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Claire’s heart sank, her stomach churning violently now, and she felt the hot threat of tears. She summoned her strength. “So … what are you going to do? Turn me in to your hangman committee? Have me executed?”

“That’s what I
should
do.” Vincent finished off his wine and sighed. “But Alec has begged me to reconsider. It seems you’ve become so important to him, he’s willing to put many lives at risk. So we’ve made a deal.”

“What kind of … deal?” Claire’s voice quaked.

“I’m going to grant Alec’s wish. I’ll report back to the Elders with a
lie
. I’ll say that you’ve been found but are not a threat of any kind. Of course, I’ll stay to watch over you, to ensure that you do indeed steer clear of the Fallen and don’t misuse your gifts. But as long as you comply, I’ll see to it that no Elder lays a hand on you or your mother.”

Claire glanced at Alec, confused. That was good news, wasn’t it? It was exactly what she and Alec had been praying for. So why wouldn’t he look her in the eye?

The answer to Claire’s silent query came to her in a flash. The dread that had been building inside her rose to her throat, nearly choking her. “You’ll do this … in return for what? If you let me go, what happens to Alec?”

“Alec will come back to work, where he belongs,” Vincent replied. “I’ll smooth things over with the Elders. Don’t worry, they won’t exile or execute him.”

“Execute him?” Claire cried in horror.

Vincent glanced at Alec, amused. “Oh, I guess you didn’t tell her everything after all.” Facing Claire again, he continued, “Yes, the penalties for leaving the fold are severe. But if I take responsibility for him for a while, he’ll be back in their good graces in no time. And he will never see you again.”

twenty-nine

A
bruptly, Alec stood and walked to the wall of plate-glass windows encircling the restaurant, where he stopped and stared down at the phantom city below. Every muscle in his body felt taut. He was so overwhelmed with helpless fury, he found it hard to breathe.

Claire shoved her chair back, leapt to her feet, and crossed to where Alec stood. “Tell me you’re not really going through with this,” she pleaded softly.

“I have no choice, Claire.” Alec’s voice broke. “It’s the only way I can protect you.”

Tears sprang into Claire’s eyes. “There must be another way!”

“There isn’t.”

“You can’t go back! I don’t want you to give up everything for me!”

“Claire, you’ll be happier without me. This is your chance to be safe, to have some semblance of a normal life.”

“I don’t want a normal life.” Claire reached out to take Alec’s hand. “I want
you
.”

“I want you, too.” He gripped her hand tightly, his eyes welling up as he gazed at her. “But—it’s not realistic. It never was.”

Vincent cleared his throat sharply. “My boy, step away. You are only making this harder.”

“Shut up!” Claire threw over her shoulder at Vincent. To Alec, she cried fiercely, “You said anything worth having is worth fighting for!”

He longed to kiss her one more time, to hold her in his arms, to tell her how he felt about her—but that was impossible with Vincent here. “I tried. I failed. I’m sorry. Just forget about me, Claire. Let me go. Move on.”

“No. No. Please,” she whispered desperately. “Don’t do this. Don’t go.”

“I have to. I’ve spent my entire life pursuing justice by
ending
the lives of others. Let me do this one thing, Claire, to
save
a life.
Your
life.”

She went silent at that.

Alec felt as if his chest were wrapped in a continuously constricting band of barbed wire. His heart was breaking, and he could see that hers was, too.

“When are you leaving?” she whispered, agonized.

“Now. Tonight. There’s no point in prolonging this.”

“Am I really never going to see you again?”

Alec shook his head. “I’m sorry, Claire. Vincent will be watching over you from now on. He’ll protect you in my stead. This has to be good-bye.” He let her hand go.

A deep sob escaped Claire’s throat. She whirled on Vincent, visibly seething. “Turn this thing off!” she cried as she advanced toward him. “Let me out of here!”

Vincent gave her a slight nod. Suddenly, they were back in Alec’s apartment, where they’d been at the start. Vincent stood between Claire and the door.

“Now get out of my way!” Claire shouted.

Vincent obliged, opening the door to let her pass. With one last look at Alec, Claire stumbled out with tears streaming down her face.

Alec slumped against the wall in despair. “There. It’s done,” he choked.

“Good.” Vincent nodded gravely as he stepped into the open doorway himself. “Call me when you finish packing. I’ll take you to the airport.”

thirty

S
omehow, Claire managed to drive home.

As she headed up the walk to her apartment, struggling to contain the sobs that still shook her frame, she saw a light shining through the living room window.
Damn
, she thought. Her mother was supposed to be asleep. Claire was no sooner in the door than her mom leapt up from the couch, but the angry look on her face melted the instant she saw Claire’s bedraggled state.

“Where have you been?” Her mom rushed over and took Claire in her arms. “What’s wrong?”

A fresh cry issued from Claire’s throat, followed by a single word, “
Everything
.”

Her mom held her tightly for a long moment, rubbing her back lovingly. “Talk to me, honey,” she whispered. “What is it?”

In between choked sobs, Claire managed to utter, “Alec’s leaving. And I’m never. Going to see him again. Ever.”

“Why?”

Claire took a deep breath, terrified to speak the next words aloud, but incapable of holding back the truth anymore. “Because he’s a Grigori and I’m a Nephila.”

She felt her mom tense. Then Lynn loosened her embrace and stood back to stare at her. The look on her face told Claire that she understood completely.

Claire lay on the couch with her head in her mother’s lap, her throat dry from talking and her eyes swollen from crying. Her mom had made herself some coffee, and over the past hour had sipped at it slowly while Claire detailed everything that had happened since Book Day: the visions, the tactile nature of her powers, the memory buried in Tom’s jacket, Alec’s true identity, his heroics with the scaffolding, their feelings for each other, and the visit from Vincent, who had guaranteed her and her mother’s safety—but at a terrible cost.

There was only one detail she’d carefully left out—that a mysterious messenger angel named Helena had been contacting her telepathically and had just prophesied her death.

“Ever since the day you were born,” her mom said, heaving a deep sigh as she stroked Claire’s hair, “I’ve been afraid that something like this would happen. I’m so sorry you didn’t feel you could confide in me before. But even though I know this is heartbreaking for you, it’s still not half as bad as I’d ever imagined. Because you’re still
alive
. And now you’re going to be safe. If the Watcher who came to find you has agreed to leave you be, then all my prayers for the last sixteen years have been answered. There’s nothing left to worry about.”

Claire struggled to bury the image of the cougar’s terrifying jaws that hovered at the corners of her mind. There was no point in talking about the vision—it would only frighten her mom, and it might never come true. “Right,” Claire said aloud. “Nothing to worry about.”

Her mom paused, as if catching something in Claire’s tone. “Are you sure you’ve told me everything, honey?”

Claire sat up, nodding as she dried her eyes on her sleeve. “Tell me, Mom, how did you get through this?”

“I don’t know that I ever did. I was so focused on taking care of you and keeping you safe—I think my heart scarred over instead of healing.”

“Tell me about him, Mom.”

Her mom hesitated again, then said, “Take my hand and close your eyes.”

Claire looked at her, confused. “What?”

“You obviously inherited one of your father’s gifts. So—”

“One of them?” Claire interrupted. “What else could he do?” Maybe her mom would know what frightened Vincent so much. But Lynn shook her head.

“I don’t know. He never told me.” Her mom took her hand and held it. “But Tom used to do this whenever I had something on my mind. Trust me, you’ll see.”

“Okay.” Claire closed her eyes.

“I was sixteen when I met him,” her mom began. “I was spending the summer in the Hamptons with my family, like we did every year. I met him at a party at one of my parents’ friend’s houses.”

As her mom narrated, Claire began to see images of what her mom was describing, from her mom’s point of view:

A party was in full swing at a swanky house. Well-dressed people of all ages were drinking from crystal goblets and snacking on tiny, expensive-looking appetizers from passing trays
.

“I didn’t even want to be there, and I was thinking of sneaking out when I saw him.”

Across the room, a tall, very attractive man with olive skin and dark, wavy brown hair—just like Claire’s—was staring intently at her, as if she were the only person in the room
.

Claire’s heart lurched. For the first time, she was
seeing
her father, the man she had wondered about every single day of her life. It thrilled her to realize that she looked a lot like him.

“He was older than me—in his early twenties, I guessed—but I didn’t care,” her mom went on. “He was the handsomest man I’d ever seen, and different from anyone I’d ever met. He was there on assignment to find an Awakened, but of course I didn’t know anything about that at the time—or that he was about to postpone his mission on my account. We ended up talking the whole night, and spent the following week together. It was magical.”

Claire was treated to a flash of images, showing her parents laughing at the party, walking along the beach at sunset, riding on his motorcycle, and picnicking under the stars.

“After that, he disappeared for a few months.”

Claire opened her eyes. “Wow. I’m seeing it, Mom! I’m seeing it all.”

Her mom squeezed her hand and smiled, then continued. “I went back to school, but I never stopped thinking about him. In November of my junior year, he showed up again outside my school. It was as if no time had passed at all. Over the next few weeks, we fell in love. Then he disappeared again. I was heartbroken. When he showed up the third time, he finally told me the truth about who and what he was, and that he was going to leave it all behind for me. I was astonished. I told him not to do it. That I wasn’t worth it. That he had a duty and he should honor it. But secretly, I wanted nothing more than for us to be together, and I was relieved that I couldn’t change his mind.”