“I get it. I really do. But there’s no question in my mind that St. George’s is the safest place on earth for Sarah Beth. This new threat is global. The first target was the Q’ero tribe in the mountains of Peru! You can’t get any more remote than that. Don’t you get it? There is no running from this threat. Victor is not like some wandering bear. You can’t just hide and hope he’ll go away. The only way to stop him, to stop all the fear and uncertainty, is to end him. That’s what we’re trying to do. All of us—the Shepherds and the Watchers—we work together to guide and protect each other. Without the Watchers, the Shepherds are blind and impotent. Without the Shepherds, the Watchers are vulnerable and powerless. Everyone has a role to play. How and what that contribution looks like is different for each person, but it’s part of the deal. I think it’s important that you don’t create a false equivalency in your mind.”

“False equivalency . . . what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means if after the second attack, instead of joining, you guys had run away—had tried to go it alone and fly under the radar—you wouldn’t feel any more secure and confident about Sarah Beth’s safety than you do now. In fact, I’d argue that you’d all be basket cases by now—or more likely, you’d all be dead. This isn’t something where you just get a new name and move to a new town. You’re fleeing from dark, evil forces in a spiritual war, Rachel. How do you hide from demons who can invade your thoughts? And even if you could, that’s no way to live—always looking over your shoulder wondering when and how they were coming for Sarah Beth and how you would stop them when they did. There are over two hundred kids in that school with the gift of second sight, and their little antennae are always piqued. Ain’t no way nohow the Dark Ones are going to waltz onto that campus and take Sarah Beth in the night. It’s just not going to happen. As for your concern about the accelerated program and Sarah Beth being pressured into fieldwork, this is not the military and it’s not a dictatorship. She’s your daughter, your dependent. If you and David say no to fieldwork, then as far as the Shepherds are concerned, the answer is no.”

She nodded but he could tell she wasn’t convinced.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Jed,” she said, abruptly getting to her feet. “Thanks for the talk.”

“Yeah, sure, anytime,” he said awkwardly. As he stood to escort her out, he felt cheated of the catharsis that usually comes after a hard, soul-baring conversation like this. She’d not given him even a hint of absolution, and he found himself quietly resenting her for that.

But you didn’t ask for it either, did you?