Page 37 of Calling Quarters

Her gasp filled the quiet room, the same look of horror returning. “Beau? He’s like a teddy bear.”

I shook my head. “Well, he was more like a grizzly bear.”

“What happened then?” Glowing green eyes widened in interest.

I paused, considering her for a moment. Telling Blaire about what happened with Remy might lead her onto the path of realizing I was his Counter.

Why else would he have cared if I washed away with the tide that day?

Then again, if my instincts were correct and we were somehow connected in that way, why wouldn’t he have just let me die out there? Wouldn’t that make his life a lot easier?

“Well, I’m not super clear on what happened after that,” I admitted. My eyes fell to my wringing hands as I went back and forth over telling her. Finally, my lips began moving. “I woke up in Remy Wildes room with no injuries. Just some blood-soaked clothes and a rat's nest on the top of my head.”

A noise in the kitchen stopped her from responding. I wondered if Tabitha heard any part of our conversation. If she had, I wouldn’t doubt that she’d be in here chastising me over being so stupid.

Still, I didn’t want to risk the rest of our conversation being overheard. Blaire seemed to catch on to that because she raised her finger to her lips and signaled that we’d continue talking later. I nodded my agreement and dragged my chair back to its home along the wall, then waved goodbye and headed to my room.

Chapter 22

Storie

It only took a few days of recovery from my attack in private before I was pacing the perimeter of my hotel room. The caged feeling reminded me of all the times I felt this way with Aunt Ash during our time in hiding and how she always seemed to have a solution for it. Back then, I had no idea that there were real threats lingering just outside of every door of the places we stayed in. That we were being hunted and it was only a matter of time before we'd be found.

Now, I knew exactly how she felt. I only wished I could go back in time and apologize for making everything so difficult for her. To thank her for every minute of her life that she spent sacrificing her safety and mental health for an ungrateful me.

While that wasn't a plausible answer, gaining more information surrounding her death was. I decided to use the number Hazel gave me and make an appointment with my maternal grandmother. She may not know much about Aunt Ash, but there was a possibility she could open up a new door to look behind.

---

Lunet's home was buried inside the maze of residential streets in Beacon Grove. I'd nearly gotten lost multiple times. My GPS refused to work this far away from the town's square, so I was stuck relying on her nurse's vague instructions that I scribbled on a piece of paper as she rattled them off over the phone.

When I pulled into the driveway, I recognized the house right away. It was the same one in the photos Hazel showed me. Time had sunk its claws into it, wearing it down quite a bit since the photo was taken, but it stood proudly amongst the rest of the homes surrounding it that had been taken better care of.

I wanted to take my time admiring it but was hardly out of my car when a tall woman opened the front door and greeted me from the large, wrap-around porch. “She's been practically bouncing off the walls all morning waiting for you,” she called out through a smile.

She introduced herself as Mary, Lunet’s live-in nurse who I'd spoken to over the phone, as she led me through the foyer and into a sitting room off to the left. The interior of the house was as outdated as the exterior and held that dusky, stale scent that always seemed to linger in the homes of the elderly. Mary offered me a seat on one of the sitting chairs covered in red lighthouses and left me alone to grab Lunet from her bedroom.

I glanced around the small room and felt an overwhelming number of emotions wash through me. I'd never been as close to my mother as I'd gotten since entering Beacon Grove. My plan was to get answers about my father and Aunt Ash's deaths, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of learning more about the woman who gave her life to bring me into this world. It was such an unexpected gift.

My eyes swung from the red brick fireplace to the opposite side of the room, through the glass French doors leading back into the foyer. My mother had walked these narrow halls once, passing by the old photos littering the walls in various frames. Her feet padded on these hardwood floors each time she entered or left her home. If my suspicions were correct and the furnishings in the home haven't been updated, she could have sat in this very chair, once upon a time.

It was almost like I could feel the ghost of her beside me. See the past versions of her casually strutting through her home as if she had all the time in the world.

“There you go, nice and slow,” Mary's voice released me from my thoughts as she helped the old woman into the room. She guided her over to the maroon loveseat across from me and helped her lower herself into it.

As soon as my eyes met with hers, my lungs tightened in my chest. I recognized her immediately as the woman from the festival. The same one Tabitha practically beat me away from. The cloudiness of her eyes had somehow disappeared, but I was certain it was her.

“I'm so glad you've come,” Lunet's strong voice greeted.

I knew from Hazel that she was elderly, and based on the way she had to be helped in, I expected her to be much more frail. But as soon as Mary got her settled in and left us alone to talk, Lunet straightened up and spoke as if she was full of energy.

“I wasn't expecting to see you again after the way Tabitha pushed you away,” she went on, leaning over to the coffee table between us to pour herself a cup of tea from the kettle Mary had just carried in.

With no true reference aside from the few photos Hazel shared with me, it was difficult to draw a connection between the woman before me and my mother. They shared the same dramatic cupid’s bow on their lips and her aging eyes appeared to be in the same almond shape as the ones I saw on my mother. I wondered if she’d been able to age beyond her twenties, would she look more similar to the lady before me?

“I’m so sorry about that. I had no idea-” I began, but Lunet lifted a finger in the air to stop me.

“It’s not your fault. Tabitha has her own secrets to protect.”

---