Page 103 of Shadows of Nightshade
Julian’s lips turned down. “How did you end up in foster care?”
Oh no.
I bit my lip as the stinging pain of the lie racked through me. “I-I don’t know,” I gritted through my ground teeth.
“Wereyou in foster care?” Julian narrowed his eyes, keen gaze not moving from my mouth.
“It…” I clenched my jaw again. Again, what did it matter? “It waslikean orphanage.”
Julian paused, glancing back at Damen and then Titus as the three of them exchanged a look. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but the resulting chill was enough to send a shiver down my spine.
Julian reached for my left hand and held it. “What are your parent’s names? The ones who adopted you.”
“Why—” I began, but Julian interrupted me.
“Because they know Finn, and they clearly know of this world,” he answered, pointing out my own past realizations. Still, even though I’d had time to ruminate on this, that didn’t make the betrayal hurt any less. “You could be in danger. We need to know their names.”
I wasn’t so sure what could be so dangerous about a homemaker and a computer scientist.
“A-Abigail and Jonathon Grier,” I answered, barely loud enough for my own ears to pick up. It almost hurt to tell him. It felt like I was betraying them in some final way.
It didn’t make any sense.
Miles stopped petting my knee, and I looked at him. His face was ashen and tight. “Grier?”
How did he know them? And there was no way he didn’t, not by that reaction.
“They are Officers.” Damen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Technically, they are part of one of the groups formed between our rebirth cycles. Officers outside of our generation are called Proxies. They become our mentors as we grow into our roles. There are two generations of Proxies. Gregory is in the Elder generation, and those around my parents’ age belong to the following group, the Paragons. Jonathon and Abigail are witches who fall into that category.”
I glanced back to Miles, who was still shocked. And I guess he had every reason to be since he was their boss. The utter betrayal he must feel.
Hopefully he wouldn’t punish them too harshly.
Although—I squeezed my knees together—why did I also wish that he would?
The full meaning probably hadn’t hit me yet, though, because I could not imagine either of them doing magic.
I touched Miles’s arm as I spoke. How conflicted he must be. “Just so you know, they’re terrible witches. I’ve never seen them do magic. In fact, my mother sleeps right through the full moon.”
I couldn’t think of anything else that might be important in practice.
Miles lowered his hand from his face. “Why would…” Then he met my eyes, and his brief posturing faded. “Never mind,” he grumbled.
“And they really don’t like the supernatural,” I added, looking at the others. They had to have made a mistake—there was no way that my parents were Proxies. “That’s one reason why I’ve been hiding my abilities. The medication was bad enough. I—”
“What medication?” Julian’s response was so swift that I almost suffered whiplash. Before I could brace myself, he was in front of me, holding my chin as his gaze moved worriedly over my face. “Is something wrong?”
“I…” I stared at him—why did he look frazzled? “I’m not normal, remember. Because I can see ghosts. I think the medicine was supposed to make me better.”
“Better?” Julian’s deepening frown chilled the air. “But there’s nothing wrong with you!”
“Right…” I mumbled, embarrassed. “Well, anyway, I’ve been weaning myself off since I turned eighteen.”
My stomach turned uneasy. Finn knew that I’d stopped, and he’d been very upset.
Why did he care so much?
“What is the medication?” Julian asked, stepping back. “Do you still have it?”
