Thirty-six – 07

“Wait, what?” Jacqueline stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head hard. “You know what, never mind. We’ll deal with that later. I’m not going to worry about that right now. I’ll help you talk to them, but you’ve got to do something for me first.”

Seamus sucked in a ragged breath. “You need my help with Thesan.”

“Bingo.” Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “He hasn’t woken up, Seamus. I need him to wake up. Do you understand?”

His gaze flicked momentarily to Neve, who looked a little helpless, her shoulders rising and falling in a shrug. He sighed quietly and nodded. “Maybe I do. I’ll help.”

“And I’ll help you talk to the others about…about what the Hunt’s asking for. Do they all want to stay?”

“I don’t even know,” Seamus said, then sighed again. “I’m still in shock myself. I’m going to have to ask him to repeat everything he said in a way that’ll sink in.” He pushed himself to his feet and offered Neve a hand up. “Although it probably won’t make much more sense when I hear it the second time.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Neve said softly. “Right now, we’ve got to figure out Phelan.”

“Yeah.” Seamus shook his head. “I can’t believe—there must be something more to all of this. He should be awake by now. Unless…” Dread coiled in his belly. It couldn’t be that, could it?

Bloody hellfire and monsters. What else could it be?

“Seamus?”

The tremor in Jacqueline’s voice made him shiver. “Don’t ask me,” he whispered. “Not until we talk to her. Let her say it.” He started to walk toward where they were keeping her, his daughter by blood though not in spirit.

Neve frowned, hurrying to catch up, her limping gait paining him as much as it must have pained her. “Seamus, you’re not making sense again.”

“I’m not sure I want to,” he said. “And I hope by all the powers above and below that I’m wrong.”

If she sundered his soul, I don’t know what we’re going to do about it now.

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