Griffin is in trouble, if not already dead.
Something is seriously wrong with Lainey Sikes.
And if my gut is right—if my latest dream was more than a dream—then my mother has been here this whole time, held against her will. Simon, too. The thought of them alive and trapped inside the Overlay for so long makes me feel physically ill.
“We have to save them,” I whisper, careful to keep my voice low. This isn’t a conversation I want anyone to overhear, least of all Kate, who stands in front of us with Harrison.
“There might not be anyone to save,” Jude replies.
“It wasn’t a normal dream, Jude. She’s in there. I could hear her voice when I touched the leaf.”
She came back for me.
Tulane all but confirmed it.
My mother returned to Foggy Hollow five years ago with every intention of making amends. But I never saw her. Meanwhile, a gremlin-like creature appeared at the well when I just happened to be nearby and coughed up a glowing seed that’s somehow giving me very specific, very personal visions.
It can’t be a coincidence.
“Someone is trying to send me a message.”
“You think it’s your mom.”
“Is that really so crazy?” The heated question comes out too loud.
Kate glares at us over her shoulder.
Twig fidgets.
I press my lips together.
The line shuffles forward.
The organ continues to play.
Jude drags his hand down his face, his jaw tight as he leans close. “I know you don’t want to hear it, Selah. But I think we have to consider the possibility that Rafe is behind this.”
“I don’t think it’s Rafe.”
“If he wanted to lure you into the Overlay, what better way to do it than to make you believe your mother’s in there?”
“Why would he want to lure me into the Overlay?”
“I don’t know. Revenge? Boredom? A habit that’s hard to break? For centuries, he’s perfected the art of tormenting my bloodline. Breaking the curse doesn’t make him suddenly stop.”
“He has a point,” Twig says.
Which makes me want to scream.
Maybe the point is valid, but with my mother’s words so sharp in my memory, I’m having a hard time entertaining Jude’s doubt. I can’t stop imagining the creature, hopping into their prison. The hope they would have felt upon seeing it. Finally, after all these years, a way to communicate with someone on the other side. A way to communicate with me.
I can’t ignore it.
I won’t.
“If there’s even a chance my mother is in there, I have to do something.” I look beseechingly at Twig.
“The challenge would be getting in,” he whispers. “All the rifts are shut, aren’t they?”
