Atticus was glad they were taken after all.”
“So what you’re saying is we need to speak to Loira Sulvece,” I said, my mind still fixed on the witch.
“I’m not saying anything,” Dr. Finnegan said. “In fact, The Sanctuary is impenetrable. I don’t know how you’d gain access to her even if you tried… Assuming she is still living there and hasn’t finally been kicked out for unorthodox habits.”
“Apparently you are not aware that we actually have good relations with The Sanctuary,” my father said dryly.
I thought fondly of my twin. That was all thanks to Rose saving one of the Ageless’ sisters from the black witches.
“Oh.” The scientist looked taken aback. “I had no idea.”
“Yes,” my father said bitterly. “There are a lot of things your organization has no idea about.”
“So that’s everything you have to tell us about the disappearance?” I verified.
“Yup.” She nodded.
“Okay.” I blew out a breath. We had something of a lead now, at least. We could go to speak to that witch and see if she had any more light to shed on the matter. Anything at all she had to add would be helpful at this point. It wouldn’t take us long to travel to The Sanctuary—where Ibrahim still seemed to think she’d be residing—so even if this proved to be a hopeless dead end, we wouldn’t be losing much.
We were running out of things to lose, anyway. Or at least, I was.
“Thank you,” I said to Dr. Finnegan. “We’re going to need to speak to the witch. In the meantime, as promised, you are free to stay here on the island.” I backed away and poked my head out of the door, looking left and right for someone who could escort the scientist and her child to spare accommodations. I spotted Safi at the other end of the hallway and beckoned her over.
I pointed out Dr. Finnegan to her as she arrived in the room. Dr. Finnegan’s jaw dropped as she eyed Safi. Yup, the IBSI still knew little about the jinn, just as they did fae.
Dr. Finnegan recovered from her stupor and carried her boy over to Safi. She thanked me before the jinni vanished them.
Now, the rest of us had to get down to business.
I locked eyes with my father. I didn’t need him to say anything for me to know that he was thinking exactly what I was thinking.
Looks like it’s time for another trip.
Ben
W e didn’t know exactly where this route would lead us now. We could hit a complete dead end in The Sanctuary, or we could find ourselves sinking deeper into an entangling web of twists and turns… which the Novaks seemed to have a pretty good track record of doing.
So our next objective was to decide who was going to come with us to The Sanctuary.
After the scientist left with Safi, we headed up to Grace’s room, where River and many of my family members were gathered.
My gut couldn’t help but flip when I eyed my daughter spread out on the floor within her cage, even though her appearance was of no surprise to me anymore.
River was the first to approach us. Her turquoise eyes trained on me, even as she addressed us all.
“Lawrence is dead,” she said.
It took a few seconds for her words to sink in. “What?”
“Lawrence is dead,” she repeated. “T-There was a news broadcast on the TV. They showed… They showed a picture of his corpse.”
What on earth…
“They said that his death was a result of the drug procedure they’d performed on him going wrong, even though he had shown initial signs of improvement.”
Bull! Utter bull.
My eyes moved back to my daughter. I wondered if she could hear our conversation—or rather, if she could understand it. She wasn’t showing any signs of sadness or distress, though Bloodless didn’t seem to display emotions other than irritation and anger.
There was only one thing that could have happened to Lawrence. His father must’ve killed him, just as he had killed his wife. Coincidences like this didn’t happen in real life.
The young man had become another
“So what you’re saying is we need to speak to Loira Sulvece,” I said, my mind still fixed on the witch.
“I’m not saying anything,” Dr. Finnegan said. “In fact, The Sanctuary is impenetrable. I don’t know how you’d gain access to her even if you tried… Assuming she is still living there and hasn’t finally been kicked out for unorthodox habits.”
“Apparently you are not aware that we actually have good relations with The Sanctuary,” my father said dryly.
I thought fondly of my twin. That was all thanks to Rose saving one of the Ageless’ sisters from the black witches.
“Oh.” The scientist looked taken aback. “I had no idea.”
“Yes,” my father said bitterly. “There are a lot of things your organization has no idea about.”
“So that’s everything you have to tell us about the disappearance?” I verified.
“Yup.” She nodded.
“Okay.” I blew out a breath. We had something of a lead now, at least. We could go to speak to that witch and see if she had any more light to shed on the matter. Anything at all she had to add would be helpful at this point. It wouldn’t take us long to travel to The Sanctuary—where Ibrahim still seemed to think she’d be residing—so even if this proved to be a hopeless dead end, we wouldn’t be losing much.
We were running out of things to lose, anyway. Or at least, I was.
“Thank you,” I said to Dr. Finnegan. “We’re going to need to speak to the witch. In the meantime, as promised, you are free to stay here on the island.” I backed away and poked my head out of the door, looking left and right for someone who could escort the scientist and her child to spare accommodations. I spotted Safi at the other end of the hallway and beckoned her over.
I pointed out Dr. Finnegan to her as she arrived in the room. Dr. Finnegan’s jaw dropped as she eyed Safi. Yup, the IBSI still knew little about the jinn, just as they did fae.
Dr. Finnegan recovered from her stupor and carried her boy over to Safi. She thanked me before the jinni vanished them.
Now, the rest of us had to get down to business.
I locked eyes with my father. I didn’t need him to say anything for me to know that he was thinking exactly what I was thinking.
Looks like it’s time for another trip.
Ben
W e didn’t know exactly where this route would lead us now. We could hit a complete dead end in The Sanctuary, or we could find ourselves sinking deeper into an entangling web of twists and turns… which the Novaks seemed to have a pretty good track record of doing.
So our next objective was to decide who was going to come with us to The Sanctuary.
After the scientist left with Safi, we headed up to Grace’s room, where River and many of my family members were gathered.
My gut couldn’t help but flip when I eyed my daughter spread out on the floor within her cage, even though her appearance was of no surprise to me anymore.
River was the first to approach us. Her turquoise eyes trained on me, even as she addressed us all.
“Lawrence is dead,” she said.
It took a few seconds for her words to sink in. “What?”
“Lawrence is dead,” she repeated. “T-There was a news broadcast on the TV. They showed… They showed a picture of his corpse.”
What on earth…
“They said that his death was a result of the drug procedure they’d performed on him going wrong, even though he had shown initial signs of improvement.”
Bull! Utter bull.
My eyes moved back to my daughter. I wondered if she could hear our conversation—or rather, if she could understand it. She wasn’t showing any signs of sadness or distress, though Bloodless didn’t seem to display emotions other than irritation and anger.
There was only one thing that could have happened to Lawrence. His father must’ve killed him, just as he had killed his wife. Coincidences like this didn’t happen in real life.
The young man had become another
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