Page 17 of I Am Salvation

“What’s that?”

“The guy who answered says he no longer has Griffin. That she was taken by some cult called the Order of the Serpent.”

No reply.

That’s not good.

“Alayna?”

“I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll be honest with you. It sounds like a cult or secret society or something.”

“I thought the same. If they have her, it can’t be good.”

Again, no answer.

Until— “I’ll do some research. Does this take precedence over your parents?”

“I think so. Don’t you?”

“I’d say yes.”

“Let me know what you find out. Thank you.”

“Glad to be of help. In the meantime, I’ll need that number that came in the package as well. My guess is it’ll be untraceable like the others, but you never know.”

“Absolutely. I’m sending everything.”

“Good enough. And Dragon?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to worry too much about everything.” She ends the call.

I can’t help a scoff. Try not to worry? My baby sister, who I assumed has been dead for decades, may be alive. May be with some weird cult.

Great.

If only…

Alayna’s text comes through with the names and address in Taos. Frank and Christine Delaney.

Now what? I need a fucking car. How can I convince Diana?—

My phone buzzes before I can complete the thought. I don’t recognize the number, but it’s local.

“Hello?”

“Dragon, Antonio Carbone.”

“Oh, yeah. How are you?”

“I’m good. I’ve got you scheduled for the lessons. You begin Thursday at five p.m.”

Thursday. Five p.m. That’s two days from now. I guess I can’t go running off to Taos anyway.

“Sounds good. Thanks.”

“If you can give me an email address, I’ll send you the schedule.”

---