Page 128 of Almost Midnight

Malek nodded, his eyes puzzled. “Don’t you?”

Nick frowned, but didn’t answer.

He gazed out at the ocean.

“Then shedidcome to my home world,” he muttered.

“Yes.”

“But she wasn’t from there?”

Malek shook his head. “No. She wasn’t.”

“So why was she there?” Nick asked, turning to look at him.

Malek frowned thoughtfully that time. His eyes briefly fell out of focus.

“I believe it was an accident,” he said slowly. “Maybe not hers, though.”

“An accident?” Nick stared at the young seer.

Malek’s eyes cleared. He inclined his head.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” he said, sounding more sure. “Ironically, I think she was meant to comeherefrom the beginning. You were right about that, too. The person who kidnapped her meant to bring her to this Earth. But, as you also said,the portal is unpredictable.It sent your mate toyourworld, instead, at a time whenyouwere there. She later made it here on her own, but only because she followed you here.”

“Kidnapped.” Nick glanced down at where Wynter sprawled in his lap. Her smell filled his nose, seemed to fill his mouth. “Then I was right about Yi, too.”

Malek nodded slowly.

“I think so, yes,” he said. “He brought many seers here, I think. And he got here via a portal himself. I think he hoped to overwhelm the human population.” Malek’s eyes grew serious. “But not all of his acquisitions ended up in the same place as he did, Nick. Your mate was one of those. The portal took her to you.”

“But she was onmyEarth with Jem,” Nick argued. “Why didn’t that happen the second time? Why didn’t she come through the same time we did?”

Malek held up his hands. “Perhaps she couldn’t. Perhaps the portal pushed the two versions apart, since they shared the same soul. Perhaps the rules of this dimension are different than the rules of yours. Such things are mysterious, Nick.”

Nick frowned, but only nodded slowly.

“Right,” he muttered.

He didn’t point out that some of the memories coming back to him now contradicted things that Malek had told him before.

Malek nodded agreeably. “I’m not always right in how I interpret what I see,” he agreed. “It all looksmuchclearer now that you’re remembering more, too, Nick. It makes me realize I got some things confused. It could be the doppelgänger caused some of that, but I don’t think so. I think I was just wrong about some of it.”

Nick smiled at the young seer.

Malek had always been adamant his visions were highly subjective. Nick hadn’t entirely believed him, mostly because the precient’s accuracy rate was downright spooky.

“So she came here later?” Nick asked.

Malek nodded. “Much later. Well after the wars, if I’m right. She was young, and traumatized, and the seers who found her helped her to suppress some of her memories, too.”

“Traumatized?” Nick stiffened. He glanced down at his mate. “From what?”

“I don’t know. Something bad happened to her.”

“Yi?” Nick asked sharply.

Malek thought for a minute. “I don’t know. I don’t really get much when I look at that, Nick. Just darkness. A feeling of being trapped.”

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