Page 35

My fear is all-consuming, and my body feels like it’s going to fly apart at the seams, my organs combusting from the nerves coursing through me.

For the past ten years, the only thing I’ve focused on is keeping Sarina safe. Building her future. Sleeping with one eye open.

And now, I’ve looked away from her—thought about myself—for just a minute, and she’s gone. My vision feels blurred with TV static, my heart beating so fast it’s blurred into just one long sound, convulsions.

Beth is still holding the little paper rabbit, and after a brief moment of silence, she looks up at us, eyes darting between Emin and me.

“Where was Sarina, before she disappeared?”

“Back at the house,” Emin says, “in the guest bedroom.”

“Let’s go.” Beth is already walking up the street, past the other people shining their lights through the rain and calling Sarina’s name. “I need to see it.”

Dorian appears, breathing hard, his hand immediately going to Kira’s back.

Everyone is soaked, and the rain continues to come down hard, the occasional clap of thunder drowning out our voices, our words.

Logically, I know that I should thank him for calling everyone out. I should thank everyone in the street, helping me to look for my daughter. But I can’t think about anything except the next step forward, the next thing that might get her back into my arms.

Together, Dorian, Kira, Beth, and I walk back to the house. When we push inside, it feels completely different. The rain is muted against the roof, sounding hollow, and all the lights are off. Were they off when we left, or has the power gone out in town?

Not bothering to remove our dripping clothing or muddy shoes, we move up the stairs and into the hallway. When Beth steps into the guest room, she immediately moves to the bed, touching the duvet on the floor, then the mattress. The last place I saw Sarina before she disappeared.

Besides the sound of water dripping and thunder crashing distantly beyond the window, we’re quiet, all watching as Beth goes quiet. When she speaks, her voice is low, careful, and she keeps her eyes shut.

“I figured as much,” she says, opening her eyes and looking to me. “The good news is that nobody has taken Sarina.”

Neither Emin nor I relax—without Sarina here in front of me, that feels like nothing. Especially with the way the storm rages on outside. Just picturing her out there, alone, is too much.

“Where is she?” I ask, eyes darting to the window when a streak of lightning divides the sky.

“I can’t say.” Beth shakes her head, then stands, still clutching the edge of the duvet in one hand. “But there’s a lot of energy left here. Just before she left, she was feeling a lot. I imagine that surge of emotion pushed her to develop a new power unexpectedly.”

“A new power?” My heart is in my throat.

“Yes.” Beth sucks in a breath. “I told you that she had a lot of power inside her—she will likely continue manifesting different outlets for that power. This one, I’m guessing, is replanting.”

When we’re quiet, Beth amends, “Teleporting. She has, through the sheer will of her mind, moved her body through space. It can be very dangerous, but I sense that she’s still alive, wherever she is. Because she is untrained, she could reappear anywhere.”

All the blood in my body rushes to my head when I realize what Beth is saying. Replanting is dangerous, because when Sarina comes back, she might appear in a wall, or too high in the sky. It could kill her.

“What if we just track her?” Dorian asks. “Instead of waiting for her to come back, we follow her scent like we would for any runaway kid.”

I’m already shaking my head. “I-I’ve been blocking her true scent since before we came here.”

“Can you take the scent-blocking off her from here?” Emin asks, turning to me, nothing but concern shining in his eyes now. I blink in surprise—he’s not blaming me for doing it. There’s no confrontation in his expression, and he reaches out, placing his hand on my arm.

A sob worms its way out of my throat. “No. It’s too far. Even if I knew where she was, it would be too difficult. The magic just doesn’t reach that far.”

He clenches his jaw, turns to Beth, and asks, “So, what do we do? How do we keep Sarina safe right now?”

Beth worries her lip, looks around the room, runs a hand through her gray hair.

Finally, she says, “We can prepare some areas for her to reappear. Collect her favorite things and favorite people into an area. In some ways, we are already doing that, being in this room where she left. It’s likely that will be the easiest place for her to return to. ”

“Do you mind if I try?” Kira asks, stepping forward, her eyes meeting mine. “See if I can trigger a premonition? Or if I can hear her?”

I nod, and Kira moves forward, sitting on the bed, her wet clothes seeping into the sheets. We all watch her, and I feel something rise up in me, something pressing at the back of my mind.

Shifting, I move into the hallway to try and think, to figure out what it is that I’m missing.

“Veva.” It’s Emin, stepping into the hallway with me until his scent—damp from the rain—fills the hallway, making my head go a bit fuzzy.

Steeling his gaze, he says, “Listen. I need to say this now—I’m still hurt that you didn’t tell me, but I—I’m going to put it behind me.

I understand why you did it. To protect her.

And with this…protecting her, protecting you—those are the most important things to me.

I want you, Veva. I want you in my life, and I want you to stay.

I want to know that we can work through anything life throws at us, from now on. ”

My breath catches in my throat when he steps forward and takes my hands in his, squeezing. When I meet his gaze, I realize I can’t do this right now—my mind is too scrambled to have this conversation.

I glance away from him, sucking in a breath, and that’s when my eyes land on Kira again, still sitting on the bed, willing herself to have a premonition about my daughter.

A premonition.

The realization is like ice water dousing me.

My memory speeds through everything that’s happened to us, everything I’ve learned, and takes me back to that first day going to the group of psychics.

It takes me back to Beth saying, “Clairsentients don’t often have explicit premonitions.

If anything, truth comes to you in your dreams.”

Understanding rocks through me with a certainty.

“I know where she is.”

Emin drops my hands, and I wish I could say something to him, but my entire focus is on Sarina. Deep down, I know that he’ll understand. Kira’s eyes fly open. “You know where she is?”

I’m already turning, running into the hallway, hand moving to the stone around my neck. I haven’t shifted in a long time, but I need to now. It’s the only way I’m going to move fast enough to get to my daughter.

Bursting through the back door, I shift mid-air, leaving the ground on my feet and returning to it with my paws.

Instantly, Dorian and Emin are on either side of me, Dorian’s wolf blocking out the meager lights from the storm sirens, flashing around us, and Emin sending to me, Where are we going ?

The border , I send, already gasping. It’s been too long since the last time I ran in this form. It feels freeing, lighting up a part of myself that I’ve kept tucked away, but it’s also like a skill I haven’t used in far too long.

The guys are faster than me, anyway.

Go , I send. Straight through the canyon and to the southern border. That’s where she is.

Without another word, they take off, running faster than I could even in my physical prime. I can only hope that they make it in time.