Page 38 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“I think something bad is going to happen. Soon.”
“Stop it, Vi,” I snapped, my pulse accelerating. “I’m not in the mood—”
“No, listen, Amy! You were in it! With fire and—screaming—and our home wastrashed. I don’t know what any of it means, but it felt—scary.”
So, she wasn’t doing as well as she sounded. “Vi, did you tell anyone else about this?” Why hadn’t they rushed her to the hospital, as altered as she was?
“Yeah! And right after Uncle Neel heard what I’d seen, he sent us all packing. Except for Dad. He’s still home.”
Briar’s face hardened, his Danann ears honing-in on my private phone conversation. I hit my speakerphone button, saving him the strain of eavesdropping.
He arched a brow at me, silently remarking,Hypocritical much?
Okay—he had a silent point.
“Uncle Neel didn’t say why your—vision—freaked him out?”
“No, he just told Aunt Aylie to take us somewhere safe—said he’d call Briar and tell him to bring you here.”
Cursing, Briar rushed to the café table. He snagged his phone off its surface and speed dialed his voicemail. My cell wasn’t the only one malfunctioning, adequate reception rare in the woods.
“Maybe you should just stay where you are,” Vi advised. “I mean, you were in my vision. If you stay away, maybe the scariness won’t happen. We’re fine here. We—”
Her voice faded to snow. Another call popped up on my screen, and my heart frosted.
Seeing the blood drain from my face, Briar silenced Uncle Neel’s voicemail directives. “What is it, Amy?”
“It’s me,” I whispered, staring at my own name on my screen. “I’m calling my own phone.”
Briar strode over. “You said your phone was stolen, right?”
“I thought so, but then the lights came back on, and it was back in my purse.”
He took my phone from my slackened hand. “No, it wasn’t.” He answered the call, setting my MulBerry to speakerphone.
“Hello,” Briar spat, almost disgusted.
“Amaranthine.”
I shivered at the child thief’s grizzly voice.
“She can hear you.” Briar raised a hand to calm me—and silence me. “Say what you must, Kobold.”
Did he know the fricking phone thief?
“I’ve a warning for you, Amaranthine.” The thief’s line crackled. “They’ve found him.”
Him who?
“He’s beyond saving now, but you can still safeguard his totem. It’s what the Shadow Prince covets most.”
My dream phantom billowed to the forefront of my mind, paralyzing me. Briar, however, scrambled into action, dropping my phone to gather our belongings.
“The Shadow Prince?” I repeated the surreal title. Was I being punked?
“Make haste. Before it’s too late.”
The line went dead.
