Elena fled the ambulance, leaving Sebastian before a shade could possess her again and finish the job. She still couldn’t believe what the Harvester had almost made her do. Had she been a moment slower in regaining control, Sebastian would’ve followed his brother, sister, and Elena’s mother into death.
You were right, Aunt Martha. It’s not safe for me to be out in society.
The worst part was that she’d had plenty of opportunities to prevent what had happened. She hadn’t imagined it. The Harvester really had been following her since she left the city. Toying with her.
She walked along the empty streets, furiously wiping the tears from her cheeks and thinking back to all the times she’d thought the Harvester was nearby and had dismissed it. She’d been so obsessed with finding Chloe’s killer that she’d ignored her instincts.
Never again.
She passed an alley. The man in the trench coat was there. Her aunt’s emissary. He grinned.
“Are you ready to go home now?”
Elena trudged toward him with her head bowed. “Yes.”
A black limo pulled up next to them, and the man walked past her to open the back door. Elena climbed inside and, when the man didn’t join her, stretched out along the long seat, burying her face in her hands.
Admitting defeat stung, but it was better than risking the lives of the people she loved.
I’ll keep telling myself that until I believe it.
When the car finally stopped, the car door opened again, and she stepped into an underground parking garage. It was large as an airplane hangar, with concrete columns set every ten feet, but there were only a few other cars dispersed throughout the space.
The man exited the car from the passenger seat and gestured for her to follow him. They walked through the empty concrete jungle into an open doorway and then down a narrow hall that exited into a small room. The walls were flat white, and the floors were polished marble tile. The bright halogens in the ceiling left ghostly circles in her vision, and she had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted.
There was a four-poster queen bed in the corner, the mattress bare except for three piles of neatly folded sheets, towels, and soft-looking blankets. A side table next to the bed held a silver lamp with a plain white shade, and an open door opposite the one she’d entered led to what looked like a bathroom with a sink and a toilet. But despite the relative luxury of her surroundings, a heavy weight settled on her shoulders.
So, this is my new prison.
“You can wait here,” the man said before exiting and closing the door behind him. She didn’t bother to check it. What was the point? There was nowhere for her to go. She walked over to the bed and sat down.
There was a knock at the door, and a young Hispanic woman entered the small room.
“Buenos días,” the woman said. “Good morning. My name is Dr. Rodriguez. I’ll be overseeing your care during your stay at Haven.”
That name rang a bell. Hadn’t she heard it before? “Rodriguez. Cara Rodriguez?”
The doctor took a half step back. “Sí. Yes, that is me. How did you know?”
“You’re one of the missing women Chloe was researching.”
Cara’s face paled.
“What? What’s wrong?” Elena asked.
Cara’s eyes darted around the room, and then she shook her head. “You must not speak that name here.”
Yet more secrets.
“Why? How do you know Chloe?”
Cara made a shushing motion. “I’m sorry. I must not say more.”
Elena wanted to push her, demand what Cara knew, but she shoved those impulses away. It would do no good. The incident with Sebastian had proved she could not live out in the world. The best thing she could do was quickly adapt to her new surroundings.
Her prison.
Cara placed a hand on her arm and made a noise like a thousand crickets chirping at once. Her mouth dropped open, and a white foam dropped from her lips. Her eyes rolled back, and she spoke in a baritone voice that chilled Elena to the bone.
“He is close. Watching, waiting for his chance. He will stop at nothing to consume you.”
Then the doctor released her grip and staggered backward, clutching her head. “What just happened?”
Elena shifted on the bed. “You touched me, then something strange happened.”
Cara winced. “I see. Lo siento. What happened before I touched you?”
“You were introducing yourself,” Elena said. “You really can’t remember?”
Cara crossed her arms. “It is the curse of my gift. When I touch people, I see things about them. Sometimes past, sometimes future. Según. It depends. But each time it happens, I lose some of my own memories.” She straightened. “This does not matter. Please, come with me. The others wish to speak with you.”
Still reeling from the realization that there were others like her, Elena resisted the urge to ask a thousand questions and followed her prison guard back through the dark hallway. They stopped at a closed door, and Cara unlocked it with a key she removed from her pocket. The door opened to reveal another hallway. Elena stepped through. The doctor gave her an encouraging smile, then closed the door.
I guess I do this on my own.
She walked forward and made out the voices of two women arguing.
“You can’t keep her here. She’s a target.”
“She is one of us.”
Elena’s steps faltered.
Were they talking about her? What would she do if they kicked her out? She had nowhere else to go.
“What do we do then?” the first voice continued. “Let her go free and expose our position? After everything we’ve done?”
Unwilling to eavesdrop any longer, Elena stepped into the light. A half a dozen middle-aged women sat in wingback chairs in a circular living room. There were no windows, but the ceiling was several stories high.
The group turned to face her as one.
A woman sitting at the fringes of the group had a black crow perched on her shoulder. A jolt of surprise rocked Elena. “Aunt Martha. Jelly?”
The crow squawked and fluttered off her aunt’s shoulder. It shimmered and grew, contorting until it took the shape of an orange tomcat.
“Tiger?”
The cat meowed and shimmered again, growing into the shape of a woman with silvery hair that flowed around her shoulders in loose ringlets. A young boy hurried up to the woman and handed her a pile of dove gray fabric.
“Curses,” she said as she donned the gown. “I always forget how large my breasts are in this form.” She smiled at Elena. “I am sorry for the deception. My name is Ethel. I’m a friend of your aunt.”
Another fact slotted into place in her mind. “That’s why you let me leave. You were following me the whole time.”
First as a crow, then as a cat.
Martha stood, a look of sadness on her face. “I am so sorry, dear. It was the only way. We had to make sure you wouldn’t turn.”
Elena looked back and forth between the women, not understanding. “What are you talking about?”
Ethel cleared her throat. “There is, I mean, there was, a device in your body, placed a long time ago. We had to ensure it was removed. We could not have you tracked here.”
Elena glared at her aunt. “That was you. I know it was. Why did you do that to me?”
Martha flushed. “We knew what your mother had done. It seemed the only way.”
Ethel sighed. “We had to watch you. It was not safe for you to be out on your own, not when we did not know what you were capable of. It was never our intention to harm you. But you must understand why we did it. We had to make sure you would not succumb, as your mother did.”
“Did you kill Chloe?” Elena asked, her voice breaking.
Ethel shook her head. “No. We don’t know who did that, I’m afraid.”
“Oh.” Elena slumped. “So, what happens now?”
“Now, you stay with us.”
The other women murmured their dissent, and Martha’s smile cracked for the first time.
“I’m sorry, Martha,” Ethel said. “But you’ve been outvoted. The girl cannot stay with us. With that creature focused on her, it’s too dangerous. We have lost so many already.”
Elena looked up from where she’d been staring at her feet. “So many?”
Martha closed her eyes, her expression pained. “So many of our brothers and sisters. As soon as we find them, we dispatch a messenger, but sometimes it is too late.”
Ethel walked over and put an arm around Martha, then looked at Elena. “Your friend, Chloe, stumbled upon our secret. Someone is targeting the gifted we are trying to protect.”
Elena’s anger sizzled and crackled at the implications of those words. “You knew Chloe was in danger, but you did nothing to protect her. You sat here, hiding from the world while those women died.” She looked around the room, but none of the women would look her in the eye. Martha returned to her seat.
Elena scowled at the collective women. Sitting in their chairs, not even trying to fight, they’d buried themselves in the ground. Once, she would have sided with them. Not anymore.
“I’m done here.”
She returned the way she’d come.
Cara was waiting in the room, clutching her hands together. “You can’t go back.”
“I can do anything I want.”
The doctor rubbed her fists together. “You’re putting him in danger.”
Elena hesitated mid-retort. Cara was right. Sebastian would always be at risk if he stayed with her. She sat on the bed, head in her hands.
“How can I go on?” she whispered. “I love him.” The truth settled over her and made her ache.
“We’ve all had to leave those we love,” Cara said.
“You lost someone?”
Cara took a shuddering breath. “My brother. He disagreed with the life we made here.”
“And you don’t?”
“Esta es mi casa.” She shrugged. “This is the only home I know. The world outside holds only pain for me.”
A tap on her shoulder. Elena turned toward a burly man carrying a small black bag. He held it out to her, and she took it. “What do I do with this?”
He mimed putting the bag over his head, and she groaned.
Not again.
****
“What is the nature of your relationship with Elena Cain?”
Roth’s voice was tense with repressed excitement.
“We’re friends.”
The detective tapped the table with his fingers. “What about Jordan Cooper? Cara Rodriguez? Tanya Castle? Were you friends with them, too?”
The missing people Chloe was investigating.
“I’m the victim here,” Sebastian said. He hit the table with his palm. “My building burned down. I was almost killed!”
Roth shifted in his seat. “That’s for another division to investigate. I’m a homicide cop. Now, tell me about your relationship with Ms. Cain.”
Sebastian groaned. The detective was hell-bent on peppering him with banal questions. They’d gone around in circles for hours, and it was only desperation to learn what had happened to Elena that kept him from ending the interview. He had to get back to Elena, convince her she hadn’t hurt him, that the possession wasn’t her fault. He tapped his foot on the ground.
Roth flipped a few pages in his notebook. “Where were you at three am?”
“Why?”
“We need to establish if you have an alibi.”
“I was at home,” Sebastian said. “Asleep.”
Triumph flashed in Roth’s eyes. He leaned forward. “And last Tuesday, mid-afternoon. Where were you then?”
Sebastian scowled. “I was driving. On the way to the Cain house. You know this already. It’s in my statement. Not to mention you showed up shortly after. Roth, tell me what’s going on. Have you found new evidence?”
The detective hesitated, then removed a photo from the back of his notebook and placed it on the table. A woman lay face down on the grass, her hair fanned around her face like a mane. Chloe.
“Why are you showing me this?” his voice was rough with emotion. “I was there. I found her.”
Roth placed another picture on the table. A pale, lifeless face with cloudy eyes. From the state of her body, she had been dead for some time.
“What is this?” he whispered, grabbing the picture with numb fingers.
“We found her this morning. Is she another of your victims?”
“What?” Sebastian dropped the picture. “You think I did this?”
Roth’s voice grew in volume as he continued, “How did you do it? Ask them to meet you, then drown them? Did they struggle? Did they beg for their lives before you killed them? Where are the others, Castillo? What have you done with them?”
How could he reason with the man?
“I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill any of them. Why would I?”
The situation was getting out of control. Roth leaned forward, grinning like a satisfied cat. “You told me yourself. Chloe was investigating these cases. I think she figured out what you were doing, and you killed her before she could tell anyone.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Before Roth could respond, someone slammed on the glass, and he changed course. “Did you kill Elena, too? Is that why she’s gone missing?”
Missing.
Finally, Roth had slipped up. Unfortunately, the news did little to calm Sebastian’s nerves. “That’s enough,” he said. “I won’t answer any more questions. I want a lawyer.”
Roth laughed but rose from his chair, shoving it back with a metallic screech that made Sebastian cringe. “Lawyer, huh? You’ll need one.” He walked out and slammed the door.
Sebastian was still staring at the table when the door opened and a man in a tailored black suit and slicked-back hair entered. With a casual motion, he unplugged the camera in the corner and a second camera near the door.
“I am only doing this as a favor to Elena,” the man said, taking the seat recently vacated by Roth and flipping the pictures on the table over. “We don’t need them watching us.”
Sebastian resisted the urge to grab the pictures, to keep them away from the well-dressed stranger. “Do I know you?”
The man placed a briefcase on the table. “No. I’ll be your legal representation. David Smythe.”
So, this is Elena’s attorney.
David leaned forward. “Did you kill those women?”
Straight to the point. A refreshing change. Sebastian’s shoulders slumped. “No.”
David nodded. “I believe you. Do you know where Elena is?”
“No. Do you?”
David shook his head, then his features tightened. “But I’ll find her. She can’t hide forever.”
What does that mean?
The door clicked open, and Roth walked in, his face marred by a frown.
“Let me handle this,” David said. He straightened to his full height and towered over the detective. “Are you filing charges against my client?”
Roth gave them an icy stare but said nothing as they left the interrogation room. When they were outside the station, and Sebastian had his phone back, he turned it on and checked his messages.
Nothing.