“So you think he’s telling the truth?” Valen asks. He covers his face with his hands like he wants to hide from this fact.
“I do,” she replies. Turning her gaze to me, she asks, “What did you use in your summoning spell? It might help me understand why he was specifically called here.”
“I told you it was a protection spell,” I gripe.
“Just because youthoughtit was a protection spell doesn’t change the fact that it’s a summoning spell. Now, tell me what you used.”
With a sigh, I answer, “A shirt of Valen’s, Luna’s blood, and…” I pause, trying to remember what else it was. “Oh, and a necklace. It was one Celine said she found in your cell, so I figured?—”
Valen perks up. “A necklace?”
“Y-Yeah,” I stutter, startled by the intensity with which he asks the question. “She said she had seen you holding something a lot when you were in the cell beside her, so when she escaped, she grabbed it for you and forgot about it until I was performing the spell.”
“Where is it?” he demands with an intensity I’ve never seen before.
“Where’s what?” I ask dumbly.
“The necklace,” he demands. “Where is the necklace?”
I look around. “I-I don’t remember. Most of the objects disappeared when Levi was summoned.”
“It can’t be gone. We have to look for it,” Valen says frantically.
I hop up from the table and start looking around. Valen lifts the couch up with ease. We find a pile of dust, but it’s necklace free. I’ll have to remind him another time to do that again so I can vacuum.
“Wait!” I cry out. “I remember grabbing it when things started vanishing. I threw it, but I can’t remember which direction.”
“Where is it?” Valen asks, spinning in a circle. “It has to be here.” He looks like he might start hyperventilating, which worries me. He shoves the coffee table aside and lifts up the entire rug. Nothing there either. He lets out an irritated groan.
“We’ll find it,” I promise him, although I worry it has disappeared for good.
“You’ll find it,” Jade says, pointing a finger at me. “I still have a hashbrown to eat.”
I roll my eyes at her comment.
Ihead into the kitchen and search beneath the edge of the cabinet. Still nothing.
It’s not like the necklace could’ve gone far in all the confusion. I check beneath the media center next. It’s too dark to properly see, so I yank my phone from my pocket and turn on the flashlight.
“Aha!” I cry in victory. “There it is!”
I’m inching my fingers underneath when suddenly the piece of furniture is lifted into the air. It goes flying across the room along with the TV and knickknacks.
“Valen!” I scream in annoyance. “What the hell?”
He doesn’t hear me, though. He’s too focused on the glimmering necklace. He picks it up between delicate fingers. The chain is broken and the gem slightly cracked, but he doesn’t look like he minds.
“This is all I had left of her,” he whispers. “Our kind … when one dies, we let their belongings sail away, but I … I was selfish.” His eyes meet mine. “I couldn’t get rid of this.” He lets out a humorless laugh. “I suppose maybe that was a sign I was already on my way to being fallen.”
Jade balls up her wrappers. “You confirm that that’s your sister’s necklace?”
Valen nods, staring at the necklace in a way that tells me he thought he’d never see it again.
“Then I think it’s safe to say that Levi’s telling the truth. It belonged to his mom, and since she couldn’t be summoned, you got him instead. Luna’s blood was also the biggest pull.”
My brows knit. “Why would that be?”
Jade lets out an annoyed huff. “Please, tell me you’re not this dense.”
