What was the purpose of tricking me into coming all the way out to Iceland? Because I know there has to be a reason when it comes to Draven. He doesn’t do things just because.”
“This is the entrance to the Afterlife,” she says simply, gesturing at the walls. “This is where you cross over.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You don’t have a choice. You owe Draven.”
“I owe him nothing,” I snap, the floorboards creaking below me as I stalk toward her. “That deal was made based on the assumption that the address I was given would take me to my mom, so unless you want to tell me where she is, I’m not handing over a year of my life.”
She crawls on her hands and knees for the window and pulls herself up by gripping onto the sill. “We don’t just give away information about our kind, not unless we fully understand why someone seeks one of us.”
In three long strides, I’m in her face. “Where’s my mom? You have to know where she is . . . She’s one of you.”
Her eyelids narrow to slits. “If you really want to know, then fine. She’s in hiding in a place where no one wants to hide.”
I wrap my fingers around her throat. “Where. Is. She?”
“I’ll tell you.” When she grins, somehow I know I’m about to make another bargain, probably one I can’t afford. “But it’ll cost you.”
GEMMA
“Tesha’s a friend of mine,” Adessa explains as we hunker down behind a car parked in front of a building with flashing neon lights. “If we can get back to the house, I can take the mark off her, and then we can start removing it from everyone else.”
I peek over the hood of the car to glance at the female vampire with chin-length hair and pointy ears that I’m supposed to help Adessa save. According to Adessa, the two of them are really close friends, but after listening to Adessa talk about her while we walked to this place, I wonder if they might be more than that.
“But what if the spell doesn’t work on her? I mean, you haven’t tried it on anyone else yet,” I point out, scanning the area for any sign of vampires, witches, or fey who might be lurking around in the shadows.
“You’re doubting my magic?” Adessa questions, pressing a glance in the direction of my stomach.
After Adessa performed the spell to protect my daughter, the sound of her heart has been crystal clear. And all that worry I felt about her being hurt has vanished. Somehow, I can feel the spell working, reassuring me that she’s going to be okay, even if I’m not.
“Do you have a game plan?” I ask, sneaking a peek over the hood of the car again.
Tesha is now chatting with a man twice her size with fiery red eyes and skin as white as snow. My bet is that he’s a vampire, too. Great. Things just got even more complicated.
“I’m not sure,” Adessa says with a sigh, leaning back against the wheel of the truck. “I’ve been trying to get to her for weeks, but it’s useless. She either runs away from me or tries to kill me.”
“What about another spell? Like a summoning one?”
“She’s protected from most of my spells, thanks to me. She can even sense when I’m coming after her, thanks to a stupid connection spell I did a long time ago. At the time, I thought it was a fantastic idea, but now I realize it was stupid.” She crosses her arms. “We probably have maybe three or four minutes before she senses me.”
“Okay, so what do you want me to do? Because I’m guessing there’s a reason you brought me with you.”
Adessa gathers her hair into a low ponytail and fastens it with an elastic on her wrist. “Well, you’re a Keeper and a Foreseer, which makes you both very powerful and very strong. Plus, you can appear out of nowhere, and since Tesha has never met you, she shouldn’t be able to feel your presence.”
“Shouldn’t be able to?” I question, arching my brows.
“You’ll be fine.” She pats my hand. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
I’m not sure if she’s telling me the whole story, but it doesn’t really matter. My daughter is protected, and I owe Adessa for that.
I peer around at the cars, the street, and then the building. “I’m going to Foresee my way over there, grab her, and blink us back here.