Chapter Eleven – Evangeline
By the look on Sofie’s face when our eyes met, I wasn’t sure if she was going to hug me or strike me down with bolts of fire.
An instinctual part of me cowered next to Julian as she closed the distance with lightning speed. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the mine? Are you insane?” The questions fired out of her mouth, giving me no chance to answer before she wrapped me in a fierce hug. It lasted only a minute and then she released me. “I told you to stay away! You can’t be here!”
I’d never seen Sofie so frantic before. Whatever was going on, and I’d now seen firsthand to know that the situation was grim, Sofie was finally unraveling.
This probably wasn’t the right time to inform her that I could compel vampires and heal humans. Given what we’d seen and heard, what I could or couldn’t do hardly mattered.
Mortimer, Mage, and Lilly sidled up to loom behind Sofie. No Caden, though, I was dismayed to see.
“How are you two even here?” Mortimer’s piercing eyes shifted from me to Julian, and back to me, narrowing. “I know there’s something off about you, Evangeline, but Julian, we left him feeding like a wild animal …” His hawkish gaze swung to the left with the sound of squeaky wheels. A homeless man pushing a cart down the path approached. All eyes locked onto us.
“How are you able to withstand that?” There was accusation in Mortimer’s tone, as if I’d done something to make this happen. In Julian’s case, that was true.
“I don’t know,” Julian admitted. “Maybe because I’m more focused on finding Amelie. I’m glad someone is,” he added icily, “seeing as you guys are just sitting around, doing nothing to find her!”
“Caden is out looking for Amelie right now,” Sofie muttered, her displeasure with that prospect painted across her face. “Bishop and Fiona are with him.”
My stomach twisted. Going out there, with all those fledglings and the military, was dangerous. What if Caden went missing too?
“When will they be back?”
“Better be by sunrise,” Mortimer said under his breath.
My eyes drifted to Lilly, standing quietly next to Mage. She told me the city was lost. What if they didn’t make it back by sunrise? That meant … “Sofie, you can’t give Isaac the go-ahead! Not until they’re all out!” My body trembled as I lunged forward, grabbing her hands. “Please! If I lose them all, I’ll—” I choked on the words.
The veil over her eyes lifted for just a second to disclose sadness before dropping with a hardened gleam. “Calm down. I will not give Isaac permission to do anything yet.”
“Promise?”
Her jaw tensed visibly. “I promise.”
My head dipped as I accepted her word, relieved. Sofie had never let me down. She’d never stopped trying. She’d never given up. She wouldn’t give up now.
“Where could Amelie be? How could she just be gone?” Julian pressed, his voice desperate.
Sofie shook her head. “I have no idea, Julian. Honestly.” Her mint-green eyes scanned the darkness, and I sensed the air of suspicion swirling around her. Another batch of sirens called out into the night; another set of blood-curdling screams made us cringe. “Let’s find a less visible place to wait.”