Page 14 of The Tracker's Secret
Chapter 5
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AT 5 PM THAT AFTERNOON, I sat next to Stephen across from Detective Tom Freeman at the police department. He had fully recovered from the donut explosion and was even regrowing his trademark, graying goatee, which they’d shaved off due to the numerous surgeries he underwent. Apparently, it had interfered with the oxygen mask.
After that maniac mage attacked us, Stephen and I had both been taken to the hospital and healed by practiced hands. Since the injuries had been caused by magic, the healers had been able to reverse the effects with ease. Damage caused by natural causes was much harder to heal, and good healers knew counterspells to all sorts of magical attacks.
I kept staring at my arm, remembering how it’d looked, pocked with liquid-filled blisters and angry raw flesh. My stomach flipped, making me forget how hungry I was. We’d never eaten our lunch, and from the looks of it, dinner might be a few hours away still.
“Did you get a good look at the attacker?” Tom asked Stephen.
Stephen shook his head. “Not really. Toni noticed him first. Through the window, I think. She knocked me off the booth. Saved me, really.” He glanced sideways at me, his blue eyes gentle, grateful. “Then I was too busy shifting, and when I went for an attack, he hit me right away.”
Tom turned to me. “What about you?”
“I did, and I recognized him. He was the same mage that tried to abduct me in Elf-hame.”
He nodded approvingly. “You think you could pick him out from a lineup?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Let’s go then.” He turned to Stephen. “Stay.”
We left the room. The detective closed the door behind us. Out in the hall, he stopped me with a heavy hand on my shoulder and gently turned me to face him.
“Are you all right?” he asked in his fatherly tone.
“I am.” I put on a smile, lying to him. Physically, I’d been healed and set right, but emotionally, I couldn’t shake the terrifying idea that one second had made the difference between life and death, that, if I hadn’t turned to glance out the window, my family would have received a dreadful call, and I would have died while still mad at my mother.
I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, I couldn’t just getunmadafter what she’d done, but on the other, almost dying and leaving unresolved shit like that would suck. I guessed that meant I had to forgive Mom, but how? Just the thought of her lies made me angry enough to want to shift.
Tom let out a heavy sigh, his dark eyes glittering with some emotion. “Toni, I’m worried about you. Lately, your life has taken a turn for the dangerous.”
I lowered my gaze to his polished shoes, his protective concern reminding me of my father. A painful pang filled my chest. And the reminder that there was someone else out there who I could call “father”—even if only for his contribution to my DNA—distracted me from what Tom was trying to say. I didn’t want to know who the man was, though. It felt like an awful betrayal to Dad.
Tom went on, unaware of my internal struggle. “I can’t help but blame Jake and now Stephen Erickson for this unfortunate change.”
I couldn’t disagree there, but I still had nothing to say about it, and all I could do was wince.
“You’re a smart girl, Toni, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from those two.”
“I didn’t go looking for them, Tom,” I said, my voice quiet.
Tom huffed. “Well, that’s all I’m gonna say about it. You’re the captain of your own ship. C’mon.”
He marched down the hall, gave one quick knock on the next door, and opened it without waiting for an answer. Inside, the room was dark and a man stood to one side, his arms crossed over a broad chest.
“Toni, this is Detective Frank Archer. He’s my new partner.”
