With a tight grip on the anklet, I shook my head. “I didn’t know, but now I do.”
I strode around the side of the house, the snow slippery under my feet. With a sharp jerk I yanked the door to my weapons stash open and stepped down into the converted cool storage-turned armory.
Could I really do this? Could I really hunt down my best friend? Yes, I decided. She hadn’t left me any choice.
There was only one thing I needed. No, make that two. I slipped on my back sheath, which would hold my two swords under my jacket, and settled the weapons. There wasn’t much time, less than twenty-four hours before my flight left for London. But it was enough to find Milly and end this.
She wanted those closest to me dead for some reason, and the only way to protect them was to kill her. Maybe she thought I couldn’t do it. My heart clenched and I fought a sudden wave of grief, tears working their way to the edge of my eyes.
I would not cry, damn it!
Dashing a hand across my face, I sucked in a sharp breath, smelling the still lingering scent of musty old vegetables mixed with leather soap and dust. Pull yourself together. She’ll kill you if you go in weak.
What had happened to her? Was she possessed? But even if that was the case, I had to end this. Possession, unlike the movies show you, is not reversible. Once you have a demon truly possess you, there’s no going back.
Letting my breath out, I silenced the side of me that wanted to believe Milly could be reasoned with, the child in me that wanted her best friend to always be her best friend. That was not my life. I had to protect those who looked to me for safety.
Grabbing a couple of bottles of salt water, I headed back up the stairs, kicked the sloped door shut behind me, and strode to my Jeep.
Stashing the salt water behind my seat the sound of the passenger door opening brought my head up. I looked up expecting Alex, surprised to see Giselle opening the passenger door.
“What are you doing?” I made a move as if to stop her.
“Milly is as much my responsibility as yours.”
Gods, how I wished that Giselle wouldn’t have become lucid right then. If there was any moment when I prayed for her mind to lose its connection with the real world, that was it. The moment that one of her ‘daughters’ would kill the other.
“Giselle, you can’t come with me. Your powers have drained you, and I can’t keep us both safe.”
She smiled over at me, a wry twist to her lips. “For once, you will listen to me, stubborn Tracker.”
My eyebrows went up. I always listened to her. Really.
Giselle slid into the passenger seat, her body moving with a stiffness that made her look older than she truly was.
“There are a few last lessons I would give you. And now your friend Doran has given me the chance to hold the madness at bay long enough to do so.” She held up the rainbow opal now hanging around her neck.
Only a month had gone by since I’d worn a similar opal, one of the fire variety, to keep some nasty demon venom from freezing my ass off. It’s a long story, but the crux of it is this: the longer I wore the fire opal, the more powerful the kickback if it came off.
I licked my lips. “Giselle, what happens when you take the opal off?”
With one swift move, she buckled herself into my Jeep, her eyes staring straight ahead.
“You know what will happen. It is time. I am more a burden than I am a help.”
“I can’t let you do this,” I said, my heart thumping painfully, as if it wanted to beat its way out of my chest. She couldn’t mean to do this, not now.
Giselle turned to face me, her eyes softening. “You have no say. I am your mentor still, and you will listen to me this one last time. It is my wish, and you will honor it.” She clapped her hands together, ending that line of conversation as she had so many times when I was still a teenager.
Uncertainty flared within me, but I did as she said, climbed in my Jeep, and started the engine.
If this was how I was to honor her, then so be it.
5
“Now, Rylee, what does Milly know about you?” Giselle asked as I drove into Bismarck. I was Tracking Milly and could feel the threads of her life humming on the far side of the city.
“Everything,” I said, eyes focused on the road.
“Be specific.”
I grunted and my lips curled upward. This felt like the beginning, when Giselle would school me on everything and anything she could. Always the same. Be specific.
“She knows I’m a Tracker, that I can trace her wherever she is. She knows I’m an Immune and that her magic won’t touch me unless presented in an indirect manner.” I thought for a minute, a niggling idea worming its way to the front of my brain. “Why do you think this is your responsibility? And don’t tell me because you helped train us both. Because it’s more than that, isn’t it?”