Page 142 of Javier

“It’s hard to explain.” She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and pinched her mouth as she often did when she was thinking. “It was all about connection. I saw Dash and me in star form, linked by a beam of bright light inside Orion’s Belt.”

“Star form?” I gawked. “Orion’s Belt?”

“What can I say?” She shrugged. “It’s what I saw.”

“Maybe you just knew this,” I suggested. “Everyone knew—heck, even I knew—that you and Dash were destined to be together, as corny as that might sound.”

“I suppose there’s a chance this could all be happening in my head,” she admitted ruefully. “But I watched another link form. It was a beam of light as well, but it was different, not as defined, a little tenuous at times. The link stretched between a twinkling star that I knew to be you, and another star that presented as Javier.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

“Nope,” Thena said. “What I read in the stars is the reason I chose Javier to find you.”

The Thena I knew and loved would never prank me like this.

“Youchosehim?” I opened my mouth and then… closed it. “Are you saying that he and I are somehow… What? Foretold? Fated?”

“I can’t explain what I saw or why.” She sighed. “I don’t know what it means, either, or how it works. I took a risk when I asked Javier to take on this mission, but I trusted my instinctsandthe stars, like Mom used to do.”

“I don’t understand.”

“These star visions began to happen to me recently, after I got back together with Dash and almost lost him,” Thena explained. “I know what I saw, and in my heart, I understoodthat Javier was the only one who could find you. And then… he did. More than that, you and he are together.”

“I guess,” I mumbled and pushed off the window. “At least for now.”

“You two are proof that the stars guided me well.”

I plopped down on the sofa and stared at Thena. “This is surreal.”

“I agree.”

“Wait a minute.” I straightened. “Is this how you know that Cece and Affie are alive? You read them in the stars?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.”

“Oh. My. Word.” I stared at my sister. “You can read the stars and I’m having dreams that come true. Unlike your stars, my dreams are not always reliable, but—”

“We have to go,” Micah burst through the door, carrying his weapon. “Right now.”

“What’s going on?” Thena asked, but she was already up and rushing to the door, dragging me along. “Our armed escort won’t be here until tonight.”

“There’s been an incident.” Micah’s eyes fell briefly on me before he wrenched open the door of a passenger van parked by our door with Finn at the wheel. “Get in the vehicle.” He pointed to a pair of tactical vests. “Put those on. Yank them tight.”

“What kind of incident?” I asked, as I scrambled into the van and donned a vest.

Micah’s stony face didn’t give away anything, but my heart instantly knew the answer and my stomach plunged.

“A sixth snake,” he announced in his low bass. “We must hurry.”

Chapter Thirty-five

Missy

“Javi, please, don’t move.” I held on to his good hand and spewed out the standard recommendations. “Keep your hand lower than your heart, breathe normally, and remain calm.”

“I’m calm, Angel.” He caressed me with his eyes. “It’s gonna be all right.”

He didn’t know that. I didn’t know, either. I trembled inside. What I did know with absolute certainty was that he looked ill, and if we didn’t get him to the hospital and get some antivenom in him, he would die.

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