gathered at Lucy and Hugh’s house. “Okay, Ellie,” Hugh prompted.
“You’ve got all of us here, so I think it’s time for you to explain.”
Ellie stood up
and addressed her extended family. “Everyone’s seen the newspaper article?” She
motioned to Ramsey who was studying the pages. He, Nate, Charlotte, and Dexter
had come over from the house next door when Ellie’d called.
Several yeses
were mumbled as everyone nodded.
“How many of you
think that Selene is the most likely suspect?” Ellie continued.
Alex covered his
laugh with a cough. His adorable fiancée never pulled her punches. It was one
of the many things about her that he loved so much.
Ellie, Lucy,
Adelaide, and Lila kept their hands down, but all the others raised theirs.
“Okay.” Ellie
nodded again. “Would you be willing to give her the same chance that you gave Griffin
and me?”
“You mean the
night of the first wolf attack?” Dexter asked.
When they’d
first met, the Jenners and Pierces hadn’t known that Ellie was anything more
than a normal human until the night a small band of Vyusher wolves had tried to
attack their house and Ellie had intervened, saving their lives. That was the
night they’d discovered the truth… Ellie and Griffin were Svatura , like
them.
Ellie studied
each face in the room, and everyone appeared willing to hear her out. Except
Griffin, of course. No real surprise there.
Hugh stepped
forward. “If even a fraction of what Lucy tells me about that young woman is
true, it’s worth giving her a shot.”
“We’ll do better
than give her a hearing,” Ellie said, smiling.
“What are you up
to?” Alex asked.
“I say we use
the same strategy that allowed me to show all of you the Svatura history.”
Everyone was
silent for a second, and then Griffin rose to his feet. “Ellie, we don’t know
all her powers. What if she manipulates this?”
Ellie gave her
brother a sad look. “You really need to learn to trust people, Griffin, or you
will end up leading a very lonely life.” She let out a disappointed sigh and
continued. “I know all her skills, because she’s already let me touch her. None
of the powers she possesses would allow her to manipulate this situation, even
in the future. And especially not against the collection of powers we have in
this room. She won’t be able to get past a combination of Lila’s ability to see
the truth or sense emotions, Lucy’s ability to see her intent, my ability to
control her powers when I’m touching her, Griffin’s ability to read minds, or
Adelaide’s ability to see relationships. Between all of us, there’s no way for
her to deceive us in any way. And if we’re all touching, I can show you rather
than just tell you, which clearly isn’t working.”
“But she can
block our powers,” Griffin murmured.
“How do you
know?” Dexter asked.
Griffin threw
him a cautious glance. Dexter was a quiet force to be reckoned with—the epitome
of the strong, silent type, with a stocky build and serious, dark eyes.
“Because she blocks my mind reading,” Griffin answered.
“She won’t block
any of our powers,” Ellie added quickly.
It was Ellie’s
turn to come under Dexter’s scrutinizing gaze. “Same question to you then,
Ellie.”
“Because she’s
agreed to that. And she’ll be here in a few minutes to put herself through the
hell of reliving her life, just so that we can all trust her.”
Chapter
11
Last night Selene
had finally forced herself to sleep after waking from that nightmare and then
had been woken again at some ungodly hour by the ringing of the telephone. It
had been Ellie, alerting her of the night’s events.
Selene didn’t get
the newspaper, so she’d flipped open her laptop and went to a site that had
local news. There it was, in black and white… two campers had been killed by a
wolf. A white wolf. A third camper had survived.
And then Selene realized
why Ellie had called. “It’s wasn’t me, Ellie! At
“You’ve got all of us here, so I think it’s time for you to explain.”
Ellie stood up
and addressed her extended family. “Everyone’s seen the newspaper article?” She
motioned to Ramsey who was studying the pages. He, Nate, Charlotte, and Dexter
had come over from the house next door when Ellie’d called.
Several yeses
were mumbled as everyone nodded.
“How many of you
think that Selene is the most likely suspect?” Ellie continued.
Alex covered his
laugh with a cough. His adorable fiancée never pulled her punches. It was one
of the many things about her that he loved so much.
Ellie, Lucy,
Adelaide, and Lila kept their hands down, but all the others raised theirs.
“Okay.” Ellie
nodded again. “Would you be willing to give her the same chance that you gave Griffin
and me?”
“You mean the
night of the first wolf attack?” Dexter asked.
When they’d
first met, the Jenners and Pierces hadn’t known that Ellie was anything more
than a normal human until the night a small band of Vyusher wolves had tried to
attack their house and Ellie had intervened, saving their lives. That was the
night they’d discovered the truth… Ellie and Griffin were Svatura , like
them.
Ellie studied
each face in the room, and everyone appeared willing to hear her out. Except
Griffin, of course. No real surprise there.
Hugh stepped
forward. “If even a fraction of what Lucy tells me about that young woman is
true, it’s worth giving her a shot.”
“We’ll do better
than give her a hearing,” Ellie said, smiling.
“What are you up
to?” Alex asked.
“I say we use
the same strategy that allowed me to show all of you the Svatura history.”
Everyone was
silent for a second, and then Griffin rose to his feet. “Ellie, we don’t know
all her powers. What if she manipulates this?”
Ellie gave her
brother a sad look. “You really need to learn to trust people, Griffin, or you
will end up leading a very lonely life.” She let out a disappointed sigh and
continued. “I know all her skills, because she’s already let me touch her. None
of the powers she possesses would allow her to manipulate this situation, even
in the future. And especially not against the collection of powers we have in
this room. She won’t be able to get past a combination of Lila’s ability to see
the truth or sense emotions, Lucy’s ability to see her intent, my ability to
control her powers when I’m touching her, Griffin’s ability to read minds, or
Adelaide’s ability to see relationships. Between all of us, there’s no way for
her to deceive us in any way. And if we’re all touching, I can show you rather
than just tell you, which clearly isn’t working.”
“But she can
block our powers,” Griffin murmured.
“How do you
know?” Dexter asked.
Griffin threw
him a cautious glance. Dexter was a quiet force to be reckoned with—the epitome
of the strong, silent type, with a stocky build and serious, dark eyes.
“Because she blocks my mind reading,” Griffin answered.
“She won’t block
any of our powers,” Ellie added quickly.
It was Ellie’s
turn to come under Dexter’s scrutinizing gaze. “Same question to you then,
Ellie.”
“Because she’s
agreed to that. And she’ll be here in a few minutes to put herself through the
hell of reliving her life, just so that we can all trust her.”
Chapter
11
Last night Selene
had finally forced herself to sleep after waking from that nightmare and then
had been woken again at some ungodly hour by the ringing of the telephone. It
had been Ellie, alerting her of the night’s events.
Selene didn’t get
the newspaper, so she’d flipped open her laptop and went to a site that had
local news. There it was, in black and white… two campers had been killed by a
wolf. A white wolf. A third camper had survived.
And then Selene realized
why Ellie had called. “It’s wasn’t me, Ellie! At
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