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I didn't wait for Simon's answer and walked around the bridge, slowly making my way down to the river. I heard Simon's sigh but his footsteps followed me.
"Grab my hand, I'll go first. I don't want you breaking your neck."
I was grateful for Simon's guidance and gripped his hand as he maneuvered his way down to the water. Despite my earlier bravado, the embankm
ent felt a lot steeper than it looked and I slipped a few times, colliding into Simon.
"Steady. Take small steps. The last thing we want to do is tumble head first into the water."
I nodded and continued following Simon until we were a few feet from the water's edge. Simon turned to me with a raised eyebrow.
"I hope you're not planning on actually going into the river. It looks deep and the current's pretty fast. Never mind that it looks about as clean as a sewage plant."
"No, but maybe we can find something near the edge." I carefully shimmied closer to the river, leaning down to examine the muddy ground next to it.
"Christ, careful Caitlin," Simon said crossly, grabbing my hand. "Just keep a grip on me while you do your detective work."
I glared at Simon, trying to tell myself that I should excuse his derisive tone since he had been through a lot. I shifted my attention back to the riverbed, but Simon was right. What the hell was I looking for?
We walked up the side of the river while I continued to inspect the ground but found nothing. Simon growled when I suggested crossing to the other side, which meant climbing back up the embankment, over the bridge, and down the other side, but he obliged.
I was about to give up, the cold biting air making my teeth chatter and my toes numb, when something caught my eye. I don't know how I saw it amidst all the mud, but when I leaned down and picked it up, my pulse started racing.
"Simon, look!" I rubbed the mud off the small metal coin and held it up for Simon's inspection. Simon leaned close to examine it and then straightened, giving me an odd look.
"It's just a coin, Caitlin."
"No, really look at it!" I waved it in the sunlight, trying to demonstrate to Simon what was so strange about the coin. "Don't you see it? It reflects shadows instead of light! Normally, when sunlight hits metal, you see a reflection of light. But this reflects shadows. It's made of palladium! But it's not normal palladium. I looked up online its properties, and for all intents and purposes it's just a normal metal. Rare, but normal. But the palladium I saw while I was under hypnosis, the same palladium that was around Claudia's neck when she attacked me, looked exactly like this! It must be a special kind of palladium."
Simon raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical. "I'll admit that the coin is a little strange. But even if it's this special type of metal, don't you think it's a little suspect that you've found it here, the site of your mother's accident, sixteen years later?"
I shrugged, not wanting to dismiss the possibility that this was the clue I had been looking for. "I doubt many people come here. It could have been undisturbed for years. What if my mother somehow knew about the vardogers trying to use palladium to counter the effects of iridium?" I gasped, a sudden thought blossoming. "What if the vardogers killed my mother because she found out about the palladium and was trying to stop them from using it!?"
"Caitlin, you're making a lot of leaps here." Simon looked grim and I couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn about my discovery. "I know how much you want this to mean something, but I think we need to think this through more thoroughly before we jump to any conclusions."
I crossed my arms against my chest, trying to control my growing anger. Simon had been such a help to me, but now I found myself wishing Sarah were here instead of him. Simon's lips pressed together when I just stared at him, not saying a word.
"Come on," he sighed, grabbing my hand and pulling me back up the embankment. "Let's argue about this in the car, where we're not in danger of falling into a cesspool or freezing to death."
As annoyed as I was, I followed Simon, although I pulled my hand out of his grip. He glanced back at me with an assessing look, and then turned around, continuing to walk up to the car. I had to admit it was a lot harder getting up the slippery embankment by myself but I was in no mood to ask for Simon's help.
I glanced at Simon when we got back into his car, feeling a little guilty about my behavior. Simon was just trying to protect me and I was acting like a brat.
"Simon, I don't want to argue about this. I just really think that this palladium coin is a link to my mother."
Simon sighed, but the tension in his face relaxed. "I understand. If you're right and it can negate the effects of iridium, it's very dangerous, regardless of whether it's connected to your mother or not. Why don't you give it to me for safekeeping?"
I frowned, shaking my head. "I think it's best if I kept it. All we know so far is that it makes iridium useless in protecting me from vardogers trying to overtake me. On the other hand, Claudia seemed surprised that I was able to destroy vardogers connected to her even though she was wearing it. Maybe it has other properties that can actually help me. I can put it in my bag so I'm not actually touching it."
Simon grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding the palladium coin, his grip so tight that I was taken my surprise.
"I really think I should take it," he said between gritted teeth. I tried to pull my wrist out of his grasp, but his hand was like an iron manacle. I started panicking, pulling my wrist harder, to the point of pain, but his grip was still unbreakable.
"Simon, what are you doing?" My heart started beating erratically as I wondered if I was dealing with his vardoger now.
"I'm just trying to protect you. Don't you trust me?" Simon's grip loosened fractionally and he was looking at me with an enigmatic look.
"Simon, you're scaring me! Why are you acting so strange?" I was finally able to free my wrist and I rubbed it with my other hand, the skin feeling raw and chafed from his rough treatment.
