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The flush in my cheeks deepened. “That’s the idea. We haven’t gottenthatfaryet.”
I braced myself for shock or disgust, but Kylie just laughed. She held up her hand for a high five. “You go, girl. If I had a chance to handle four guys like this at the same time, you’d better believe I’d go for it. What a way to give up your V-card!”
In that moment, I wished I hadn’t admitted to her that I’d never gone all the way with a guy. “I’m pretty sure it won’t be all of them at the same time,” I said. So far they’d only reached out to me one at a time. The thought of more than one of them kissing me, touching me, together sent a sudden warmth through mybody.
Maybe I didn’t entirely hate the idea. But this wasn’t really the time to be exploringthat.
Kylie’s expression turned a shade more serious. “Youareokay, aren’t you? Are you sure you can trust everything they’ve been tellingyou?”
“Yeah. I remember enough that it all makes sense. It’s overwhelming, but at the same time, I feel more like myself the more I find out.” I paused. “Youdon’t think it’s totally crazy, do you? I mean, shifters and vampires and who the hell knows whatelse?”
“Please. Of course it’s crazy. But that doesn’t mean I can’t believe it. I saw Hunk-and-a-Half turn into a bear with my very own eyes. And I know you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. That’s why I need youaround.”
She looped her arm around me to give me a quick sideways hug. The gesture sent a pang through my chest. How much longerwouldI be around? When—if—I did manage to take on the full role of dragon shifter, I couldn’t hang out in Brooklyn with Kylie all thetime.
We could figure that out later. After we’d figured out whatever it was Mom had wanted me tounderstand.
Aaron’s voice rang out. “It’s here.” He was pointing the flashlight at a spot on one of the walls. The rest of us picked our way closer over the cracked cement and abandoned tracks. The air shifted, sending a cool chill over my arms. I rubbed at the goosebumps.
The wall had been built out of interlocking stones. The circle of light illuminated a rectangular one that had been carved with a symbol like the one in my locket: an upside-down flame in the midst of a spiral. My heartbeat kicked up anotch.
“That’s really it,” Isaid.
I glanced around, as if Mom might step out of the shadows now that I was here. As if she could have been waiting down here all this time, or even just since mybirthday.
No one stirred in the darkness except West’s tense form. Then Marco and Nate prowled closer to the stone. Nate prodded it first before steppingback.
Marco tested its edges with his more lithe fingers. “It doesn’t seem all that eager to offer up its secrets,” heremarked.
“They’re not secrets meant for you,” I said. This was why I’d insisted on coming. I walked up to the wall, into the glow of the flashlight. Up close, the symbol sent a tingle through my body. It drew my hands to it. I raised my arms and pressed my palms to either side of the flame, the way it seemed towant.
The stone jolted toward me with a scraping sound, and my mind cracked apart. The sensations of the tunnel washed away in a wave ofmemories.
I was a little girl, dashing through the forest to find a hiding spot before one of my daddies finished counting. The lush green smells of late spring surrounded me. I ducked behind a tree and swallowed agiggle.
Me and my sisters danced around our mother in time with the pop song she’d started playing on her old boombox. She grasped each of our hands in turn, spinning us around. Our feet pattered over the woodenfloor.
We sat in a row along the edge of a platform where Mama was holding audience. The edge was high enough and my legs short enough that I could swing my feet without touching the floor. The shifters approached our mother one by one. We whispered to each other, guessing each shifter’s animal by scent and mannerisms. “That one’s got to be a badger.” “No, no, I’d sayraccoon.”
We were running down the hall, Mama urging us faster. My pulse thundered in my ears. We had to get outside, outside where Mama could shift and fight. An immense lioness sprang from a doorway, snapping her jaws around my sister’s arm with a burst of bright red blood. A shriek broke from mythroat.
And on and on. The fractured memories hit me as if from inside and out at the same time, bubbling up through my head and pouring into me from the stone. I was drowning inthem.
Then they stuttered to a halt. My mind went blank. My mother’s voice washed over me, soft andlilting.
I’m so sorry it had to be this way, Serenity. I did the best I could to keep you safe. Follow thecrystal—
There was a sound like an intake of breath. It jerked me back toreality.
I was standing in front of the subway tunnel wall. My fingers clutched the cool stone slab the flame symbol was carved into. It had popped out of the wall, revealing a dark hollow. The alphas and Kylie still stood around me,waiting.
My legs wobbled. Aaron leapt to my side to place a steadying hand on my shoulder. I leaned into him, trying to make sense of my swirlingthoughts.
“I remember,” I said. But that wasn’t totally true. My head felt stuffed full of the early childhood I’d just recovered, but the memories jostled against each other with ragged edges. They didn’t entirely feel like mine yet. There were still gaps and fuzzy bits. Whatever Mom had done to suppress them, it hadn’t been an exactmagic.
“What’s in there?” Kylieasked.
I focused my gaze on the hollow. Something pale and flat lay on the rough surface inside. I set the stone down and tugged the hidden object out, my fingertips sliding over a polishedsurface.
