as static blared from the brand-new radio I'd just installed. My eyes stung. When I swiped at them, my fingers came away stained red. Shit. Panic gripped me, and I patted my face and head, trying to discern where the blood was coming from. Pain bit into me as I touched my hairline, and I drew my hand away with a hiss. I twisted around in my seat toward the door. As I did, more pain burst from my rib cage, a sharp, agonizing stab that made my throat tighten with fear. Oh, God. Had I broken something?
Suck it up, Arabella. You've got to get out of here, I thought.
I wasn't sure how. The door was smashed in-impossible to get open even if I had my strength. Tears rolled down my cheeks as reality settled in-my car was totaled. The little Corolla that I could never bring myself to trade in, because it was the last thing my father had given me before he'd died, was gone.
What would your father think if he could see you now?