Page 3 of Winterfall Destiny

I send the message from my phone and don't take my eyes off the screen. Nothing. I know damn well that Ash is near his phone because he texted Jamie a minute ago.

Ash. Call me.

Nothing again.

I take my bowl, stand, and place it on the counter. "We're leaving. Now. I'll get my things."

"I think you should stay, Maeve," says Lex gently.

"And leave in the morning when I've rested?" I laugh at him. "As if I'd sleep when I'm worried about what's happened. Jamie. Give me the car keys."

Jamie chews on a nail, something I haven't seen for a long time—if he’s worried too, I definitely am. Something touches the edge of my thoughts and I sling a furious look at Lex.

"Don't you dare mess with my mind, Alexei Blackwood."

The touch falls away instantly. Alexei. Not Lex. Not Dad—I've never called him that—but the distance that Alexei Blackwood brings. The man who will not interfere in my life after years staying away. I'm not hiding; I'm facing this.

"I'm trying to help, Maeve," he says.

I close my eyes and take a calming breath. "You have your own problem to deal with. Focus on that. Jamie. Are you driving or am I?"

2

TOBIAS

If Maeve screamed and lashed out with shadows, I'd cope.

I can't cope with this.

She's silent, not here or with us, her mind behind a barrier that blinds me as much as Andrei's star-bright eyes earlier. The Winterfall is in control—the magic and the girl.

I'd braced myself as the car crunched along the gravelled driveway, the sound like gunfire heralding her arrival, because I didn't know what to expect.

Now, as Maeve and Jamie stand in the hallway that Andrei once almost ran from, I look from the impassive girl to the pale-faced Jamie. The unwelcome dark evening behind them silhouettes the pair, but they're walking into something much darker than the night holds.

Jamie shakes his head as Maeve walks slowly across the tiles towards me and Ash, and I steel myself, but there's no barrage of emotion to overwhelm my mind. She's closed me out. All of us.

Dropping her rucksack on the floor, Maeve turns to me, and her inscrutable eyes meet mine. "Is Andrei dead?" she asks evenly.

Jamie moves and attempts to take her hand and she pulls away, clasping both behind her back. There's little other magic around her; Maeve funnelled all the energy she has into creating this version of herself.

"Answer me, Tobias," she says equally calmly when I don't respond.

"No."

A single blink. "Is he dying?"

"We don't know."

Her breath catches, but the stillness remains. "We? Is it here? That creature?"

I nod. "But be careful. Don't?—"

"Don't attack it?" This almost robotic girl remains emotionless. "I don't want to die too, but I want to talk to it."

It. The First isn't 'her' and never was.

"I need a drink," says Jamie hoarsely and turns towards the kitchen, the hand he places on the door handle shaking. Guilt hits me. I'm so focused on Maeve's response that I've barely considered how this news affects Jamie, too.

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