I panted as I stared at her slumped figure across from me.
What. Was. That?
Lose my soul? Did she basically just tell me I was going to die? Could she see the future as well as read thoughts? I wouldn’t put it past her.
“Are you all right?” Gage asked me.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said.
Gage looked down at my forearm where his aunt had grabbed me. At worst, it would bruise, but with my fast healing it probably wouldn’t even do that.
He pressed his lips together, the corners pulling down in a frown. “You sure?”
I nodded.
After another glance at my arm, Gage got up, skirting the coffee table to check on his aunt.
“Aunt Vera,” he said as he gently shook her shoulder, his brow furrowed in concern.
With a groan, she blinked her eyes open and then swatted him away. “Stop fussing over me,” she grouched.
“What happened?” he demanded, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
“What happened is that you didn’t tell me your girlfriend was a Shadowling,” Vera snapped back. “It’s dangerous to tap into someone with that much power. I almost blew up my house and all of us in it.”
Shock rippled through me. “What?”
I wasn’t sure which one of her statements stunned me the most. That she knew I was a Shadowling, or that because of it we were all almost blown to pieces.
“Are you really the daughter of Apollyon?” Vera asked, diverting her attention to me.
A deep growl rumbled in Gage’s chest and a flash of yellow sparked in his eyes. Vera looked up at her nephew and frowned as he positioned himself in front of me protectively.
“Your Shadowling isn’t the only thing you’ve kept from me, is it Gage?” She sighed. “Get yourself under control or you’ll lose yourself forever,” she said to him. There was a hint of sadness in her voice, almost as if she knew her cryptic warning was too late.
What’s she talking about now? Lose himself how?
“Did you find the talisman?” Gage asked before I had the opportunity to question her. I had to lean to the side and peek around him to see Vera.
“I did,” she said, notching her chin in my direction. “It’s her.”
Gage looked back at me, scanning for the talisman on me somewhere. “Tatum has it on her?”
“No. I mean itisher.”
Gage snapped his head back toward Vera. “That’s not possible.”
“I didn’t think it was either,” Vera admitted. “Yet it’s the truth. Somehow her mother figured out how to transfer the power of her talisman into her daughter. Bloody clever if you ask me.”
“Is that bad?” I asked, and Vera just shrugged.
I was trying not to overreact to the news, but somehow this woman figured out I was a Shadowling and Apollyon’s daughter through a single touch alone. I was inclined to believe she was right about my mom’s talisman as well, even if that meant I’d somehow lived with, or maybe more technicallywasmy mom’s talisman for years and never knew.
Someone started banging on the front door and the sound made me jump.
“Tatum, are you okay?” Drea yelled. “We felt that energy release out here.”
“Everyone is all right,” Gage yelled back. “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”
