Page 70 of Dark Embers

“Who?” I asked, trying to get her to speak.

“Letti,” Arya said in a small voice, not meeting my gaze.

I tried relaxing my posture, hoping it would help Arya relax. “Have you heard anything else about Letti?”

Arya swallowed. “Yes. She keeps saying my name.”

“Do you have any idea as to why that is?”

Her eyes widened. “Sir, I swear, I didn’t do anything. Sure, Letti can be a jerk sometimes, but I’ve never wanted her to get hurt. I would never do anything to her.”

Her exclamations had me tensing all over again, confusion furrowing my brow.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend on sounding accusatory,” I said, waving a hand in front of me as if my fingers could erase that notion like the wipe of a whiteboard. “I believe the reason Letti keeps saying your name is that she’s giving us a warning.”

Now it was Arya’s turn to frown in worried bemusement. Her breath hitched. “A warning about what?”

I leaned forward, bracing on my elbows. “I know very little about you and your mother. Forgive me for bringing her up, but I must know if you have any idea why the vampires tracked your mother down.”

Her eyes almost instantly got wet with tears as she shook her head. Through quivering lips, she said, “I don’t know.”

“Did your mother have any involvement with them? Did she do anything that would draw vampires to her?”

Quiet, whispery sobs came from her mouth, and a pang of guilt stabbed my gut at reopening that deep wound.

“Again, I’m sorry to bring this up,” I said sorrowfully. “I know how painful and raw it can be.”

She shook her head and shakily inhaled. “I don’t think so. She never went out at night or let me. If she had anything to do with vampires, she never talked about it. My mother didn’t tell me anything.”

“And you know nothing about your father or if he might be involved?”

“No.”

So that was the answer. And I already knew it, but I had to be sure. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her of what I was now convinced—that she was being hunted. That wouldn’thelp anything right now. She was already sad. Telling her that vampires were trying to track her down would only add fear to the mix. She’d never leave the school again. Though, perhaps, that would be a good thing.

Leaning back, I opened one of the drawers in my desk and brought out a small box of tissues, sliding it over to her.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” I said. “I’m no seer. But I urge you to keep working hard on your studies and practicing your abilities. They will help offset the pain you’re feeling.”

She sniffled while nodding, snatching the package of tissues. “Can I leave now?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Thanks for being willing to talk.”

She got up from the desk and walked briskly out of the classroom.

If she’d heard anything from Shea about what went down the other night, she hadn’t let anything show. Hell, I’d been so distracted by the current predicament that I had forgotten to worry about that.

I felt so bad about the way I’d left things with Shea. And what had Kai’s big emergency been? To show me the newest prototype of his vampire detectors and ask me if they should be made in slate gray or polished silver to match the street lights.

I hadn’t had any contact with Shea since that day. Mainly because I didn’t know what to say. I had no right having any sort of involvement with her—and certainly not the kind of involvement I’d had. Not only was she not my student and not a shifter of any kind, but she was a witch.

Wait! She was a witch!

A sudden idea had me straightening on the edge of my seat. If Harpy healing powers couldn’t wake Letti, what if magic could? This wasn’t just me looking for an excuse to see Shea again. Letti was my responsibility, and ifanythingcould resuscitate her and get her to talk about her vampire attack, how could Inotpursue it?

But after the radio silence between us after what we’d done, would Shea even want to see me? Let alone help?

Did that even matter? When I wanted to see her so badly it hurt? When I needed to set things right after what happened?

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