The kid blinked, still wide-eyed, and yet curiously not afraid. “I know you,” he said in a voice that was little more than a cracked whisper.
Jon raised his eyebrows. “I doubt it—”
“No,” Evan cut in. “You were in my dreams. I tried to find Aunt Maddie, but all I saw was you. So I sent you to her.”
He remembered the force that had drawn him to Maddie. He’d known it was somehow connected to her, but up until now, hadn’t even thought about it being Evan himself. Psychic abilities obviously ran in the family. But which ones? And did Maddie know? Was that why she was so close to Evan?
He smiled to relieve the suddenly anxious look on the kid’s face. “Yes, you did.” He hesitated, then added, “Why were you trying to contact her via a dream? Why not simply phone her?”
“I couldn’t.”
Jon frowned. “Why not?”
“Because I couldn’t talk to anyone. Not about the dreams, not about the feeling I had that something bad was about to happen.” The kid frowned. “Every time I tried, it felt like someone was squeezing the words from my throat. It was weird.”
It wasn’t that weird—not if there was magic involved. “Do you know what has happened?”
Evan hesitated, then shook his head. “I remember waking, thinking it was really hot in the room. I was going to get up and open a window, but before I could, I saw a ghostly figure. Then something wrapped around me, and I can’t remember anything else.”
“How ghostly? Was it just mist, or a figure?”
He shrugged. “Bit of both. I couldn’t really tell if it was male or female, though.”
Meaning that Eleanor was either using the sylphs to kidnap the kids or using magic to get either her or Hank in and out of the rooms—and that was the reason the cops and the FBI had been unable to find any point of entry. Magic didn’t need an entry point, and neither did the sylphs. And while they couldn’t force flesh and blood through walls, it would be easy enough for one of them to open and close a window. But at least the kid had no memory of events after being taken—that was something to be thankful for. “Well, some bad people kidnapped you, but Maddie and I got you out.”
“But where’s Aunt Maddie now?” Evan sat straight up in bed, his face white with fear.
Jon wondered whether it was the normal anxiety of a kidnapped kid wanting to be safe in the arms of his family or the fear of a psychic who knows a loved one is in terrible danger.
What in hell is happening to her? He swallowed a sudden rush of tension and walked across the room. Kneeling next to the bed, he placed a calming hand on the kid’s shoulder—even though calm was the last thing he felt himself. “She isn’t here. I have to go get her, as soon as we have some protection for you.”
Evan stared at him, his amber eyes dark with fear. So like Maddie’s, Jon thought, and he knew he’d have to move soon, before the wait drove him mad. “They have her,” Evan whispered. “They’ll hurt her.”
If they did, they’d pay. He forced a smile, even though Evan was smart enough to see past it.
“I’ll bring her back. I promise.”
Evan stared at him, then solemnly nodded. “I believe you.”
Jon wished he believed it. “Evan, how long have you been dreaming?”
The kid shrugged. “Ages. Sometimes I dream about things in the future and sometimes about things in the past.”
“And you can’t do anything else?”
Evan frowned. “Like what?”
“Move things around with a thought.” Or light fires when he was afraid.
He shook his head. “Nothing like that—although it would be a pretty cool ability to have.”
Jon smiled. “Why haven’t you told anyone about the dreams?”
“Because they’re just dreams.”
“Dreams that sometimes come true.”
The kid shrugged. “Yeah, but who’s going to believe me?”