บท 413: Chapter 413: Farewells

Gram was just releasing Meira as I stepped through into her wiry arms, forcefully pressed to her thin body while she shook and hugged me as if she'd never let me go. I clung to her just as hard, feeling the warmth of Sassafras as he wound himself around our feet.

I was jerked free of Gram's embrace and slammed bodily into Charlotte for half a second before she pushed me away from her and shook me so hard my teeth rattled together.

"Don't ever leave me again!" I had a moment to register she looked like hell before she hugged me again, hands clawed against my back. I let her feel my magic, slid it around her, held her with it until hands gripped her shoulders and gently pulled her free. Her long, blonde hair hung in limp strands around her face, cheeks and eyes sunken with dark circles, lips dry, flaking. She swiped at her face, tears pouring down her patchy skin, once flawless beauty now pasty and damaged.