“No, wait—” I grabbed for him, but he disappeared, his body shimmering in the air as his form dissipated into nothing. I swiped my arms around the bathroom, convinced it was some kind of trick, but Blake was nowhere to be seen.
I did my business, my whole body tingling, and went back into the house. “I’ve got to go,” I said to Jane. “But you’re going to be… I mean, that is…”
The corner of Jane’s mouth turned up a bit. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
I whipped my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll give you my number. Don’t forget to come up to Briarwood whenever you want.”
“Hey, if it you think it’ll help find Connor, I’m there.”
As soon as I shut the front door behind me, the guys peeked out from behind the primrose bush. Arthur took one look at my face, and frowned. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“What’s wrong is that Blake just appeared in the bathroom and held a knife to my throat.” I touched the blade, reassuring myself that I still had it.
“I’ll kill him,” Corbin growled, surging forward, his hands balled into fists.
“No.” I grabbed Corbin’s collar, yanking him back. “We’re leaving.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because I’m not going after Blake until I know for afactthat he’s really on the wrong side of this. Right now I’m not sure. I’d be a damn sight more certain if you guys stopped lying to me.”
Corbin’s lip twitched. “We’re not lying?—”
I held up a hand. “Save it. We’ve going into town to get the equipment I need, and when we get back to Briarwood, you boys have some explaining to do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MAEVE
Iset down my bags on the table in the Great Hall. Luckily, Crookshollow had a reputation for being the most haunted village in England (apparently, over two hundred witches were burned during the height of the witch trials – a bit of a sobering thought considering who I lived with), which meant that the local tourist shops sold ghost-hunting equipment that was actually semi-decent.
I wasn’t hunting ghosts, of course, but it would monitor fae and wormhole activity just as well.
“Do you want help setting these up?” Flynn asked, pointing an EMF meter at Arthur and making a ‘woo woo’ noise.
“No,” I grabbed the meter out of his hand. “I want you all to tell me what’sreallygoing on.”
Flynn glared at Corbin, who looked miserable. He leaned against the doorframe, as if he intended to make a quick escape. Rowan perched on the end of the sofa, his big, kind eyes following me with an expression I could best describe as awe.
Arthur moved toward the bar, but I held up a hand. “No drinks. This isn’t a celebration. I want the full story, right now. You guys haven’t been straight with me.”
“We’ve been completely honest with you?—”
“No, you haven’t.” I glared at Corbin, who stared at a spot just beyond my shoulder. “You said you recognize me because your lawyer sent you a picture. But that’s not true. When we spoke to Emily yesterday, she didn’t recognize me. And today, Blake spoke my name. Heknowsme. And…“ I paused, hoping I’d be able to talk about this without revealing exactly what happened. “He’s seen my dreams.”
“What?” Corbin looked shocked. “That’s not…that doesn’t mean…”
I folded my arms. “I’m done with half truths and this ‘you’re not ready’ nonsense. I want the full story, unabridged, footnotes included. Go.”
“What were these dreams about?” Corbin demanded.
My cheeks flared with heat. “I’m asking the questions here.”
Arthur looked up, tucking a strand of long blond hair behind his ear. For a warrior, he looked almost sheepish. “Are these dreams about all of us in the Great Hall, um…together?You and me and Corbin and Rowan and that Irish git and…Blake?”
My faceburned. “How…how do you know that?”
“Because I’ve had the same dream, a couple of times actually.”
