Page 27

Jade laughed and so did Neri.

There was a shuffle downstairs before someone slammed the door. As someone started up the stairs, a translucent barrier shot up around the room, protecting all three in Silas’s room.

“Wow, that’s something,” Neri muttered.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s just your Uncle Noah. I told him where I was going, but he must not have liked me disappearing on the spot.”

Silas dropped the barrier and Neri caught Silas as Noah rushed through the door and straight to Jade. He pulled her into his arms and Neri turned her and the little man back to the bookshelf.

“What are you reading now?”

Daddy and I finished reading the Harry Potter series, and it wasamazing,but mommy wanted me to read regular books for kids around my age, so she bought all the Little Golden books. Each story makes me smile and they teach me about sharing and being nice to others. Last night, we finished The Pokey Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen. I think the hen was my favorite. She didn’t care about what other’s thought of her and did what she wanted. I like that.

Neri laughed. “Me too, little man.”

Silas reached for the book and placed it in Neri’s hands. Although she’d gone through it before, she stiffened as an old memory assailed her the moment she glanced at the cover of the book.

Come on, Nerissa. Just read it. You know I can’t.

Neri rolled her eyes at the small girl’s insistence. She could read by herself, but whenever she was with Neri, she wouldn’t try, saying she liked her voice. Neri tugged a pigtail and opened the book.

One summer day the Little Red Hen—

Nerissa, Zahava can read on her own. You need to stop your babying or she willneverget adopted. Both of you, do your chores and then clean your room. I won’t tell you twice.

With that, the woman who was the administrator of the orphanage walked away, her chunky shoes clomping on the wooden floor and Neri shivered, happy her anger didn’t involve punishment this time.

That woman is a bitch. If she keeps treating us like that, she’ll be sorry.

Zahava’s voice, so cold and unemotional, caused another shiver to pass over her.

“Neri, angel?”

Neri blinked and noticed her surroundings with a jerk. She glanced down to see Silas’s look of concern.

“I’m sorry, little man. Another memory from my past and I couldn’t get out.”

“What did you see?”

The unfamiliar voice had her head jolting up. She groaned aloud when she found Kai, Liv, Reaper, Ara, Seth, Aubrey, Drew, Jade, Noah, Gunnar, Xander, Frost, Ghost, Kane, Thomas, Isaac, and the tall blonde man she threatened at standing in Silas’s room staring at her. Ghost gave her a small smile, and she knew the question came from him.

With so many staring at her, she bit her bottom lip as a sign of nerves. Then, Hunter moved into view and she blew out a breath, relaxing.

“I grew up in an orphanage. The memory was from when I was around ten years old. I was reading to a girl about six. She was in my first memory running away from someone unknown and she looked scared. Her name is Zahava. But the first memory makes no sense…”

“Why, angel?”

Neri covered Silas’s ears with her palms before she spoke. His giggle made her smile.

“Zahava is a manipulative bitch.”

She uncovered his ears and smiled down at him. Neri surprised herself when she bent down and gave Silas an impromptu kiss of the forehead and wrapped her arms around him before she continued.

“If she was running away, it was a ploy to get something she wanted or pressuring someone into going along with her plan. Everyone in the orphanage thought she was a perfect child, but I watched how she acted around the other kids and adults and she’s nothing but devious. She’s a psychopath.

“She scared the kids younger than her to give her whatever they had of value and if they didn’t comply, she would hurt them. Whenever someone told on her, the teachers and staff never believed them. One time I had to step in when she tried to drown a boy in the bathtub because he threw up on her shoes.”

Neri rubbed her forehead as she sensed more memories lingering in the background but refusing to come to the forefront.

“I don’t know why I remembered little things about Zahava or why even, but I sense it’s connected to who is after Dark Company.”

Silas squeezed Neri, and she hugged him back. When Hunter wrapped her arms around her, she knew they needed to find the threat and eliminate them. This group was Hunter’s family and if she could only admit to herself, they were becoming important to her.

She vowed she would kill everyone who threatened the immortals in this room. Even if she sacrificed her life in return.

Such a small price to pay.