“Aside from scarring me with that mental image, can someone please explain? Vadoma lives here. In this house. With you. In case you can’t remember, here’s a refresher. She is a terrible person who should fall off a cliff and die when she lands on really sharp rocks!”
Mom hugged me.
“What the hell,” I muttered but hugged her back, because she was my mother, and I’d missed her so.
“It’s good to know you’re still oddly specific about the ways people should die,” Mom said, sniffling in my ear.
“I’m not that bad.”
She laughed wetly and kissed my cheek before pulling away. “I missed you. More than anything.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Me too.”
“If you ever do that again, I will push you into an active volcano and watch as the molten magma melts away your skin and bones. Do we understand each other?”
“So specific,” I whispered. “That was amazing.” I cleared my throat. Then, “We understand each other.”
She nodded slowly. “Good. You’re still grounded.”
“I’m a man now. You can’t just—did you just lick that napkin? Why are you putting it on my face? That’s disgusting!”
“You’re covered in dirt,” she said, holding my jaw and frowning in concentration as she scrubbed my face.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m a man—Mom, seriously, stop rubbing me with your spit napkin!”
“You’re still loud as always,” a voice said from the entrance to the kitchen. “Loud and foolish. That should be your name now. Sam the Loud and Foolish.”
“Hi, Vadoma,” I grumbled as I gave in and let my mom rub her saliva on my cheeks. “Nice to see you, Vadoma. Glad you’re here, Vadoma.”
She sniffed dismissively as she walked into the kitchen, moving as she always had, head held high, feet sliding along the wooden floor as if she were almost dancing. Her bangles clinked together, sounding like wind chimes in a soft summer breeze. “I predicted your return. It is good to know that I am right.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I bet you did.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You doubt me.”
“Yeah, see, I don’t know if that fully encapsulates the thoughts going through my head. It’s not that I just doubt what you said. It’s more that I doubt everything about your entire existence. In the too-long, didn’t-read scope of things, I think you’re full of shit.”
“Sam,” Mom chided, squeezing my chin a little tighter before letting me go. The white napkin was now black like the darkest part of night. Which, you know. Ghastly.
“What? It’s true!”
“He’s not wrong,” Dad said mildly.
“Joshua!”
I high-fived my father because he was wonderful and I adored him.
“Still the same,” Vadoma said. “I would have thought going into the woods would have changed you. How disappointing. The gods must surely be regretting you now. And that dragon. Filthy creature. He should never have been part of the prophecy. A waste, he is. Such a shame.”
“Maybe you should keep Kevin out of this,” I told her. “I don’t take kindly to people badmouthing my friends.” Because that was my job. And I was already going to give him so much shit, as he’d told me he was going to go roll around in Gary’s scent in the barn like the aberration that he was. But it was probably a smart thing to do, as it would potentially keep Gary from raining his fury down upon him. I wondered if I should do the same in Ryan’s bed. Was that weird? It seemed a little weird. “And I can assure you I’m not the same person who you saw last in Mashallaha. To think otherwise would be a mistake you would regret.”
“Are you threatening me, chava?”
I shrugged. “Take it as you will. But as a threat would be nice. I’m getting pretty damn good at that, apparently. How’s Ruv, by the way? Haven’t seen your Wolf since he stabbed Ryan in the chest after revealing he worked for Myrin.”
“Sam!” Mom barked.
“No,” I said. “I deserve an answer. She brought him into our home and he tried to kill my cornerstone.”