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But this time, I didn't let her off the hook so easily. She had told me that she had found her father without even looking for him. The man she had written off as a heroin addict for years. And as far as I knew, she had stayed away from him until now.

Larissa's expression softened and she looked at me intently.

“I mean it. With this mission, you're distracting me from all the shit I can't process all at once.”

“No, don't say that. You have your brother to help you cope.”

She sighed and a small smile spread across her lips.

“You're right.”

Then she scanned the corridor behind me again.

“I can't say for sure. It's as if all this has always been a hidden part of me. This new body, the feelings, my heightened senses, even the damn thirst feels better than that fucked-up human life in Sacramento.”

I stared at her, speechless.

There was a story behind her words. The story of her life in Sacramento. And the little she had revealed to me was enough to be sure I wouldn't want to trade places with her.

“I never expected Olivia to be one of...” I began, but Larissa snorted dismissively.

“God, please, don't remind me of our favorite bitch.” She looked past me, then back at me. “She's practically glued to Miles, and he seems to like it. They know each other, can you believe it?”

“Are they a couple?”

Now I could finally voice the thought.

“No!” Larissa sounded disturbed. “He said something about old drinking buddies.”

Nodding, I also looked around the hallway.

I was happy for Larissa. She seemed to be doing better. The thing was, I had known her longer than anyone else here. She was good at putting her strong side on a pedestal while hiding her scars under her shining armor.

But since she had become a Ruisangor, there was something else. Something resonated in her new personality. Was it seriousness?

A question flashed through my mind. “What did Alice look like?”

Larissa turned her head toward me, her gaze hesitant.

“I don’t know… The images were so blurry.” She lowered her voice. “And anyway, it was so strange…”

I was about to dig deeper when she pushed me against the wall and I noticed that Julie had arrived next to me.

She was also standing pressed against the wall.

“What is it?” I whispered, and Larissa turned away from me to look around the wall.

Then she looked back at us. “I think something broke. A glass or something.”

“In Alarik's office?” whispered Julie, who of course couldn't hear any more than I could.

“No. There. In the room at the very end.”

“Who could still be here at this hour?” I thought aloud.

“Harlow.”

We all turned our heads.