Wicked Wings (Lizzie Grace #5) - Keri Arthur Page 0,78

C was three doors down. Aiden ushered me in; the four people inside immediately glanced around. Two of them were his parents—while I’d never been officially introduced to his father, I’d glimpsed him when we’d entered the compound’s outer forest to rescue Ashworth from the dark sorcerer intent on making the wellspring—and the wild magic—his own. But even if I hadn’t seen him before, I would have still known who he was. When it came to looks, the males in Aiden’s family didn’t fall very far from the DNA tree.

The other two were obviously Jeni’s parents—their auras were an agitated mix of anger and deep grief, the latter surprising me a little, given she’d at least escaped the destruction the Empusae had visited on the two men. But I guess they feared that the trauma of what she’d witnessed would probably be with her for a very long time to come, possibly even causing serious mental problems. It certainly wasn’t an unknown phenomenon.

Aiden stopped at the end of the bed. I did the same and studied the sedated girl. She was tall and slender and looked to be in her late teens. Like her parents, her hair leaned toward the darker end of the spectrum for the O’Connor pack, being almost brown rather than a shade of blonde or silver.

“Liz, this is Joseph and Karleen, my mother and father, and Sean and Ryanne, Jeni’s parents.”

Obviously, Karleen wanted her husband kept unaware that she and I had already met—why else would Aiden be reintroducing her?

Ryanne’s red-rimmed gaze met mine. “Can you do anything for her?”

“If you mean erase or hide her memories to ease her trauma, then no, that’s not—”

“Why we’re here,” Joseph cut in. Though there was no censure in his tone, it was nevertheless a warning. He glanced at me. There was absolutely nothing in his expression to clue me in as to what he might be thinking, about either my presence here or me. Even his aura gave nothing away. “Aiden said you can read her memories without having to put her through the stress of questioning—is this true?”

I nodded, even though it was something I hadn’t tried before. “I’ll have to connect with Belle, though, just in case the memories are so strong they drag me down.”

Joseph frowned. “I don’t understand—”

“What Liz is about to try isn’t telepathy,” Aiden said. “It’s more an immersion in Jeni’s memory—she’ll see and feel what Jeni did.”

“That sounds… dangerous,” Ryanne said.

“It can be,” I said. “Which is why I need to connect to Belle.”

“She’s the telepathic one, isn’t she?” Joseph said.

“Yes. She’ll monitor my thoughts and drag me out of Jeni’s mind if I go too deep and get caught up in her emotions.”

“Why would that be dangerous?” Sean asked.

“Because, as Aiden said, I’ll be fully immersed in her mind, and I’ll see and feel what she did. But if those memories overwhelm me and I lose my control, it’s possible neither of us will come out of it whole.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?” Karleen’s expression was skeptical. “I mean, how is something like that even possible?”

“I was deeply immersed in Karen Banks’s mind, trying to discover where she was and what she was doing when the vampire took her life. Her death could have been mine, because my body was reacting to what was happening to Karen as if it was happening to me. It’s only thanks to the fact that Belle got me out in time that I’m standing here now.”

“Ah.”

One word that somehow managed to convey understanding while still sounding skeptical.

“Is there anything you need to do in preparation?” Joseph asked.

“I’d normally raise a protective circle to keep evil out, but that’s not necessary in this case.”

Mainly because Jeni was alive rather than dead.

“Then please proceed when you’re ready.”

Joseph stepped back from the bed, as did Jeni’s parents. Karleen remained exactly where she was. Not giving ground, not even for something like this. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and then walked to the front of the bed. Jeni’s face was pale, but her breathing was even and her aura relatively calm. The drugs they’d given her had been strong enough to soothe both mind and soul.

“Aiden, can you pull the bed away from the wall for me?”

He immediately did so. I slipped into the space between the bed and the wall, and then carefully placed my hands either side of Jeni’s head. No images stirred in response. The drugs had done