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)
“What?” Antonio asks. “I know that look.”
Leo starts reading. “Claire came to see me quite agitated and upset. It’s the first time she has requested a meeting in nearly three months. She had a visitor today, a woman named Abigail Mills, who claimed to be one of Claire’s teachers. Claire insisted she had never seen Mrs. Mills before and said the woman was lying. She repeatedly stated that ‘he sent her.’ When I asked who ‘he’ was, Claire said, ‘the man from my dreams. The man who wants my blood.’”
A chill runs down my spine.
Leo keeps going. “Claire was crying and exhibited behavior consistent with genuinely believing what she was telling me. She was cooperative with staff, and after consulting with Dr. Mona, she was given one milligram of Xanax and went to bed.”
“Abigail Mills,” Antonio says. His eyes land on mine.
“I take it that means something,” Xavier says.
“That was one of Vivian’s aliases,” I tell him. My stomach drops. “What’s the date?”
“Two days before Claire disappeared,” Leo says. “Just about three weeks ago.”
“So Vivian visited Claire.” I stare at the laptop. “Why?” No one answers. “If the Order already discarded her, what would Vivian want with her?”
“The demon communicated with you because he had marked you,” Devon says slowly. “If someone had already cracked the door open and had access to even a little of his power, could he communicate with them too?”
“Oh, definitely.” I nod. “We know the Order has been siphoning power from him for centuries.”
“And if the Bellamy family was responsible for imprisoning demons…” Xavier begins. His expression darkens. “It would make sense that Vaelric would be interested in the girl.”
I let out a ragged breath and stand, suddenly too anxious to sit still.
“We need to think through every possible reason Vivian could’ve been there,” Antonio says. His tone makes it clear he isn’t defending her. “I know we don’t have many other explanations, but I don’t want us jumping to a conclusion and missing something.”
“Maybe she thought she could switch Claire for one of you and make her be the one she gave up,” Mabel suggests. Then she immediately shakes her head. “No. She’s too young. And Wren had already been here for more than three weeks by then.”
“Vivian left without her,” Leo says, scrolling through more notes. “And from what I can tell, this is the first mention of her at all.” He looks up. “Before Abigail Mills, Claire didn’t have visitors.”
My chest tightens and I sit back down. “This poor girl.”
Xavier’s hand lands on my thigh. “Don’t let your emotions get the better of you,” he says softly. “Your compassion is one of the many things I love about you, but I need you to keep your head on your shoulders.”
“He’s right,” Antonio says reluctantly. “We don’t know why Vivian wanted this girl. Our best guess is still a guess.”
“I know.” My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to. “I know there’s a lot happening right now, and somehow I’m at the center of pretty much all of it.” Tears suddenly sting my eyes. I think it’s some combination of exhaustion and the fact that I’m the only person in this room who truly knows what it feels like to be ripped away from your family, experimented on, and discarded like garbage when you stop being useful.
Theo comes back into the room. From the look on his face, he heard enough to know what we’re talking about. And he looks just as concerned as the rest of us. He would probably rather walk into direct sunlight than admit that, though. Instead, he holds one hand out dramatically and pretends to check his watch.
“We have a business meeting to attend,” he says, raising his eyebrows at Xavier. “Or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget,” Xavier says patiently. For the first time, I’m genuinely impressed by the way he deals with Theo. There is no chance I could tolerate either of my brothers for seven hundred years. Then again, I did watch Xavier snap Theo’s neck once.
“You go deal with that,” I tell Xavier. He gives my thigh a squeeze. “I want to keep going through these files. I don’t really have anything else to do right now.”
“Okay.” He kisses the top of my head.
Zeke joins him, and the three of them leave with Theo. I don’t think my nervous system can handle any more stress, so avoiding coalition drama for the next hour sounds ideal. “Don’t drive yourself crazy over this,” Devon says. He takes Xavier’s spot beside me and hands me a stack of papers. I look down at the date.
Claire had just turned thirteen. This was her intake report. She was asked about the behavioral problems that supposedly made it unsafe for her to continue living with other children. But she couldn’t come up with a single concrete example. She couldn’t even name one of her adoptive siblings. The therapist notes that Claire seemed frightened and that her answers sounded rehearsed.