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It’s not a lie, exactly. I wanted to keep her safe and suggested we not tell her. And even if Jesse hadn’t agreed to keep Steph out of it, Erik would have insisted.
“So, what happened? Who was it?” Steph asks when the silence stretches out for too long.
I meet her eyes. “An older couple. Witches. They made all three of us invisible and muted our conversation from being overheard. They said I’m in danger, and that I need to give up my seat on the council to protect myself.”
Jesse stiffens, not having heard this part before, and I offer him an apologetic smile before continuing.
“I told them I could protect myself, that I’m a Grundelier witch and a vampire, my best friend is the head of the council, and my mate is king of the vampires. Nothing or no one can touch me. I demanded they tell me what the prophecy states, but the woman said it’s too dangerous for me to know. That’s when I grabbed her wrist.”
“And what happened?” Steph asks when I start to shake.
“I smelled it. Just like at the village and during the meeting. Rotting flowers. Old magic. Then her face started to change, the spell slipping the tiniest bit, and I knew. Steph,” I say, pausing to take a broken breath, “she was my mom.”
“What?” she blurts, rearing back.
I nod vigorously. “It was my mother. She yanked away from me, and the façade slipped back into place. And then I looked a little more closely at the man, stared deep into his eyes, and I could see it clear as day. It was my father. My parents are alive.”
“Are you sure?” she asks gently. “The crash…you identified the bodies, didn’t you?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t know how they did it. Magic, I guess. But they convinced the world, and me, they were dead.”
“But…why?” she asks. “Why would they do that to you?”
I go completely still as the truth dawns. Lifting my gaze, I meet Jesse’s eyes before returning my attention to Steph.
“I think they did it for me, not to me.”
I look down at the floor as my mind whirls, slowly putting all the pieces together. By the time I finish, I know I’m right.
“It’s the prophecy. It has to be. We already knew they aged themselves with magic and pretended to adopt me to hide our identities.” My mouth falls open, and I inhale harshly. “The scent of decomposing flowers that led me to my first vision. I smelled it today on them. It had to be them. They led me to that place, and eventually, to the pendant. The sigils…”
My words trail off, and a memory I’d forgotten comes back to the surface. I raise my eyebrows and reach for Steph’s hand.
“Do you remember that day? You were taking pictures, and I thought I saw a shadow of a man when the flash went off. It was him. My father. I didn’t recognize him then, and actually thought I’d imagined it, but now I know I’m right. I can see him clearly now, and he was the same size and shape as the man he showed himself as today.”
“I’d forgotten all about that,” Steph murmurs.
I nod. “Then I had the vision of myself as a young girl. A memory, really. But I overheard them talking about someone coming for me. Then just last night, I had that dream. But it wasn’t a dream. They were reaching out to me, and when it didn’t work, they set up the meeting with me today, risking everything they’ve put all three of us through to protect me.”
We all fall silent with that. Everything I’ve said, everything I’ve put together, is insane. Yet, I feel the truth of it in my bones.
My parents are alive. They’ve been protecting me my whole life from some mystical prophecy, and they faked their deaths to keep protecting me. They’ve been watching over me ever since and have gone to great lengths to contact me without giving away the fact that they’re still among the living.
And yet, I still have an uncontrollable urge to keep digging. To find out what, exactly, they’re protecting me from.
I look up at Steph, then meet Erik’s gaze before settling my eyes on Jesse.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
44
OUT OF LOVE
It’s been a week since I saw my parents––I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that––and nothing else has happened. After the first couple of days, I couldn’t stand sitting around the manor anymore and spent hours exploring the area with Jesse, who refused to let me go without him. We hit the beaches, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and every area in between with the hopes that I’d see or feel something.
Get some clue that my parents were close. Find them, and convince them to really talk to me. To tell me what in the hell is going on and what exactly, they’re trying to protect me from.
I have some theories, sure, and they do seem to be valid, but I won’t know for sure until I can speak with them again. And if I can get them to stop hiding, we can work together to figure out a resolution that keeps me––and them––safe.
