Beyond the Glow

Chapter 26

Leila sighed, doodling in the dirt a bit before looking me in the eyes. "The only reason they didn't go back for you was because Mother was..." She licked her lips, "pregnant with me." She kept her eyes on the ground, avoiding my gaze.

"They didn't want to risk it, so they went the other way instead. They ran from the capital, and when I was born, went back to look. you were nowhere to be seen or heard of, and they left, despondent, thinking you had been lost forever." I watched Leila, speechless. I thought they abandoned me, but here's evidence that they really couldn't come back, that they cared, but not for just me. I wasn't so alone anymore.

Slowly, I reached out, and hugged my sister.

She stiffened at first, then relaxed at my touch, and reached her arms out to hug me back. "I thought I was the last one." I whisper, a happy tear streaking down my cheek.

"No, I was always looking for you, just like they did." Said Leila. "When I had my eighteenth birthday, father went back, to look for you on least time. After the first search, we went into hiding, and lived on the road. But the day after I turned eighteen, he said he wanted to try one last time. He left without me and Mother, wanting us to safe. By the time we got to the town after him, there was no trace of him. He had disappeared just as you had."

"We left again, after staying for a few days and searching the town high and low for you two. Mother was a wreck, convinced the whole town was cursed. We finally left, and she dragged me to other kingdoms to hide. The loss of Father took away what was left of her sanity, and eventually," Leila sniffed, "she lost it. Refused to eat, or let anyone come near her."

"She had her moments though, and came through every so often to apologize, to be my- I mean our, old mom again, but for the most part she was gone. She got sick around the time I was twenty, very sick, and I couldn't cure her. I tried everything I could think of, but I think it was her mindset of losing you and Father that eventually took her down." Leila sniffed again, and I hugged her head, patting her hair down.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault. I never should have wandered off in the first place. If I hadn't been taken, then none of this would have happened." I say, letting her calm herself down. When Leila finally pulled away, my dress was damp with her tears.

"When she was almost gone, Mother came through her insanity long enough to make one wish of me." She looked me dead in the eyes. "Her final wish of me was to find you and Father, no matter how long it takes. And to figure out who ruined our family, and stop them. She didn't want anyone to go through what we had."

"But it seems I'm too late." Leila sighed sadly, "all these kidnappings have been going on right under my nose the entire time. I suspected when I heard of magic in the capital, but..."

"Surely you heard something of me?" I say, "Cynthia wasn't exactly the most secretive about her pet."

"Well, the rest of the Crawdoves were. I didn't hear of anything until about a century ago, when there were rumors of something strange going on in the kingdom. I came to investigate, and have been here ever since. After awhile, it was difficult to see the people suffer, even though I could pay my bills, they could not. I started leaving things for them to find, making it easier to rob the rich who stuck their noses up at the children abandoned on the streets."

"So it was you who was making it so easy for the children to make a living?" I smile, Kida was all worried about that, she, she..." My smile faded. "You weren't taking the ones who stole those things, were you? Kida said people would get an easy catch and then disappear later. It's why she panicked and tried to leave."

Leila's eyes widened, "No! Nothing like that. I left little things for them, like a dropped coin purse, or the occasional extra key to a popular but cruel tax collector's house. I still do, but nothing huge. I when I saw them on the street, I invited them to join the underground." Leila smiled proudly. "I provide the food and such, it's how we keep people coming. We care more about them than their own King, it's always a definite seller when we get new recruits, the promise of food and a warm bed is always nice when you live day by day on the street."