she called it, fibbing.”
Emily’s eyes were so sad, I couldn’t bring myself to smile back, only nod.
“She was always a little eccentric, odd. She didn’t like us to go out in public, always wanted us right there with her. She told us wild fairy tales as if they were true. But this, this one was different. And it was only for me.” She drew a shaky breath. “That’s what she said. Only for me. I was never to tell Brianna.”
“Your mother?” I asked.
She nodded. “I didn’t know. Until she died, I never believed.” She waved her hand. “Then they shipped us off to foster homes and it was a constant struggle to stay together. How could I tell her then? How could I tell Brianna she just lost her mother because…”
“Because of the prophecy.”
“It’s my job to protect her,” she said. “I’m the only one who can keep her safe.”
So she knew. All along, she’d known. But she was wrong, she wasn’t the one to save Brianna. “The prophecy never mentioned twins, Emily. There’s no reference to you at all. I understand how you feel, but you weren’t meant to take this on yourself. Your mother should have never put that on you.”
Her eyes were hard on mine. “She wasn’t wrong about the rest of it.”
She had me there, things weren’t exactly going as planned on either side. “Maybe so,” I said. “But you aren’t the only one trying to save Brianna.”
Emily’s eyes softened and she nodded. And then she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged her knees to look out the passenger window, effectively ending the conversation.
Chapter Seven
Change of Plans
I’d already told her too much. Emily was no minor player, she wasn’t simply a victim unwittingly caught up in her sister’s mess. There was no safe house in existence that could hold her. She was determined to save her sister, and, one way or another, she’d unquestionably end up in the middle of it all.
And just because I couldn’t seem to get her to do what I wanted didn’t mean Morgan wouldn’t.
I was going to have to do something different, and I didn’t like having to change my plans. Annoyed, I took my eyes from the road to glance over at her where she leaned against the window, knees pulled up and thumb wrapped inside the seatbelt at her shoulder. She was staring out into the night, and the tiny strands of hair that had pulled loose from her ponytail caught the light of the oncoming car.
Had I not been staring at her, I would have missed the truck that was passing that car, lights off and heading straight for Emily.
She screamed.
I swerved and ran the car up over the curb, but wasn’t able to avoid impact. The truck slammed the rear quarter of the car, spinning us around in the intersection, where another car smashed into the front panel on my side. We were pinned, but still moving. Tearing metal screeched through the car and Emily’s wide eyes found me as she searched for escape. I released the buckle on her safety belt and tried to push my door open. It was stuck, jammed from the collision with the other car which, judging from the horrified look on the driver’s face, must have been involved only by chance.
The window was jammed as well, so I turned to climb over the back seat and saw Emily grasping for the handle on her side.
“No!” I yelled.
Her head whipped around to first find me, and then, realizing why I’d stopped her, the truck that was even now pushing against the back of our car.
I was over the seat in a heartbeat and dragged Emily behind me. The only warning I gave her before opening the door was, “Run. Don’t stop, don’t look behind you.”
I had her arm and was towing her for the first few steps, but once we hit sidewalk, she was running. I could hear the engine of the truck revving behind us, but it was trapped in the chaos of a six-car pile-up, and had to plow through several stopped vehicles to reach us. It did just that.
“Turn,” I yelled, and Emily listened, heading straight down the first side street. Two more blocks, and we’d have been on the interstate. They should have let us. It would have worked.
“Right,” I said at the next block. We’d gotten lucky. We had a chance. But how had he found us?
“Aern,” Emily called from beside me, “you’re bleeding.”
I