Lily nodded. “They tried that on me as a kid. I looked like a leaky tomato. But how are you explaining the fact that my mom didn’t know where I was?”
“She did, though,” Rowan said, stretching out next to her on the bed. Lily tried to snuggle against him but Rowan stopped her. “Be really careful when you move. No friction,” he cautioned. “While you were gone, Samantha told everyone that she could see you, but she couldn’t get to you. Everyone’s chalking it up to your mother’s condition. They believe that she sent you to get treatment, but got confused and panicked when you were gone.”
Lily grimaced. “And everyone’s buying that?”
“Almost everyone. Juliet is backing her up to all the neighbors and the police.” Rowan shook his head. “Strange word. Police,” he mused. “Anyway, the police and another group, the FBI, were involved from the beginning. It was big news that you disappeared the way you did.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. A teenaged girl with life-threatening allergies disappears into thin air with none of her medication. Right after having a seizure at a party,” Lily said, grimacing as she tried to picture it.
“There’s one FBI agent who’s been particularly tenacious. Special Agent Simms. She’s the reason we had to tell everyone you were back. She was giving your father and Tristan a really hard time and we had to let her know you were alive so she’d leave them alone.”
“Tristan?”
“Yeah,” Rowan replied in a clipped voice. “He came by after the FBI told him you were back.”
“And?”
“I wouldn’t let him see you,” Rowan said carefully. “He has a mechanic’s talent in this world, too. I can feel the potential in him, and I knew if he laid eyes on you, he’d know we were lying. He was really upset when I told him that he’d have to wait.”
“What happened?” Lily asked again, already imagining the worst. She suddenly yawned so hard her jaw cracked.
“Don’t worry.” Rowan smiled down at her, a cocky glint in his dark eyes. “I kept him from doing anything stupid. You should call him.”
Lily yawned again and put her head down in Rowan’s lap. He smelled like dryer sheets and wood smoke.
“You’re going to have to meet with that FBI agent, too,” Rowan added. “She’s been putting a lot of pressure on your mother to see you.”
“Okay.” Lily didn’t want to think about Tristan or Special Agent Simms. She wrapped an arm around Rowan’s hips and let her eyes drift closed.
“Can you hear Tristan or Caleb in my world?” Rowan asked after a long silent spell. Lily stiffened.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“Try,” he urged. “I want to know if they’re okay.”
Lily concentrated and reached out to her other two mechanics in mindspeak, but heard only faint whispers that she couldn’t decipher. She tried calling to the particular patterns of their willstones and felt something stronger there. Lily could distinctly make out the unique energies that were Tristan and Caleb much more clearly than she could make out their mindspeak. She was still connected to their willstones and she could tell that they could sense her energy in them. It was comforting.
Lily widened her awareness to the thousands she had claimed before the battle. She could feel them. Her army. They were scattered, but their willstones were waiting for her return. They hungered for her strength. Lily shrank away from the enormity of that sensation and nuzzled herself deeper into Rowan’s lap.
“They’re both alive and healthy,” Lily said gratefully. “They can hear me calling them, but it’s a long way. I can almost hear them, though.”
“Don’t push. Try again when you’re healthier.”
“I can’t believe how tired I am,” Lily said apologetically.
“Growing a new layer of skin takes a lot of energy. It’s best if you move as little as possible,” he said, stroking her hair.