Chapter 22
Sienna set the book down in her lap as she tried to absorb what she’d read so far.
What does the story mean? How can this help break the curse?
Veronica asked. But she pushed her inner voice down and turned to the man who sat next to her.
He had been a rock earlier. For some reason when she couldn’t sleep, she’d wanted to talk to him.
When she saw the lights on in his cabin, she didn’t pause to think about bursting in on him in the middle of the night.
He was becoming a part of her thoughts more and more.
She should have never asked him to dance.
Never let him hold her close or breathe in his scent.
Never let him knock down her defenses. And earlier when he stepped close to her and pushed her hair behind her ear?
Something warmed her chest and she was pretty sure it was her dragon.
“What do you think?”
He frowned. “The oldest brother, Samuel, lost in the forest of fog could be a description of Adam’s memory loss.”
She nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. And Daniel searching for his lost brother and realizing that they should have stayed together after finding his brother’s shield. That mirrors Eric returning to the clan and finding Adam’s dragon sentry pendant.”
Her heart picked up. “But then they find each other and along the way, they’re joined by a mage and a scholar to help with their quest. And unless I’m mistaken, that sounds like Tessa and Megan to me.”
John leaned forward. “The possible coincidences in the first story can’t be brushed off now that we have the second book.”
Sienna’s nerves danced. “I know. And who are the trolls they’re facing? Are they the Templars? And the darkness that keeps closing in, is it the curse?”
“Yes, to all of it. But it still hasn’t told us how to stop the darkness.”
Sienna picked up the book again and gripped it tighter as she continued to read.
The story talked about Evie giving a shield with the dragon sentry symbol to Daniel too so that both her brothers were protected.
She flipped the page and looked down at the drawing in front of her of the sentry symbol.
She held it up with shaky hands for John to see.
“It keeps coming back to the dragon sentries, doesn’t it?” John said.
She flipped to the last page to read that Evie had challenges to face, and then the story stopped. She gritted her teeth for a moment to stop from screaming. “Except this isn’t the whole story. They still haven’t saved the village.”
He nodded. “It sounds like the last book is Evie’s story.”
“You mean my story.” She looked up into his concerned eyes and then turned away. “There has to be another volume somewhere.”
He cleared his throat before responding. “We can search the rest of the cabin to make sure there isn’t something else hidden.”
They stood and started searching the rest of the room. “Thank you for helping me with this,” she said as she tried to calm her breathing.
He pulled the cushions off the couch and looked under them, feeling around with his hand. “Of course. Anything to finally put an end to this curse once and for all.”
She opened the kitchen cabinets and started rifling through them, pulling out dishes and stacking them on the table.
It didn’t take long to finish searching the main part of the cabin.
Sienna spent a few minutes searching the small bathroom while John moved into the bedroom.
She joined him and after looking in the drawers and closet, they turned to the bed.
John lifted the mattress to the side and she checked under it before dropping to the floor to see if there was anything under the bed.
Other than dust and cobwebs the underside was empty.
She sighed. “At least we found the second storybook.”
He stared at her for a moment. “Are you going to tell Mia you found it?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitating.
“And you think that’s wise?” John’s frown grew.
“I think she knows more of what’s happening than anyone. Which means I’ll offer her some information, but not without asking her to return the favor. This isn’t one-sided. I don’t trust her, but that doesn’t mean we can’t tap into her knowledge to help break this curse.”
“Even if she’s a Templar.”
“Even then. The scroll’s second paragraph talks about Templars, which means they’re playing a role in this whether we want them to or not.”
“Not sure your brothers are going to be happy about you seeing her again.”
“They shouldn’t be surprised. I already told them I was doing it. Now more than ever we need to move forward with this.”
Especially since she was front and center in however this story would play out.
Sienna counted to ten silently to calm herself and Veronica down.
A long sleepless night searching for the book followed by a longer chaotic day packed with discussions and more discussions about the newly found story had worn her down.
As John predicted, emotions were extreme and divided.
Excitement about the new story on one side.
Worry about meeting with Mia and sharing what they’d found on the other.
She loved her family and understood all their concerns, but that didn’t change her mind.
She was going to meet with Mia again. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to set some terms of her own.
Sienna asked for the chat group information since she was going to contact Mia directly.
There was no point of putting Megan in the middle.
Mia had made her choice on who she wanted to meet with.
And even though the quotes had inspired Mia to communicate, Sienna would be more to the point about matters.
Megan sat on one side of her and Tessa on the other while all the males in her life—brothers, best friend, security chief surrogate uncle, and grumpy marshmallow who drove her to distraction—stood across from her all wearing various looks of concern on their faces.
Sienna typed her first message and read it out loud to the group before clicking send.
Found it
“Well, that was short and to the point,” Adam said.
Sienna nodded. “I’m not messing around. We’ll see if she responds back.”
Tessa sat up straight. “I see dots—she’s responding already.”
Sienna’s breath sped up as she watched the screen.
Meet Tm12 160
Sienna repeated the message to everyone.
“What does that mean?” Eric asked.
Megan smiled. “That’s a shorthand Mia would use to schedule meetings with her TAs. She wants to meet tomorrow at noon in classroom 160 on campus. If I remember correctly, it’s one of the classrooms Mia used for lectures.”
Okay, Sienna answered.
Tessa patted Sienna’s arm. “Here comes something else.”
Come Alone
Sienna read it out loud, and before her family could protest, Sienna responded back. She wasn’t playing with her or them. No. Don’t insult me
“Do you think she’ll back out now?” Marcus asked.
She hoped not. Sienna watched the screen. “She’s typing something now.”
Don’t draw attention
Understood, Sienna typed.
Mia didn’t respond after that.
They took a collective breath and Sienna smiled.
Time to plan for the meet tomorrow. She held up her hands.
“Before anyone tries to talk me out of it, I’m meeting with her.
She’s given us the details ahead of time, so we can plan.
We can’t storm the building with a bunch of guards and draw attention to ourselves.
Ryan will come in with me, and if it would make you feel better, Marcus, one other guard can come in.
I would suggest someone younger so that we can pass as students. ”
Marcus crossed his arms. “I want other guards close by. We’ll have them in street clothes and on the campus, and I will oversee everything.
Megan, let’s download a map of the Vanderbilt campus from their website and you can show me what building this classroom is in.
I’m sure we can get a detailed plan situated before tomorrow. ”
Sienna felt John’s gaze before she turned to him. His perpetual frown had deepened, but instead of protesting, he nodded at her. And her chest tightened at the gesture. He understood better than anyone that risks would need to be taken to stop the curse once and for all.