“Mark, listen, I expin.” Victoria could see it all too clearly as the lightning danced aark’s skin. The amethyst scales that had started appearing. She khat it ossibility, given her lineage, but she never imagihat it would happen this te. Mark was already 13. If he was going to switch, it should have happened when he first moulted, unless? But it was too te for that. Already she could see the lightning dang across his arms as he pushed her away and bolted, his very form blurring as he dashed into the distance.

  “Mark, No!”

  But he had already disappeared into the distance. Victoria quickly climbed to her feet as she dusted herself off. This was no time to sit around about what she should have done. She quickly flexed her wings as lightning began to roll across her scales as she bolted into the sky. She couldn’t see Mark as he had already disappeared. She knew he had fled North, but that was all. Victoria started sweeping her gaze across the ndscape as she traveled further north at a more leisurely pace. Mark was still a young draid. She? No, he wouldn’t have muergy. He’d always had such a small attu for his element, so she wasn’t worried about him getting too far.

  How had she missed it? God she was such a terrible mother. She khat it ossibility, given that she was ahyst draid but she figured that Mark should have moulted years ago. How had he not had his first moult yet?

  …

  Garric. That bastard. That must be it. How had he mao abuse Mark to the point that he couldn’t even moult?! So not only was he going through his first moult alone, but he was also dealing with being ahyst draid. The thought alone made her blood boil.

  ***____***

  Victoria was ready to cw her scales off. It was evening at this point, and she had pletely lost traark. She was over 150 kilometers from home, and arical traces she might have even had the ce to find if she had been thinking straight would have long since evaporated. She was left h there, w out of her mind about where her baby could be. She hadn’t found any burrows or anything as she had trekked across what felt like an endless pin.

  Goddess, how could she have failed so poorly that Mark still feared her? No. No no no, she refused to accept the bme for the evil and malefic things Garric had doo Mark, had doo her baby. She had beeated when she lost him in the divorce, and now that she had finally got him bac,k she had lost him again.

  She could feel the tears begin pooling in her eyes. She had lost her baby. He could be anywhere on this endless stretch of pins. She turned her head to the starry sky as her tears began to fall.

  How had she not seen it? There were plenty of signs of Mark getting bullied. Mark avoided anythied to the topily ever answered in vague sentences about school, and she had known he was hiding something. She could feel her anger bubbling inside her about how the school had not only known about the bullying but had allowed it all to tinue because one of the boys was reted to one of the school’s representatives or some bullshit.

  Lightning began to dance across her skin as she felt her rage about to boil over, she wao scream. She reared her head back to release all her anger into the sky until she felt it. Like a small fluttering in the air, she could feel electricity dang. Her gaze shot to the north just in time as the entire sky was lit by a massive bolt of lightning easily twice the size of the ohat had hit Somerset just that afternoon.

  Victoria barely had time to blink as she wreathed her body in lightning, pushing herself to move as fast as possible. Energy reserves be damned. She knew where Mark was, and she wouldn’t let anything stop her. That bolt should have fried whatever was attag Mark, but she couldn’t be sure. The bolt had nded iional Park just north of her, and while there shouldn’t be any animals that could survive such a bolt, she didn’t want to risk it.

  The nd below her passed in a silvery blur as she forced her magic to push her as fast as possible, her body seeming to almost shift and fade into the lightning.

  With a massive boom, she came to a halt in the sky above the forest. Down below was a rge crater and what looked to be the remains of aree. Her wings and whole body screamed in pain from the sudden deceleration, but she didn’t care. Mark was somewhere down below.

  With a heavy thump, she nded in the ruined clearing, her gaze sweeping across the scarred and burned ground before her eyes nded on a small form buried under ash and the remains of the elm tree. Quickly, she tore away the debris that covered her baby.

  Finally, after she had moved enough of the debris, she lifted Mark into her arms and held him tight to her chest. She didn’t want to let him go. Carefully, she sat down in the clearing, her back against the still-sm elm as she gently rocked her baby bad forth.

  Slowly, one eye opened up to look at her. At first, she was slightly thrown off by the amethyst eye that met hers instead of the usual dark brown. “Mark? Sweetie?” Victoria’s voice was fragile, almost like she was afraid Mark would disappear on her if she weren’t careful.

  “Mom?”

  Victoria couldn’t help but feel her heart swell with joy as she looked down at her child. Finally, she had waited for so many years to hear those words. She couldn’t help it as the tears built up in her eyes.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m just so relieved to see you are unharmed sweetie. I was so worried when I couldn’t find you.” Finally taking a moment to take in her child’s form she could see that the ey of his forearms had already moulted and were now far more slender and feminine. She could even see a few scales had started to peak through on one of Mark’s wings.

  “I’m sorry Mo-”

  “No.” Victoria quickly cut Mark off.

  “But I.”

  “No. I don’t care. What you did to those bullies was a long time ing.” she quickly wiped away the st of the tears as she looked down at her child. She could still see the fear in his eyes.

  “But… look at me Mom. I… I’m a freak.”

  Victoria couldn’t help but let out a long sigh as she sat there. “Honey… what do you know about Amethyst draids?”

  Mark’s voice wavered as he looked up at his mom. “That… that they’re all girls… and… that they have a lightning affinity…”

  “And?”

  Mark could only shake his head as his cheeks blushed, and he whispered. “And their scales are pretty…”

  Victoria could only shake her head in disbelief. “I should have knower than to trust your father to get you properly educated. Did the school you went to in Winnipeg eveion draid moulting?”

  “... Once.”

  Victoria wao scream at the unfairness of it all as she held her child. “So you know how all amethyst draids are girls?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, not all Amethyst draids started as girls.”

  Mark stared up at his mom momentarily, fusion written across his face. “I… I don’t uand Mom.”

  Victoria smiled and just shook her head. “It’s alot to get intht now, but normally, amethyst draids are either born or ma during a young draid’s first moult. I never realized that this was your first moult so I never even sidered it would happen to you.”

  “So i… i’m turning into ahyst draid? I… im not a freak?”

  “Heavens no sweetie, this is entirely normal. It just a part of being ahyst draid. It happeo me when I was a youngling.”

  Mark perked up at that. “It did!?”

  “Victoria let out a small chuckle at Mark’s response. “Yes, when I was a youngling I had these really dark menag bck scales. By the time I was ready for my first moult I was almost six feet tall.”

  Mark was just staring with his mouth hanging open in shobsp; at this point.

  “Yes sweetie, by the time I was 12 I was a hulking 5’9” behemoth of a boy. Once I started moulting, everything ged. I’m much happier now though.”

  “Wait... so… does. Does that mean I get to be a girl?”

  Victoria couldn’t help but giggle at that. “You know, ‘get to’ is a pretty iing choice of words, sweetie. I’m not surprised though. You are moulting amethyst after all.”

  Victoria watched as Mark seemed to almost melt in her arms, like a massive weight was lifted off of their shoulders. Tears began to pool in their eyes as they looked up at Victoria.

  “Sweetie?” Victoria’s voice was soft ale as she looked down at her child.

  “Y-yes?”

  “Do you want to know what I would have named you if you were born a girl?

  There was a short pause, and then in the fai of whispers, she heard a reply. “Yes.”

  Pulling in her child until they were held as close as possible, Victoria whispered in her child’s ear. “Lucy.”

  It was faint, but she definitely heard a soft giggle ing from her child. “Oh? Do you like that? Does the idea of being my daughter make you happy?”

  Her child was wiggling in her grasp, and a giggle soon turned into ughter. Tears of joy began to run down her child’s face.

  “Mom, nothing would make me happier.”

  “Well then, there is only ohing I have to say to you young dy. Wele home Lucy.” Victoria smiled at her daughter as she held her tight.

  TheLilyinBloom5963