Of course, Stanley narrows his gray eyes at me. I'm the Trueblood lover. I want to suspect him, but after Riley got attacked, I can't. And that makes finding the suspect all the more terrifying.
“All we have to do is convince them to vote for us. We can do that, right? There will be thirty covens there, so the best plan of action is to impress, persuade, and get out.”
“Only force will show them we're worthy,” Stanley says in a low voice.
Riley looks at him with a stern calm that reminds me so much of Dominic that I cringe. I hate seeing that look on Riley, even if it means that the confidence I knew and loved when I first moved to Moon's Peak is back.
“Force has to come later,” he says. “Using other forms of control can be even more powerful than physical force.” He winks at me, and my cheeks flush.
Stanley's not having it. He splays his hands out on the table, but says nothing. Yeah, he's definitely feeling the sting of rejection and taking it out on us.
But that's less harmful than other things.
Such as that silent control that Riley mentioned.
Thankfully, Trish, Walton, and Becky all nod at Riley. Walton gets up and smooths out his jacket. “Thank you for calling this meeting. I have the feeling the two of you will prove yourselves.”
The others rise, and Riley and I are free to move on with our night.
* * * * *
The Nightsides pair off to train with each other throughout the week, and I ask Walton and Daeshawn to give us regular updates on how everyone's doing. They agree. I trust them the most out of everyone, thanks to their experience and skills in the actual world.
Riley, Lily, and I have our own training to do. As the rest of the week passes, the bags under Lily's eyes deepen. She still comes to classes with us, and each morning, it seems she's getting closer and closer to getting sick.
“I've been trying to find signs of your father here in town, but he's definitely not here unless he's using cash,” Lily says. “I'm going to expand my search to the towns nearby.”
“Thanks,” I tell her over lunch. “You're awesome. I don't think Dad would have fled across the country again. At least, I hope.” He's ashamed of what he did, of getting me into this mess. I've been repeating that to myself over the past week, trying to stop the volcano of hurt and anger that's rising inside of me. That's why he ran. Dad is still mentally human, just as broken as the rest of us, and he's acting accordingly.
I'm taking Riley's advice and Lily's advice to just sit down sometimes and meditate. I might get control of my powers. The urge to lash out is vanishing. And I haven't felt that desire to control Riley in a few days.
I share the good news as Riley, Lily, and I meet up at the end of the school day on Thursday. Lily grins and wraps me in a hug.
“I knew you could overcome that anger and get control,” Lily says, threatening to break my arms. I can tell she's been training in her spare time, too. And I'm willing to bet she's sleeping about as much as Riley and I am.
“I'm trying,” I say. “Let's go to the little beach again to train. I want to keep working on changing my appearance.” I'm super aware of how much time we're losing. Over the past few days, I've been working on altering myself in the mirror, changing my perception, but that's been a bust. Today, I'm going to go with the off-guard idea to make Lily and Riley think I’m that redhead.
What will happen if someone doesn't expect me to change my appearance?
I've purposely left that out of the conversations with the other Nightsides. I need to have an edge over the killer, whoever he is.
We drive out to the beach in the chilly rain that day, draped in coats that don't even look sexy. Thanks, cold. By the time we park, the rain is coming down full force, and the gray lake is frothing from the downpour.
“This sucks,” Riley says with a grimace.
“It's all we have to work with,” I say, tingling with excitement as I prepare to hatch my plan. Riley is looking out the window at the dark woods, making sure no one's with us, and Lily's in the backseat, on her phone and going through a database. They’re both looking away. I have the chance to catch them off-guard.
I focus on my hunger, and everything pops to full life, and I can see the colors bending through each raindrop as they run down the windshield. But I'm not focused on the environment. I wrap my awareness around Riley and Lily, sensing the electrical, distracted impulses of their minds. They're going to look up and over to find a bad-tempered redhead sitting in the front passenger seat. She's sitting beside them, looking at the weather with narrowed green eyes, with her arms crossed. Riley looks over at me—
“Whoa!” He jumps in his seat and blasts the horn by mistake, sending a flock of crows out of the trees. They caw as I jump in response to the sound.
Lily lets out a little scream, and I whirl to face her. “Did I do it?” I glance down at myself to see that I look the same, at least to me, but Lily's wide, round eyes tell me I've accomplished something. And a new type of pressure has settled on the top of my head, staying steady as I focus on keeping up the redhead image.
“Olivia. Is that you?” Riley pokes me in the arm.
“I did it?” I ask, looking between him and Lily.
“Well, you need to work on making us think you have another voice, but yes. You look just like the redhead,” Lily says. Then
