Even the FBI didn’t know the Mother’s identity. Maybe Eliana could find some of the Sisters and try to join, just as a way to get information? To see if Luci was at any of their gatherings.
No, that was a terrible idea.
Given what Faith had told them about being in the cult, she’d stick with her nightmares. Being chased through the woods last night by a crazy lawyer with a knife was less scary than joining the Reverence Sisters for intel.
Eliana sighed. She was starting to sound like her mother. Who, for all she’d tried to shelter Eliana from her life, wasn’t completely able to keep who she was from bleeding into their day-to-day. Kenna Banbury did what needed to be done and brought justice. Eliana felt more as if indecision had swallowed up her life. All that remained was a whole lot of questions that had no answers.
She kept walking through the museum, passing someone on their phone. The screen flashed. Eliana shied away, reacting asif the person was doing Elysium in the museum. No. That wasn’t what this was.
She found a quiet corner and put her back to the wall, breathing through the panic. It was only social media. She closed her eyes and breathed, but death flashed behind her lids.
“Hope?”
She spun around to find Tony in front of her.
“You okay?”
“I need to…” She shook her head, breathing hard. “I just…”
“Why don’t you go sit in the break room for a bit? Take a moment.”
“Something is going to happen. I know it is. I can feel it in the air.” She couldn’t breathe. “I’m having a panic attack.”
Tony set his hand on her shoulder. “I think you might be having a completely understandable reaction to the things you’ve seen lately. What happened with me…” He paused. “People outside fighting. With what happened in the vault, and then after when you went home. You saw death in its most gruesome form. You don’t need to be okay with that.” He shook his head, his voice softening. “It’s okay to not be.”
“You know about my neighbor? You probably told Sylvia as well, and that’s why she’s avoiding me.” She backed up, and his hand dropped away. “Where’s my knife, Tony? Where is it?”
“Okay, maybe you are having a panic attack.”
“Did you tell her? How did you know?”
Tony’s expression softened, lines around his eyes more pronounced. “I listen to the police band when I’m trying to sleep. Old habit.”
“Then you know where I live?” She shook her head, trying to make sense of this.
“Take a breath and hold it for a second, then push it out slowly.”
“Not until you explain.” She wanted answers, and he was going to give them to her. “Or you can just take me to the vault right now.”
His expression pinched. “I make a point to know about my coworkers, especially in security. I read your personnel file, okay? It has your address on it.”
Eliana bent forward a little and put her hands on her knees, breathing slowly to try to ease the panic back to the periphery of her awareness. “It’s creepy that you know all this about me.”
Tony chuckled gently. “Sorry you feel that way. I glanced at it, and I remember what it said. It’s just a thing I can do.” When she straightened, he shrugged. “I try to use my powers for good.”
“Fine, then take me to the vault. I’ll get my knife off the floor, and you can show me what I don’t know.”
He stared at her.
“Let’s go.” Did she really want to do this? His expression asked the same question without words, but Eliana wasn’t going to back down.
“Come with me.” He led her to the elevator and swiped his key card.
Being in here again made her want to step back, hug the wall, and keep as far from him as possible. Separating him from the person who had attacked her wasn’t easy. Even if she knew it hadn’t been his choice—the drug had affected his behavior in a way he couldn’t control. Like the people who had killed the doctor and Dreamer in a horrible way and maybe done the same to Carolena—or so Eliana presumed. She had no idea if those murders were intentional or done against the perpetrator’s will.
Eliana sniffed and looked up at the corner where the wall met the ceiling.
Tony said, “Maybe you should clock out and take the rest of the day off.”
