Chapter 266
A smile flickered across Mina’s face as she considered my question. A glimpse at her teeth had me running my tongue across mine. Neither of us had fangs just now. “Heavens, no.” Mina shattered my hopes of finding someone with similar problems, but whatever it was I could do for her daughter, I would still do it. She continued, and I hung on every word. “That was a long time ago. She’s long past, that one. Beautiful girl, though.”
My confusion grew with her explanation. “You knew someone who was half Vampire, half Hunter?” What really caught my attention was the fact that this person had died. What had killed her? I leaned forward toward Mina, and she shifted her weight, too, which had me leaning back. I wasn’t afraid of her. I knew she wouldn’t hurt me even if she could. This wasn’t a trap—she legitimately wanted me to help her daughter. When she nodded in response to my last question, I asked, “When? Where? What happened to her?”
“You do not need to ask these questions of me,” Mina replied with an even voice. I could tell she was an old soul. For all of her sins, she was a wise woman. “Everything you need to know is already there. What you should be asking me about is what is to come, not what is in the past.”
Confusion washed over me as I studied her sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by “already there,” but I imagined she meant in my mind. How information about this girl I had never met could be somewhere in my mind didn’t make sense to me, but I didn’t have time to ponder it at the moment. She was right. If she had information about what had happened with the portal, what was yet to come, I needed to ask her about that. I heard an uncomfortable exhale in my head and wondered if Cadence knew just how loudly she was sharing her feelings.
Under my breath, I repeated her words. “What is to come….” I glanced up to see Mina waiting for me patiently. “Okay—what is to come?”
She smiled at me, and I felt that she should’ve had some missing teeth as old as she was, but they were all there, and still none of them were sharp, either. “Do you remember the dream? The one where we stood outside of the asylum and watched the lovers meet?”
She was talking quickly, assuming I knew more than I had put together from that dream. Her words began to echo in my mind, like she was far away, like she was underneath the water. How could she know about my dream? But she’d said, “we,” so she was there, too, somehow, even though I hadn’t seen anyone but the two embracing in front of me.
I closed my eyes, shutting out the RV, the park, my team, and concentrated. Slowly, images began to flicker across my mind. Like one of those old movies where the film sometimes sticks and the picture doesn’t advance correctly, parts of the dream came back to me. They sped up, and I had trouble catching it all, but I could see an old building. This must be the asylum she spoke of. There was sand beneath my feet. I looked up into the night sky, and then, I inhaled a whiff of ozone and dropped my gaze so that I was looking directly at the couple. I knew I’d never seen them before, but there was something about them that registered inside of me, like I should know who these people were.
When I opened my eyes, a question on the tip of my tongue, Mina hushed me and said, “Now is not the time for revelation. Now is the time for mass destruction, child. They will move. They will come together, and as you have seen them tonight, they can and will destroy their enemies, just as you’ve seen foretold.”
My forehead crinkled and my brain began to ache. When had I seen them destroy their enemies? Not tonight. My team had won. I didn’t know what she was talking about.
But she wasn’t done. “If you are to end this without eradication, you must not wait. You must find them first. It will take everything you have, and you will be the key. You are physically strong, child, stronger than any of the others. But if you let the fear in, even a little bit, it will consume you. And once it claims your soul, it will not stop until the diabolical contrivance is complete.”
When Mina finished speaking, she closed her eyes. I had so many questions about what she had just said. How could I possibly be the strongest? I wasn’t the key to anything. Fear of what? Fear of the Vampires? Fear of my team? Fear of myself?
I wasn’t getting any more answers from Mina, that was certain. I remembered what she’d said earlier about me already having the answers, and while I didn’t think that was possible at the moment, I had to trust there was a way for me to sort it out later.
I pushed up out of the chair, and Mina didn’t move at all, not even when I stepped over her boots. I knew her daughter had to be here somewhere, and this space was so tiny, there weren’t many places to hide. I looked around, considered asking Mina where she might be, or asking Aaron to come in and use his X-ray vision, but I was suddenly very much against asking anyone on my team for help, particularly the men. It was irrational, and I had no idea where the idea had come from, but it was there nonetheless.
With one more sweep of the room, I noticed a closet by the bed. I thought perhaps Christian hadn’t looked here before, though I don’t know why he wouldn’t have. Without disturbing Mina, I took two steps over to the bed and opened the closet door.
The closet was full of long dresses, skirts, and blouses that looked like something Laura Ingalls might’ve worn. But beneath their hems, I saw a small, wooden trunk. It reminded me of a case a family might use to store their most precious items, the ones intended for a dowry. I couldn’t imagine a little girl in such a small space, but I thought she must be in here.
I realized that every male Guardian and my sister were ready to tear through the door at any second, but I hoped they could see the confidence in my demeanor as I reached down and raised the lid.
Here she was, just a tiny thing, folded up. She was crying, and I wondered how I hadn’t heard it before. Or maybe my discovery had been the catalyst for her weeping. At any rate, I whispered quietly, “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.” I wouldn’t have made such assurances if I wasn’t willing to fight to the death for this child.
I heard a discussion going on in my head now, and I wasn’t sure if they even meant to include me in their argument, but it was clear to me Aaron didn’t think this was a good idea. Most of the men were on his side. Cadence was arguing that the child should be spared, and I was glad for it. I’d hate to have to fight my own sister over this.
“Mama,” the little girl said as she sat up in the cramped space. Her hair was dark and very long. It cascaded around her shoulders with the movement. “Where is my mama?”
