Chapter 76

JUNE.

It feels very much like a hostage situation, but my curiosity is getting the best of me. I look at the car and back at Dad, knowing that I don't have the power to refuse right now.

But at the same time, I know that if I get in there, there might be a chance I'm not coming back. And I need to be here. Everything inside me just tells me that I need to be here.

"Where are you going to take me?" I ask, and it's so reminiscent of the questions I kept pelting at him when we drove all the way into this city. "I need to know, or else I really am not coming with you. I made that mistake before, and I'm never doing it again."

His eyes flash with anger, then with regret. I know that he remembers. I almost feel satisfied.

But then his next words hit me. "I'll be taking you to Nightlock Woods. I'm going to show you something, and it will all make sense when you see it. I know that you were there when the Nelson boy vanished."

My chest goes hard with nerves. I didn't expect him to know that at all. I find myself gripped by how he knew that, and before I knew it, I was already coming with him, letting him lead me into his car and drive away.

Once we're on the road, silence takes over us. I feel choked up, but I swallow it all back to ask, "How did you know that?"

"I know a lot of things," he just says as he slows down on the road, positioning the rear-view mirror as he glances behind us. "I know that because I see the police reports. I know that someone has been arrested for it."

"Why do you do that?" I ask in confusion now, turning to face him as he goes a little faster. "You've been watching me all this time but you never bothered to show up? What do you do exactly, Dad? What is your work?"

Dad pauses for a while, his gaze fixed on the road. "I... I am what they would call a Dragon Hunter."

Dragon. There's the word. Now things start to make a bit more sense, but at the same time, the pieces that fell into place are completely unrecognizable.

"I used to be a historian, and that's how I met your mother," he continues, his tone pained. "I found writings about Dragons and I went deeper and deeper into it until I found a community of Humans interested in the same thing. We went on travels, fully believing that these beings stayed in their monstrous forms but we didn't know that they could blend in with us until I met her. She's a priestess, a faithful ally of the Dragons, completely believing in the day they would return to power."

I stare at the road in front of us, numb. I pick up on the fact that he doesn't feel the need to explain things about Dragons first. It seems that he already knows what I know.

I try to think about it, to put things into perspective, but there's just too much information and I don't know how to make sense of them. So my mother was a priestess for the Dragons. That doesn't explain a lot.

I wait for him to say more, but we just stop at the other side of the road facing the trail. It's all fenced up now, and I don't think anyone us allowed access to the woods anymore. The sight of the yellow tape makes my skin crawl, but Dad doesn't seem to have any problem with it. He doesn't try to get out of the car. He just stares at the woods like he sees something there that I can't.

"Dad," I whisper. "Why are we here?"

"Because this is where I last saw your mother."

A wave of frost washes over me. I find myself glued to my seat.

So my mother didn't just pack up and leave. She didn't leave me because I was unwanted. When I found out that she was a priest, that was the first thing that came to mind. That she left because she didn't want us anymore.

But now I know that she's been taken from us.

"Who did it?" I ask in a hushed tone. "Why did they take her? How did it happen?"

"I don't know who did it, and that's why I came back here after all these years, to hopefully figure it out." Dad keeps his eyes focused on the snow-flecked trees and the inky blue canopy of the sky. "I had to take you here, even though I didn't want to. I had to keep you close by. I was never really away from you, I just wanted to find out who did it.”

Tears start to flood my eyes but I don’t bother to blink them away. All these years and I thought that I could see my mother again, that there was a way for me to find her. But I was wrong, and part of me will always resent my father for not telling me.

“And did you ever find out who did it?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

I keep my gaze on him. “And did you ever find out why?”

“No.” He looks away. “Not really. Your mother knew something about the Dragons, something that she shouldn't have found out. It's either she was wanted for her knowledge, or they thought they would be better off without it. But I know deep in my heart that she's gone. I feel it every single day."

I stay silent, trying to think about all of it. A historian and a Dragon priestess falling in love. That in itself was probably forbidden. Perhaps that was the reason she was killed. Because of me.

“You know they are real,” Dad whispers. “I don’t see any surprise from you at all. That means I did a good job.”

He said that almost to himself, like a thought that was just spoken out loud. I wheel around on him as he starts to turn around and go back, fulfilling his promise of a ride.

“What do you mean you did a good job?” I ask. “You did fuck all and you know it—”

“Why do you think Nancy was steps ahead of you in every investigation?”

That was foul. Dread and disbelief trickle over me like thick lava, burning everything in its path. There are so many things wrong about what he did. Suddenly anger bursts out of me, and I find myself raising my hands to attack him.

We’re on the other side of the road now, much closer to the woods. Dad has to stop driving to grab my wrists and stop me from doing whatever needed to be done a long time ago. He has the gall to look outraged too.

“I did it to protect you.” His hands tighten around my wrists. “I did it so you know what you’re dealing with. I anticipated you being friends with a few of those Dragon kids, but I didn’t know you would be that close to that Konstantin kid. His family is the one who caused all of this in the first place—”

“I know that!” I hiss at him. “But did you seriously put Nancy in danger over this? When you could have come over any time and told me what I needed to know? You’re evil!”

“This evil got someone arrested!” he whispers aggressively. “At least someone took the fall. At least one of them got the punishment they deserved. But I had to come in there and see to it myself!”

My arms fall limply to my sides. “What did you do?”

“I killed him.” Dad’s eyes flash with anger and a bit of insanity. Just the grief and the frustration built over the years breaking through. “He couldn’t give me anything but his usual drivel. He’s not alone, and all that. He follows someone’s orders. But nothing. I got nothing from him. So I slit his neck while he was alone in his cell and I left without a trace.”

“Take me back to the house,” I just mutter.

Dad obeys. The car is now filled with silence. I don’t feel sorry for the doctor at all. The world is better off without him and that never came into question. But the lies from my father, the manipulation, and all that recklessness shown… all while keeping me in the dark. I don’t think I understand him. I don’t think I ever will.

He drops me off in front of the house. He says something but I don’t hear it anymore, I just get out and head to the door, listening to him driving away.

But something stops me in my tracks as I get close. I look up at the windows and I see Tiffany peeking out, staring at me.

And she’s not alone.

Right beside her is a silhouette of a familiar woman.

Miss Hera.