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"Me? I know nothing about that."
She clasps my face in her hands. "We are two elements of the Tria Prima, the original alchemical reaction that started everything."
"What?" If I sound baffled, that's because I am. Clearly, I've missed a lot during my brief time away from her.
"I'll explain everything," she says. "Should your new friend be included in the discussion?"
"Yes. Grant is trustworthy, and he helped me figure out how to get back to you."
"I'm glad he did." She gives me a quick, soft kiss. "But we'd better get to the explaining before Sefton comes back."
We all sit down on the bed, Grant and I on one side while the girls occupy the other side, and Allison fills us in on everything that happened while we were apart. When she tells us that she can now open the boxes in the cellar, I have to interrupt.
"How did you manage that?" I ask.
"Opening the boxes?" She bites her lip and glances at Willow and Grant. "That's something we should discuss in private, just you and me."
"Why?"
She seizes my hand and drags me to the opposite side of the room, in the corner near the window. Then she speaks in a hushed voice. "We have, um, a sort of shared power."
"What sort? I don't understand."
She raises onto her tiptoes to whisper in my ear, "Sex."
"I don't think it's appropriate to shag right now."
Allison snorts, apparently trying not to laugh at me. "I didn't mean I want to do that right now. But when we have sex, it kind of amps up my Echo power."
"Oh. Well, that's, ah…interesting."
She leads me back to the bed and continues discussing what she learned from Sefton.
I have trouble focusing on what she's saying. Sex with me gives her more power? That's barmy. I can't help wondering if she means that when we're in the throes, she feels more connected to me and—No, I will not finish that thought. She can't love me. Should I tell her how I feel? Not yet. That conversation can wait until later.
What a bleeding coward I've become.
After Allison finishes her recap, Grant shares his experiences and what he learned, concluding with when Willow and I stumbled onto his makeshift campsite.
"The Lost Coast was untouched?" she asks.
"Not completely," Grant says. "The land itself is intact, but at least one creature is hanging around there. The gargoyle thing tried to swoop down and grab Willow, but Dax and I thwarted that attempt."
"I wonder how many other enclaves have survived."
"We can find that out later," I say. "Right now, we need to develop a plan for stopping Sefton from destroying whatever is left of this world."
"Oh, I have a plan for that," she says. "It came to me while Sefton was explaining how awesome it is to murder millions of innocent people and start an apocalypse."
The coldest chill I've ever felt sifts through me, from my skin down to the core of my being. Suddenly, I know what she means to do. "No, Ally, you can't."
Grant raises his brows. "She can't what?"
Allison straightens and clears her throat. "I am going to kill Sefton Stainthorpe."
Like hell she will. If anyone kills my brother, it will be me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
