Read Vision in Trust (Legends of the North #2) for Free Online Page A

of bitterness in her own voice and hated it.
    "Calm down, Jess. It’s still Emma’s house too and we actually came to speak to you," Matt said as he pulled out the chair beside her and took a seat. "Your last vision. You said you were in a field. Was it the field behind Altenbury Hall or the one in front of James's cottage?"
    Jess thought about it but knew where she had been. "I was outside James's cottage. Why?"
    "But you never saw James?" Matt continued, ignoring her question.
    Jess shook her head. "No, there was no one around until ... until ..." She nodded in Rob's direction, but couldn't look at him.  
    "What are you thinking, Matt?" Emma asked as she turned the oven down low then sat back down in the chair opposite Jess.  
    Matt leaned back, glanced towards Rob, and shrugged. "Do you remember your vision of the rosebush, Emma? The one that led us to find James in the vault? Maybe Jess's vision is leading us to him too."
    Jess looked at Matt for a long time, and the silence seemed to grow louder. She remembered telling Emma that she wasn't crazy for having visions, but Jess felt like she was then. She saw Rob dying, and that would lead her to find her dead brother? If it were happening to someone else, she'd suggest they seek medical help. She was the one who had wanted to look for James though, so why was she hesitating? Nodding, she grabbed her coat from the hook. Waiting around wasn't going to make it seem any less crazy.
    ***
    Jess followed Rob and Matt down the lane, Emma at her side, and a feeling of déjà vu between them. As they neared the vault, her heart rate picked up and she increased her pace, moving closer behind Matt.  
    He stopped as he came level with the oak tree, the strange carved face still in place, but that wasn't what he was looking at. Jess saw Emma shudder next to her, and then place her hand on Matt's back. At her touch, he turned to look at Emma.  
    "What is it?"  
    Matt pulled Emma into his side and pointed. Jess moved closer to see what he was pointing at, and Rob moved behind her to let her see better. He was so close she could feel the heat radiating from him and had to stop herself from stepping away. She forced her attention back to the tree when Matt spoke.
    "I don't remember this black ring being here before."
    Jess looked closer, noticing that, on the bark of the tree, there were black lines that made a dark circle around the trunk. There was a full circle, and then, higher up, the beginning of what looked to be another. Jess reached out to brush her fingers across it, but Matt knocked her hand out of the way.
    "Don't. You don't know what it is. It might be poisonous. I'll speak to the gardener about it," Matt said as he walked off.
    Jess felt Rob's hand on her back, urging her after Matt, towards James's cottage. She stumbled at his touch, and he gripped her waist, pulling her back towards his chest.
    "You okay?" Rob asked, his breath warm against her ear.
    "Yes," she said, so quietly she wondered if she'd actually said it out loud. The feel of his hard chest against her back had her mind and body fighting. Her body was telling her to relax back into his warmth, his shelter. Yet those hard planes scared her with how easily he could overpower her, how easily he could hurt her.
    "Come on," Matt called out, his voice breaking the moment. Jess stepped away from Rob and hurried to catch up with Matt and Emma.  
    The cottage, originally used by the servants of Altenbury Hall, looked quiet. There were no lights on inside but, as Jess got closer, she realised that all the curtains were closed. She reached out to grab Matt's arm. When he turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised in question, she asked, "What are we going to do?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "How are we going to get in?"
    Matt turned to look at Rob, jerking his thumb towards him. "He said we could break in."
    Rob's mouth dropped open. "I did not say that," he protested as he looked at Jess. "I said people can break in. I