“I’m not answering that.” She shook her head, bringing her hands up by her shoulders. “We both know how it went last time you got a vision out of me.”
Sipping water from the straw of her100% that witchtumbler I’d gotten her for her thirtieth birthday, she took her time before speaking again. My curiosity was brimming over. “I’ve learned my lesson and I’m keeping them to myself from now on.”
I glared. “So you would have just never told me about it?”
The vision that had led me here… Me in that plum wedding dress, streaks of black crawling down my cheeks. Broken shards scattered across cobblestone. Atlas laying in a pool of blood.
Dead.
“Did knowing bring you any peace?” Hazel asked, all humor stripped from her tone so only concern remained. She didn’t need to be concerned for me. If anything, that was my job to do for her.
“No.” I swallowed the lump of anxiety conjured at the back of my throat. “But it gave me the ability to maybe alter it.”
I could only hope. Hazel could have another premonition—not that Atlas had been around since her return for her to get a reading from him. He’d offered to come out a few times, relieved when I’d called to tell him we’d found her and that he could notify his contacts to stop searching.
The fact that he wanted to be here for us meant everything, but I knew it would just make things harder. He still didn’t understand why I’d left. Why I kept my distance. But what was the point of telling him something so horrible? Removing myself from the equation made the outcome impossible… I just didn’t know if it had been enough to veer fate off its course.
Hazel wouldn’t tell me now anyway.
“Call them and let’s get this over with,” she groaned, cutting into my spiral before I could ask her any more about her premonitions. “Then you have to promise me to only ask about my well-being once every twenty-four-hour period. Think you can do that?”
“I suppose.”
“Good.” She reached out both hands. “Now let me have that yummy little nephew of mine.”
I passed Aspen over to her, and she sat him in her lap, his little hands wrapped around her fingers as she made his upper body dance to “Hexed For You” by Winter’s Revenge in the background. Taking out my phone, I sent a text to Lynx and Saros, not sure who would be quicker to respond.
Hazel said she would like to add to her statement. Either of you free today?
Lynx
We can be there in thirty.
Perfect. Thanks.
Saros
See you then.
I hadn’t heard from either of them since the hospital and figured they were busy with their case. Maybe they hadn’t been. Maybe this was their way of distancing themselves before the case closed and they left.
Lynx had said he wanted to explore a relationship with me, but was that still true if he’d be done here soon? Saros said it might take a while. Knowing how much he wanted to be finished with the case and the fact that I still wasn’t fully sure how he saw me had me unsteady.
“Ugh. I missed you buddy,” Hazel said, leaning to nuzzle his cheek with hers. His eyes went wide, catching on the aspen tree tattoo descending the inside of her forearm that matched mine. He swatted at it playfully, a long strip of drool hanging from his mouth.
I grabbed the burp cloth on my shoulder and wiped his chin just in time to catch the infantile ooze before it dribbled onto her pants. Knowing Hazel, they were probably designer. “He missed you too.”
“Obviously.” She rolled her eyes. Her fingers dove for his belly, making him giggle as she tickled his tiny body. “Your cool auntie is back to wreak havoc with you. Now to figure out where to start…”
My heart filled seeing the two of them together. Our little family reunited.
I really couldn’t ask for more.
* * *
“Thanks for coming,”I said to the guys when they arrived. I was bouncing Aspen on my hip, trying to keep him content. He reached his stubby fingers toward Saros, whose brows bolted up in surprise. I didn’t get the impression that he was used to being around kids. I moved to let them both in, wanting Hazel to be able to give her statement while she was up to it, considering it had taken a week for her to get to this point.
“Hey, Hazel. I know you met us briefly the other day but my name is Agent Carver and that’s Agent Holt, but you can call us Lynx and Saros if you prefer,” Lynx said with a smile.
