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“Let’s hope it hasn’t changed.” I drummed my fingers against the armrest. “Sonja may be working with Ava.”
Nero’s eyes locked with mine. “If Sonja found her way into Sunfire’s workshop, and if she is working with Ava, then we have a very big problem.”
I looked at my brother. “Zane, you were inside Sunfire’s workshop. Did you see any teleporting bracelets?” I described the bracelets Ava was wearing. “Like those?”
“No, I didn’t see them. The workshop was enormous.” Zane got up and walked over to the shelf on the wall. It was just above the small desk in the corner of the room. “But if there was a pair of teleporting bracelets in Sunfire’s workshop, this will tell us.” He plucked a thick book off the shelf and started flipping through it.
“I guess this might take a while,” I commented.
“Actually, no,” Zane told me. “Sunfire was very meticulous when it came to cataloging his work. The workshop inventory list is well-organized. Here’s the list of every artifact related to teleportation.” He sat down next to me, then passed me the open book. “Recognize any of these?”
I scanned the page. A page of named artifacts and illustrations of them. “That one.” I pointed at a pretty realistic picture of the bracelets I’d seen on Ava’s wrists. “The Veil Piercers, a set of immortal artifacts that allows its bearer to travel between worlds and even interrupt and redirect another person’s journey.”
Tessa passed behind the sofa, leaning her arms against the backrest to get a closer look at the picture. “Wow. Those little bracelets basically replace even the most powerful djinn.”
I reached back and gave her hand a squeeze. “No one could ever replace you.”
“Thanks, but I was actually thinking about Rosette, the djinn of the octuplet sisters,” replied Tessa. “Bella said she could change the direction of a magic mirror even after someone had entered it. She once did it to Bella and Harker. And now Ava has an immortal artifact that does the same thing.”
“Which she used to strand me on that sand world.” I tapped my foot against the floor. The movement helped me think. “And that artifact came from Sunfire’s Workshop. Perhaps through Sonja. Khalon believes Sonja and Ava are working together.” I gripped the armrest. “And now Sonja has Stash.”
Nero took my other hand, massaging deep circles into it. And, slowly, my grip relaxed.
“We will figure it out.” His deep, level voice was even more calming than his massage. “And we’ll help Stash.”
“And Bella,” Calli added.
“For sure,” Gin said with a perky smile. “How can we possibly fail now that we have the new-and-improved Leda Pandora?”
“Yeah!” Tessa agreed, her smile even perkier. “I bet you have all kinds of crazy new powers.”
Her statement got me thinking. “I wonder if my parents knew I’d eventually get these passive-magic powers when I became an arch…”
I stopped. It made me sad to think of my parents. Especially Grace.
“I…” I cleared my throat. “I wonder if there will be a funeral for Grace. But no one’s mentioned it. Maybe deities don’t have funerals.”
I started laughing. It was a heavy, aching laugh that shook me to my core.
Calli knelt down beside me, taking my free hand. “Hey, it’s ok for you to feel sad that Grace is dead.”
“But she engineered me to be a weapon,” I choked out. “A weapon for her to control.”
“And then she didn’t go through with it when she realized she loved you,” Calli reminded me.
“She manipulated Nero into meeting me.”
Calli smiled at me. “And in doing so, you found your soul mate.”
I looked at Nero. I didn’t know what to think. What to feel. All these emotions came crashing down like a waterfall.
“Grace was your mother, Leda,” Calli said gently. “And she loved you. In the end, she proved that.”
Anger boiled in my belly. “I couldn’t save her!” I jumped up. My hands were shaking so hard and so were the walls. Magic was leaking out of me in tangled, twisted waves. “I’m sorry,” I muttered to Calli. “I’m not in control of my magic right now. I should go before I hurt someone.”
“You won’t hurt us, Leda,” replied my foster mother.
Nero wrapped his arms around my quaking body, squeezing me against him.
