“And neither do I,” I say, turning to the little coffee machine on the table. I want to grab the glass pot and shatter it against the wall. But I bite my lip, drawing blood instead. Yeah, I'm going to go on without Dad now, but I'm going to carry this anger and betrayal with me to the Convening. That's the only way we're going to survive it. So at least I can thank him for something.
“Olivia. Breathe. I know that was unspeakable.” Riley strains that last word and I know he's angry with me. He wants to take the emotional burden.
“I know I sound impatient,” Lily says, packing her laptop, “but what happened? You two were gone for a long time, and I kept looking for that mystery Martin guy, and he never showed up at the cafe.”
“It was my father. It had to have been,” I shout. “We saw him on the beach. We followed him. And he's staying with the Beaumonts. Asshole!” I yank the curtains shut.
“What?”
Riley pulls something out of the closet. “We followed him to a cabin, and we have confirmation that the Beaumonts know I took Dominic's blood without permission. It came right out of Addie's mouth. That means Dominic is staying with them.”
Now Lily closes her case and paces around the hotel room. “Shit. This is not good, on any level. But why would your father stay with the Beaumonts? Willingly? If he was walking up the beach, alone, then that means he wasn't exactly captive.”
“That's what's bothering me!” I whirl, pressure filling my head, but now I can hold it back. Riley and Lily have nothing to do with my frustration.
“And me, too. Dominic would have killed your father on sight,” Riley says. “But if he's not, something weird is going on. The Beaumonts didn't kill you. They just yanked you aside so they could go full throttle on me.” He shakes his head and our gazes meet. “Maybe they're keeping your dad alive to get information out of him, like who the Originator is. Dominic will want to find his old enemy and exact revenge.”
I breathe out, trying to calm my racing heart, but that does no good. Dad still defended Addie and did nothing to help Riley. “So what? He could have just left. They're obviously letting him walk free. And he might know about the Convening.”
“Maybe not,” Riley says. “Your dad wouldn't have let Addie try to kill me if that were the case. If I die, then the High Council will kill you and the other Nightsides, since there won't be a Trueblood controlling them.”
Nothing's going to make me feel better about this. Dad should know that the Truebloods will lie to him. So what was their deal, anyway?
I yank my clothes out of the closet, stuffing them inside the overnight bag I bought yesterday. I cram them down with my foot, determined to get the hell out of Shacklesburg. I'll never come back to this town again. “Dad's still working with the enemy. What should he expect?” The only positive is that he didn't kill Riley, but he didn't let me stab Addie, either.
I can't go back for Dad.
The Beaumonts will wait, and Riley will die. Their numbers are still too great, and we need both of us alive to survive the Convening.
But the killer is back in Moon's Peak.
I look at Riley, taking a breath. At least, the chest pain has lessened. “We have to get ready on our own and go back to Moon's Peak. I'm getting better at using my abilities. We're going to have to take care of this ourselves.”
“The first Nightside is there,” Lily says, paling so much her freckles turn brown.
“I know,” I say, forcing a grin. “That's why I'm not going back there as Olivia. Olivia ran away to Chicago. Thanks to you. I'll hang back as the newbie girl, watching and waiting. I'll be just as dangerous as this first Nightside.” Then I turn to Riley, hating the Beaumonts. “Honestly. Would it be so bad to let a Nightside take over vampire society? I'm assuming that's the plan.”
Riley freezes near the bed, hovering over his overnight bag. “Truebloods have lots of rules, so neither our kind nor humans have to suffer needlessly. In the old days, Truebloods and humans were at constant war. Now, we've mostly calmed down as a species, and the hunters balance us out.” He speaks with a mesmerizing clarity.
“Except for the Beaumonts and those rogue guys who tried to attack me,” I say.
But I don't faze him. “Not all Truebloods are like that. But we're less dangerous than Nightsides. You've seen that, both of you,” Riley says to me and Lily. “The first Nightside will be capable of outsmarting the hunters. He already has. They won't be able to balance out whatever new order he's going for, and then everyone will suffer. All Truebloods will fall, and war between humans and vampires will probably break out.”
I gulp, hating that he's right, and that I can't put anything past this killer. He already helped to make this lovely situation into an even worse one. We can't trust this guy to do good for anyone.
I've got to step up, no questions asked.
And I have to be smarter than someone much, much older than I am.
I take a breath, determined to put Dad behind me once and for all. I'm almost an adult, and I've got to act like one.
“Okay,” I say. “We go back to Moon's Peak, we figure this guy out, and we come up with a plan of our own to stop the overthrow. Or whatever this first Nightside has planned.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I am not returning to Moon's Peak as Olivia, and I can't be Olivia to anyone but myself. That means no affection for Riley, no friendship with Lily, and zero associating with Mom.
Yep. We have to make Mom think she'll never see me again, and
