“Petr!”
Anika’s voice stunned the boy, who was nearly past the porch and on the path down to the lake. He stopped immediately and stood tall, though he didn’t turn to look at her.
Gretel moved aside as her mother stepped over the trunk to the tailgate and down to the driveway before running to where Petr stood, turning him toward her and pulling him in close.
The boy collapsed in Anika’s arms, sobbing like an infant. And for the first time in Gretel’s life, she heard her mother cry.
An hour later the truck was loaded with everything that would be travelling with the Morgan family—whatever remained now would simply remain. Gretel’s mother mildly alluded to ‘coming for it another day,’ but Gretel doubted that day would ever arrive.
Gretel said her goodbyes to Petr—whom she imagined would live in her story as her first love, though love wasn’t quite what it was. But it was something. Something to grow and learn from. And she would see him again. About that she was as certain as the sunset.
“We have to stop at the Klahrs, Mother,” Gretel reminded, “don’t forget.”
“I want you to give them this.” Gretel’s mother handed her daughter a note. “It has all the information about where we’re going. Once they have it, Gretel, they’ll be the only ones—other than the three of us—who know where we are. I want you to tell them that.”
“Where are we going?” Hansel asked, a pitch of pleasure and adventure in his voice. If his mother had said to the other side of the moon, Gretel knew Hansel would have been okay with that answer. She was home. They were together. That’s all he cared about. He had it right.
“Pretty far, sweetheart,” his mother replied, “pretty far.”
Gretel had asked the question the night before and, essentially, had gotten the same answer, with the additional provocation of ‘We’re going to get some answers.’
But Gretel had already begun getting answers.
She opened Odalinde’s copy of Orphism at the bookmarked page and began reading. Not much had made sense when she started a few days ago, even with the translation, and she had gotten only ten or twelve pages in.
But it was beginning to come together.
THE END
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Gretel Page 33