Page 48 of Raven

The info he gave me bothered me for days though. I looked for Siena’s file, but she doesn’t have one at Ayana. That’s odd. She’s been here for two years and not even once came for a routine check.

When Kat stops by to chat with me during my lunch break, I can’t stop myself from asking. After all, Kat knows everyone at Ayana. She investigated everyone’s files. The only person who knows more about Ayana residents is probably Raven himself.

“Hey, who is Siena?”

Kat sits on the couch in the lounge room while I make myself a cappuccino from the coffee machine.

“Siena Artrout? Why?”

I shrug. “Someone mentioned her. But she has no medical file with us.”

“She’s not the only one. Why are you interested?”

“No reason.”

Her silence is a little too prolonged when she finally says, “Does this have something to do with Raven and her?”

There. So, there is a “Raven and her” situation.

“Are they together or something?” I ask carefully, trying to make it look like I’m super invested in that first sip of spiking cappuccino.

“I don’t know what’s up, but I’ll ask Archer.”

“Whatever. I don’t need to know about Raven’s personal life.”

“Liar,” she says barely audibly.

I meet her laughing gaze. “Excuse me?”

She chuckles. “I’ll find out.” She checks her phone and, right away, lights up. “If you are still curious, ask me later. But I gotta go.”

“What’s up?” I ask suspiciously. It must be Archer. “Spill, Kat. What’s so exciting? Tell me something good, considering my life is turning into a disaster.”

“It’s Dad.”

“Yours?” I widen my eyes at her.

She nods, a grin breaking out on her lips. “Archer is flying him to Zion”—she checks her watch—“in about two hours.”

My heart thuds excitedly at the word “Dad.”

“Kat,” I whisper, smiling, “that’s awesome!”

“Fuck yeah,” she says as I pull her into a hug. “It’s a little family time tonight. Well, considering Archer’s father is gone. And I hope…” She pulls away from me and exhales a little nervously. “I really hope Dad loves him. They’ve been talking so much on video chat. And… Well, I hope my dad stays for a while.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, considering Ayana issues and Butcher and all that. He and Bishop have a lot in common and have been talking about some security changes.”

She gives me a meaningful stare, not saying much more.

“Yeah.” I nod.

“Yeah,” she mimics me, her eyes narrowing on me. “Okay, girl, ciao.”

She leaves, and I smile at the thought that Kat is about to see her father. That makes me think of my own.

I wish I could see Dad. I wish I could sit down and talk about Russian classical literature that Dad used to trash for the most part despite knowing it by heart.

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