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and pull the book out. My nails scraped against the side and top of the hole in the wall, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wedge my fingers in and pull out the fat book. Heart pounding, I wanted the panel to move faster, but it continued sliding at its leisurely pace unaware of the situation its loudness had created.

Within seconds of the screechy noise starting, I heard Tahlia's quick footfalls. The lights flicked on in her room, and the sound of feet walking toward me grew louder. I stared at the opening in the wall, now nearly all the way open. A brown aged leather binding was sitting in the niche snugly. Shoving my fingers around the panel, I pulled and tried to make it move faster, but it didn't affect it. It continued to slide slowly. Panic shot through me, and started pooling like ice in my stomach. My gaze shifted frantically between the book and Tahlia's door. A scream was building up inside of me, but I swallowed it back down.

I wouldn't get caught. I'd grab the book and effonate out of there. Collin would heal me. I just had to get my fingers around the book!

The familiar scrape of metal on metal came from her door, as the knob turned slowly. Tahlia's bedroom door opened slowly, as I pressed myself against the wall trying to shrink into it so she couldn't see me. I didn't want to hurt her, but she couldn't know we were here. There was nowhere to hide. As soon as her eyes adjusted, she'd see me!

The raven-haired woman scanned the room, looking for the source of the noise. When her eyes darted towards the wall, she was visibly startled and looked up at me in disbelief. Her mouth opened, as panic lit her eyes with fear and her voice came out in a scream. But the scream was cut short and muffled immediately after it started.

Collin clasped his hand over her mouth, and spoke softly in her ear, pulling her back into her room. He focused solely on Tahlia, not looking up at me. Tahlia didn't take her eyes off of me. The brown globes were wide with fear. Her skin glistened and she was shaking as Collin gently pulled her back through the door. Her gaze didn't falter from mine, and her eyes never stopped pleading. Guilt swam in my stomach, making me feel like I was going to vomit.

Suddenly, the shrill screech of the niche's panel sliding opening was gone. Swiveling my head, I looked at the hiding place and snatched the huge brown book. My fingers found the same spot on the panel and I closed the opening. When I looked back up, Collin and Tahlia were gone. I pressed Eric's book to my chest. It was so valuable. I needed it, and we had to get the book without anyone seeing us. My life depended on it. Collin explained that if the Martis didn't get the book yet, that they would come at me that much harder when they found out I had it. Neither of us thought that was a good idea. The plan was to sneak in and take it before anyone realized what we'd done. Collin and I had both agreed that if we woke Tahlia up, that we couldn't let her go. But now that it actually happened, now that I screwed up and woke her, I couldn't do. Collin came with me to take care of anything that went wrong. And this was wrong. Heart racing, I ran back to her bedroom. I was surprised to see him speaking softly in her ear.

Tahlia was in a trance. She sat rigid on the edge of her bed with a vacant expression on her face. The terror on her face was gone. The pleading on her eyes was nonexistent.

Collin's voice was low as he whispered in her ear. "You're dreaming Tahlia. No one came into your house. No one was really here. It was all a dream. Sleep now. Sleep." The woman closed her eyes, leaned back into her pillows, and drifted off into sleep. Surprised, I wanted to ask how he did that, but he pulled at me to leave with him. Looking back over my shoulder, I noticed it - a small drop of scarlet on the corner of her mouth.

Blood.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"I thought you were going to kill her," I said. My voice sounded funny - like I'd been