by A. L. Knorr
“Multiple sclerosis?” I cocked my head and the question was still clear in my tone.
She let out a long sigh. “I guess you’re too young to remember, or you forgot…”
Then it did hit me, straight in the chest like a bag full of cement.
“Grandpa—” I wheezed, and was unable to finish the sentence.
Mom’s arm slid around my shoulders and she pulled me into her side. I was grateful for her support. Without it, I might have slid into the water and just stayed down there forever. In shock.
Nathan’s father had had MS. It was fairly advanced by the time I’d been born and in every memory of him that I had, he was in a wheelchair. That wheelchair was as much of a part of him in my mind as his hands or his hair.
I found my voice. “You don’t think that’s a coincidence?”
Mom shrugged. “You tell me.”
Nike had said that I would be able to break the curse because there was something that linked the curse-maker and me. It had never been made clear what that link was.
“Born of a siren and an Atlantean,” I said, “just like Eumelia.”
“And not only that, but born of a Mer mother and an Atlantean father who had genuine love,” Mom added. “They made an elemental. So did your father and I.”
“Do you think he knew?”
“Nathan?” Mom shook her head. “I don’t think so. By now lots of people probably have some Atlantean blood flowing in their veins, even if it’s a tiny amount. It doesn’t necessarily mean they can make gills, or even that they have a longer lifespan.”
“Do you think Grandpa knew?”
“I doubt that, too.” She planted a kiss on my forehead and drew one foot out of the water, placing it on the dock as she made to get up. “It’s a mystery I can live with without solving, what about you?”
I laughed and knew exactly what she meant. “Yeah, I’ve had enough of solving mysteries to last me a lifetime. It’s enough.”
And it really was. For once, my mind wasn’t pulling or tugging at a problem. I felt light, happy, and curiously refreshed.
Mom got to her feet and pulled me up by my hand. We walked the dock heading back to the beach and back to our men arm in arm.
It was enough, I thought as my eye panned from my brother, to my mother’s long-lost love, to my own Antoni.
They were more than enough.
***
THE END
Also by A.L. Knorr
The Elemental Origins Series
Born of Water
Born of Fire
Born of Earth
Born of Æther
Born of Air
The Elementals
The Returning Series (Mira’s Story)
Returning
Falling
Surfacing
The Siren’s Curse Trilogy
Salt & Stone
Salt & the Sovereign
Salt & the Sisters
Elemental Novellas
Pyro, A Fire Novella
Heat, A Fire Novella
The Kacy Chronicles
Descendant
Ascendant
Combatant
Transcendent
Register at www.alknorrbooks.com to receive a free copy of Returning and to be the first to learn about new releases by AL Knorr.
