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dropped his own bread, “since I moved from
Council.”
    Since Morgan had taken over his home. He let
the silence hang between us, until I asked in a whisper, “Will you
go back?”
    His eyes met mine, suddenly dark amber in the
faint light. “I don’t know, Brianna. It … it isn’t the same.”
    I knew exactly what he meant. We had lost our
mother, our home, everything except each other, Emily and I. We’d
been more on the run than adrift, but there was no going back,
either way.
    And now Emily had Aern.
    Logan gestured toward my food, pretending not
to notice the hand pressed tight against my stomach, and said,
“Finish up. I want to get an early start this morning.”
     
    This time, it was a Cadillac V. Daybreak was
just starting to color the sky, giving its sleek black angles an
unnatural glow. I had the strangest notion that it reminded me of
their eyes, the way they all seemed to radiate that something
“other” within, but when I looked at Logan, our gaze locking over
the roof of the sedan, all I saw was a man.
    We settled into the car, strapped the seat
belts on, and took yet another route to Council’s main building. I
watched the sunrise reflected in the glass of the homes and
buildings, thinking of all the people who didn’t know we even
existed. I imagined they were inside, going about their daily
business, not even concerned that if I couldn’t do my job, if I
couldn’t find the connection to fix Emily, they would all die.
    Images of their faces
flipped through my consciousness, broken and splattered, no time to
so much as scream before the impact came. Liquid fire pulsed
through the scenery, reducing it to metal framework and ash. And
here, in this living nightmare, their eyes did burn. Not an
otherworldly glow, but a blaze. The blood
of the dragon.
    “ Brianna,” Logan said from
beside me.
    His words cut through the vision, and I
closed my eyes hard, forcing the images away. I had seen them
before, a thousand times. It was nothing new, but somehow, more
intense. Painful.
    When my eyes came open, Logan’s hands were
cradling my face. My fists were pressed hard against my chest and
stomach; I felt like retching.
    “ Are you okay?” Logan asked
softly.
    I took a deep breath, forcing it past the
constriction of my chest. We were stopped, pulled over on a side
road. I raised a trembling hand to Logan’s, managed a nod.
    He lowered his hands, but kept mine in his.
“We can go back.”
    “ No,” I said. We were
running out of time. They were getting closer, the prophecies were
hurting me. Warning me. “I have to do this, Logan. It has to be
now.”
    He didn’t speak, only watched me for a moment
longer before turning back to the wheel. And he kept hold of my
hand.

Chapter Six
    Confessions
     
    By the time we reached the archives, I’d
recovered from the vision. I suspected the entire episode had
rattled Logan more than he let on. He paced the back wall, letting
me work in silence for about an hour before he subtly began
checking on me. The third time he crossed in front of the table, I
looked up at him; fingers laced behind his back, eyes darting from
wall to ceiling. Maybe he was just bored.
    “ Logan?”
    His gaze flicked to mine, and I bit my lip.
He couldn’t help, I needed something to spark an idea or a vision.
No one could help with that, it was all me.
    He must have seen the conflict in my
expression.
    “ Don’t worry, Brianna,” he
said. I offered him a sarcastic smile and he leaned against the
chair across from me. “It will probably all work out.”
    Probably. That was the best
I could do, when so much … when everything was on the line. I leaned
forward. “And what if it doesn’t?”
    He sighed. “Well, then I suppose we should
enjoy it while it lasts.”
    I stared at him for a long, motionless while,
when suddenly the corner of his mouth turned up.
    It was plain he was trying to make me feel
better, and if I was honest, I supposed it did. A little.
    “ Can I ask you