Grendilton: Rise of the Shadows

33 | Chapter Thirty Three

A Braithwaite's tale.

Macey's entire body was numb. She tried desperately to move her fingers and her toes but no matter how hard she attempted, she simply couldn't.

Her mind felt as if it were adrift, lost in an ocean surrender by swivels of blues and whites before her vision.

"Muffy?"

Macey heard the faint voice of a child. It was a familiar voice, so soft and tender that it made her shed a tear that felt hot against her cheek. With all her strength, Macey tried to open her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

When her vision became clear, Macey realised that she was no longer at the institute, but situated in a treehouse. It was rather small and had crayon scribbles all across the walls. Toys such as teddy bears and swords were scattered along the ground and the odd adornment was also in the mix.

Directly in front of her was her brother — a four-year-old Dante who looked confused and concerned for his sister. His big emerald eyes looked like those of a doe, swimming with worry and contentment and his lips were pressed down hard in a flat line.

"Shall I tell mamma?" asked Dante, placing his soft hand upon her head, brushing away the curls that hung down her forehead. But Macey shook her head, scrunching her nose up before softly saying, "iem jus veddy sheelpy."

Dante giggled while Macey began to feel warmth in her cheeks. She could tell he was laughing at her missing front tooth that made her sound funny, remembering how she lost it in the first place was very dangerous.

No more magic, Macey remembered her father telling her. Your mother will kill me if she finds out I've been secretly teaching our babies fire magic.

"Macey? Dante? Time to come inside now."

The voice that called out to them was like a bell in the dead of night. It made Macey's heart tender and soft and she could listen to the voice for all of eternity if she could. She then popped her head out of the window, looking down at a woman who was waving out toward her, yelling, "hurry up you two. Your cake is ready."

The woman was a sight for sore eyes. The way she was waving made her long curly hair sway side to side and the sunlight that cast down on her made her skin look like luscious tasty caramel.
Macey smiled then said, "coming mamma!"

She gently pushed Dante to the side, leaping down from the treehouse before sprinting towards the house.

"Goodness Macey," she heard her mother yell, watching her shake her head in a worrisome matter. "Be careful."

When Macey was only a few steps away from her mother, she felt something pull at her feet. Without warning, she was falling down towards the ground, tumbling over her own shoelaces that seemed to always come undone at the most unfortunate of times. She braced for impact, huddling herself so that the dirt didn't hurt her as much.

But the ground never hit her, being scooped up by the last minute before a voice roared, "you are defiantly a Braithwaite."

This man's embrace was everything to Macey. Monsters of large and small could come after her, but as long as she was in the arms of her daddy, she knew everything was okay — because he would slash them all away.