Grishma (Book One in The Necoh Saga)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ryder rushed into the caves with Boonum and the others close behind.

“Mother! Mother? We’re home!” he shouted. He waited for a response before yelling, “Hey, Mother, where are you?” he yelled.

He went one direction and Brianna went another.

“Hello?” she called.

Brooklyn and Emlyn kept looking for signs of life until they heard an ear-piercing scream.

“What’s wrong?” Brooklyn called as she attempted to find Brianna. When she found her, Brianna had sunk into a puddle of tears on the floor.

Ryder rushed into the room seconds later shouting, “Brianna! What happened?”

Brooklyn’s eyes swept the room. It had been destroyed. Papers were strewn everywhere and the furniture lay shattered in small pieces on the floor.

Ryder got up and raced into the next room. “No!” he cried.

The others were just steps behind when Brooklyn realized they were entering Ryder’s mother’s storage room.

“Mother’s ingredients,” whispered Brianna. “They’re all… ruined.”

Everything had been thrown to the ground and shards of glass dotted the few remaining shelves that were still attached to the wall.

“Who would have done this?” asked Emlyn.

Brooklyn and Ryder looked at each other and knew the answer.

“Grishma,” they answered in unison.

Brianna threw herself into Ryder’s arms and cried. “Where’s Mother? Do you think Grishma got her?”

Ryder embraced her. “I don’t know, Bri. Stay with Emlyn and Brooklyn while I look around a little bit more.”

She nodded as he took one last look in the storage room. He was just about to turn around and leave when a purple vial wedged in between the last shelf and the wall caught his attention.

Oh thank Breka! He picked up the transporting potion and shoved it in his pocket. I’m going to be able to get her home!

“Ryder? What did you find?” asked Brooklyn.

“Oh, it’s ah, nothing. I’ll be right back,” he said as he left the room to look for other signs of Grishma or his mother and friends.

He returned a short while later. “They aren’t here,” he said. “I think they may have gone deeper into the caves. That would have probably been the safest place to hide. But Grishma, she was definitely here.”

Brianna began to cry again. “What are we going to do, Ryder?”

Ryder looked at them. “I think the safest course would be for Brianna to take Emlyn further into the caves. Do you think you can remember the paths Mother and Father showed us when we were younger?”

Brianna shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe?”

“I think it’s our safest option. Grishma wouldn’t survive down here, but you know how to, Bri. Do you think you can do it?”

She sniffled and then nodded. “Yes.”

Emlyn spoke up. “But what about you and Brooklyn?”

A serious look crossed Ryder’s face. “I’m going to take her to the Zonam Mountains to find a moonbow and send her home.”

She felt like she had been punched in the gut. “What? You’re going to send me home? I can’t leave now!”