Chapter 7
Seven
BECKS
“Thanks,” I say as Emily, Haven’s mom—Locklyn’s mom—hands me a bottle of water. Unscrewing the top, I take a swig, forcing myself to drink.
I’m jittery. And not only because David, Haven’s father, still has my very loaded and now safety-free gun still in his hand, although no longer pointed at me, but because every second that ticks by is one that we might be attacked.
We need to leave now, but Emily and David won’t budge until I’ve told them everything. Which I’m willing to do, just as soon as we’re all safe. Even sitting in their house right now feels too exposed.
The demon knows who Haven is. That’s something I’m sure of. If it knows who she is, it’s truly only a matter of time before it attacks again.
Sitting in an armchair across from me, David stares at the faded picture of me and Ensley with Locklyn, a frown etched on his face.
Haven and her mom flit around the house, grabbing items and packing, and for that at least I’m glad.
We’re on the same page about leaving, but just a different timeline.
“Who is she?” David asks, finally looking up from the photo.
I’ve already told him this, of course, but it’s clear he doesn’t believe me. “It’s Locklyn. Your daughter,” I try again.
“My other daughter was slaughtered,” he says, the words harsh enough to make me flinch. “So, I ask again, who is this girl?”
I sigh, running a frustrated hand through my hair.
I understand his hesitancy, but we don’t have time for this. Haven doesn’t have time for this. How can he not see that?
“I know that’s what you’ve been led to believe, but Locklyn—Rose,” I say, using her birth name, “didn’t die that night. But she was taken. Taken to the creature world, where she lived the first eighteen years of her life before coming back to the human realm.”
As I’m talking, he starts shaking his head. “That’s impossible. The gates have been closed and monitored by members of the Order for centuries.”
“They found a way through and brought Lock—Rose with them. She was raised with amazing parents who loved her.”
He’s quiet for a moment as he considers what I’ve said, but then asks, “If this is all true, then why did she come back?”
Frustration bubbles up in my chest. Explaining everything is going to take time.
Time we don’t have. So I give him a very pared down version and hope it’s enough.
Explaining that there was a shifter who found out who Locklyn was and used her to open a portal with Shadow Striker.
About how I ended up in the human world and how Locklyn and some friends made their way here to save me.
I can tell he’s still skeptical.
My gaze drops to the gun in his hand. I’m confident I could take it back by force, but I’m trying to earn their trust.
“And how did she get through the portals back to the human world if this Kerrim had Shadow Striker?” David asks, drawing my attention away from the weapon.
Leaning forward, I place my hands on my knees. If this doesn’t get to him, nothing will. “With the necklace you gave her. The one with the purple tamalite pendant.”
David catches his breath, his gaze widening, and I think he might finally be starting to believe me.
“She still had that?” he asks, sounding awed. “It was a gift we gave both girls at birth.”
“Whoever took her made sure the necklace stayed with her.” I don’t mention it was probably because they wanted her to make it back to the human world to fulfill the prophecy when she was older.
“But all this time,” he starts, “we thought . . . ”
I nod, knowing what he thought. That she was dead.
“She was out there this whole time?” he asks, his eyes starting to turn glassy.
“Yes.”
He swallows, seeming to have a hard time getting past the emotion clogging his throat. “Did she . . . did she think that we just abandoned her? That we didn’t care?”
“No,” I’m quick to say. “She didn’t even know she was adopted until everything went down with the dagger and Kerrim.
After that, she didn’t know you were alive.
The Order believed your whole family had been killed that night, and so that’s what they told her.
Since the moment she learned that you all might—”
“The Order?” he asks, his body tensing. “Is she mixed up with them?”
The sudden wild look in his eye tells me to tread carefully.
“When everything happened in New York over a year ago, the Order backed us up. But I’m not in the Order,” I tell him, giving him the technical truth while also dodging the question.
He nods. “Good. Because we’ve been over it a million times, and the only way we were found after the girls were born was if someone from the Order betrayed us. I don’t trust them anymore.”
The details of what happened to David and his family are murky at best, but from what I do know about events so many years ago, I can understand why he might think that. It’s a logical assumption.
“We’re not going to work with the Order on this,” I assure him.
“Your daughter, Locklyn, is very important to me. I’ve been helping her search for Haven because we know what’s coming for her, and we want to keep her safe.
I need to get Haven and you and your wife out of this town because it knows she’s here.
The demon possessed someone and attacked her tonight.
It’s not going to stop until it gets what it wants from her. ”
With his lips pressed into a hard line, David gives one decisive nod and then gets to his feet. I stand with him.
“All right, we’ll go with you,” he says. “Give me five minutes to pack a bag.” He starts to turn then pauses. “But I have to know, if Rose is out there, why didn’t she come? Why are you here instead?”
“I came here on a hunch,” I tell him honestly, just as Haven walks back into the room. “I saw the video about the frat fire and knew it was magical in nature. I couldn’t see Haven fully in the video, but I felt like I had to check it out, and I’m glad I did.”
David’s body goes tense again, and Haven freezes behind him, her eyes going wide.
He glances over his shoulder at his daughter. “What is he talking about?” he demands, and Haven shrinks in on herself a little.
Shoot. I didn’t realize her parents didn’t know about the fire.
“Right, about that—” she starts, just as the window shatters.