Gypsy Rising (All The Pretty Monsters #5)(25)

“Can you run upstairs to the third floor and grab my toolbox?” Dad asks me, as he gets on the floor and starts doing something with the unsalvageable tile.

No one acknowledges us, since most everyone is hiding, and Shera’s still waiting behind the line of defense the Van Helsing knights will offer, like she’s the last line of defense for me.

I roll my eyes as I head up the stairs, wondering why he couldn’t have left his toolbox on the first floor instead of the third. This is really a lot of stairs.

“And go grab my specs from the fifth floor,” Dad calls again, his voice easily carrying. “I’m going to have my guy come out and make blueprints happen.”

“The fifth floor?” I yell over the edge of the third floor balcony, shaking my head. “Really?”

He shrugs unapologetically, resuming his tile examination directly after.

Until I reach the top floor, I don’t realize the stupidity of lugging the heavy toolbox up the stairs, when I have to lug it right back down after I grab whatever specs are.

“Room five-oh-eight,” he specifies.

“Stop announcing her location in here step by step,” Shera hisses.

“Found them,” I shout back down when I find his chicken scratch on yellow legal paper.

In the corner, next to the words Blueprint Guy, is a very familiar phone number. I glare at the number, because my Dad is being extra passive aggressive if this is really still Jerome’s number. My ex surely can’t be his blueprint guy. That would currently be very, very bad.

I pause as a breeze rolls through the broken window, chilling me more than it should. I turn, and my breath freezes in my lungs as my eyes land on someone who really shouldn’t be here.

“What’s wrong, Violet?” Anna asks very quietly, smirking. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Her head tilts to the other side as I just gape at her. “You’re the one who told me to find a way back.”

Everything tumbles from my hands at once.

As I stumble back a step, she grins and adds, “Looks like things are finally getting interesting around here. And you kept a lot of secrets from me.”

Anna.

Anna’s here.

Anna’s back from her second death.

Anna is…here.

“Ditto,” is all I manage to say on a quiet rasp.





CHAPTER 5





VANCE


AVERY: We’ve just reached the hotel, and I’m about to escort Ms. Carmine inside.



ME: Is her new phone working?



AVERY: Yes, sir.



Then why the bloody hell isn’t she answering any of my texts or calls?

“Everything points to her being near, but I can’t track her down,” I grind out, wiping the blood from my nose, as the migraine from this chase pounds on, stepping into dangerous aneurism territory that will put me down for days I can’t afford to lose right now.

“If she were in town, we’d know it. We’d sense it,” Damien argues as he sits up.

“Has Violet talked to any of you since she left Ireland?” I ask idly, as I wipe more blood from my nose, a byproduct of my latest loop break.

“She’s not listening to much reasoning, and she refuses to even hear what a stupid idea it is to essentially set up a House that Idun will destroy or take over,” Emit says absently, staring ahead at the wall. “She’s so na?ve, and Marta isn’t stopping her from painting herself a target.”

“Marta is still working an angle for Nadine’s backing. Her own agenda is more important than Violet. How is that not obvious?” Arion drawls.

All our phones go off at once, a message from Shera. It’s oddly a picture of the park across the street from them. Arion is suddenly out of the room, distracting me, as Emit frowns and pulls his phone back out.

“Fucking son of a bitch! Idun’s in front of the hotel,” Damien says as he darts out as well, just as a second image pops up before I can even play the game of finding Idun in the photo.

This picture is of Avery, pulling Violet back, as she just stares over at Idun like she’s simply a curious girl with no motherfucking clue.

“She has lost her fucking mind!” Emit snaps before he jumps to his feet.

The migraine disappears, and the focus goes so sharp in the next instant that I don’t even realize I’m in my car and halfway there, passing Arion’s blur of motion, as I max out my car’s speed for the first time.

It all slows down around me, as I weave in and out of traffic, effortlessly dodging everything. I skid to a halt, before I leap out of the car, leaving it abandoned just off the shoulder.

I ignore the honking horns as I walk across the street, and cars screech to a halt in front of me as I catch my first sight of Idun. She’s still exactly where she was in the image, only she’s taken a seat on the bench now.

Avery darts a worried look in my direction, as I continue walking toward her, not trying to raise her hackles.

A thousand years under and she just shows up in front of Violet’s place to sit and wait for us to arrive? Nothing feels right.

A chill rides up my spine, just before Arion is suddenly beside me, breathing a little heavy, as he keeps his eyes trained on her.

She picks at the sleeve on her right arm like she’s waiting for something.