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She shook her head. “I doubt it. Mom always waited up for me.”

I smiled. “Sounds like a good mom.” I walked all the way into the room.

She ran her hand over the top of one of the couches while we stood. “She was. She just annoyed me a lot.”

“Sounds like most parents.”

Light laughter had us both turning around to find Taliana and Gareth walking into the room. My senses must have been dulled, because I hadn’t anticipated their arrival.

“How was the glade?” Gareth asked.

“Interesting.” Vera tried to bite back a smile.

Gareth turned to Vera. “I heard you got quite a shot in on Eon.”

“Word travels fast here.”

“Well, when my daughter gets herself in a fight, the guards think it’s important to tell me.”

“There are more young people than I expected.” I shared my observation.

“Did you think we were small in numbers?”

“No, but not this large.”

“Our clan is one of the largest.”

“Your numbers are more equal than most.”

Gareth smiled. “Yes, which is why it’s easy for us to mate within our own.”

“What can you tell me about your healing arts?” Gemma had piqued my curiosity. If I was going to help Gareth I needed to make sure no one here was involved in magic.

“Taliana would be better at explaining it. She was born with the gift.”

“The gift?” Vera asked.

“I assume you have it too.” Taliana took a seat on one of the couches and gestured for Vera to join her. “You haven’t been instructed on how to use it yet.”

“And Gemma has the gift too?” Finding information was all about asking the right questions. At least usually. Other times it involved brute force, but that wasn’t what I was going with this time.

“She’s slated to be our next Healia, the head of our healers.”

“Why? I mean is there something special about her?” Vera asked. I wasn’t sure if she was asking out of jealously from earlier, or if she also sensed what I did. How important this was. Something about it worried me, but I didn’t know whether that worry was warranted.

“She was selected when she was only a child.” Gareth sat down on the love seat. “Our current Healia, Rayen, always selects the best of the next generation to train. Generally they come from only a few families.”

“Oh.” Her face fell into an unreadable expression.

“Gemma seems to be taking to it well, although Rayen complains that all she does is ask questions.”

I laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with questions, but I’m not surprised to hear that.”

“Did she grill you?” Taliana asked.

“Something like that. She is very eager to learn.”

“She’s ambitious and dedicated.”

“Who are her parents?” As much as I wasn’t proud of my parentage, you could find out a lot about someone by looking at their family.

“Why are you so curious?” Gareth asked. “Does little Gemma interest you much?”

“Not in the way you are implying.”

“She struck a nerve,” Vera jumped in, and I didn’t know if she was about to help me or make things worse. “Jared’s had a bad experience with a witch, and he wants to make sure it’s not witchcraft she’s doing.”

“I assume you know my story?” Taliana asked.

“Yes. At least what Casey and Toby knew.”

“Then you understand my feelings about magic match yours.” She looked off at some indeterminate spot in the distance.

She met my mom when a witch used her to seek revenge on the king. The only thing good that came from it was Casey, but she was also a weapon. “You’re right. You have even more of a reason to hate them than me.”

“You have nothing to fear here. Our shores are secure, and you are one of only a select few outside of our people to ever step foot on this island.” Taliana stood and walked over to me. “You can rest assured, you and Vera are safe.”

“Thank you for the assurances.” I wasn’t going to learn anything else that night. Gareth hadn’t made any motions of trying to talk to me.

Taliana took Vera’s arm. “We thought we’d put you in your old room.”

“I hope there’s no crib in there anymore.”

“No crib. I updated it over the years as you grew older.” Gareth’s voice sounded far off. No doubt he was reflecting on the effect her absence had on him.

“It better not be pink.”

“No pink.” He laughed. “I assumed you’d like more pale blue and yellow.”

“I’m impressed you even thought about it.”

“You don’t have a very high opinion of men do you?”

“Not of most,” she mumbled.

I caught her eye across the room. She shrugged in response.

“Jared, you’ll be right down the hall from her.” There was something about the way Taliana said it that made it seem like she was telling Vera as much as me. But it’s not like her mom would want us sleeping together. Would she?

D
espite the warmth of the summer night, Gareth’s home was cold. I lay between the silky sheets of my bed. I was never one to struggle with the cold, but with everything else going on it bothered me. I was hit by a desire to go home, but I didn’t know where that was anymore. It wasn’t my old bedroom on Long Island, and it definitely wasn’t in any of those places I’d stayed with Murphy. Thinking about him made me sick. I couldn’t believe I’d let someone that evil touch me. Whatever gift mom said I had didn’t apply to knowing who someone really was. Or did it? Had I stayed with him because I knew he was so horribly wrong for me and that was what I deserved? Now I was overanalyzing things. I tried to shake the negative feelings. They weren’t going to help anything.

I glanced around the sparsely furnished room. The bed dominated the space, with a long bench set in front of it. Otherwise there was a large armoire. No desk, nothing to signify who lived there. I guess that was the point. No one lived there. Gareth couldn’t match the interests and tastes of someone he didn’t know. None of it could have been easy for him either, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important. Why did everything feel off? Was it just nerves? Jared felt it too. I could tell by all his questions. Was it something Gareth had said? I knew he was holding some sort of information back from me, but I didn’t know what.

After tossing and turning for an hour, I slipped out of bed. I was wearing an old t-shirt and cotton shorts, having refused to accept any of the other clothing they offered me. I had a feeling my mom was going to insist I wear something other than my shorts and tank top the next day.

I slowly pushed open the door to my room, relieved that it didn’t squeak. I knew that no one could tell me what to do, but I didn’t need to announce to Mom and Gareth that I was visiting Jared. They’d assume I was doing it for a very different reason than I was.

I didn’t bother knocking on his door. That would attract more attention. I slowly turned the door knob, relieved that it wasn’t locked.

“Didn’t take you long.” Jared watched as I closed the door behind me.

“Yeah, well. I don’t have the energy to come up with a snappy retort.”

“Couldn’t sleep either?” He sat up slightly, giving me a nice clear view of his bare chest. There I went again. I could never think straight when a partially dressed Jared was involved.

“Nope. Mind if I hang out in here?”

“By all means.” He held open the sheet.

I hadn’t actually meant in the bed, but physical contact didn’t sound so bad.

I slipped in beside him, and he settled back down against a pillow. I rested my head next to his. “Comfortable bed.”

“I assume yours is pretty comfortable too.”

“It is, but the sheets are cold. They’re silk.”

“You wanted to slum it with the high quality cotton?” There was something so spot on about Jared’s humor. It wasn’t pretentious or gross. It kind of hit the perfect line.

“I guess.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Meaning?” I pulled the sheet up a little. I was still cold.

“Are we leaving tomorrow, staying another night?”

“What do you think?”

“My feeling is that someone here knows more than they’re telling us.”

“About your mom?” I rolled onto my side.

“About my mom and maybe some other things. Something is off.”

“I feel the same way. This might be my family, but I don’t like it.”

He glanced at the closed door. “If I tell you something, it has to stay between us.”

“I promise.” If Jared was being serious, I could be too.

“Against my better judgment, I actually believe we’re on the same side here.”

“The same side?”

“There’s one person in the world who you trust more than anyone and would do anything for, right?”

I nodded. “Casey. You know that.”

“Exactly. And she’s tied to Levi who is kind of like a brother to me.”

“Got it.” I understood that blood wasn’t the only thing that defined family. It was why Chris would always be my dad.

“So since keeping our special people safe is paramount to our interests, we should be able to trust each other.”

I nodded again, waiting for him to continue.

“Gareth offered me a position.”

“A position?” I leaned up on an elbow. “What kind of position?”

“Helping him with something. It’s security related. On the surface it sounds fine, but the more I think about it, the more I think he’s hiding something.”

“So you’re going to say no?” When I’d brought Jared along with me I’d thought we’d get info on his mom. I hadn’t expected him to be pulled into some crazy plan of Gareth’s.

“That would be a mistake. If I say no I shut out any possibility of gaining more information.”

“So you say yes to get inside information…” I tried to follow his logic.

“Yes… at least I’m considering it.”

“And your mom?” I knew he couldn’t forget the reason he was even on Norco Island.

“That’s where getting to know Gemma is key. I have a feeling she’s all tied in. I just don’t understand how yet.”

“I do too. It’s weird.” The petite girl definitely seemed more than she appeared to be. And what about all the healing powers and the gift? That couldn’t be ignored.