Page 119 of Veil of Night & Flames

I’m about to drown my emotional goo in a bite of brownie, but I’m waylaid by the chime of my phone.

Then another chime.

And another.

I pull it out of my back pocket and find three new emails from an address that ends in oneiroi.org, all with multiple attachments.

“He didn’t waste a minute,” Tia says, leaning over to look.

The first one I open has a scanned map of the area with the campus represented by a small grid in the corner. Black dots are scattered across it, and the biggest dot sits right over what I know is the Widow Maker with a red ring around it.

“Well, that’s gotta mean something,” Tia says.

“Yeah, but what? We already knew it was a hotspot.”

“True that.”

The second email is a timeline. Years and incidents in a column, going back to the eighteen-forties. I flip through, then stop short when I see Cassandra Marie Lyte, right next to Cora Ann Lyte, along with both our birthdays. And they’re both on a list entitled Maternal Line.

And in parentheses next to my name is the notation, Paternity unknown.

Tia reaches over and squeezes my hand on the table.

I meet her eyes. “It’s really him,” isn’t it? Vance is my deadbeat dad.”

“I think so, yeah. But maybe he was just a really good friend to your mom who wants to help. Maybe he stepped up to help your mom because your dad was such a shit.”

“Maybe.” But I don’t believe it. I draw in a breath and look around at all the normalcy that surrounds my very strange life. And today Sebastian Vance made it even stranger. Because if it is true, why hasn’t he told me?

“Maybe he’s scared,” Tia says when I ask as much.

“Scared?”

“Like, what if he says, Luke, I am your father, and then he gets a paternity test, and really your dad is Boba Fett.”

“Okay, first, you’re insane. And second, thanks for making me laugh.”

She shrugs. “It’s what I do. Gotta have a hobby since I can’t do spells.”

“You’ll get your mojo back,” I tell her as we start the walk back to Hamilton Hall. I want to look at these images on a screen bigger than my phone. Because I’m betting there’s some gold in those pics.

“I’m going to figure this out,” I say as my phone chimes yet again, “All of it. The bloodline. The barriers. The Widow Maker. Adric. Kali. My mom. Sebastian. All of it. Because no way in hell am I letting this realm get squashed like a bug.”

“Right there with you,” she says. “Not keen on the whole dying thing either.”

She reaches over and twines her fingers with mine. “You’ve got this,” she says. And, honestly, right then, I believe her.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Tia and I split up, and now I’m heading back toward the quad when my phone chimes yet again. I tug it out of my pocket, expecting a text from Chase, who’s in Paris right now organizing squads of Hunters. Instead, it’s from Professor Valdez.

Miss Lyte, are you near campus this afternoon? I was hoping to have a quick chat with you. Could you meet me after my last class today? I’ll be heading to my car at four. I realize it’s short notice, but perhaps you could walk with me?

I read it twice, but I don’t have any more of an idea what she wants to talk about on the second go-round. But I do know that Finn used to talk with her about Mom, so maybe I’ll learn something. For that matter, maybe Mom didn’t really trash the journals, and Valdez found one and wants to share.

A girl can dream.