A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,70

surprise to see me there. Despite my gut clenching from the darkness she exudes, I smile, holding a hand up. “Hey, sis.”

Lips pressed into a flat line, she attempts to sound friendly as her heels click over the hard floor toward me. “Finley. What a… surprise?”

“I was actually in the area, so I thought I’d just pop in and say hello,” I reply, thankful my voice sounds strong, my tone lighthearted.

“It’s really not a good time—”

DFF stops in mid-sentence when the door to the gallery opens behind me. I glance back over my shoulder to see Rainey and Myles walking in, hand in hand.

Myles thumbs over his shoulder. “We got a parking spot on this block,” he says loudly, then turns to DFF. “Hey, Fallon.”

“We’re so sorry to hear about Blaine,” Rainey drawls sympathetically. “If there’s anything we can do, you need to let us know.”

I can feel my face turn red with anger that they would deliberately come in here when I told them not to, but part of me is impressed with their gumption.

“Yes, well,” DFF says flatly, absolutely unmoved by Rainey’s concern. “The Bern police are doing everything they can.”

And this is it. My moment to see if I can reach Fallon. “Um… remember your gallery show last month?”

“Yes,” DFF says in exasperation.

“Well, I had on the bracelet you gave me for my eighteenth birthday, but it didn’t match the other jewelry you gave me, so I put it in your desk drawer.”

DFF stares at me blankly.

“You know the one,” I continue with a sheepish smile. “The dragonfly charm bracelet because, you know, dragonflies are my thing.”

“Yes, right,” Fallon says dismissively. “I’ll get it for you.”

“No need,” I reply quickly as I start heading toward her office. “I know exactly where it is.”

Before I turn away from her, her eyes narrow on me in displeasure. Part of me cringes thinking she might hit me with a blast of some dark mojo magic in the back or something. It seems to take forever, but the moment I step inside her office and out of her view, I blow out a deep breath of relief and count to ten.

Shoring back up, I step out of her office with a deeply confused expression as I walk toward her, Rainey, and Myles. “It’s not there. I could have sworn I put it there.”

“Maybe you were mistaken,” she replies crisply.

“Maybe,” I mutter, trying to look abashed. “Well, we’re actually doing some clothes shopping this afternoon, so we need to get going.”

“Fine,” DFF replies stonily. “Next time… maybe call in advance to make sure I’m available.”

“Of course,” I reply solicitously. “But seriously, Fallon… you know we hardly ever see each other. No telling when we might have time to hang.”

“Right,” she replies with uncertainty. “Well, good day to you all.”

“Good day,” I chirp back as Rainey, Myles, and I hustle out of the gallery.

We turn a sharp right and head down the block to Rainey’s car.

“That was just weird,” Myles says. “She didn’t address Rainey or me by name. I don’t think she knew who we were.”

“And dragonflies aren’t your thing,” Rainey points out. “That was a lie, right? To see if she’d correct you, because it was a butterfly bracelet she got you for your birthday.”

“Fallon’s not in there,” I say morosely as we traverse the sidewalk. I feel flat and numb, like I was really expecting for her to pop out and make an appearance, perhaps suggesting they were sharing that body, because that lie about the bracelet would have done it. “There wasn’t even a glimmer.”

“I’m sorry,” Rainey murmurs, putting her arm around my shoulder as we walk. “I was really hoping that—”

“What in the holy fuck were you doing?” Carrick says as he steps out from between Rainey’s car and the one parallel parked behind hers. I was so mired in my feelings about Fallon being gone I didn’t even see him.

Rainey, Myles, and I come to a dead stop as Carrick places himself before us, arms loose by his sides, but hands clenched into tight fists. Imperiously, he glares down at me.

“How did you even know I was here?” I mutter with a frown.

“Did you honestly think I’d trust you to stay put like I asked?” he bites out. “I’ve had someone watching the doors at One Bean as well as the gallery. Figured you’d make a break for it to try to see Fallon, and kudos to your little Scooby Gang for helping you sneak out the