I gave them a watery smile as I stepped back. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” Mom said flatly, wiping her eyes. “Hey, he says. Joshua. Dear. Would you handle this, please? Because I don’t know that I’m able to say anything constructive at the moment.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms over his considerable chest. “With pleasure. Sam. We love you more than anything else in this world. Also, you’re grounded.”
“Aw, I missed you guys too—I’m what?”
“Grounded, mister,” Mom said, sounding furious. “For the rest of your life. Which, since you’re apparently a wizard now, is probably going to go on for centuries.”
“Hey!”
“You’re lucky we’re in public,” Dad said. “Otherwise I’d be tanning your butt with my belt right now.”
“Ooh, kinky.”
“Sam!”
“You wouldn’t spank me,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m a grown man, not some little—okay, the expression on your face is suggesting otherwise. That… is not what I expected in a homecoming.”
“You left a letter,” Dad said. “We woke up one morning, all of us, and you and Kevin were gone. And you think you can waltz back in here and not be in trouble? We didn’t raise you to be an idiot, so don’t start acting like one now.”
“Whoa,” I breathed. “Savage.”
“And we looked for you,” Mom said. “For months. Crawling through the Dark Woods and shouting your name. We only stopped when the Darks attacked Meridian City and it became unsafe. And now you show up here and don’t expect there to be consequences for your actions? Child, please. I brought you into this world. I can certainly take you out of it.”
“These are my parents,” I whispered fervently.
“Grounded,” Dad insisted.
“For life,” Mom added.
“I don’t want to,” I said, scowling at them. “I can do what I want. I am an adult. You don’t know me. You don’t know my life!”
Mom had to stop Dad from taking off his belt right then. It was a close thing, but he turned his gaze toward Kevin, who was watching us with interest. “Are you okay too?”
“I’m pretty much a god now, but other than that, I’m fine.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Good to know nothing has changed.” She reached out and touched the side of his leg. “We’re happy you’re home too.”
He rumbled happily.
“You look like you’ve been on the road awhile,” Mom said as she stepped back, eyeing me with concern. “Let’s get you cleaned up. There’s much we have to discuss.”
WE HEADED deeper into Camp HaveHeart, people scurrying around us like every single one of them was late for something important. All of them openly stared at me as they passed us by, and it made my skin itch. It’d been a long time since I’d been around this many people, and I’d apparently gotten used to the quiet of the forest.
And if I looked closely enough, I could see their pale skin, the dark circles under their eyes. The way they all seemed skittish and exhausted, averting their gazes as soon as I caught them watching me. Like I was something to be feared. Something unknown. They looked at Kevin the same way as he trudged alongside us, leaving large footprints in the dirt.
In the City of Lockes, it wasn’t uncommon to walk down a main thoroughfare and see people of all economic statuses. Women in frilly dresses, men in cravats and wide-brimmed hats. Children in dirty trousers running and laughing, faces sticky with candy from a shop.
But here, now, the sky above was gray, and the look and mood of Camp HaveHeart matched.
The people were all similarly dressed in drab clothes that looked as if they’d been patched up or cobbled together hastily. They were clean, for the most part, but it was a uniform look I’d never seen before on the people of Verania. For once, everyone looked the same. Even the Foxy Lady Brigade hadn’t looked that much better than anyo
ne else. I hoped it rankled Lady Tina to no end.
The ground beneath our feet was dirt, with the barest patches of grass. There were puddles of standing water, as if the storm we’d traveled through had passed here a few days before.
I saw what looked to be signs of a battle fought here. Scorch marks along the sides of buildings, collapsed structures where workers were still sifting through debris. Against the side of what used to be one of the biggest fisheries there was a shadow mark shaped like a person, as if someone had been flash-fried against it. A bouquet of flowers lay on the ground underneath it, tied together with a white ribbon.