“I very well might have stopped him from killing your sister,” he said, his voice cold, “but only if I’d told him he had the wrong girl. In his madness, he may have killed Holly anyway and then taken you as well. I could not rescue Holly and protect you.”
He tilted his head and continued more forcefully. “Youwere passed the black rock, Hailey. It isyourenergy the stone has lassoed,yourenergy Cobon must sever fromyourbody. It’s your death that will complete his experiment, only he doesn’t know it. His obsession ended with Holly’s death, she being the first-born daughter. For now he believes the stone is a failure, and that will keep you safe.”
“My mother gave the necklace with the black rock to me,” said Hailey, realizing Cobon’s mistake. “I gave it to Holly—” Her eyes filled with tears. “—I marked her for death!”
Asher moved to embrace her, but she swatted his light away.
“It’s my fault!”
“You mustn’t tell anyone, Hailey. Do you understand?”
Hailey nodded, her lip trembling.
Asher studied her fearful expression.
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered. “Cobon will not hurt you.”
“You’re protecting me. You’re always protecting me.” She looked up at him with a new understanding. “Was it you? Did you pull us from the fire?”
“I was there,” he said simply, and then he cupped her face in his hands.
“I’m sorry, Hailey,” he told her, tenderly stroking her cheeks. “You’re waking up, and you won’t remember all these things we spoke of.”
He fixed his intense stare at Hailey’s eyes as he gave her his instructions.
“Youwillremember to keep your secret. Youwillremember that Holly did not suffer, that I would have saved her if only I could have, and you will remember that Cobon has gone, and I am watching over you…”
Asher’s voice filled her ears in overlapping echoes, growing louder and louder, hurting her ears when it reached a roar and only dying when Hailey opened her eyes.
As she woke in Holly’s bed to the smell of bacon and coffee and the sound of muffled voices in the kitchen, Hailey twitched her crusty nose. Her head was pounding and full of snot from a long night of uncontrolled sobbing, which she thought ended with a visit from an Envoy, but now she wasn’t sure. She felt her shoulder where she thought he’d touched her, and something quite unexpected happened.
Her heart leapt.
She wanted to see him again.Him—the one who pulled her and Holly from the house fire; the one who would have rescued Holly if only he could have; the one who watched over Hailey now, even though she couldn’t see him, protecting her from the evil Envoy—Cobon—who killed Holly…though, why he killed her, she couldn’t quite remember...
Hailey staggered into the bathroom and twisted the sink faucet before looking in the mirror.
“Ah!” she yelled.
“Are yeh alright?” asked Pix through the door, and Hailey had to think about that.
“I think so…”
She surveyed her reflection. She had to do something, good lord, she looked a fright. Her eyes were red and swollen, her face was unevenly puffy and her hair—her hair was a physics experiment. It defied gravity, standing almost straight up and out like she’d been electrocuted. She knew better than to let it dry un- corralled. Still, it almost looked as if someone had teased her hair with a comb and hairspray while she slept.
She cranked on the shower and climbed inside.
By the time she got out, her puffiness had gone down, her headache had faded and her hair was in a more natural state.
When she joined the others in the kitchen for breakfast, they each greeted her with hugs and kisses, except for Fin. He sat in the corner and merely nodded as he wolfed down a piece of toast.
“Did you sleep well, dear?” Uncle Skeet asked as he pulled her chair out.
“I think I did.”
“Sorry we were so late in getting home. We didn’t wake you, I hope?” Pix said as he set a plate of breakfast in front of her.
“I didn’t even hear you come in.” She took a bite of bacon and suddenly realized how hungry she was. Made sense. She hadn’t eaten a thing in…days? She finished everything on her plate and drank two glasses of water before she said another word, and that word stunned the table into silence.
