“What?” I ask. The sense of violation brings the chest pressure back in a blink. The dark feeling that follows is worse than the thought of me losing control of my emotions, because at least I can work on my own emotions and issues. This is different. I can't control another, least of all another, more powerful Nightside who's pulling the strings.
Riley reaches an intersection and stops, waiting for a logging truck to go through. “There must be a reason this person wants to tear the three of us apart. If I hadn't taken Dominic's blood, I may not have been able to resist what happened at all. The three of us might be dead by now.”
“If that's even their goal,” I say. “Why do this right before the Convening?”
Silence falls as we get rolling again, now through the outskirts of town. “This killer, or Originator, if that's who it is, might have a plan for the Convening. Maybe you're not the one in the Nightside Prophecy after all.” Riley faces me. “Think about it. The Originator will want revenge after Dominic threw him to the hunters and had his manor burned. He wanted a place in vampire society that wasn't slavery, and he lost it because of a Trueblood. I think this guy's got a plan for the Convening, and it might involve using you to meet his ends.”
“I am not this Originator's puppet.” I beat on the glove compartment, which comes open and spills insurance papers on the floor. “If this guy wants to be the one in the Prophecy, fine.”
“We have to find him as quick as we can,” Lily says. “I've been tracking unusual activity in nearby towns, and I've seen some new credit cards being used over in the next one, but that could be anyone. I think we should go there and look around.”
“In Shacklesburg?” I ask, thinking of the place where Riley and I danced on the dock that beautiful night.
“Yes. There,” Lily says. “If the Originator was controlling your dad, then we have to find your dad. Maybe your dad didn't have a choice about leaving you here. This killer might have wanted to separate all of us and then make you do things you don't want to do. Maybe he's been making us all do things to further his plan.”
I gulp. After what happened on the beach, it's clear. The killer doesn't want Lily or Riley in the picture, and my dad was no longer useful to him. What if this was the killer's first slip, and he's been pulling the strings behind everything for the entire time? He must want me and Riley to show up at the Convening. Maybe his plan is to get us killed, and then he can rise during the distraction and fulfill the Prophecy of a Nightside enslaving the Truebloods and turning against humanity. Or I'll have the joy of doing the dirty work while he sits there in the background, ready to steal power.
“We need a change of plans.” My voice is getting hoarse.
“Shacklesburg,” Riley says. “It's too dangerous to spend much time at the mansion right now. Your mom's at work right now, correct?”
“Yeah. She works at the emergency vet over there, actually,” I say, relieved that Mom is around witnesses and that she won't be a super easy target.
“Then we train there,” Riley says, turning right at the downtown intersection.
We wait for people to cross the street before proceeding past the train station where Edward died. This same killer could have taken out the railroad manager, who was planning to bring the Beaumonts back into town. Clearly the killer is operating alone, dividing and conquering. Yes, that's a grab for power if I ever saw one.
I might not be the monster in the Prophecy that Dominic wrote about.
But that doesn't make me feel any better.
Chances are, we've been playing right into the Originator's hands.
I struggle to think of who could have attacked Riley. This Nightside has the power to make us see our entire reality wrong. That means that my observations at the carnival were probably wrong, too. And so was the hunters' checking of the footage back at the train station.
We've suffered reality shifts this entire time.
I've got to find Dad.
“We're going to Shacklesburg right now?” I ask.
Riley grits his teeth. “Yes. Right now. At the very least, we train out there and away from this monster. While we're there, Lily can keep investigating.”
I'm glad we're leaving Moon's Peak for the time being. “Should we get a hotel and tell Mom to do the same?”
“Absolutely.” He nods.
“I must tell my family about this,” Lily says. “My parents won't be happy about me hanging out with you, but I don't legally have to do what they tell me anymore. I'm still a hunter, but I'm also your friend. And I won't rest until we find this monster. And your dad.”
* * * * *
Ending up a puppet sounds like an even worse fate than the monster Nightside in the Prophecy. That’s why I'm glad when we reach the next town. A charming sign welcomes us to Shacklesburg. The last time I came this way was on the back of Riley's motorcycle. Now we're here for serious business.
“I don't know this place like Moon's Peak, but it's similar in that people here work in the logging industry,” Riley explains. “That means some connections to the Beaumonts, so we have to be careful. People live here who benefited from them running Moon's Peak.”
“So the Beaumonts have allies. Great,” I say. After feeling the effects of the killer, the Beaumonts don't seem that terrifying anymore. I've controlled the most powerful of them with some help now, and that means I can handle the others, right? I've killed most of Dominic's older coven members, leaving the younger crowd alive.
“Shacklesburg was always safer than Moon's Peak, which is why I brought you here for that
