A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

Jacob had gotten pretty banged up-cuts and bruises everywhere, honestly kind of scary to look at. Thankfully, nothing was too serious, just some scrapes and surface wounds.

She patched Jacob up as best she could, then told Ryan to get him home and let

him rest.

After that, she stood up and strode right over to the mayor of Ivory Town.

"Isaiah, there are rules to living in a community. There's also basic decency," she said, her voice clear and steady. "You guys just going around hurting people for no reason. Isn't that going a bit too far?"

"Our town makes money. That's our business. We never said we wouldn't help you. If you can't keep up, that's on you. Don't blame us."

Isaiah's face tightened, his jaw set in an ugly scowl. He glanced at Calliope and Silas. He could tell neither of them were people to mess with. Ivory Town was outmatched here, and he knew it.

"Oxcreek's my home," Calliope continued calmly. "If Ivory Town wants to stir up trouble, you'd better think carefully about the consequences. You start something with us, I'll pay it back tenfold."

She turned back to the crowd. "Jacob was hit by Kyle, right?" she asked, her tone almost casual.

A bunch of people started shouting at once.

they hit the rest of us too! Maybe

Calliope said, raising an eyebrow. "Alright, where did you get hit, and who did it? Line up, and we'll return the

outrage. "You can't be serious! That's going too far!" "No,

then, Silas's crew

ma'am, did these people do something to

started this," Calliope

"Yes, ma'am."

got to work, corralling the troublemakers while the folks from Ivory Town shouted and swore, clearly

the people from Oxcreek, "If they hit you, you hit them back. However many punches

didn't take long before the bullies from Ivory Town were left battered and gasping, looking like they'd been

looked around. "Anyone else got a problem?" she asked,

Isaiah stumbled back, suddenly a lot less brave. He was shaking with anger. “Neil, where did you find these

We didn't start anything. Maybe if you focused on your own community instead of trying

with a

about how to

opportunities you've got, not wasting