“I’m okay,” she told them. “I just need a minute.”

  “Do you need some water?” He turned to his brother, “Get her some water.”

  “It was a vision.”

  “I figured that was what was happening, but I’ve never seen you have one, so I wasn’t sure.”

  James held out a water bottle. “Here, take this.”

  “Thank you.” She offered him a weak smile and accepted the water that was still cool and had some condensation on the outside. She opened it, took a long drink from it and then put the cap back on. “She knows,” Emily stated bluntly. “The Empress knows about the baby.”

  She looked to Jack now, who wore a surprised expression. “She knows, and she doesn’t want to kill the child. She wants to keep her because she figure it out about the baby being the Chosen One, not Lucy. And she will kill Lucy after the baby is born.”

  “Shit,” Greg muttered. “It’s … we can’t…” He didn’t finish because Jack finished for him.

  “Exactly. We can’t let that happen. Over my dead body will I let that happen.”

  “Did you see anything else?” Greg asked.

  “I saw a lot of things, mostly Lucy in labor and giving birth. What I’ve said already is the most important part.”

  “How are you?”

  She smiled softly at his concern. It was sweet of him, and definitely a first for her. Generally, she didn’t have someone there for her when she came out of a vision. “I’m all right.” She assured him. “I just need the water and a little bit of rest. The visions do tend to use a great deal of my energy.”

  Greg reached over and pushed a lock of hair away from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “Take as long as you need. We have a lot of driving ahead of us anyway.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say. She had suddenly become very aware of all the rest of the group behind Greg. They were trying to make sure she was okay, she knew that, but she couldn’t help but feel awkward.

  On the upside, at least she had gotten past having a vision in front of them. If there was one thing that worried her about being around people, it was having a vision in front of them. Now, that that was out of the way, they would know what to expect if it happened again.

  She really hoped it didn’t happen again, though.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  GREG

  Greg had never felt so helpless in his life as when Emily was having that vision. One moment she was there and then the next minute she was out. He hadn’t been able to do anything except sit there with her, and each second that she was unconscious felt like an eternity.

  The vison only lasted about two minutes, but that was two minutes that he’d had to hold her limp body and stare into her glassy, pupil enlarged eyes, hoping that she wasn’t dead. He had been positive that she was having a vision, but at the same time, he’d really had no idea if that’s what it was.

  All in all, it was nerve-racking as hell. When her eyes finally cleared and went back to normal, he felt relief wash over him. She was okay.

  She lay back on the couch, sipping on a bottle of water. Even though she looked completely exhausted, she insisted that she would be all right and that she just needed some rest. He wished everyone behind them would stop staring at her and go somewhere else. From the looks of her posture and the expression on her face, he could tell she was uncomfortable with all the attention.

  “Jack.” Her gaze drifted to the Reaper and after a quick look behind him, he realized that Jack was pacing back and forth in the small aisle of the RV. “Are you okay?” she asked him.

  “I left her. I should go back,” he muttered as he paced. “This isn’t okay. I need to go back.” He turned to Dan. “Take me back home.”

  Dan didn’t say anything, but he turned and looked to Greg for how he should answer.

  “Don’t look at him,” Jack shoved Dan, causing him to stumble backward a couple of steps. “Give me the keys, I’ll drive.”

  “No,” Emily said, her voice firm. “We have to keep going. We need to go and do the job that we intended to do, and then the Empress will never get to her. We have to do this. The vision didn’t tell me Lucy was in danger, just that your mother knows about the baby.”

  Jack kept pacing, barely acknowledging Emily’s words.

  “Jack!” She raised her voice. “You need to believe me. We have to go.”

  Greg watched, surprised, as Jack abruptly halted and spun to face Emily. She didn’t even flinch, simply met his eyes as he asked, “Can you promise me that nothing will happen to her?”

  Emily shook her head. “No, I can’t promise you that. As I’ve said before, visions are only true until something happens that changes the course. I don’t know what will happen while we are gone, but I do know that we need to get rid of the Empress or the vision will, indeed, come true.”

  “I can’t,” Jack mumbled. “I can’t just keep going, knowing that something could be coming for her, maybe already has.”

  “Call her,” Greg suggested. “Call her and tell her what we’ve found out and see what she has to say about it.”

  “Yes. That’s a good idea. Lucy has a say in this, too. Call her and see.”

  Jack glared and let out a long breath before pulling his phone out of his pocket and turning around as he pressed the speed dial for Lucy. “Hey,” he said when she answered and then strode moved to the back of the RV, into the bedroom area and shut the door.

  Greg understood Jack’s frustration. He was feeling it too. What if they were coming for Lucy right now, while they weren’t around to protect her. If someone was in Summer Hollow, spying on them, then they probably knew that a group of them had left.

  This would be the perfect opportunity for the Reapers to strike on the Farmhouse. If he was the enemy, he would take advantage of the weakness for sure.

  It wasn’t long before Jack returned, shoving the door to the bedroom open and stomping toward them. “Okay. She says they are fine there. They are going to keep on high alert and let us know if anything happens.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket. “And I’m not okay with this, just so you know. Leaving her behind when someone wants to kidnap and or kill her is not fucking all right at all.”

  James set his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We know, man. She’s our sister, we’re with you.”

  “Yeah,” Dan added. “Two of our sisters are there, not to mention other people we love. We like this as little as you do. So let’s go get this shit done and get back home.”

  Greg nodded. “I agree. The best thing we can do it get it done so that we eliminate the possibility of the Empress getting to her. She can’t abduct her if she’s not here to do it.”

  Liv, who had been silent the entire time, leaned forward in her seat. “How did your mother find out about Lucy being pregnant, anyway. We haven’t seen any Reapers around for quite a while.”

  “Most likely it was a spy. Just because we didn’t see any Reapers, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. She probably has them just watching, instead of outright attacks,” Greg offered his thoughts. “There had to have been someone there, watching us. And Lucy has been out. We all went to the bar the other night and one of us is always heading to the store or to run some errand.”

  A noise that sounded like a growl came from Jack as he clenched his fists. “This is bullshit. When will it end? I need a beer.” He spun and stormed down the tiny aisle toward the small refrigerator.

  “Grab me one too,” Aiden hollered at him. Jack didn’t answer, but he returned with two beers and handed one to his best friend.

  “Thanks, man.”

  Greg caught Dan eyeing the beers for one long moment and then he looked away. “I better get this thing back on the road. We have a long way to go.”

  Good. Greg thought. That was good. He was removing himself from a situation with alcohol and that was a huge step. Hopefully, he could keep that up and stay strong.

  Dan hurried to the front of the motorhome and Jack plopped down onto the chair opposite them. “Hey,” he said to Emily. “These visions … I’m sorry you have to have them to get us the information. I’m sure it’s not exactly pleasant having to see some of the situations that you do. So, thanks.” He paused and examined the label on his beer for a moment. “Thanks for helping us.”

  She offered him a small smile. “I’d have the visions whether or not I was getting useful information. I’m just glad that this gift is helpful in this case. Sometimes they are just random, stemmed from touching someone or being in a certain place and those times, the majority of the time, there is nothing I can do.”

  “Well. We all owe you. For all of this.” He gestured around the motorhome with his beer.

  “Hopefully we have the outcome we want and it will all be worth it,” Emily responded.

  Yeah, Greg thought. Hopefully they would all come out of this alive. If they didn’t, he worried that on top of the grief and everything else his family would go through, that Emily would blame herself for coming to them with the vison in the first place. She didn’t deserve to suffer through that kind of self-torture.

  The motor on the motorhome turned over and soon they were moving again.

  “Hey Jack.” Greg nudged the Reaper’s black boot with his foot. “Did you notice that Emily said ‘her’ when referring to the baby?”

  Jack’s sullen face perked up. “Oh shit, that’s right. A daughter? He directed this last part to Emily.

  “That’s what I saw. The doctor, or midwife or whatever she was, said, ‘I’ve got her,’ so I’m assuming your baby is a girl.”

  “Fuck.”

  Emily tilted her head, confused at Jack’s reaction. But Greg cut in and said, “What, you wanted a boy?”

  “No, no it’s not like that.” Jack shook his head. “It’s just … now, if we make it through this, I’m going to have to kick every little boy’s ass who comes near my baby girl.”

  Greg smiled and shook his head, laughing along with everyone else. “Isn’t that the worry of every father ever?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack glanced at Liv. “Your father raised a bunch of girls that do the ass kicking themselves.”

  “Damn Straight.” Liv lifted her hand for a high five. Smiling broadly, Jack slapped her palm. Greg knew that they were both thinking about the first meeting that he and Liv had. Lucy was there too, but the girls had knocked him on his ass while he was in search of a lemon filled doughnut.

  “I wouldn’t worry about boys just yet,” Greg told him. “Let’s get you through the diapers stage first.”

  “Yeah.” Jack nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  LUCY

  With a sigh, Lucy pressed the button on her phone and disconnected from the call with Jack. What he told her had made her feel so many things at once that she couldn’t even separate the emotions. She was scared, sad, protective and … pissed off.

  After slipping her phone into her back pocket, she finished pouring a glass of orange juice into a glass. It wasn’t a steaming mug of coffee, but it would do. She’d given Jack a hard time about keeping her from drinking too much caffeine, but really, she had cut way back and he knew it. She wouldn’t sacrifice a healthy baby for a few cups of coffee or soda.

  When the juice was gone, she rinsed out the glass in the sink, then set it in the drying rack. It was time to go find the others and let them know what Jack had told her.

  After a quick search of the house and not finding Hannah and Steph anywhere, she finally located them in the backyard. They were staring at the garden and arguing over what to put in the new plot they had planned for spring, even though it was several months away. She jogged over to the garden fence and joined them.

  David and Reese were both at work, so she didn’t worry about filling them in right away, but Ethan was out in the graveyard, pulling patrol. She texted him to come over and meet them by the garden. That way, he could still keep half an eye on the cemetery, but he could also hear what she had to say.

  “I want to do corn,” Steph was saying. “We haven’t grown corn for years.”

  “But, if we took that whole section over there and planted strawberries, that would be awesome. To have them available here at home.”

  Steph shook her head. “No, strawberries are a weed, remember. The whole garden would get taken over by them. That’s why Dad never let us plant them before.”

  “Yeah.” A sad expression washed over Hannah’s face. “That’s right, I remember now.”

  “So we get to do corn?”

  Hannah nodded. “Yeah, why not. Nothing beats home grown corn on the cob, for sure.”

  “Hey guys,” Lucy interrupted. “We need to talk.”

  Both Hannah and Steph turned to face her, their expressions curious. “Do we need to get Ethan.?” her sister asked.

  Lucy shook her head. “I already sent him a text. He’s on his way.” She nodded toward the sloped path where Ethan was already heading toward them.

  “What’s up?” he asked once he arrived.

  Lucy set her hands on her hips and told them. “Someone has been spying on us and reporting back to the Empress. The Reapers have been here in Summer Hollow, quietly watching and taking information back.”

  Ethan shook his head a little bit. “We figured that she would have Reapers out there watching us. Why is this a big deal now?”

  “Because,” Lucy told him, her voice flat and serious. “She knows about the baby, that’s why.”

  Three different variations of, “Oh shit,” were voiced around her.

  “I agree.” Lucy nodded.

  “Wait,” Hannah asked. “How do you know the Empress is aware of your pregnancy? How could you possibly know that?”

  “Jack called,” Lucy explained. “Emily had a vision. In the vision, she saw me giving birth. After the baby was born, she was handed over to the Empress.”

  Her sisters said nothing, but their faces said everything that needed to be said. The short version was, no way in hell would the Empress get her hands on her baby.

  “There’s more,” she continued. “Afterward, the Empress gives the order to do away with me, as I am no longer needed. Jack says that Emily thinks this means they want to kidnap me until I give birth, then get rid of me so that she can raise the child as her own.”

  She paused to catch her breath, but also to calm herself. The more she spoke, the angrier she got. She’d known that something like this might happen if the Empress were to find out that she was pregnant. The only known child of a Keeper and a Reaper … that was a miracle in itself. But the child of her son, the Reaper prince and a woman from one of the seven original Keeper bloodlines, that was more than a miracle.

  “We are going to have to up our security here even more than it is already, someone has obviously been watching us. I don’t want them to get the chance to grab me. Not that I can’t defend myself, I just want to avoid that scenario at all costs,” she added. She was strong, even with the pregnancy, but she had been kidnapped by the Reapers before.

  “Absolutely.” Steph nodded her agreement. “You aren’t to be alone at all. Ever.”

  Lucy narrowed her eyebrows. “Well maybe just for showers and bathroom time. I get what you’re saying, though.”

  “Maybe the vision was wrong,” Ethan finally spoke. He had been listening with silent interest the entire time, as was his usual way.

  “Nah,” Lucy shook her head. “I don’t think so. But, even if it is wrong, do we really want to take that chance? That Reaper, or Reapers, whoever is watching us, is likely still here in Summer Hollow. Shit.” She threw up her arms. “They could be in the woods right now, taking in every word we are saying.”

  With those words hanging thick in the air as the severity of the situation crashed down on them, they stood silently, scanning the tree line and surrounding areas carefully. How shitty was it if you couldn’t even have a private conversation in your own yard.

  “So anyway,” Lucy said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “We are going on high alert. We take no chances. This is my baby we’re talking about.”

  “Reese is back at the bar,” Steph told them. “We’re going to need her to help keep an eye out there. She can’t see auras or anything, but she has a good sense for anything weird.”

  “Good.” Lucy nodded. “That’s good.”

  Hannah rubbed Lucy’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. We just need to be diligent. If it comes down to it, I’ll have David bring in the police and post someone here. I don’t give a crap how weird it sounds to whoever he has to explain it to.”

  Nodding, Lucy felt her eyes well up. Fucking tears always coming when she didn’t want them to. “I’m not going to argue with that,” she whispered. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

  “You keep saying her,” Ethan pointed out.

  “In Emily’s vision, the baby was a girl. I already kind of had a feeling, so this is just one more reason to believe our little one is female. We won’t know for sure, though, until she is born. We could be surprised.”

  In her heart, she knew that something was going to happen. That someone was going to come for them and attack her and her family. As the baby grew inside her, the battle between the Keepers and Reapers grew more intense.

  “If Emily saw a girl in her vision, then I’d bet that is what you’ll have,” Ethan said thoughtfully. “When is your ultrasound?”

  “I already had one, but we asked the tech not to tell us so that we could be surprised. But now, I think I want to know, just out of curiosity.”

  “Yeah,” Steph agreed. “Plus, it’s probably a good idea to know so that you can prepare and people getting you gifts can buy accordingly.”

  “I figured we could just do yellow or something for colors, but yeah, I get what you’re saying. We just thought it would be cool to be surprised.” Lucy put her hands to the small of her back and stretched. “Speaking of that, I need to get started getting all the stuff we are going to need.”

  Hannah’s eyes lit up. “We have to have a baby shower.”

 

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