before indicating no as well.
“I can’t remember a time,” Thorn said. “Why? Do you think it’s especially significant, m’lady? Have you come across it before?” As he studied my expression, his near-black eyes darkened even more.
My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell them about that part of my life. I’d never gone into much detail with Vivi and the rest of the Fund members, even though they were the ones I’d run to—the ones Auntie Luna had told me to run to—after I’d lost her. My shadowkind guardian and I had kept so many secrets for so long, it was hard to break the habit.
But while I could hardly call these three friends, and they were by at least some definitions of the word monsters, they’d shared everything they could about their own catastrophe with me. I’d seen them at their most vulnerable, pinned by spotlights in giant cages. It wasn’t as if sharing the story could hurt me other than the pain that came with remembering those times.
What I did know wasn’t going to help us all that much on its own, though. Before I started making inquiries farther abroad, I should see if I could dredge up anything else from the past that might guide that search.
“I think so,” I said. “Just once, a long time ago. But all I can tell you for sure about the people who had it is that they came after a higher shadowkind just like your bunch did. I don’t know why or even what they meant to do with her. But maybe…”
I glanced at Snap. Ever since I’d seen his talent in action, the thought of other ways he might put it to use had been niggling at me. “Would you be okay with testing a few things I have here with your power and seeing what you can pick up from them?”
He brightened at the suggestion. “Of course,” he said. I could see now how carefully he spoke so that his forked tongue barely showed. One of the first things all higher shadowkind seemed to learn was how to disguise their true nature among mortals. “What would you like me to examine?”
“I’ll get the things. Why don’t you sit down in the living room?” It’d be less cramped than my bedroom, especially since the other two would want to observe.
He tipped his head in agreement, his golden curls jostling against each other, and all but bounded through the doorway. You’d have thought I’d offered him a year’s supply of ripe bananas, not asked to put him to work.
I ducked into my bedroom to dig into the back of my closet shelf. From what the trio had indicated, Snap’s ability mainly picked up the most recent impressions. For there to be any real chance of him gleaning something about Luna’s life, I’d need to give him objects I hadn’t handled much in the past eleven years. I grabbed an Amazon delivery box I hadn’t gotten around to tossing yet and plucked up a pair of sparkly sneakers and a purple scrunchie to set inside so that I didn’t have to touch them too much now as I carried them over.
My attention stalled on a small, pearly box tucked in the corner of the shelf. There wasn’t any practical reason to have Snap test that…
I wavered, a lump rising in my throat. Then, not letting myself second-guess the impulse, I wedged it into one of the hip pockets on my cargo pants. If I changed my mind in the moment, I didn’t have to take it out at all.
In the living room, Snap had sat down on the plaid sofa, giving off definite eager puppy vibes. Ruse dropped into the not-at-all-matching polka-dot armchair that stood kitty-corner to the sofa; Thorn leaned against the wall by the doorway with his arms crossed. I set my box down on the wobbly coffee table in front of Snap and turned to the CD rack next to my little TV. I was pretty sure that at least one of these…
Ah ha, that one would be perfect. I slid the case out, touching as little of its surface as possible, and added it to the box.
“It doesn’t matter what order you go in,” I said. “Just see if you can pick up anything about someone who used them other than me. There might not be anything, but… it seems worth a try.”
Snap set his godly face with such determination that his gorgeousness