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“No one else was in the house,” he said.
“But you just told me you did not remember.” Something was off here. “Do you recall seeing Ansin in the house? Yes or no.”
“I don’t remember.”
Odd. He’d done it again. “But no one else was in the house besides you?” I asked.
“No. No one.”
His mind has been tampered with. He’d been made to believe “no one else” was there. Yet, when I asked about Ansin, Jeni’s father could not recall. It meant he’d been given a sloppily constructed voice command, such as: No one was here. You don’t remember seeing Ansin.
“Mr. Arnold.” I lowered my voice, reaching deep to find my power and go directly into his head. “I want you to relax and close your eyes for a few moments.”
His light brown eyes slowly fell shut, and he slouched in the chair.
“Good. Very good, Mr. Arnold.” I closed my eyes and pressed inside his head. Random images came to the surface, mostly of him calling Jeni and leaving messages. “I want you to think about the last time you saw Draco. Think about what you were doing—the smells in the air, the time of day, the sounds around you.”
Mr. Arnold’s mind began producing images of him driving, his hands shaking. He was trying to get to Jeni.
Suddenly, I saw Jeni through his eyes. She was in the hospital bed, holding a newborn baby. She looked catatonic.
I know this place. It was the same hospital I’d just come from.
“Mr. Arnold, think about the last time you saw Draco, not the first. Let your mind go there.”
His mind went dark.
Interesting. His memories were blocked off.
“I want you to show me all the times you have seen Draco,” I commanded.
Once again, Mr. Arnold’s mind fell blank.
What the devil is going on? Jeni believed that she’d taken Draco and hidden him away. She believed she’d erased all memory of doing it and was blocking any unnatural powers to keep Draco’s whereabouts concealed.
But why erase her father’s memories of the child? Why go all the way back to Draco’s birth?
Maybe someone wanted to hide more than Draco’s current whereabouts.
Jeni
I couldn’t face dealing with more loss or more pain, so I left the hotel room along with Ansin’s body on the bed.
It was strange to not care what happened to him after we’d spent the night together. Sex had been animalistic, needy, sensual, and unforgettable. I felt things for him I’d never felt for anyone. Yet I’d walked away, abandoning him like an old empty suitcase.
Was this who I’d become? Just another coldhearted Seer?
No. Don’t ever say that. It wasn’t what I wanted.
Maybe whatever was left of Ansin wasn’t the part I had feelings for. It wasn’t the part he’d given me last night. His mind, his soul, his dreams.
Honestly, though, after everything I’d been through, maybe I just needed to crawl into bed, put the covers over my head, and never look back.
After flying all night, the next morning I sprinted through the front door of my dad’s and wrapped my arms around his neck, bawling.
“Jeni? What happened?” he asked, his body tense with fear.
I knew what he was thinking: Draco was dead. “I did it, Dad. I took him.”
He pushed me back, squeezing my shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
“I took him. I hid Draco. I locked it all away so no one could find him. Not even me.”
“What—how?”
“Something happened. I don’t know what, but I think-I think I saw the Seers coming for him.”
Dad’s light brown eyes went glossy, pooling with tears.
“I know it sounds crazy, but—” I wanted to try to explain, but it wouldn’t make sense to anyone like him. King and Ansin were dead. King’s arsenal was dying too. I’d lost my ability to see or connect with the Seers. “I’m destroying anything or anyone getting in the way of keeping Draco safe.”
“Jeni…” His doubt-filled voice faded.
“Dad, I remember you came to our house that day. I know you were there, but I can’t remember getting on the freeway. How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean you’d take him away.”
“You were there to watch Draco because I had an appointment with Dr. Milo.” He was our family physician. “I keep having these headaches, and now I’m realizing I’ve been having blackouts, too. That day, I left the house and said goodbye to you both. The next thing I remember is staring at the clock on the dashboard. I lost over an hour.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your headaches?”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
He walked to the kitchen, which hadn’t been updated since we moved in almost twenty years ago, with its beige linoleum floors and white tile counters. He put on the kettle and got out a mug.
“Dad, say something.”
“When you told me about King, the Seers, and the rest of the garbage you were caught up in, I believed you, Jeni. I even believed when you said you loved King. But…” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’d separate yourself from Draco.”
