Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“There’s a report written by a local cop.” I’m so focused on reading that I walk directly into Antonio. I put one hand on his shoulder and use him as a guide so I can keep reading without worrying about where I’m going.
“Okay…” I skim the report and paraphrase as I go. “It says that about two weeks before her most recent escape, she started acting strangely. She seemed agitated and complained about headaches.”
I scroll. “Several days before she disappeared, she claimed she was hearing voices, but she has no prior history of mental illness.” My pace slows. “The staff said she became desperate to find her family because she believed they could help her.” I keep reading. Then stop entirely. “The security cameras malfunctioned at the exact time she escaped.”
“Sure they did,” Antonio says. All three of us look at one another. Something is definitely wrong here. And I can’t ignore it.
“You’re gonna hate me for suggesting this,” Leo says once we get into the car.
I already know what he’s going to say.
“Text Ryder.”
Yep.
Exactly what I expected.
“He still has all his Order credentials. He can run a search on her.”
“No,” Antonio says as he gets into the driver’s seat and starts the car, blasting the a/c. “If the Order has anything to do with this, they could have her name flagged. We’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“You’re encouraging me to hack into a secure network?” Leo asks with fake disgust. He’s actually annoyingly good at that kind of thing. “You know, it’s been several years since I’ve been on the FBI watchlist.” He’s only half joking.
“It doesn’t look like she has a criminal record,” I say, reading through the rest of the reports. “She just runs away, gets caught, and ends up back at the group home.” I frown. “What I don’t understand is, if she’s a Bellamy, why is she living in a group home like an orphan?”
“Call Marie,” Antonio repeats.
Almost as if he summoned her psychically, my phone rings.
Marie. “Give me a million dollars,” Antonio says, holding out his hand. Nothing happens. “Damn.” He points toward my phone. “Answer it.”
I pick up. “Hey, Marie. Funny, I was just about to call you.”
“My intuition is back on,” she replies. “I did a little more digging into Eudora Bellamy.” Something in her tone makes me straighten. “I heard some crazy rumors, and I know better than to gossip, but this one got me.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“You said Eudora was kidnapped by the Order.”
“It’s really starting to look that way.”
“That’s impossible,” Marie says.
I go still.
“Why?”
“Because Eudora Bellamy died in a car accident sixteen years ago.”
Chapter
Nineteen
“That’s not possible,” I say. Antonio motions for me to put the call on speaker. I pull the phone away from my ear and tap the button. “I just found a police report with her name on it. She’s alive. Or at least she was a few weeks ago.”
“What did the police report say?” Marie asks.
“She ran away from a group home and was trying to get back to family in Connecticut.”
“A group home?” Marie repeats. “So she’s a minor.”
“Yes. She’s—”
“Seventeen,” Marie and I say at the exact same time.
I go quiet.
“Well, that confirms one of the rumors I heard,” she continues. “The Eudora Bellamy I’m talking about died sixteen years ago.” She pauses. “Supposedly, she had a summer fling with a non-magical boy and got pregnant. The Bellamys, like I mentioned, are a prominent magical family. And they’ve always been very particular about keeping their bloodlines pure.”
“She was forced to give up the baby,” I say, filling in the blanks.
“That’s the rumor.”
My stomach twists.
“And the car accident that killed her a year later was officially ruled accidental,” Marie continues. “But there were plenty of people who believed she drove into that train on purpose.”
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
“Yeah,” Marie says softly. For a moment, no one says anything.
“So Eudora had a daughter,” I say slowly. “And the daughter was given up for adoption.”
“Yeah, it appears so. And the grief of losing her child and probably her lover was too much for her.”
“Hang on a second,” Antonio says, twisting around in his seat.
“Oh.” I hold the phone closer to me. “I probably should’ve told you that you’re on speakerphone and my brothers are in the car.”
“Hello, Wren’s brothers,” Marie says cheerfully.
“You said the Order had her,” Antonio continues. “But she was living in a group home. They just let her go?”
“The notes made it sound like she didn’t show much promise,” I say with a shrug. “Maybe they tested her and let her go. Though that doesn’t really fit the Order’s MO unless she had no idea she was being tested in the first place.”
“Typically,” Marie says, “witches start showing signs of magic relatively young. But a half-witch can develop differently. Sometimes their powers don’t really start coming in until later. Usually closer to seventeen or eighteen.”