Page 60 of Forged in Deception

Neither had Mother.

The woman had grown used to her presence, the warm slithering feeling in her chest, even when she had not drunk the liquid.

Now, Mother was gone, and she felt impossibly hollow inside.

She swallowed a sob, reaching up with the edge of her blanket to wipe away the tears that dotted her cheek.

She had to be strong.

Because whether Mother came or not, whether she comforted her or not, it would change nothing.

The woman would keep looking until they found the one.

The true chosen one, the one who would bring them home.

She would search the very ends of the earth if she had to.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

ASHER

The knock at Asher’s cabin door was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

He’d been bored when he had to watch Tourmaline teach everyone yoga. He’d been bored when he had to watch everyone sitting around high on DX8.

But this morning might have been even worse.

He’d finished the final pages of Hunt for the Skinwalker, and there were no schizophrenic DX8 breakdowns to distract him in his cabin. He’d settled for calling his brothers and his father in turn, though somehow, all of them were apparently too busy to shoot the breeze for very long in the middle of a weekday morning.

He was also dying to see Karlin.

Especially after the way he’d made her blush so hard this morning.

Grinning at the memory, he jumped off his bed and opened the door, only to find Ned standing where Karlin should have been.

“Oh, hi,” Asher stammered. “Uh, wanna come in?”

Ned shook his head, looking as awkward as Asher’s stammering words sounded. “I’m actually heading home for the day, but I found this cross necklace in the dining hall. I thought maybe it was yours.”

Asher instinctively raised a hand to his chest. Sure enough, the cross necklace he usually wore was gone.

He reached out and retrieved it from Ned’s outstretched hand, trying to meet the man’s eyes. “Uh yeah. It’s mine. Thank you. I appreciate you bringing it.”

“Of course, Mr. Bishop,” Ned said, offering something that wasn’t quite a smile. “I’ll be taking off now. Good luck tonight.”

With that, the man turned and was gone, and Asher found himself thoroughly creeped out. The man’s vibes were seriously weird. Was Ned checking up on him? Then again, if he was, it wasn’t like he would have been able to yank Asher’s cross off his neck to use it as an excuse.

In any case, the morning of torture-boredom suddenly felt a little more worth it.

Had Karlin not ordered him to stay in here, he probably would have been snooping around, and Ned probably would have caught him doing it.

To his relief, after only about another fifteen minutes staring at a tiny imperfection in the ceiling paint, there was another knock.

This time, Karlin was the one standing on his front step, the sun at her back making her look like a redheaded angel, complete with a halo.

“Ready?” she asked by way of greeting.

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