Fond memories swept through Hope. “My friend Paxton.” Her best friend actually. “He wanted to be a rock star whenwe were young.”
Lisa peeked under her lashes. “Sounds like he meansa lot to you.”
“He does,” Hope said, her chest aching. “I miss him.”
“Is he one of the soldiers out there fighting for kidnapped women?”
“Oh no.” Hope couldn’t imagine Pax with a gun. “Paxton is a scientist. His uncle studies the migration patterns of insects and is very fond of butterflies. He took Pax under his wing when we were teenagers, and now Paxton gets to travel all over the world, which isgood for him.”
Lisa nudged her with a shoulder. “But not sogood for you?”
Hope looked at the tiny guitar. “I miss him,” she admitted. “My life feels more settled when he’s here, but my team just became mission ready yesterday, so we’re out on our own soon. There are a lot of enhanced females who need to be rescued, and that’s my primary objective.”
She felt his absence daily. It had been nearly a year since they were in the same place at the same time, but they spoke often via teleconferencing or by texting nearly every week. His anecdotes about following his uncle around chasing butterflies were often hilarious. Sometimes Hope wished she could be with him, but she had a job to do, and shewas good at it.
Lisa reached for another ornament. This one was a framed picture of Hope, Paxton, and their best friend, Libby, when they’d been in elementary school.
“Is this him?” Lisa tapped on his smiling face.
“Yeah,” Hope said.
Lisa winked. “I bet he turned out cute.”
“He really did.” Heat filtered up from Hope’s neckto her cheeks.
“So he’s the one, huh?” Lisa cocked her head.
The question was like a dash of cold water. “My path lies another way.” She absently rubbed the marking on her neck that declared her one of the three prophetsof her people.
Lisa followed her motion. “That’s a heck of a tattoo you’ve got there.”
“Thank you.” The marking wound from her shoulders up both sides of her neck to beneath her ears. The intricate blue design seemed to dance on her skin. She’d worn the brand since before she was born, and she felt the weight of it often.
“Tell me about this Paxton,” Lisa said.
“That’s about all there is,” Hope murmured. “He’s a scientist, he’s a free spirit, and he’s just a great guy. He’s sweet.”
Lisa rehung the ornament. “He sounds wonderful, and if he turned out as cute as he looks here, I’d say you’re missing out if you don’t go for it.”
Time to change the subject. “What about you?”
Lisa rescued a Santa ornament from tipping over. “My boyfriend and I broke up a year ago. I was thinking about maybe trying a dating app, but I don’t know. Now that I know I’m being hunted by super scary, creepy, vampire-esque monsters, I may just lie low for a while.”
Hope smoothed out the tree skirt with one foot. “That’s not a bad idea. We’ll keep you safe, whatever you decide. We can give you a new ID, or you can stay here in Realm territory until we figure things out. I promise we’re not going to abandon you now that we’ve rescued you.”
“I appreciate that,” Lisa said.
An owl hooted loudly from outside the heavy doors leading to the deck and down to the lake, and Hope moved to open the door. “Hey, Wingman,”she called out.
Lisa popped up at her side. “You have an owlfor a wingman?”
“It’s his name.” Hope chuckled. “He somehow adopted me a while back. He’s just a friend, or a pet, ormaybe neither.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Are you like a witch? You know from those old fairy tales where they have a familiar?”
Hope mulled the question over. “I don’t think so. He just appeared one day and hangs around a lot. He does show up at odd times, though.” While she did have some witch heritage, she wasn’t able to form plasma out of thin air, so her main identity as an immortal probably wasn’t as a witch. Unfortunately, she hadn’t discovered any talents, so she couldn’t figure out what kind of immortal she should identify with. It was quite frustrating.
The bird was beautiful, with thick white feathers and a dark marking around his beak. He was also a good size but flew gracefully when he wanted. “He disappears fairly often,” Hope said. “Because he is a predator.” Like most people in her world, actually. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down and instantly pressed a button, nerves flaring to life in her abdomen. “Paxton, hi.”
