House of Night 09 - Destined

stomach bearable.
    “Mom’s dead.” I had to say it before she did.
    Grandma didn’t look surprised that I’d known. She just nodded and said, “Yes, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. Your mother is dead. Did her spirit come to you?”
    “In a way. Last night, while I was asleep, Nyx showed me Mom entering the Otherworld.”
    I felt the shudder that passed through Grandma’s body in her hands. She closed her eyes and swayed. For a second I was afraid she was going to faint, and I covered her hands with mine. “Spirit, come to me! Help Grandma!”
    The element I have the strongest connection with responded immediately. I felt it swirl through me and into Grandma, who gasped and stopped swaying, but she didn’t open her eyes.
    “Air, come to me. Please surround Grandma Redbird and let her breathe in strength.” Damien stepped up to my side and touched Grandma’s arm once, softly, as a sweet, impossible breeze stirred around us.
    “Fire, come to me. Please warm Zoey’s grandma so that even though she’s sad, she’ll not be cold.”
    I blinked in surprise as Shaunee joined Damien. She, too, touched Grandma for a second, then she smiled through wet eyes and said to me, “Kramisha told us you needed us.”
    “Water, come to me. Wash through Z’s grandma and please take some of her sadness with you.” Erin took her place beside Shaunee, touching Grandma’s back. Then, just like her Twin, she smiled through tears at me. “Yeah, we didn’t even have to read her poem. She just told us to get here.”
    Grandma’s eyes were still closed, but I saw her lips tilt up ever so slightly.
    “My poem was good, though.” Kramisha’s voice came from somewhere behind me.
    Through Aphrodite’s snort, Stevie Rae said, “Earth, please come to me.” She went to my other side, and slid her arm around Grandma. “Let Z’s g-ma borrow some of your power so that she can be okay again real soon.”
    Grandma drew three long deep breaths. As she let the last one out, she opened her eyes and, even though there was still sadness in them, her face had lost the scary, gaunt old person look it had when I’d first seen her. “Tell them what I do, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. ”
    I wasn’t sure what Grandma was up to, but I nodded. I knew she’d make me understand, and I was right. She went to each of my four friends. Starting with Damien, she touched his face and said, “ Wa-do, Inole . You have strengthened me.” As she moved to Shaunee I explained to my friends, “Grandma is thanking you by naming you the Cherokee word for each of your elements.”
    “ Wa-do, Egela . You have strengthened me.” Grandma touched Shaunee’s cheek and went to Erin. “Wa-do, Ama. You have strengthened me.” Last, she touched Stevie Rae’s cheek, still wet from tears. “Wa-do, Elohine. You have strengthened me.”
    “Thank you, Grandma Redbird,” each of the four of them murmured.
    “Gv-li-e-li-ga,” Grandma said, repeating in English. “Thank you.” She looked at me. “I can bear to tell it now.” She stood in front of me and took both of my hands in hers. “Your mother was killed at my lavender farm.”
    “What?” I felt the shock of it move through me. “I don’t understand. How? Why?”
    “The sheriff is saying it was a robbery, and that she just got in the way. He says from what they took, my computer and television and my cameras, and the random violence of the crime, that they were probably addicts stealing so they would have money for drugs.” Grandma squeezed my hands. “She’d left him, Zoeybird, and come to me. I was at a powwow. I was not there for her.” Grandma’s voice stayed steady, but tears welled and then spilled from her eyes.
    “No, Grandma, don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault, and if you’d been there I would have lost both of you—and I couldn’t stand that!”
    “I know, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya , but the death of a child, even one that has been lost to her parent, is a heavy burden.”
    “Was it—did she—did Mom suffer?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
    “No. She died quickly.” Grandma spoke without hesitation, but I thought I saw something pass through her eyes.
    “You found her?”
    Grandma nodded, tears spilling more and more quickly down her cheeks. “I did. She was in the field just outside the house. She was laying there and she looked so peaceful that at first I believed she was sleeping.” Grandma’s voice caught on a sob. “She was not sleeping.”
    I held tight to Grandma’s