Oath Bound

  Anne nodded, confirming my honesty again, and every gaze in the room centered on me once more.

  “What were you doing there?” Kris asked, and I realized he hadn’t even glanced at Anne after my previous answer. Did he think he could read the truth for himself? Was he looking for a specific reaction from me? “Why were you in Julia Tower’s office?”

  I hesitated.

  I hesitated so long that people started looking at Anne again, even though I hadn’t said anything. But they didn’t need a Reader to tell them I was considering lying; my silence said that clearly enough.

  Finally, I exhaled slowly and decided to tell them the truth. Most of it, anyway.

  “I was trying to hire her. Well, her people, anyway.”

  Kori leaned forward, obviously skeptical now. “Hire them to do what?”

  It took me a second to understand her suspicion. I wasn’t the typical Tower client. I didn’t drive an expensive car or wear fancy clothes. I had no obvious wealth, power or authority. I had no discernible means with which to hire the Towers, other than a service agreement.

  I met her gaze and held it. “The kind of thing the Towers do. You’d know that better than I would.”

  She glanced at Anne, who shrugged. “Nothing yet.”

  Their Reader wouldn’t scent any untruth from me. I couldn’t afford to let that happen.

  “And you can pay for something like that?” Ian quietly voiced the question they were all thinking. No one looked at him. They were too busy watching me.

  “I...” Don’t tell them more than they need to know. My strategy for dealing with Julia Tower had turned out to be just as useful with the Daniels family. Which did nothing to set me at ease. “Yes, I can pay.”

  Anne frowned. “She’s not lying, but she’s not being straightforward, either. I don’t think she planned to pay in cash.”

  “Blood?” Kori asked, and I understood that she didn’t mean my blood. People often paid with the blood of—and thus the means to control—someone else. Someone more important.

  “Service?” From Vanessa.

  “Information?” Kris held my gaze with an intense one of his own. “Do you have information Julia wants?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Are you going to sign with them?” Vanessa repeated, her forehead deeply lined. Kori hadn’t asked me if I would work for the Towers—only if I had. “Don’t sign with them.”

  Before I could answer, Hadley spoke around a mouthful of noodles. “Sera won’t work for them.” The child chewed and swallowed, while every head in the room turned toward her. “She’ll work for herself.”

  “What, she’s a Reader, too?” I couldn’t tear my gaze from the little girl, who seemed completely unaware of the seven sets of eyes staring at her. “What is she, five?” How could a child that young already have a Skill?

  “Seven...” Anne mumbled. “But she’s not reading you.” The mother sank into a squat next to her daughter’s chair, one hand on the little girl’s denim-clad knee. “Hadley, honey, how do you know that?”

  Hadley shrugged, digging another spoonful from her bowl. “Dunno.”

  “Are you sure?” Anne asked, while everyone else seemed to be holding their breath, and I wasn’t sure if she was asking whether the child was sure about what she’d said, or about not knowing how she knew.

  “Yeah.” Hadley looked up from her bowl. “Can I have some cheese? The sprinkle kind?”

  Ian opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a green canister of Parmesan, then set it on the table in front of Hadley, who immediately opened it and dumped what must have been a quarter of the canister into her bowl.

  “Do you know anything else interesting?” Anne said, while her daughter stirred dried cheese into her noodles.

  “About her?” Hadley glanced at me, and my stomach started to twist.

  “Sure.” Kris had given his full attention to the child. “Or about anything else.”

  The little girl blinked at me, apparently considering the question. “She’ll go back to that house. And she’s gonna tell you she’s not really Sera.”

  “What?” The unease in the bottom of my stomach spread until my entire body felt tense. “What the hell is she talking about?”

  “Holy shit, she got Elle’s Skill,” Kris half whispered, and my confusion thickened.

  Kori shook her head. “No way. She’s too young.”

  Kris shrugged. “Elle was young, too.”

  “Who’s Elle?” Vanessa glanced from one face to the next expectantly, and I was relieved to see that someone else seemed as lost as I felt.

  “Not that young,” Kori insisted, and it was clear the Daniels siblings were holding their own conversation.

  Anne stroked her daughter’s hair. “We don’t know when Elle’s Skill manifested. It was before any of us met her. That’s all we can be sure of.”

  “Okay, who the hell is Elle, why would Hadley have her Skill and what does she mean I’m not really Sera?” I demanded, hands flat on the table. “Is there another Sera I should know about?”

  “Noelle was Hadley’s biological mother,” Kori said, but I think she was explaining more for Vanessa’s benefit than for mine. “She died six years ago. She was a Seer.”

  “Seriously?” Vanessa’s eyes were huge. I shared her surprise. According to my mom, Seers were very rare. They were also notoriously ambiguous.

  “You’re telling me that first grader is a Seer?” I studied Hadley, searching for some sign that she knew more than she should about...anything, but she seemed completely oblivious not just of the future, but of the present. She sat there scooping the last cheese-coated bits of noodle from the bottom of her bowl, evidently unaware that everyone in the room was either scared of her or in awe.

  “We’re as new to this particular party as you are.” Kori scooted her chair closer to the child’s, but before she could ask another question, Kris spoke over her again.

  “Hadley, what else can you tell us about Sera?” Kori glared at him, and I joined her, but Kris only shrugged. “What? That’s what they’re here for, right? To find out why Sera was with Julia? To see if we can trust her?”

  “That’s not...” Kori started, and this time it was the child who interrupted.

  She was staring straight at me.

  “He’ll bleed for you.” Hadley’s words sent chill bumps marching over my skin like troops on the battlefield. “He will cry for you, and he will lie for you, and he will kill for you. And you will leave him on the floor, like she left him in the bed, and he will never forgive either of you.”

  Stunned silence settled over the room and we all stared at her. Then, as if she hadn’t heard a word she’d just said, Hadley pushed her empty bowl toward the center of the table. “Can I watch TV? Do you have The Little Mermaid?”

  Vanessa practically jumped at the chance to park the child in front of a movie. “I don’t think we have that one, but there are several kids’ channels on cable.” She escorted Hadley out of the kitchen and a moment later a children’s laugh track bubbled out from the television in the living room.

  “That’s a creepy little girl you’ve got there, Anne Lawson.” Gran set her bowl of pasta in the sink, almost untouched.

  “Gran!” Kris scolded.

  “What? It’s true.” She ran water into her bowl. “The earlier she knows how screwed up her life’s going to be, the better.”

  I heard their whispered argument, and vaguely noticed Vanessa come back into the kitchen, but I didn’t process any of it. I saw nothing but the child’s eyes, staring into mine. I heard nothing but her voice, and the ominous pronouncements rolling off her tongue to sit heavy in my heart. And in my gut.

  “Is she ever wrong?” I wasn’t surprised when no one heard me. My voice hardly carried any sound. ??
?Hey. Has she ever been wrong?” But I realized on the tail of my own question that no one could answer. They’d just found out about Hadley’s Skill, along with me.

  My mom said it was something special, to see a child discover his or her Skill. But this didn’t feel special. And it didn’t feel like a discovery—at least to Hadley. Had she already known what she could do? Or was she still oblivious, after sending all seven of the adults into shock?

  “Who was she talking about?” Kris’s question drew me out of my own head, and his intense gaze prevented my mental retreat. “Who’s going to bleed for you?”

  “I have no idea. She’s probably wrong about that, like she’s wrong about my name. I’m Sera. I’ve only ever been Sera.” Ironically, that and my maternal middle name were the only parts of my identity I was sure about—the only parts not thrown into question by my illegitimate, criminal bloodline. “If she’s a Seer, she’s not a very good one. Not yet, anyway.” But even I could hear the note of doubt in my voice.

  Prophesies have a way of making sense only in hindsight.

  “She will be.” Anne sank into her daughter’s seat and gripped the edge of the table, knuckles white with stress. “Noelle was never wrong.”

  No one argued.

  “Okay, look, I’ve answered all your questions and this place just keeps getting weirder.” I stood, glancing around at them all. “Could someone please let me out of here now? I’ve been more than patient with your assorted paranoia, psychoses and obsessive barring of all exits.”

  “If we let you out, will you go back to the Tower estate?” Kris asked, and suddenly my chest ached. I seriously considered lying—I probably could have gotten away with it, with Anne still in shock over the manifestation of her daughter’s Skill.

  “Yes,” I said instead, because there were some things I’d have to lie to them about, at some point. They deserved what truth I could give them. “Eventually. I still need their help.”

  Kris scowled. “But they tried to kill you.”

  “They tried to kill you, too, but you’ll still go back, won’t you, if that’s what it takes to find your sister?”

  He nodded, jaw clenched in determination.

  “Same here.” But the Towers couldn’t give me back my sister. The best they could do was help me avenge her death, along with my parents’ deaths.

  “Then she’s right.” Anne glanced into the living room at her daughter. “Hadley said you’d go back, and you confirmed it.”

  I considered pointing out that Hadley could have been talking about any house, but no one would have bought that. The house on everyone’s mind was the Towers’. Not that it mattered. Anne was more interested in her daughter’s emerging Skill than my relationship with Julia Tower.

  The same could not be said for Kris Daniels.

  “What do you want Julia’s help with?” he asked, and the topic shifted back to my interrogation.

  “That’s private.” I sat again, but on the edge of my chair this time, silently reminding them I had no intention of getting comfortable. “But I will tell you it has nothing to do with any of you, or your missing sister.”

  Anne nodded silently, without even looking at me. She was still watching her daughter.

  Kris scooted closer to the table and his chair scraped the floor. “Do you know where you are right now?”

  “In the kitchen of a very strange house full of very strange people. Beyond that? No. Nor do I care.”

  Anne nodded again and my irritation swelled. I was already tired of having my every statement analyzed by a truth-reader—if that was what I’d missed growing up in an unSkilled family, I was more grateful than ever for my plain old parents. And I was sick of being the only one answering questions.

  “Do you intend to provide the Tower syndicate with information about any of us, as payment for whatever you need done, or for any other reason?”

  “No. Considering that your sister used to work for them—” I glanced at Kori “—I suspect they know far more about you all than I do.” Which was more than I ever wanted to know.

  “Valid point,” Vanessa mumbled.

  “What do you know about us?” Kris asked. He was digging for information no one else seemed to care about, as if he had an agenda they didn’t share. As soon as I’d had that thought, I realized it was true. But no one else seemed to have figured it out yet.

  Hmmm...

  “I know nothing about any of you, except what you’ve shown and told me. And that Kori used to be security for Jake Tower. That’s it.”

  His gaze narrowed on me in suspicion. “She never said she worked security. How did you know that?”

  “Because after being locked up with you nutcases for the past couple of hours, I finally realized where I’ve seen her. In nearly every photograph of Jake Tower ever taken. As his bodyguard.”

  “Why were you looking at pictures of Jake?” Kori asked.

  I exhaled heavily and folded my hands on the table. “Research. I wasn’t about to walk into the Tower estate and ask for a favor without already knowing everything I could possibly find out. No matter what you might think about me, I’m not an idiot.” But I’d evidently said something wrong. Kris had been staring at me for the past ten minutes, which was unnerving enough on its own. But now his gaze looked feverish. Eager, like a cat who’d just caught a mouse.

  “Favor? You went to ask them a favor? Not to hire them? Why would the Towers owe you a favor?”

  Shit. But it was too late to backtrack. “They don’t owe me a favor. I just thought it was worth a shot.”

  No one bought that. Hell, I didn’t even buy it.

  A second earlier, Vanessa and Gran had looked ready to curtail his line of questioning, and maybe even let me go. But that all changed in a single heartbeat. And too late, I realized I’d forgotten to be careful around the Reader.

  “She’s lying.” Anne sat up straight in her chair. “They do owe her a favor. She believes they do, anyway.” And suddenly everyone was looking at me as if I’d grown a second head.

  Damn, I hate Readers.

  “Why would the Towers owe you?” Kris demanded, and I could feel their interest like a living thing, ready to burrow deep inside me and feast on my secrets.

  “They don’t.” My mind raced as I tried to decide what I could say to make them let me go. “I was totally over the line, asking them for a favor. I never met any of them before this afternoon. I swear on my full name.” Which—with any luck—they would never know.

  “Anne?” Kori said.

  The Reader frowned without taking her gaze from me. “I don’t taste anything false, but that doesn’t make sense. Why would you ask the Towers for a favor, if you don’t have any connection to them? That takes one hell of a set of balls.” Yet she looked less impressed than incredulous.

  “How did you even get in to see Julia?” Kori asked. “Kris said you were in her office, with just her and Lynn?” She glanced at her brother for confirmation and he nodded. “Jake didn’t meet with strangers in his home. Not even prospective clients. That’s too much of a security risk. I can’t see Julia veering from that policy, especially considering that we’re not the only ones who want her dead, thanks to rumors that she was involved in her brother’s murder.”

  “Rumors?” I couldn’t help but ask. The Towers were my business now, at least until I figured out what I’d actually inherited from my biological father. “Does that mean they’re not true?”

  “Oh, those rumors are one hundred percent true,” Ian said, and I glanced at him in surprise. “She asked me—in a circumspect, but very obvious kind of way—to kill Jake. I was happy to oblige. For my own reasons.” His smile was for Kori, and Kori alone, and for one short moment I envied the intimacy the smile demonstrated, even in a room full of people.

  But then his point sank in. br />
  “That’s right. You killed Jake Tower.” Kori had told me that, but I hadn’t yet mentally connected the gun that had fired the bullet with the trigger finger of the man sitting in front of me. The man who’d killed my biological father, who—by all accounts—had received a much better death than he’d deserved.

  How could I have known so little about the man who contributed half my DNA? How was it possible that I knew more about him now, three months after his death, than I’d ever known in life?

  But I felt guilty about that thought as soon as I’d had it. I hadn’t known much about Jake Tower because he hadn’t mattered. My real father was my mother’s husband. My sister’s father. They were all the family I’d wanted, and if I’d never lost them, I wouldn’t need to know the family that didn’t want me. I wouldn’t care about what the Towers owed me, because I wouldn’t need that favor.

  Anne was right about that. The Towers did owe me. They owed my mother for the years she’d spent hiding me. For the nights she’d spent worrying that I would turn out to be like my biological father, in spite of the happy, healthy life she’d made damn sure I had. And they were going to pay what they owed, even if that meant pressing whatever advantage my inheritance—Money? Property? Companies?—gave me.

  “Yes,” Ian said, answering a question I’d almost forgotten I’d asked. “I shot Jake Tower with his own gun. He died quickly, but in a great deal of pain.”

  “Well, the general consensus seems to be that he deserved that.” I stood and wiped my hands on the front of my jeans. “So...who’s taking me out of here? You can drop me off anywhere. Seriously. The front lawn is fine.” Just as long as I was on the other side of those countersunk screws.

  Kris looked at Kori, whose gaze flitted from Ian to Anne to Vanessa, without once straying to Gran, who seemed to have forgotten we were there at all, while she rinsed dishes and lined them up in the dishwasher.

  “I have one more question.” Vanessa met my gaze boldly. “Is there anything you can do to help us get Kenley back? Anything at all?”

  I exhaled slowly, pretending I was actually considering the question, when I was really trying to figure out how best to get away with a lie. The safest approach seemed to be avoiding lies altogether, in favor of a marginally relevant truth. “I told you, I never met any of the Towers until today. And they shot at me,” I said. “Ask Kris if you don’t believe me.”