“Are you okay?” Gideon asked, hanging up his phone. He cupped my chin and looked into my eyes. “That vision really took it out of you, didn’t it?”
I nodded. If I looked as bad as I felt, then I imagined my face was pretty pale at that moment. Even my favorite red lipstick wouldn’t hide the draining effect of a major vision.
“Have they contacted you yet?” he asked.
I sighed and pulled away. For the past four weeks, he’s been asking me the same question. He was worried that the Harpy Quorum – the HQ – would get wind of my location and come flying in like hawks for the kill. But so far, nothing. Not even a blip on the radar.
Maybe I was too little of a fish to fry. Or maybe they were biding their time. Either way, my head was about to burst with anticipation. At any moment, they could come swooping in and exact their punishment for failing to kill my brother. Harpy punishment wasn’t something to joke about, either. It usually involved slowly starving to death in isolation.
“No news is good news, right?” I asked, hoping for a bit of encouragement. Anything to get that feeling that someone was watching me out of my head.
Instead, his mouth twisted into a frown. “Maybe…”
“This wait is killing me.” I rolled my eyes to the ceiling to keep the frustrated tears from coming. “It might be worse than what they have planned for me. I can’t sit around doing nothing, worry that at any moment they’ll pop up and take me away.”
He stepped closer. “I won’t let that happen.”
“What if you can’t stop them?”
“I will.”
Gideon’s gaze fell heavy on my face. Lowering my eyes to his, a familiar heat began to burn in my stomach. He slid his hand down my neck and leaned in, pressing his lips to mine. I leaned into the kiss, wanting to grab the back of his jacket and pull him closer. But, I resisted. That kind of kiss could wait until we were back in my apartment.
“I have to go follow up on your tip,” he said, pulling away with a reluctant sigh. “But I’ll be at your place tonight.”
I watched him leave, the back of his leather jacket disappearing through the sliding glass doors of the exit. Duty calls. Nothing like dating a real life Superman. He could save the damsel and put away the bad guy. It was enough to make a girl swoon.
The familiar feeling of a vision coming on strong gave me just enough warning to brace myself against the counter. I cried out as the museum disappeared and in its place popped up a city street. Darkness was beginning to ascend on the road, leaving just enough light for me to watch a girl with long blonde hair exit a building and begin walking down the sidewalk.
With a jolt, I realized that girl was me. I was wearing my favorite tan jacket with a sequined tank underneath and had just finished closing up the museum. Out of nowhere, three people dressed in black descended on me, their majestic black wings unfurled.
Two of them shoved a bag over my head, pulling my arms behind me and forcing me to my knees. I screamed and kicked, but they held tight. The third person sprinkled a blue powder over my head. In an instant, my body gave out, collapsing to the cement like a ragdoll.
And just like that, the vision vanished and I was back in the museum lobby with my hands clutching the countertop. My legs shook in terror as I ran a clammy hand over my forehead. This was what we’d been waiting for. This had been my nightmare for seven years.
The harpies were coming for me. They wouldn’t stop, until I was dead.