A Wish Upon the Stars (Tales From Verania 4)

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it—”

“Then what are you but a weapon?”

“I don’t know if I like you right now.”

“You misunderstand me, precious. I’m not denigrating you. I’m merely pointing out the obvious.” She sighed. “And I think that’s a problem many of us have. The stories told about you since you disappeared have become something akin to legend. And now that you’ve returned, there are great expectations upon you.”

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“Didn’t you? You told me once that when you were young, you would wish upon the stars to do something that matter

ed, to be someone who mattered.”

“Okay. True. But I think this is overdoing it a little.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But here we are. I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“Everything you’ve gone through. Seeing you as a savior. I can’t imagine the weight upon your shoulders. I can admit that in my darkest moments, I thought of you as a means to an end. When my children were being taken from me, I wondered what I could do to get you to help me. I wanted to use you. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that part of me still does.”

“And that’s something we have in common,” Randall said. “I’ve made… mistakes. I thought that… well. Bluntly, there was a time I thought of using Sam. Or rather what he’s capable of. His magic is beyond me, something I can plainly admit. I had hope, for however brief a time, that Sam could bring Myrin back. The bird in the forest fueled that hope. Because what’s death if not a cleansing?” He looked at me. “But that’s not the way of things, is it, Sam?”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing.

Randall sighed. “Part of the forest died that day when he brought the bird back to life. The smallest of creatures, and the ground and trees were black. I’ve seen it. And it helped me to realize that sometimes, it’s the magic we don’t use that makes us powerful.”

I remembered standing above Morgan’s body, life teeming around me as the people of Verania mourned, remembering that I could just take from them if I really wanted to. That I could burn the life from their bones and shove it back inside Morgan.

“So where does that leave us, then?” Letnia asked.

“When I was a child,” Mama said, “my mother used to tell me a story.”

“You had parents?” Gary asked. “Wow. I thought that the world was lacking in fierceness, and then all of a sudden, you existed in an explosion of fire and incredible corsets.”

“You flatter me.”

“Yes. I do. Now it’s your turn.”

“I look forward to seeing how many people you invite to Gore City now that you have your horn.”

Gary grinned at her.

“Do me!” Tiggy said, shoving his brooms off his lap and standing. “Do me now.”

“You are the best half-giant I have ever known,” Mama told him, and even if she’d met no other or a hundred, I knew she meant it. She loved them as much as she seemed to love me.

Tiggy smiled shyly before he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

She looked back at me, and I did my best not to squirm. “Do you know Naag?”

I shook my head.

“Naag was a snake who could take human form. It’s said that she shifted between the two, a woman and a serpent, in order to preserve the poison she carried within her. She fed upon men, paralyzing them with her bite and then taking their blood and seed from them while they still lay awake.”

“She sounds amazing,” Gary said.

“She was a monstrous murderer,” Mama told him.