Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(91)
“Are you ever going to tell me what the mother needed five years to teach you?” Sasha leaned across the table.
“She was preparing me for something she sees looming ahead. Something that could affect all of us. I can’t tell you more than that because I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s not set in stone, but I am trying to protect Lucien. This thing. It will change him. He will suffer. It is best if I keep my distance until I know what we are dealing with. If I can keep this from touching him, I will.”
“And have you told him any of this?”
“I can’t. It’s important that I keep this to myself. Although Mother Raghavan said I could share this much with you. She knew I would need someone to confide in. But you are dealing with enough. You don’t need my issues weighing you down.”
“You are my sister, Imogen El Sadawii. Anything that burdens you burdens me. I am always here for you, just as you were for me through these last difficult years.”
“I’d forgotten how very hard it is to come back to the real world.” Imogen frowned. “I am so sorry this happened to you, Sasha.”
“It’s okay. I’m dealing with it and one day it will get easier. For both of us.” Sasha reached for her sister’s hand, hating to see how much she was struggling. ”We should probably go before Liam gets violent.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me about that?” Imogen gestured at the paper in Sasha’s hand.
“This?” She glanced down at the note from Jayesh. “This is garbage.” Sasha balled up the letter and crushed it in her fist. If Jayesh thought he could get rid of her that easily, he was dead wrong.
~~~
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Sasha: Fall—The New Moon
Kelleys Island, Ohio
Sasha paced across her father’s silent office, waiting for her mother to pick up the phone. It was the middle of the night and the rest of the family were in the common room, discussing a plan of action to deal with the threat Allie saw in her vision. A plan that left Sasha behind with the other kids.
“Mom, you’re really going to make me sit here and do nothing?” Sasha asked as soon as her mother answered.
“Sweetheart, we can handle this,” Naeemah said gently. “Thanks to Allie’s warning we have time to prepare. You don’t need to be here for this battle. You are too young.”
“How can you say that after everything I’ve been through? I’m a Chola assassin, Mother. Not a child.”
“You are still my child.”
“But you let Darius fight with you. You know I feel closer to his age than the others.”
“I do understand how frustrating this is for you, but I still think of you as my little girl. Give me time to learn to see you as you see yourself.”
“What if we don’t have time for that, Mom? What if this is it? Allie just saw your execution! If you die, I will have to live with the knowledge that I could have helped.”
“I’m so sorry, Sasha. Your father and I are about to fight for our lives. I can’t be worried about my children. I need to know they are safe so I can come back to them in one piece.”
“If anything happens to you and Dad, I’ll never be able to forgive myself,” Sasha whispered. “Please, Mom. Let me fight with you.”
“You will stay in the underground with the others while we handle this threat. And that is my final word, Daughter.”
“I love you, Mom. Don’t … don’t die. I can’t bear it.”
“I love you too … I should have protected you better,” Naeemah whispered as she ended the call.
“I hate this!” Sasha threw her phone, shattering it against the door. She wasn’t the girl they remembered, yet they all treated her as if nothing had changed.
“Why so screechy?” Aidan asked, peeking around the doorway. “You done throwing things?”
“I can’t take this, Aidan.” Sasha shook her head in frustration.
“That’s why we’re leaving. Now.” He peered back down the hall, gesturing for her to follow. “The babysitters think we’re holding vigil in the Yard. Grandma Nadira says it’s the safest place for us while this thing is going down.”
“Then how are we— Have you lost your mind? We’re swimming out?” Sasha hissed as she followed him along the corridor to the Yard.
“It’ll be cold, but it’s the only way we can get out of here.”
Sasha nodded. The far end of the Yard opened into a low, dark cave where an underground river surged into the lake. The stock room there was full of weapons and supplies for an emergency exit but anyone would be crazy to leave the underground that way. Or desperate.
“What do you know?” Sasha demanded. Aidan had a front-row seat to Allie’s visions. “What isn’t Allie saying?”
Aidan halted at the entrance to the Yard. “If we don’t fight with Allie, people we love will die. So we’re going.”
“Good enough for me. Let’s go.”
~~~
“Get down!” Sasha called softly to the others, scrambling for cover behind a stand of oak trees. Their journey through the lake was terrifying … and cold. Sasha had never been so cold in her life. But the closer they got to her sister’s house the more focused Sasha became on the task ahead of them.