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Amanda put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Nothing so dramatic, darling. Though I can't promise it won't be occasionally startling."

"What about the three of us together?" Kyra asked. "How are you going to test that?"

"We'll begin with touch. I will test you separately and then while holding hands or concentrating on the same outcome together."

"Where do we start?" Fenella asked.

"We'll start with the basics," Amanda said, guiding Fenella toward a chair positioned in front of a computer screen. "Let's establish a baseline for each of you individually, then we can explore what happens when you work together."

As Fenella settled into the chair, she cast an uncertain glance at Din, who gave her an encouraging nod.

Syssi wondered what they might discover.

The Clan Mother's instincts were rarely wrong. If she believed that Kyra, Jasmine, and Fenella were the key to finding Khiann, then they were, or at the very least, they were an essential component of the effort to find him. And if they actually found Annani's long-lost husband after five thousand years, it would change everything, not just for the Clan Mother, but for their entire immortal community.

34

AREZOO

Arezoo took a sip of water from the cup she'd collected at the serve-out bar. Her mother had given her the clan credit card that was good for use at the café, but Arezoo felt bad about using it.

She didn't like feeling like a charity case, but that was her reality.

They were getting everything they needed for free, and her mother was only using the card for necessities.

After her meeting with Drova, Arezoo was going to ask for a job in the café, and if she got it, she would finally have some spending money and buy that straightening iron she desperately needed.

Some eyeliner and mascara would be nice too.

Not that it would help much. She was considered pretty back home, but here she was as plain as a broom. The immortals were all so perfect that it was hard to look at them, and they all looked the same age.

How was she supposed to interact with them and find a boyfriend?

Solve one problem at a time, her mother used to say.

First, she would meet Drova and thank her for taking part in the rescue mission that got her and her sisters out of the clutches of that monster, and then she was going to ask the tall, beautiful woman behind the counter for a job.

Aunt Kyra had arranged this meeting with Drova, insisting that the two young women might "find common ground."

Arezoo doubted it. What could she possibly have in common with a seventeen-year-old Kra-ell warrior?

Arezoo had spent her life focused on doing well in school and watching over her sisters and cousins. She had never held a weapon in her life unless it was a kitchen knife or a spatula.

Scanning the café again, she wondered if she would recognize Drova from that chaotic night of their escape. Her memories were fragmented—flashes of gunfire, shouted commands, the acrid smell of smoke and fear. She remembered a very thin, tall girl with an injured shoulder, leaning on an even taller female who looked a lot like her.

That was probably Jade, Drova's mother and the leader of the Kra-ell residing in the village.

As a shadow fell across her table, Arezoo looked up to see the girl she'd just been trying to reconstruct from memory.

Tall and thin, with huge dark eyes and a long ponytail of perfectly straight, glossy black hair. Definitely Kra-ell, and unmistakably a warrior from her uniform to her stance.

"Arezoo?" she asked, her voice surprisingly soft despite her intimidating appearance.

"Yes." Arezoo stood, extending her hand. "Thank you for meeting me."

Drova reached out and grasped her hand with surprising gentleness. "Your aunt and my mother decided that we should get to know each other since we are close in age." She glanced at the plastic cup with water on the table. "I'm going to get myself a juice box. Can I get you anything?"

Arezoo felt her cheeks reddening. "No, thank you. I'm fine with just water." She patted her rounded tummy. "I'm trying to lose weight."