“Can you see anything else? Anything that will help me or Talia?”
“No, that’s all—” Abigail broke off, her gaze shifting past Adam’s shoulder.
He turned and found Talia, framed by the field of stars on the curtain dividing the room.
“Welcome,” Abigail said behind him. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”
Talia gazed at the old woman in the chair. Light touched strands of gray hair, turning them to silver. Her skin was crumpled, sagging flesh. And there was something…odd about her that went beyond the dark glaze that covered the woman’s eyes.
Adam took Talia’s shoulders and searched her face. “You’re okay, then?”
“I’m—” Talia’s already thin voice broke. She delicately cleared her voice so the burn in her chest wouldn’t flare up. She tried again, keeping her words whisper soft, though the sound still came out stilting and rough. “I’m fine. Amalia, the doctor, says I was very lucky. I need to take it easy, rest, and after a while I will be back to normal.”
Normal. Not likely. The Earth-made component of the gas might’ve been slowly wearing off, but the Otherworldly part slicked her throat and lungs like malevolent oil. Neither water nor hacking coughs cleared it.
“This just confirms my suspicions,” Adam said. “If they wanted to kill you, they’ve had ample opportunity. They want you alive. The gas was meant to incapacitate us long enough for them to get to you. Did she say how long it would take for you to recover your voice?”
“I dunno—” Talia shrugged. The vibration of her vocal cords made her throat ache. Breathing through both her nose and her mouth seared. And that dark stuff coated, suffocated, and made her lungs scream for undiluted air. But she wasn’t about to burden Adam with the last part. The man was burdened enough.
“You shouldn’t speak.” His hands tightened on her shoulders as his jaw flexed in frustration. He dropped his forehead to touch hers, to rest there, mind to mind. His concern filtered into her consciousness. “Okay. We need to find a safe place to wait out your recovery. Somewhere solitary and inconspicuous. In the meantime, we can plan.”
Talia nodded shallowly, not wanting to jar their moment of intimacy. She really wanted to walk into the circle of his arms and curl against his chest, but his words from the loft, “another world, another time,” kept her back. She knew that Adam cared about her, but his priorities were unchanged: war first. That truth burned more deeply than the chemical gases she’d inhaled, though he was right. She was born to end this war.
“You can stay here for a while,” Abigail said. “It’s safe. I don’t see a future where The Collective searches the building.”
Huh? Talia replayed the old woman’s words in her mind. It made no sense.
“What—” does she mean? Talia meant to ask, glancing up at Adam as her throat flared with pain and eroded her words.
Adam broke contact and turned. “This is Abigail, and she can see the future. Or lots of futures, depending on what people decide to do.”
“Can she—” see mine? Talia brought her hand to her chest.
Adam shook his head. No. “She can’t see faery futures.”
But…Talia made a cutting motion with her hand down the front of her body, symbolically halving herself.
“I know,” Adam answered. “You’re half human. Abigail says she still can’t see your future. Apparently, your father’s blood runs a little thicker than your mother’s.”
Can she see yours? Talia gestured to Adam.
“Bits and pieces,” he answered, looking away.
Which “bits and pieces”? Talia wanted to shake him.
Talia’s gaze flew to Abigail, who merely raised an amused brow.
If the woman could see Adam’s future, she had to be able to glimpse something of Talia’s as well. Adam had to be there when she screamed, when Shadowman ended the war. And after? What happened after? Did Adam’s future include her?
“You can stay here for the time being. We’ve prepared a room for you down the hallway. You’ll get used to the noise from downstairs. When you’ve rested and”—Abigail twitched her nose—“cleaned up, it would be nice of you to come downstairs and make an appearance.”
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to show up in a public place,” he said. “I don’t want to tempt fate by allowing a club full of people to see us.”
Talia agreed with him.
“But they’re all here for you.” Abigail looked directly at Talia as she spoke. The force of her statement had Talia stepping back.