Tamah

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I really didn't want her to go. It made my stomach feel hollow.

I watched as she took a step and then in the next moment, she wasn't there.

"She'll be alright," Kenji said behind me.

I turned to him. Wanted to believe his words. But I felt like I was falling.

I had gotten used to not having Mirai close to me all the time for practical reasons. But even during those short moments we were separated when using the bathroom, I always felt like I was falling. Or maybe that I was slipping away. Or it was she that was.

I began pacing back and forth.

Soon. She had promised to be back and soon. Said she wouldn't get hurt.

Then why did it feel like she was?

"It's alright, Tamah," Kenji continued, and I stopped my pacing to face him momentarily. "If she is about to get hurt, I'll know."

I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. It had taken a bit of time to understand, I hadn't completely until Mirai had just a bit earlier told me about her dream. Both she and her dad had the ability to see different times and places in their minds. So I knew his words weren't empty words. They still felt like it.

I began pacing again.

The minutes stretched on.

Soon. She had said she wouldn't be long.

I looked up at the sky, searched it with my eyes, as if she would appear there.

"Time moves differently out there than here. I know it feels like she's been gone for a long time, but for her, it hasn't been."

I shook my head at Kenji's comment. I had understood that time moved very peculiarly in this world, but that didn't change my growing worry.

The lump in my stomach which was getting heavier. The thickness in my throat which constricted the air. The creeping coldness which reminded me of the prison.

"Are you hungry? Should we go inside and eat?"

I threw him a glance with my eyes narrowed. He sighed and held up his hands in defeat.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd agree, but thought I'd try."

What was she doing? What was happening? What did her mom actually want?

The thoughts spun around in my head.

Was she being attacked? Did she have to fight? How could she be so certain that she wouldn't get hurt?

What if they captured her? What if they took her away from here? What if they put her in the prison they had kept me in?

I stopped in my tracks and swallowed hard.

"Don't leave, Tamah. Mirai told you to wait."

I felt Kenji's skin against mine, but I snatched my arm away before he could get a hold. I looked around at him and a low hissing escaped me.

He took a step back.

"Tamah. You have to calm down."

Calm down?! When Mirai might be in danger?

I turned away from him and took a step forward. I felt cold as I took the step and light, which flashed in green, shone. Then I found myself standing in a forest clearing. Mirai was right in front of me with her back to me.

I reached my hand out and took hold of hers.

She turned and gave me a smile that washed away all the worries I had felt moments ago.

"You promised to stay," she told me.

I shook my head and moved closer. Burrowed my head into her shoulder. I wanted to tell her she had been gone for too long. I now knew how to express myself, how to use words, but something still stopped me from speaking, though I didn't know what.

"That's... that's her!"

I looked up and towards the direction the words had come from. I had been too focused on Mirai as I stepped out that I hadn't seen the others.

My eyes fell on a woman with blue eyes and blonde hair. She didn't look particularly like Mirai, except the nose.

Then my eyes looked around and saw even more women, more witches, standing huddled together. They had planned to capture her! Force her away from me!

"Yes, this is my mate, Tamah," Mirai said and squeezed my hand.

My mate?

She had never called me that. And... I didn't quite understand it. Like so much else, it was vaguely familiar, but not completely. I was certain being her mate was something good, though. Something I wanted to be.

"She's a monster!" another witch exclaimed. She stood in the back of the huddle. "Do you have any idea how many sisters she hurt!"

I shrank back. Hunched my shoulders.

Hurt? I had hurt people?

"She hasn't hurt anyone," Mirai bit back. "Lamia did. But she isn't Lamia and she certainly isn't a monster."

A cold laugh came from one in the front. She had a somewhat different aura than the rest. More power in it, but also something fouler which made my nose wrinkle. And her blue eyes were filled with ice.

"Are you so naïve, Mirai? Even if it's true that this girl is separate from Lamia, then Lamia lives within her. How do you plan to tame the monster? Or has your sight provided you with that answer?" Her voice was low and steady. It matched her eyes.

Mirai didn't answer and that made me shrink back even more. Mirai was worried. I sensed that. And the worry was about me.

I caused her problems.

"I thought so," the witch continued. "Hand her over and we'll sort it out."

"Never!" Mirai answered.

Her voice echoed in the forest, but I wanted to tell her to stop. To listen to them. I knew I needed her. But I needed her safe even more.

If I was a monster. If I hurt people. If I was a danger to Mirai then being separated from her was for the best.

"I wished it wouldn't come to this," the witch shook her head, but I saw no sadness in her.

"Don't!" Mirai shouted and turned to me.

Took hold of me with both her hands. Held me where I was. I couldn't understand her actions, but stayed still.

For a moment at least.

Blue light erupted in the forest. It came from the witch and it went towards Mirai.

Though Mirai's hold on me was strong, nothing would stop me.

Mirai was more important than anything and I refused to see her hurt.

I moved out of her hold and the light hit me. As it did, something powerful overcame me.

A feeling that was mine but also didn't belong to me.

All-consuming anger and hate that pushed all else aside.

I tried to fight it back. Tried to remember the protectiveness I had felt for Mirai less than a second ago, but it was of no use.

The anger and hate forced it all away as green smoke pressed against me. My mind was blank, apart from that, and apart from the knowledge that I wanted nothing of it all.

Then another thing filled me. As if an overfilled cupboard had been opened. It rushed out and into my mind. Plates and glasses that shattered. Each carrying images.

Memories. Long forgotten memories. The ones that haunted my nightmares though I hadn't been able to recall them.

I remembered fear and pain. Cruelty and torture. Guilt. So much guilt. Dead bodies. Blood that covered me. The faces of all that had held me captured.

But also Mother and Father, Kiya and Reth. Love, family, friendship. A place where I had been happy.

Then came memories of Zeus and the nightmare that was real, which he had put me through.

And Hera and her jealousy. Her pain that had been directed at me.

Nesiah and Pele.

My children.

Unbearable pain coursed through me. Pain I didn't think I could survive. I opened my mouth to scream, to try to force it out of me, and the green smoke entered.