LITMIR.BIZ

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Jacobs’ car off a cliff. They can kill with the power of their minds, just like your mother. They are far more dangerous than a crazy old psychic with a knife. Make no mistake—if I feel my life, my agents’ lives, or the lives of any innocent bystanders are in jeopardy, I will shoot to kill.”

      Now I was the one left speechless. And hopeless. Tristan just shook his head. “You’re right, Tessa,” he muttered, “but you’ll never change his mind.”

      Kellan slid into the car. “I’m flying Melanie home. You two are on your own. Take a different plane, drive back, don’t come back at all, I don’t care. I don’t want either of you anywhere near my niece.”

      He slammed the door shut and peeled off, leaving us alone under the darkening sky.

      Behind us, Lady Elke’s house stood empty. The shed sat off to the side, the door off its hinges, walls dented and sagging. As we watched, it moaned, creaked and finally collapsed in on itself in a cacophony of screaming wood and clanging metal. The clatter echoed, and from far away, a dog howled.

      “The little house with silver walls is gone now,” I said. “Your mom’s dream happened. I survived.”

      “Barely,” Tristan mumbled. He kept his head down and leaned against the car.

      “Tristan, I’m sorry.” I pressed into his chest, but he didn’t put his arms around me. “I don’t mean to make you feel like a failure.”

      “I’m trying to keep you safe.” His gaze, cold as the wind that whipped at my cheeks, was fixed on a brown patch of dirt on the ground. “But I can’t. Even when my premonitions work and you don’t ignore them, I still can’t keep you safe.” He whirled around, kicking the car’s back tire. “Kellan had to save you today. Kellan.” He said his name like it tasted bad in his mouth.

      “I did a stupid, reckless, irresponsible thing today,” I said. “But it’s not your job to keep me safe.”

      He looked at me then, just a glimpse, then back to the dirt. He swallowed hard, then whispered, “You fell in love with me because I made you feel safe.”

      The pain in his voice and the wounded look on his face made something break inside me. Being a hero was how he defined himself, and I’d taken that from him.

      “I don’t love you because of your warning premonitions,” I said. “I love you because your eyes are so incredibly blue and because your hair turns gold in the sun. Because you have broad shoulders and strong arms and you let me wear your hoodies every day. And that’s only the little things. You’re kind and smart and supportive and respectful. All you have to do to make me feel safe is put your arms around me. That’s why I love you, Tristan.”

      He said nothing. Just stood there, stiff, and stared at that patch of dirt.

      I’d hurt him so much that not even my expression of love could make it better.

      “You’re not failing me,” I said. “You could never fail me. But I failed you. I came into your life and I ruined it. You lost Melanie because of me. You lost Nathan because of me. And my parents...” My heart pumped my tainted, tarnished blood through my veins. “I’m Killers’ Spawn, Tristan. I don’t deserve your love.”

      At that, he melted. The anger in his eyes, the tightness in his face, the tension in his shoulders.

      “Lady Elke saw your nightmare and called you Killers’ Spawn,” he murmured, taking a lock of my hair in his fingers. “She got that from you.”

      I nodded, and now I stared at the patch of dirt on the ground.

      “Tainted blood. Tarnished blood. She got all of that from you. Is that how you really feel? Is that why you think you don’t deserve my love?”

      Shame and despair crawled up into my throat and blocked my words, and I could only nod.

      Now, finally, finally, he put his arms around me, pulled me close. “You have wildflower eyes. Your hair is the color of honey. You slide your hands into your sleeves. You pick the green peppers from your salad. You wear my hoodies every day. And that’s only the little things. You stand up to Kellan and the Lab Brats. You’ll do anything to find your brother and sister. You’ve been through so much, but you get up every morning and you fight. You’re amazing, Tessa. You more than deserve my love. You are my heart. You are my soul.”

      “But my parents—”

      He kissed me. It tasted like love.

      “I don’t care about your parents,” he said. “I only care about us. You and me.”

      “Us. You and me,” I repeated, and for just a moment, my heart stopped pumping my killers’ blood through my veins, and instead it echoed in rhythm: Thump. Thump-th-thump.

      Even the Nightmare Eyes dimmed.

      We stayed like that, me pressed against his chest and breathing him in, and he holding me tight, until the sky turned dark and it was just the two of us, under the stars.

       Chapter Thirty-Eight

      “How dare you.”

      Those were the words Deirdre used to greet me when Tristan and I returned to the Connellys’ house as the sun rose the next morning. She stood in the foyer, hair a mess of copper, arms crossed, lips curved down.

      “I gave you one rule to follow, Tessa. One. Stay in Lilybrook,” she said. “And what did you do, the first chance you had? You left Lilybrook.”

      So this was it. I’d disregarded Deirdre’s premonition. Disobeyed her orders. I’d left town, and in doing so, I had almost gotten her son killed. Dennis and Tristan had already risked their lives for me, and now Tristan had to do it again. Tristan and I had finally reconciled, but Deirdre was going to tell me to leave, to get out and never come back, just like my mother had done.

      “How dare you make me worry like that?” She grabbed both Tristan and me in a hug so tight I could barely breathe. “I was frantic.”

      “I—” I mumbled into her chest. “You’re not kicking me out?”

      “Kick you out?” she said, still holding me tight. “Tessa, no. I’m upset that you deceived us, but I understand how desperate you are to find your siblings. But honey, you cannot leave Lilybrook again. We can’t risk my dream happening.”

      “Mom, it did happen,” Tristan chuckled. “Your dream came true.”

      “What? How?” She released us, then put her hands on my shoulders and looked me up and down. “Kellan told us a crazy woman tried to attack you with a knife. He didn’t say anything about a little house with silver walls.”

      As Tristan and I gave Deirdre a slightly sanitized version of yesterday’s events, Dennis and Ember came downstairs. They listened breathlessly, Deirdre and Ember with their hands over their mouths in shock the whole time. “That lady had a vision of your nightmare and attacked you?” Ember asked, her face white.

      Miserably, I nodded, and Dennis frowned.

      When we got to the part about Lady Elke barging through the shed’s door, Ember squeezed Lyric so tight that he hissed and bolted away, and Deirdre grabbed me again, crushing me to her chest.

      When we finished, Dennis rubbed his chin. “So the shed was the little house,” he concluded. “The tools on the wall were the silver.”

      “The tools were the silver?” Deirdre furrowed her brow. “Well, I’m just relieved it’s over. Now we need to get you to stop having that nightmare, Tessa. It’s a lot more serious than I thought.”

      I nodded. There was nothing I wanted more than to stop having my nightmare. Except for finding Jillian and Logan and bringing them back here, safe. And now that I no longer had to worry about Deirdre’s dream of little houses with silver walls, I was free to leave

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