“We checked three times. You did it right.”
If only she trusted in herself as much as Gran did. “But what if—”
The golden heart-shaped locket Simon had bought her for their wedding only a few days ago began to warm up. Shanna lifted it from where it lay, safely tucked under her shirt. Always close to her heart. “Gran, something is happening.”
Gran gasped. “Don’t say he turned up there!”
“No, but …” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was certain of it.
Simon’s soul—or at least a part of it—had just been drawn into her locket.
***
“What do you mean, your mom is alive?” Simon asked.
Shanna pushed the paper with her scribble ofSWARMin front of him. “This was the clue. You already deciphered most of it. I only needed to add an S. For me. She left me a clue before she forgot me, to tell me where to find her. In Queenstown, at that shop.”
Simon ruffled his hair. “Are you sure?”
“I felt something when we were there. I thought I sensed the shop, but I think I sensed her, instead.” She couldn’t blame him for not believing in her solution straight away. He couldn’t understand the draw she felt in Queenstown.
“But she was supposed to be dead. Didn’t your grandma say so?”
“She said she tried finding her once, and she couldn’t sense her. That’s why she believed she was dead. But when you think about it, we don’t have any proof. We don’t have a grave. Nobody ever contacted us about her dying.” Shanna stood, letting out a short laugh to release her nerves. “She’s there. I know it.Bella.It’s the name Alfie knew her under. And short for Isabel.”
Simon stared at the scribbles on the letter.
“You think I’m reaching.”
“Well …”
“Go ahead, tell me.” She didn’t know why she was suddenly so defensive of her discovery.
“It might be a reach. For me, it would be. But if you feel it in your heart, if you believe she’s there, then I’ll believeyou.” He took her hands in his. “I believe you.”
The words gave her a sudden boost of inspiration and energy. “We have to go. We don’t have much time. She’s closing the shop in two days because she’s leaving. The girl working there didn’t tell me where to. Once she’s gone, and that girl forgets her, I’ll never find her again.” She tried going back into the room to pack, but Simon didn’t budge, drawing her back even without the bond.
“I have to leave,” he said in a low voice. “There’s a tech conference in San Francisco this weekend. Everett is making a presentation for Aries. According to the news source, the rumor is that the board of directors will vote for the next CEO on Monday. If he makes a good enough case for himself at the conference …”
“They’ll vote for him,” she finished.
“He’ll take everything from me.” Simon’s voice dipped even lower.
You’ll still have me, she wanted to say. But when was she ever enough? For whom? Not for her school or college friends. Not for the few boyfriends she’d had. And not for Mom. She wasn’t enough for Mom to stay—and a few words of apology in a letter didn’t do. Mom still left her, and Shanna needed to know how she could have done it. Why some vision was more important than staying with her child and seeing her grow up.
And now Simon would leave her, too. Aries was more important than her. But at least the company was his baby—so could she blame him for wanting to save it?
“Shanna …”
“You know what will happen.”
“I won’t forget you.”
She pressed her mouth into a grim line. “That’s easy to say. But the curse is still there. You can’t will it away because you want to.”
“Then we have to compromise.”
“How? You have to go. You have to be there in time to find evidence against Everett and put him away before he takes your company. And I have to find Mom. Now.”
