Free The Witch by Calle J. Brookes

needed him more.
     
     

Chapter Twenty
     
    Loren woke the next morning knowing that Thrun City was just the first leg of her journey, and that her mother was fated to stay behind.
    Her heart hurt for that; she and her mom had been each other’s world for a very long time. But Becca and Jade would see to it that her mom was protected and cared for. And Becca loved her mother, too. Loren would talk to her friends, ask them for this one favor.
    And she knew they’d do it. Her mother was sleeping in the bed, and Loren folded up the blankets she’d used and straightened the couch. Thrun’s furniture was more curved and flowing than her old world, and very beautiful in design. And very, very comfortable.
    Apparently demons liked their comforts. Loren looked down at her mother for a long time.
    Her mother didn’t look much past thirty, though she was just past her forty-first birthday. Loren wanted to remember her mother just like this. So she watched her for a long time.
    Finally her mother rolled over and looked at Loren. “Going to stare at me all day, baby? Or do you have things to do?”
    Loren sank down on the strange round mattress. “Mama, I…I have to go.”
    Renee sat up. “And? You know I’ll do anything you need.”
    “No. I need to do this alone.”
    “Like hell you are. I’m your mother, it’s my job to keep you safe.” Her mother was out of the bed fast. “It’s the way it is.”
    “No, Mama. This is what I’m supposed to do. And I’m supposed to do it with someone else. Not you. I think…I think you are needed here.”
    “I need to be with my daughter.” Her mother’s fear was so plain on her face, and Loren hurt for her. She’d never had children in any of her eighty lives, a fact for which she was still thankful as she’d never be able to survive knowing they were dead and gone, but she could imagine how terrified her mother was. 
    “Mom, I have to do this alone. I know it’s scary, but this is what I was meant to do.” Please don’t make this harder for me, please. If her mother pushed, Loren knew she’d cave.
    And there was no way she was taking her mother where she suspected she’d end up going.
    The monster in her dreams was never getting close to her mother. No matter what Loren had to do. “You need to stay here. I need to…I need to do this. And I’m afraid…I’m terrified that while I’m doing it you’ll be hurt. I can’t do this if you’re not safe.”
    “And I’m just as scared…for you. You’re all I’ve got, Loren. But I get it. You’re more than just my daughter, you’re one of these people. And I can’t understand why you.”
    “I…”
    “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have tried to help you someway. Been there for you even more.”
    “Because you matter too much. I…I’ve had other mothers, other parents. But…the thought of anything happening to you is so, so much worse.”
    “So I’ve been one of many. I get that. It’s a bit hard to swallow, but I get that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you.”
    “Yes, it does. And you’re not one of many. I loved them, of course I did. They were my family. But you and I—we’ve been each other’s only family for a very long time. I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt. And if I can keep you safe by going alone, then that’s what I’ll do. I have to. I have to know that you’re here, safe. With Becca and Jade and their families. Keeping them safe, too.”
    “And because I’ll get in the way.” Her mother pushed the hair off of Loren’s shoulder, then put her hands on Loren’s cheeks. “I can’t help worrying. I’ve done it your whole life. And even in a strange world with some pretty freaky looking creatures I will always worry and try to protect. I love you, and I have from the very moment I knew you were in me. I can’t change that, and I won’t. And I don’t care about any other mother you may have had, I don’t care if there were fifty of them—“
    “Eighty.