Blackfeather Woods And I'll keep it safe

Sobek did not know what to do. His ears wouldn't stop their ringing until he heard his mother's voice moaning just beyond where the tree settled, and beyond that there was silence—except something moved behind him, and the wind said it was Sakhmet, but Sobek could not move to look at his surviving sibling, his twin. He was staring slack-jawed at the place where their brother had just been standing. Maegi was holding on to the dark-tipped tail as if it were a reliquary and she were praying over it, begging the forest to give her back her son. Sobek stared. He didn't know if he should chase after Sakhmet as she fled—or stay with mother—or rescue Anansi, who most assuredly could not have been gone, crushed like a bug beneath a boot—?

The boy turned, feeling his body lock up, his mouth dry. He moved as if in slow motion and glimpsed where his sister had been standing, spied the path she'd taken on her retreat, and then turned back to where his mother sat sobbing, reciting some sort of spell over the remains. One step, two, it felt like someone else was propelling him because he did not want to see this, and he did not want to be here, just as much as Sakhmet; he couldn't fathom seeing what had become of his beloved Anansi, yet the boy was drifting closer, closer, closer, and when he came alongside Maegi, he collapsed against the forest floor, his pale eyes empty, hard, like shards of glass.