Page 103 of Anatomy of the Immortal Species

Had she really hoped that Ana would help Mikhail?

She closed her eyes and tuned inwards, declaring her desire to see through the Oracle’s eyes.What should I do to get Mikhail out of Prokaliya?

When no answer reached her, she stared back at the sky with a sigh. A soft thud came from her right, like a knock or a rhythmic beat. The air froze in Amelia’s lungs when she recognised what it was: a heartbeat. And it wasn’t her own.

In the shadows, she noticed a black silhouette.

“I can see you,” Amelia called out.

The figure stepped forward to reveal the tall, slender form of one of the hybrid twins who had guarded Amelia’s door during her stay on the nineteenth floor.

“Hi,” the twin said, dressed in her usual form-fitting leather suit. Her black hair was longer than Amelia remembered.

“Are you following me?”

The woman joined Amelia under the gazebo and sat across from her. “Stop staring at me with those white eyes. I’ll have nightmares for days.” She lifted her legs, stretching them out over the bench.

Amelia touched her forehead. Her eyes had changed colour? Was that why she’d been able to detect the twin in the shadows – because she’d been using her Oracle senses?

She shut them off.

“That’s better. Sorry about earlier. And no, I’m not following you. I was waiting for someone else.”

“You were expecting someone else at the gazebo?” Amelia’s heart quickened. Could it be the person who took notes to Ana?

The twin nodded.

No, that was ridiculous. Amelia had spent countless hours by the window, trying to catch the intermediary, with no success.

The twin glanced over her shoulder. “I guess they’re not coming. What are you doing out here so late?”

“Looking for inspiration,” Amelia said.

“For the prophecies?”

“Something like that.”

The twin laughed. Amelia hadn’t thought she was capable of anything other than delivering cold, hard stares.

“You know…” The twin’s eyes flicked to the guard post in the distance. “Because of you, I learned a valuable lesson. Remember when I was supposed to guard you, and you escaped right under my nose?”

“Of course, I remember. That night, I discovered wolves in the forest are not my best friends,” Amelia said.

The twin chuckled again. “Wolves are harmless if you approach them right.”

Yeah, right.

“What lesson did you learn from that night?”

The twin glanced one last time at the central post. “Don’t do a job the hard way if there’s an easier way. If I hadn’t relied on my heightened sense of smell and just used my two eyes”— she tapped two fingers to her face—“a mortal woman wouldn’t have turned me into a laughingstock.”

“I don’t understand?”

“My strongest power is my sense of smell. That night, I believed I’d be more likely to catch you by scent than by sight. But when you walked past me, smelling like a vampire, I didn’t even notice. If only I’d used my eyes…”

The twin raised her chin, giving Amelia an unreadable look that sent a chill down her spine. This woman was dangerous, regardless of her laughter and casual demeanour.

“I’m sorry if I got you into trouble…”