Allowing oneself to be claimed by a witch or to become stone kin with a mechanic, where the bond was lifelong as well, was never something that people in Rowan’s world took lightly, but it seemed Carrick knew little of what witches and mechanics were capable of. Carrick had spent his life Outland. He hadn’t been around people with magic the way Rowan had. The way Lily figured it, Carrick must have had no idea that those with strong magic, like Rowan, could mindspeak with blood relatives without becoming stone kin. That ability was extremely rare, and not something that Carrick had ever encountered before.
Good thing for Lily, too. When Gideon kidnapped her, Rowan had found Lily by exploiting his blood bond with Carrick, and even though the two had never become stone kin, Rowan could see through his half-brother’s eyes. He had spied on Carrick and found the oubliette without Carrick ever knowing that Rowan had piggybacked inside his mind. Could Carrick now do the same to Rowan? Lily stood very still, trying to think.
The doorbell rang, shaking Lily out of her worried thoughts. She heard her mother answer the door and an authoritative woman’s voice drifting up the stairs. Right away, Lily didn’t like the way this woman was talking to her mother. There was something pushy and condescending about her tone. Lily went downstairs, already in a fighting frame of mind. Samantha was standing in the doorway, blocking the entrance with her body.
“Ma? What’s going on?” Lily called out as she came swiftly to her mother’s side.
Samantha moved a bit to the side and revealed a tall, solid woman. Her brown hair was dyed a shade too dark and Lily could make out gray roots growing in at her temples. The woman narrowed her eyes at Lily, and the look on her face was almost triumphant. Like she’d just won something.
“She’s not that sick, I see,” the woman said mockingly to Samantha as she tried to push her way inside.
“Who are you?” Lily asked, striding forward. “Mom, it’s okay. I got this.” Lily put her hand on her mother’s tense arm and stood next to her. Together they blocked the door, not allowing the woman to come inside.
“I’m Special Agent Simms, Lily, and I’ve been looking for you,” the woman answered. Her eyes skipped over Lily’s face, the hash marks of Rowan’s skin graft more apparent now that Lily was standing in the light coming through the doorway. It was obvious now that Lily was sick, and that some kind of treatment had been done to her skin. The agent’s eyes pinched around the corners as she weighed a new strategy in her head.
“I’ve been recovering,” Lily said briskly.
“Yes. From radical subcutaneous exposure therapy,” Simms said dubiously.
“Yeah,” Lily said, pointing to the red marks on her face and arms. “It’s been sort of hard on me, which is why I haven’t been in touch with anyone. They say I’m supposed to limit my contact with foreign substances until I’m one hundred percent.” Lily pursed her lips, passively implying that Simms was a foreign substance.
“I completely understand,” Simms said, suddenly smiling. “You look like you’ve been through hell.”
Something flickered in Simms’s eyes—a combination of pity and genuine concern. She could tell that something bad had happened to Lily, and more than curiosity drove her. Lily realized that Simms was a good person, even if she did rub Lily the wrong way.
“I’m feeling much better, actually,” Lily said honestly. “No more seizures.”
“That’s wonderful.” Simms’s fake smile flashed back on again and Lily’s dislike for her rekindled. “I’m so glad to hear that you’ve made such a miraculous recovery, especially considering how worried we all were about you.”
“Thank you for your concern,” Lily said cautiously. She didn’t know where Simms was going with this and she didn’t trust her.
“So you’ll be going back to school soon? I’m sure you’re eager to graduate with your class,” Simms said smoothly. Lily hadn’t thought about going back to school, and the very notion seemed ludicrous to her. Simms watched Lily’s calm expression falter and smiled a gotcha smile. “That’s why you got the treatment at such an odd time of year, right? You couldn’t wait for summer break because it was your lifelong dream to walk with your class on graduation day. Or so I’ve been told.”
“Right,” Lily answered confidently, trying to recover from her misstep.