“She’s always like this.”
“I know,” I indicated to Julie.
“You really couldn’t track her down, not even your friend?” Grace asked sharply.
I suppressed the urge to deny something again and moved closer to the girls.
“Their scents got lost in two different directions. I think Emely has returned to the Copeland estate.”
“Are you sure?” She looked at me searchingly.
“Yes. With Emely, I am.”
“Good, then at least Bayla wasn’t eaten.” Grace sat back down in front of her herb bowl and looked at Julie. “I never thought a human would cause us so much worry.”
“Bayla is not human.”
The Blair cousins wheeled around to me and looked at me startled, almost as if I had just told them I had joined the pack.
“What do you mean?” Grace asked with hesitation.
“Her mother moved back here with her a few weeks ago. They’re our neighbors...”
It almost slipped out that Ms. Adams had invited my family to dinner, and the last thing I wanted was for Ms. Adams to be cast in the wrong light. “Anyway, her mother is one of you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Grace jumped up and gathered her herbal stuff, but Julie didn’t give me time to answer. The reason, by the way, why I hadn’t told them yet.
“Of course...Bayla Adams...why didn’t I notice this earlier?” Julie said with a thoughtful look on her face. “She’s the daughter of Ms. Adams, the new Air Quatura.”
“She’s not in the Circle, Julie.” Grace paused and dropped all the herbal stuff back to the floor. “We have to report her.”
Julie rose and they both sped toward the door, but I interposed myself.
“Wait a minute...no one leaves here until you tell me what you’re up to.”
“Let us pass, Julian.” Grace looked up at me, annoyed.
When I still hadn’t moved, Julie said, “When you move into a new territory as a Quatura, you are obligated to join the predominant Circle there.”
Of course, the witches were just like the Senseque. How could it have been otherwise?
“Let us pass now!” Grace sounded extremely impatient. However, I couldn’t let them go and just mess up the lives of others.
“I’m sure her mother has a reason for not telling her.”
“Ms. Adams is irresponsible if she keeps her daughter from us. She could be stripped of her memories as well as her powers for conspiracy or concealing a potential danger!”
I bit my tongue.
“Bayla is no danger, believe me. In fact, she sleeps in the same room with you.”
“It’s a matter of principle, Julian. Let us through now, or we’ll move you out of the way.”
That certainly wasn’t going to happen, Grace.
“I won’t let you erase her memories.”
I hope I had made my point.
“That won’t happen if we tell my mother in time before Gloria finds out.”
Grace was stubborn. Maybe she was right. Thanks to Amara Blair, my family and I were allowed to live in her district. Gloria, on the other hand, was one of the Quatura who wanted us all dead.
“But I didn’t feel her magic...” Julie remarked quietly.
Grace turned to her thoughtfully. “Neither did I...”
“Are you really sure, Julian?”
Damn it. Me and Emely not being able to smell her was one thing. But if the two of them couldn’t even sense Bayla’s magic....
“Do you think she’s an ungifted?” Julie asked, grabbing the almost translucent stone hanging from a silver chain around her neck.
“Julie, this could be why her mother didn’t bring her to us.”
A twinge in my stomach distracted me.
The fear had returned, and I had images in my head, just like before. This time, it was a room I remembered well, even though I had only been there once before: Bayla’s room.
