Page 20 of Unshakable

Chapter Seven

“We can never see farenough into the future,” Henri explained to Toula as they sat across from each other in her living room the next afternoon, looking exhausted and exuding frustration. Panic peppered every syllable he spoke. “He has the vast perspective of all time while we can’t see past our own mortality.”

Toula choked on his words. He’d arrived at the house shortly after Beatrix zoomed back to the university, as if he’d been watching and waiting for her to be alone. She was grateful for the company in the big, empty house, even if she didn’t like what he had to say.

“All time?” she managed. “How can this be?”

“Because he’s been existing in this plane from The Beginning, since the fall of Lucifer.” He moved and sat beside her on the sofa, his expression shellshocked to match his emotions. “I’ve been going about my business all these years, knowing terrible things, terrible beings, existed and doing nothing to stop them, to aid mankind. What have I done with my years but spend them on momentary things?”

“Nothing?” she asked with a simple shake of her head. “You know that’s not true.”

“Next to nothing, then.”

“Henri, you can’t go down this path, nothing good comes from asking such questions,” she murmured, already having been down a similar path. “The bottom line is you still have time. That’s why you’re here.”

“Really?” he asked. “I die and am reborn, ignorant of what came before. I’ll have to learn these lessons all over again. Even with my long life, things move too fast, in the blink of an eye. How do I leave notes for my future self if I don’t know who I’ll be or when I’ll be reborn?”

Toula didn’t have time to entertain much of this introspection. “My life is shorter still, what about it? Do we throw up our hands and give in, or do we plan for a future we know we won’t be part of?”

Henri blinked those strange, glittering eyes and nodded, locked onto her reason. “We must plan, do our best for those who come after us. Your children and grandchildren. My son.”

While her heart hammered against her ribs, she managed to smile. Men always panicked when stark realization hit, and Henri seemed to believe their efforts would be futile. “So here we are. Fate brought us to this time and place. Let’s not waste their effort.”

“Screw fate,” Henri muttered, then paled. “He has someone watching Sam.”

Toula closed her eyes and swallowed around the fear growing in her throat, like a living thing. She studied Henri as tears filled her eyes. “This is all my fault.”

“No!” came his quick reply. His hands circled hers as if to let her off the hook. “He said my curiosity would be my undoing and here we are. I couldn’t leave well enough alone and now you have an ally. Let’s just agree to blame Michael for this mess, all right?”

Toula chuckled. “He’s the one who brought us together. Should you warn Sam? Is he in immediate danger?”

“I don’t know. Tourelle said even you are not in imminent danger. You, or the girls. Maybe he’s trying to lure me away from here with lies, who knows? Toula, what would provide the most security against a being like this?”

Taken back by his pointed question, she thought through her options, not yet comfortable enough to tell him about her prayer. No security force built by man could manage the threat posed and putting on a show of force might cause Tourelle to act out, to display his overwhelming power.

No, she needed other things to feel secure. “I need to educate these girls. I need time to be able to show them, especially Chloe, how to manage her gift, why she’s vulnerable to him, and how to avoid his traps. Eventually, he will come for her, probably after I’m long gone. She must know what to do.”

“Time,” he mused. “How do I give the gift of time?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head, her mind answering his question negatively. “And what about Sam?”

Henri pursed his lips. “Until now, I saw his wandering as a flaw I needed to correct, his willful ignorance a personal affront. Now, bringing him deeper into this split world only puts him at greater risk. If I let him be, he harms no one and perhaps no one harms him.”

Toula slipped her arm around him, hearing the fear in his words. “Will they truly let him alone?”

He shrugged. “If, after a while, they see I’m not grooming him, and he’s not changing direction, they might let him be. After all, they have more important things to do.”

“They,” she muttered. “How many do you think they are?”

“How many do there have to be?” he asked. “Right now, only two. I don’t think they enjoy working together. They get a bigger bang for their buck if they focus on their own brand of havoc and evil. They’re too selfish to share.”

Maybe. Maybe not. “Depends on the end result, I would think. Did he say anything about why he’s doing any of this? If he’s willing to enlist the help of others, he expects a big pay off.”

“A very big payoff,” Henri confided, pulling her close, as if to protect her. “He hinted at unseating his boss.”

“His boss?” she echoed, then realized his meaning. “Oh.”

Henri untangled himself and paced in front of the window. “He said three families exist with traits like yours, which means you’re not alone in his oversight. He has tried whatever he needs to try with all three across countless generations, to no avail, almost like he’s approaching the problem different ways and achieving different results.”

“Like one of Beatrix’s science experiments,” she said, considering her daughter in this mix for the first time. “Without success, though.”

“So far.” He stopped pacing and turned to her. “He said he follows a prophecy. I couldn’t get him to disclose more, so research is in order.”

“And where do Grigori research?”

“Evil hides in plain sight in this world.” He chuckled and shook his head. “We start with the internet.”

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