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David grabbed my hand and stroked the back of it with his thumb. “I know you weren’t keen on the idea before, but do you want to try hypnosis?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” If I were back home, I could ask Collin to go into the ocean with me. But that would hurt David. He might not ask questions, but he knew my encounters with Collin were far from innocent. Yet if I could get necessary answers, didn’t that justify it?
Didn’t Tsagasi say that the right or wrongness of a situation depended on which side you stood on?
But there had to be another way. Hurting David was an absolute last resort. Some of the memories had already emerged. I just needed to tap into the others.
He lowered his voice. “Ellie, there’s one more thing the letter mentioned.”
“What?”
“The writer of the letter—a man named Samuel—said the Middleton’s were part of a secret group. But when he tried to appeal to the sheriff, he was just laughed out of the station.”
“Secret group?”
“The Guardians.”
I sat up straighter. “Oh, crap.”
“Samuel found out they had the ring and the spear because he’d heard they were seeking weapons created to fight supernatural creatures.”
“It’s them.”
“I think so.” He paused. “There’s one more thing and it’s the best news of all.” His grip on my hand tightened, counteracting his words.
My breath stuck in my chest.
“This afternoon, I received a phone call from a woman associated with the collection. She had heard about Allison’s death, and she asked if I knew anything about the research Allison had been doing for them. When I said yes, she asked me to come to Charlotte in Allison’s place. I’m meeting them at ten tomorrow morning.”
My eyes widened. “How is this good? It’s creepy enough that they knew about her death this soon, but they specifically sought you out. I don’t like this…”
“Ellie, this is my chance to see the weapons for myself.”
“And look what happened to the last two people we know who saw them.”
“Don’t be so superstitious.”
“Superstitious? My mother and your ex-girlfriend were both murdered less than a week after they saw the collection. You’re the one who keeps claiming there are no coincidences in any of this.”
“This will be different. I’m not going in blind. I have an idea of what I’m looking for.”
“But you have no way of knowing what their plans are. They might be waiting there to kill you.”
His back stiffened. “Ellie, I’m doing this with or without your approval.”
I hopped off the bed and headed for the kitchen, David on my heels. “Don’t be angry with me.”
I placed my hands on the counter and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to smother my panic. “I’m not angry, David. I’m terrified.”
He stood behind me and pulled my back to his chest. “I have to do this, love. And you know it too, deep in your gut.” When I didn’t answer, he bent his mouth to my earlobe. “This could be the big break we need. We have a sword that kills Raven Mockers, but I suspect they have many more weapons we can use. This is our chance to not only protect you but to go on the offensive. To save the world.”
He was right, and it killed me to admit it.
We hung around his house and ordered a pizza. He said he had more research to do to prepare for his visit the next morning, so I told him I was going to sit in his backyard in the hopes that Tsagasi would come to me. I hadn’t seen him since our middle-of-the-night chat.
“This is going to sound quite bizarre,” David said, glancing up from his laptop. “But I think you should take the sword with you.”
I put my hand on my hip, my eyebrows raised. “What will your neighbors say about a woman walking around your backyard with an antique weapon?”
