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Sarah gasped and clutched Grant’s hand, her face turning even more ashen. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach as I followed Ryan’s gaze to Grant. Grant looked like he was in a state of shock. Even Simon seemed taken aback by Ryan’s revelation.
“It can’t be!” Sarah cried out. “You must be mistaken!”
Ryan’s expression was grim when he spoke. “I’m sorry, but I’m not mistaken. I clearly saw him in my vision last night.”
I spoke before Ryan could describe what he had seen. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?” I asked them. Grant was still frozen and Sarah was trembling with fear. I wasn’t sure if they could take the grisly details of whatever Ryan was about to tell us. Despite her distress, Sarah straightened with a determined look on her face.
“I’m sure. Burying our heads in the sand isn’t going to help matters,” she said resolutely. “We need to know everything.”
Grant nodded stiffly in agreement, and I cast him a worried look, but his jaw tightened resolutely when he saw my gaze on him.
Ryan glanced at me questioningly and I indicated for him to continue. Sarah was right. Not knowing the truth wouldn’t stop it from being true. Better to be prepared.
“It happened outside in a wooded area,” Ryan started. “It was pretty straight-forward. He was being pursued until his vardoger finally caught up to him.” He paused and glanced at Grant before continuing, his voice noticeably gentling. “He was then shot in the head with a gun.”
Sarah whimpered at his words and Grant’s face whitened, tension radiating through every line of his face. “Is my vardoger here now?” he asked, his voice strained.
“Most likely,” Ryan answered. “Vardogers are attached to their human bodies, but it’s nothing more than a shadow at this point. Like I said earlier, I can only sense the energies of vardogers who have already overtaken their humans. I can’t feel them when they’re just shadows. But you don’t have to worry about your vardoger until the moment it decides to step out of the shadows to overtake your body.”
Grant took a deep breath as he visibly tried to calm himself. There was a tinge of hysteria to Sarah’s voice when she spoke. “What happens now? How do we protect Grant?”
“We’ll stay with him until his vardoger attacks,” I answered. “We won’t let anything happen to him.”
Sarah didn’t seem comforted by my words, but I couldn’t blame her. Nothing I said would minimize her fears for Grant’s safety.
Ryan ran his hand through his hair, suddenly looking tired and worn out.
“Do you want something to drink or eat?” It felt a little ludicrous to be playing hostess in this situation, but I was suddenly reminded that despite being a powerful seer, Ryan was still just a human.
He shook his head. “No thanks, I’m fine.”
“You must be tired after the long drive,” I said. “Did you bring an overnight bag or anything?”
“It’s in my car.”
“Why don’t you go get it?” I checked my watch and saw that it was close to two a.m. “I doubt any of us will get much sleep tonight, but we can at least try. Of course you’ll stay here, especially since we need to keep an eye on Grant.”
“Thanks. I’ll go get my bag.”
No one spoke until Ryan had closed the door behind him to retrieve his bag from his car. Grant was the first one to speak.
“Do you think we can trust him?”
“I do,” I answered. “I don’t think there’s any reason for him to lie to us. Especially about having a vision of you.”
“Of course there’re plenty of reasons for him to lie to us,” Simon challenged. “He could be working with your father, for all we know.”
“Why the complicated ruse then?” I demanded. “My father knows where I am. He could just come here himself and face me.”
Simon shook his head in frustration. “He wants to become immortal and he believes you hold the key to that. He may believe that he can use Ryan to get to you, to get some answers.” His mouth thinned. “Like how he wanted to use me with you. He just got too impatient to see it through and decided to take matters into his own hands.”
“That’s not what’s happening here,” I said emphatically. “Like you said, my father is too impatient. He wouldn’t try something like that again. I don’t know what he’s planning right now, but I doubt he’ll try to use the same method twice. Especially since it didn’t succeed the first time.”
I knew better than to mention that the connection I had immediately felt with Ryan made me trust him. Simon would misconstrue it as something else. It was just that Ryan knew better than anyone what it meant to be a seer. How isolating and lonely it could be.
“Do you think it’s a good idea for him to stay here?” Sarah whispered, as if she were afraid Ryan was listening with his ear to the door. “What if he tries something in the middle of the night?”
“I need him to help me protect Grant. I can’t watch him 24/7. The last thing we need is for everyone to be sleep deprived while trying to fight vardogers.”
