I went back into the bedroom and found Elyssa wearing a pair of short-shorts and a black tank top. Her curves pressed against the fabric, offering a tantalizing preview of what treasures they concealed. I stopped dead in my tracks and gazed for an awestruck moment before remembering something I'd wanted to ask her earlier. "You packed enough clothes for school?"

She looked up from fluffing her pillow. "Since when have I ever gone anywhere unprepared?"

"Yeah, yeah, stupid question, I know." I slipped out of my clothes and into a pair of shorts from my duffel bag while Elyssa made appreciative comments and wolf-whistles. My face burned by the time I hopped into the bed.

"Aw, are you shy?" she said, snuggling up to me under the covers.

A certain part of my body reacted immediately to her soft warmth.

She giggled. "Ooh, something's not shy."

"That's not under my control," I said, trying to think about baseball, chess, or even Coach Burgundy to banish my embarrassing situation.

"I wish we didn't have people with preternatural hearing outside the door," she whispered, a pouty frown tugging at her face. Her lips found mine as she pressed harder against me.

My inner demon slammed against its cage and I pulled away breathing hard. "That's it. I'm getting us a hotel room."

She rolled her eyes. "How romantic. Maybe you can get us one of those places that charges by the hour."

"As if this place is more romantic?"

"It's naughty for sure."

"Not with my dad in the next room." A yawn cracked my jaw.

"Poor baby. You must be exhausted."

I snuggled against her and decided cuddling with Elyssa was better than anything else in the world. "I am." My heavy limbs seemed to sag even further against the bed.

She kissed me on the forehead. "Goodnight, sweet prince."

I snapped awake just before six in the morning. The alarm on my cell phone hadn't blared its morning greeting yet so I switched it off. Elyssa lay on her right side, facing me and breathing gently. She looked so beautiful asleep. Technically, she looked beautiful to me all the time, but there was something about the peaceful serenity of her sleeping face that reclaimed the lost innocence being a Templar had stolen from her.

My finger reached out to trace her cheek. Her hand snapped painfully tight around my wrist and she sprang to her knees, the other fist cocked and ready to fly.

"Good morning?" I said uncertainly.

Her wide eyes went back to normal. She released my wrist and offered a sheepish laugh. "Sorry. Reflexes."

"What in the world was that? A ninja wakeup assault? Your parents must have done evil things to you while you were asleep."

She shuddered. "Templar training is not kind. Although the Divinity grants supernatural gifts to noms and preternaturals alike, you have to hone those skills razor sharp."

"You and Underborn spoke a little about this Divinity being. He said people blessed by the Divinity can't die."

"Not of starvation or thirst or natural causes. We can still die by plenty of other means as you should know."

My mind flashed to the cave where I had almost lost Elyssa. Where I'd almost killed her by draining her essence. I remembered seeing the light in her eyes flicker out and a knife seemed to twist in my heart. Somehow, I'd pushed essence back into her and brought her back.

"Do you remember being dead?" I asked.

She shook her head and got up, heading for the shower. "I-I don't remember a thing. I don't think I was dead anyway, just very close to it."

The way she stumbled on her words made me wonder if this was the truth. But why would she lie about such a thing? "Is there something you're not telling me?"

She pulled clothes from her knapsack and smiled reassuringly. "Why would you think that?"

I blurred from the bed and gripped her shoulders. Stared deep into the ultraviolet glow in her eyes I had almost snuffed out. "I remember someone telling me to never lie to them. Ever. Hiding something counts as a lie, in case you're wondering."

A large tear welled like a shimmering crystal and tumbled slowly down her fair cheek. "Please don't make me say it," she said, another tear falling down her other cheek. "If I don't say it, it won't come true. It was a dream. Just a dream." Her voice faded to a whisper.

"Saying or not saying something won't make it any less true, my love." My own eyes burned as salty tears tried to force their way out. Seeing Elyssa like this swelled my heart with tenderness and pain.

"When I was...dead or unconscious, this beautiful blonde woman came to me. The way she carried herself reminded me of a queen. And she wore this fake angel outfit, with white wings and a wire halo. Everything around me was black as pitch except for this huge marble slab I was sitting on. The woman glowed pure white." Her brow furrowed and she shook her head.

"What?"

"I don't know. It's just-her glow would dim and look kind of orange, and then it would come back. I don't know if it matters, but it was so strange. So surreal." She looked at me. "A dream, right? I mean it was so loony and all."

"Did she say anything? Say why she wore an angel costume?" I didn't see what about this made her so sad.

"She told me you would die. She said our love was never meant to be."

A trap door opened under my heart and it dropped like a rock into an abyss. "Hopefully it was just a dream." I smiled-fake as a three dollar bill-and kissed her. "I wouldn't worry about it."

She pressed her face to my chest, wetting my skin with her hot tears. "I won't let it happen, Justin. I won't."

More than anything else, I wanted to believe my fierce warrior girl could prevent it from happening. But deep inside I knew it was wishful thinking. And keeping her close to me might spell out her death warrant. But I was feeling greedy. Selfish. If I was going to die, I wanted to spend every last minute with her. I knew such wishes weren't possible either, but I planned on being with her as much as I could until whatever happened, happened. Screw Foreseeance 4311.

I kissed her on the forehead. "Where did we put the folder Underborn gave us?"

"I tossed it."

I felt my eyes expand. "You what?"

"I took the sheets from it and folded them up. Easier to carry."

"You enjoy giving me heart attacks."

A smile broke through her tears. "You're too easy." She withdrew several folded sheets of paper and flattened them on the bed. "Are we going to school or looking at this, because I need to get ready."

"Yeah, we're going to school," I said. "We'll figure this thing out later."

I glanced over the sheets of paper. One was a list, the others filled with rambling sentences. Despite my doubts, I was curious to go over them at length, so I refolded them and jammed them into the pocket of the jeans I planned to wear. I spotted the crumpled shopping bag from the Grotto as well and slipped a few of the spider marbles into a pocket, just in case I had the chance to bust one over Principal Perkin's head.

Elyssa headed for the bathroom, stopped, and winked as she closed the door behind her. I slipped on a shirt and shorts and went into the common room. Dad stood at the counter, cooking some breakfast.

He looked up from the bowl of eggs he was beating and smiled. "Feeling better?"

"Yep." I touched the back of my neck. "How's the mark?"

"Gone." His arm blurred with speed as he whipped the eggs into a froth. He set the bowl down and dipped some bread into it. "French toast?"

My stomach grumbled. "Heck yeah. Make some for Elyssa, too?"

He chuckled. "I hope you guys were careful last night."

I quirked an eyebrow. "Obviously we were or we wouldn't have made it back in one piece."

An amused smile tugged on his lips. "No, I meant careful in there."

Atomic heat spread from my face and worked its way into my chest. My eyelids parted like the Red Sea. "Nothing happened." I shuddered. "Not to be mean, Dad, but it's not something I want to talk about. Not with you, anyway."

"There's nothing wrong with it, son. I just want you to be responsible. There's nothing better than a healthy sexual relationship."

I fended off his words, shoving the air with my hands. "Gross, Dad! Don't even start talking about the 's' word." His words made me think of him and my mom and-I tried to think about Coach Burgundy's purple-veined face again. Something about his ugly mug overwhelmed all sorts of unpleasant thoughts. Maybe I could use his face to banish hellhounds.

Dad laughed. "I understand how you feel. And I won't bring it up again unless you want me to."

"As in never."

"You want bacon?"

I nodded, eager to be off the current subject, though the thought of mom dampened my mood a bit. I walked around the counter and put a hand on Dad's shoulder as he set bacon in a pan. I could see his thoughts had wandered the same direction as mine from the grim set of his face and the sadness in his eyes.

"We're coming up with a plan to get Mom and Ivy, and you'll be included," I said. "Promise me you won't go Rambo on us again in the meantime."

His fist clenched tight, cracking his knuckles with loud pops and he stared forlornly at the bacon. "Maybe you shouldn't include me." His shoulders slumped and it seemed all the air just went out of him. "I'm a failure, Justin."

"Don't say that."

"I'm a failure. Twice now I've almost been the cause of your death. Once with the vampires, and now with the damned Underborn." He leaned back against the counter and rubbed a hand down his face. "I've hardly been a father to you since Alice left."

"Don't you for one minute blame yourself for this mess," I said. "If it wasn't for Elyssa, I'd probably be dead now. She's the one who helped me rescue you. She's the one who comes up with inventive ways to keep me alive." I slapped him on the shoulder. "We're men of action, Dad! There's nothing wrong with that at all. And once Elyssa comes up with a brilliant plan, we'll have Mom and Ivy back in no time. Heck, maybe we'll even get Shelton to set us up with one of his fancy hideouts."

"I'm gonna what?" Shelton said, sitting up from the couch where he'd apparently been dozing.

Dad laughed the way someone does when they're trying not to cry. I knew exactly how he felt. "I'll wait," he said. "I promise. No more heroics on my part."

I held out my hand. "Shake on it?"

He gripped my hand firmly and gave it a shake. "What's on the agenda today?"

I grimaced. "School."

His face went from amused to confused in a heartbeat. "Why? Isn't that a dangerous place to go right now?"

"I have a few loose ends to tie up." I didn't dare tell him Underborn required it of me.

"Can I help?"

"I'm afraid this is all on me."

"No heroics though, right?"

I grinned. "Nope. Just straightforward bedlam."

Shelton staggered over, his eyes bloodshot and hair sticking out in a dozen different directions. "Coffee," he groaned.

Dad poured a mug full and handed it to him.

Shelton sipped it and moaned. "Heaven."

I chose that moment to look at him and say, "By the way, Underborn says hello."

Chapter 32.

Shelton stopped mid-sip and closed his eyes as if hoping when he opened them again, I'd be gone. Since I didn't know any disappearing tricks yet, I was still there when he opened them.

"That son of a bitch." He shook his head slowly. "He told me to keep my mouth shut and then he goes and tells you, huh?"

His reply confirmed what I'd been thinking even if Underborn hadn't said a thing about it. "What amazes me is how much you went through to see his little trial to the end."

"I didn't know it was a trial. Not at first. When someone like Underborn tells you to do something, you do it."

"And you didn't give a crap what happened to us."

"Not before I knew you." He blew on the steaming coffee and pulled up a stool.

"You're saying Shelton was in on the bounty from the beginning?" Dad asked. "Everything we've been through was a test?"

"I'll let you explain, Shelton," I said, hoping to hear a few details he might otherwise leave out.

"I posted the bounty for Underborn. He told me I'd have first dibs on bringing you in."

"Did he tell you where to find us?"

He shook his head. "No, I found out on my own." He pursed his lip for a moment. "At least I think I did. Who knows? Maybe Underborn planted information for me to find. In any case, he tooled me just like he tooled you."

"When did you know what Underborn was up to?"