Chapter 14 Helena
Helena
Her house returns to the silence it held before Damon’s unexpected visit.
Knowing he has matured into a well-adjusted, compassionate and caring man should have filled her with warmth.
Instead, he’s left her restless. She drums her fingers against the arm of the chair, unable to shake the unease that descended upon her the moment he mentioned his drowning and the vision of a dying boy.
Helena recalls that when Damon left her charge all those years ago, she would call him on a phone she had purchased for him, to check in. He had left her care, but not her thoughts. They were more intrinsically linked than he would ever know.
She closes her eyes and Damon’s image emerges like it has done many times in the past. He is never the teenager or the man he is now, only ever the frightened, vulnerable little boy she was persuaded – no, begged – to take in.
Then something ominous crawls over her, pinching her skin with its razor-sharp pincers. His vision of the dead boy. If this is all happening again, it is so unfair. Damon deserves better. And she resolves to do anything within her limited means to protect him.
But deep down, Helena fears it might already be too late. That what Damon thinks he saw might only be the beginning.
That he is going to learn the truth.