Page 187

Jarek gritted his teeth, but he took a breath, finding no trace of the drug in it.

“I’ll check the men, but I don’t think one took her. She didn’t even try to fire her gun. She has to be nearby.” Sterling rubbed his chin. “What about—”

“Lieutenant!” A voice carried through the air. “We found the girl.”

Ivy. Jarek sprinted toward the man’s voice around a small hillock with Sterling at his heels. They came to an ajar, heavy door set in the hillside where a soldier hovered. He bypassed Jarek and went straight to Sterling.

Jarek eased into the cellar, illuminated by the moon’s light shining inside. Ivy was huddled in the back corner at the base of a shelf, gripping a bag to her chest. Tears streaked down her face, and she shook her head at the other soldier trying to coax her to him at a crouch.

“Oh, good,” the soldier exclaimed. “You can get her out, snake.”

“I’m not going back out there.” Ivy sobbed.

Jarek kept the urgency from his voice. “You can’t stay here forever.”

“Yes I can!”

Her fear enveloped her body like she was lost in a fog. Jarek beckoned it to him, slowly, so as not to jar her. “It’s time to come out.”

Ivy’s yellow eyes shifted beyond him. “What if it’s still out there?”

“There’s nothing—” Jarek put it together in an instant. “Outside…”

“What did you see?” the soldier asked.

Her fear spun. Jarek tightened his hold on it, kneeling down in front of her. Ivy calmed, holding the soldier’s gaze.

“I only saw it for a second. She touched it. I saw it, and then they were gone.” Ivy tore her eyes from the soldier to the doorway.

“What did it look like?” Jarek asked.

Ivy paused, swallowing hard. “I found a dead rat once. I moved it from inside to outside. Mistress told me to leave it alone, but I looked at it two days later.” Her breath hitched as she held back her sobs. “It looked like the rat after I went back to check.”

Jarek didn’t want to believe this gods-forsaken thing Lilith had been seeing was real. There was no bloody trace of it. But she was gone, and Ivy had sensed something. Lilith didn’t fight back, and there was no escence drifting in the air.

“Good.” Jarek gulped down a breath to steady his voice. “You did good, Ivy. Let me take you back.”

“What if it sees you too?”

“It won’t.”

Ivy whined, and Jarek, with the last of his patience dwindling, carefully took the bag in one hand and lifted her with the other. She wriggled in protest, but the Serpent calmed her further until she quieted, and she fell onto his shoulder with her hands clasped over her eyes. Sterling met him at his side, and Jarek did his best to convey what little Lilith had mentioned during the trek back to the house while also getting what they could out of Ivy. Sterling ordered the two men with them to double check their numbers.

Jarek sat Ivy down on the couch, speaking over the household’s worries with a firm demand to keep her inside and an eye on her. Croll made his way to the front of the concerned pack.

Jarek and Sterling continued up the stairs to the library where they found Lilith’s book right where he left it. Sterling’s gaze shifted over the page before he shook his head.

“I haven’t the faintest idea.” Sterling bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head. “I’ve heard of these creatures, but they’ve never amounted to much more than fables. If she’s seeing them, this goes way beyond my knowledge.”

“That’s it?” Jarek asked. “You’ve got nothing?”

“My people don’t manage this sort of thing. Amalia and Minerva are traditional, but our kingdoms have never been spiritual. Not like Ashbourne and Reatia used to be.”

“Sir?” Croll peeked into the room. “I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies. It happened too fast. I was not able—”

“Not now,” Jarek seethed.

“If I can be of any assistance…”