Page 321 of Shadowblood Souls
He shoots me a small smile and makes a gesture to indicate he’ll sit with me. My gaze slides past him to the guardian who escorted him in.
I’ve seen that guy talking to Clancy pretty often. Maybe he’s a closer associate than the others.
But he stands there by the doorway watching all of us. If my eyes flare red for more than a few seconds, he’s bound to notice.
Fuck. I don’t want to let the chance go.
“Zee,” I murmur when the bigger guy sits down across from me. “Could you go keep the guardian who came in with you busy for a bit? Ask him about your schedule for the rest of the day or something like that—just keep his attention away from me?”
Zian’s forehead furrows. “I can give it a shot. I don’t know how long I can keep him talking for.”
“Whatever you can manage is fine.”
He sets off without question or complaint. Trusting that I’d only ask him to do this if it was important.
Zian approaches the guardian from the side, and the man turns to better face him. His frown doesn’t indicate much patience for the interruption.
I train my gaze on him and leap in.
Clancy, Clancy, Clancy. Grabbing breakfast together, a briefing on training progress, daily orders.
I’m aware of Zian shuffling his feet at the edge of my awareness, but I force myself to keep digging. He’s doing his best, and I have to too.
Then I stumble into a memory of what looks like a facility control room, though with the stone walls specific to the island. Clancy is gesturing to a set of controls.
An emergency system?asks the guardian whose head I’m in.
Clancy nods.Earthquakes in this region are infrequent and rarely severe, but we need to be prepared. If a tremor strikes that sets off the sensors, the rooms will automatically unlock.We’ll need to get all of the shadowbloods out into the valley as quickly as possible. As few assets lost as possible.
My host stares at the pane Clancy pointed at with its zigzag symbol, so I stare at it with him. Sensors that’ll make our rooms unlock?
Of course, we’d need an earthquake to make that happen.
But Jacob once toppled two three-story buildings with his power. Maybe…
Zian passes between me and the guardian on his return, cutting off my connection—and ensuring the man doesn’t see the fading flash of red in my gaze. He drops back into his seat and gives me a curious look.
“Get anywhere?”
“You know, I just might have.” A hint of a smile touches my lips. “I could use a little more help—from your X-ray vision this time. Look through the walls around here and check if you see this symbol anywhere.”
I squirt ketchup next to my fries and scrape the tines of my salad fork through the scarlet liquid. Sketching out the emblem from the guardian’s memory, that just might be the key we so desperately need.
Sixteen
Riva
I’m getting a little tired of the guardians’ surprises. Especially the ones where I can’t even tell whether the unexpected event is good or bad, like being ushered into a random room in the facility to find Griffin standing there waiting for me.
I stop in the doorway, my pulse stuttering.
Is this guy my friend or my enemy now?
Doesheeven know?
“Hey, Moonbeam,” Griffin says, with the vacant smile that makes me want to claw the sound of the childhood nickname out of my ears.
I’m afraid hearing him say it like that will write over my memories of all the times he spoke it with real affection. Of when he was still himself.
