I tried to find the meaning in her words. ‘Is this about Lincoln and me?’
‘Possibly. I don’t know. The very fact he selected your soulmate to be your partner … There is always a reason. But it is their reason and don’t ever forget it. Free will is yours until you choose to relinquish it. That you are soulmates may be their choice, but whether you make the bond is yours.’
‘Doesn’t exactly help,’ I said, more confused than ever.
‘I’d be happy to offer my opinion on the matter,’ Dad deadpanned.
I’m sure you would.
I settled for a snort.
‘I wish I had the answers but it’s complicated,’ Evelyn continued. ‘Your being soulmates could be the very thing that saves you both or …’
‘The thing that destroys us,’ I finished.
‘Yes. Which is why no one else,’ she glanced at Dad, ‘can tell you which way to go.’
The guard reappeared and tapped his watch. I nodded and stood up, returning Dad’s embrace.
I turned back to Evelyn, who was now standing, looking considerably better.
‘Would you do things differently? If you could go back and change things?’ I just had to ask.
She looked at Dad, love in her eyes. ‘I would’ve put more faith in the people around me whose lives were to be affected by my choices.’ She turned back to me. ‘But I don’t regret some of the things you probably wish I did and if I had to do them again, I would likely make the same decisions even though that means having a daughter who hates me.’
‘I don’t hate you. And I’m sorry it took me this long to understand. But … you scare me.’ I looked at Dad. ‘For him and for me.’ Whether I was ready to deal with it or not, she was my mum and she was here. ‘Do you … Do you even know what will happen to you once Lilith is returned? Was that part of your agreement?’
She walked me to the doorway, Dad following silently. ‘No, we never got that far. What drew me here with her may well take me back again when she is returned. We’ll all have to accept that if it happens. James knows that. As for the rest … well, if we survive to see the other side of this – there will be a lot of things that need to be worked out.’
Yeah. Like the fact that Dad already looks too old for her and is the only one getting any older!
The guard cleared his throat. It was time to go.
‘Bye, Dad,’ I said, and turned to Evelyn. ‘Griffin is still trying to get you out of here.’
She nodded back, a little sadly. ‘Something tells me I won’t be in here much longer anyway.’ Before I could ask what she meant, she grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me close, whispering in my ear. ‘No matter the price, when you have the chance to destroy her, you take it! No second thoughts.’
I swallowed, and nodded even as her words sickened me.
Because when Lilith is returned – it might mean the end of Evelyn, too.
Like mother like daughter. She was possibly tied to Lilith just as much as I was tied to Phoenix.
‘Good luck in your testing,’ was Evelyn’s parting comment before the door closed and I was escorted back to the top level of the Command building.
CHAPTER TWENTY
‘What you are comes to you.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Assembly had scouts looking up and down the Hudson for the estate where Lilith was hiding out thanks to Evelyn’s intel. Nevertheless, the next few days went by with little progress, our frustration levels reaching breaking point as we dreaded what might be happening to the captured boy Spence and I had seen and every other missing child who was possibly being held captive by Lilith.
Nothing but dead ends so far.
Although the Assembly still refused to confirm that Lilith had taken the children, Griffin and Lincoln had been collecting all the data on disappearances, presumed deaths, unexplained kidnappings and more. So far, there were over sixty children on the list whom they believed Lilith had been responsible for taking from around the world.
It was tragedy enough for the children and their families, but for the Grigori population, it spelled disaster. These children were future Grigori recruits and our numbers were simply too few to endure such devastation if Lilith was successful.
The Assembly hadn’t taken kindly to being delivered this information by Griffin. Drenson and Josephine had gone as far as to call into question Griffin’s loyalties. But every time I asked Lincoln and Griffin for more details they became cagey. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to tell me, but I was still restricted to the Academy buildings and therefore under constant surveillance.
And they’re protecting me, as always.
But for today, at least, I had other things to concentrate on. It was my official testing day and if I passed I’d be able to join in the hunt for Lilith and Phoenix, so that was what I planned to do.
I was in the training area with Rainer, the only person permitted to escort me to the Assembly. Apparently today was momentous, it being the first Grigori testing in over three centuries where all members of the Assembly would be present.