Page 165

Ava sighed. “You’re right.” She looked at Indira and gave her wrist a dismissive flick. “You may go. We’ll be in need of your services again in the near future.”

* * *

Soon after Gracefound out that she was pregnant, she traveled to the far edge of the demons’ territory. But Ava found her.

“You’ve been avoiding me, Grace,” Ava said. “Why? The LEDA project is going entirely to plan.”

“I’ve changed the plan,” replied Grace. “The gods have control over Earth. We can’t send the child there. Faris will surely find her.”

“The child must grow up on Earth,” Ava told her. “Because of that world’s magical potential. It’s just the environment the child requires to become what we need her to be.”

Grace shook her head. “She won’t be what we need her to be if Faris controls her. I will train her myself, and I’ll do it somewhere that Faris can’t find her.”

“For our plan to work at all, the child must grow up on the world of magical potential,” Ava pointed out. “You knew this from the beginning, Grace.”

Grace looked away from her meditation candles—and into her sister’s eyes. “It’s too dangerous. If we release the child from our care, how do we keep her away from Faris? Or away from Sonja, for that matter? You know of the experiments our sister has been running these many years.”

“I do,” Ava replied. “And I know Sonja isn’t even close. She’s taken her experiments in entirely the wrong direction. She hasn’t even considered the possibility of doing what we’ve done.”

Grace held up a warning finger. “Yet.”

“True, not yet. If we keep to the plan, it will work. Remember why we’re doing this. There is no room in our plan to hesitate, Grace. The Guardians are growing bolder by the day. They’re putting their pieces into play.”

“I’m not hesitating. I’m being smart.”

“And this?” Ava indicated the meditation candles.

“These rituals will ensure the child gains powerful telepathic powers,” said Grace. “She will need to have a lot of all the powers to pass them on to her child.”

“With those telepathic powers, the child will also be able to receive the visions we send her to guide her path, even from Earth,” Ava countered.

“I’ve made up my mind, Ava. The child stays with me. It is the only way to ensure she becomes what we made her to be.”

“Trust me, sister.” Ava extended her hand to her.

Grace took it. “I trust you will find a way to help me keep the child safe. Here. With me. It’s too risky to release her out there.”

* * *

Ava stoodin a room with black walls and purple fire.

“Grace has given birth to the child, but that child has become more than a child to her,” she said.

Sonja stood opposite her. “She’s grown attached to it.”

“Yes.”

“You were right to come to me,” Sonja told her.

“I had little choice,” Ava grumbled. “You found out what we were doing.”

Sonja’s smile could have melted metal. “Yes, I did. Let that be a lesson to you, dear sister. I always find out. Where is Grace keeping the child?”

“On Avalon.”

Sonja nodded, her smile growing wider, then she left the room.

Ava watched her leave. When Sonja was gone, Ava muttered, “Yes, my devious sister, you did find me out this time. That will not happen again. You will steal the child from Grace, but your victory shall be short-lived. The child will slip through your fingers. She will not be your weapon.”