“And will they wake up again?”

“I don’t think they’re the ones you need to worry about right now,” Riley said as a shadow emerged from beside the car. Garret leaned against the front door and crossed his arms, doing the whole on-watch thing. “But if you’re asking if I killed them...no, I didn’t. I’m not quite the monster Talon would have you believe.” His smirk widened. “Actually, I find that kind of ironic, considering the circumstances.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m sure you don’t.”

Dante shook his head. “Well, this is getting us nowhere.” He turned away from Riley, as if dismissing him, and looked at me. “You obviously went through a lot to get to me, so I assume you want something. What can I do for you?”

I swallowed. “The town in Arkansas,” I began. “We know Talon was involved, and we know that story about the plane crash is a cover-up. We also know that the evidence collected at the site was sent here, to you.” No change in Dante’s expression; he regarded me with a practiced blank, pleasant expression that gave no hint to his thoughts or feelings. “Why did Talon attack that community?” I asked in a harder voice. “Why did they kill all those people? What are they planning now?”

“Ember,” Dante said in a reasonable tone, “listen to yourself. I don’t know where you got your information, but you’ve obviously jumped to the wrong conclusion. You’re accusing Talon of murdering an entire town, dozens of people, when for centuries, everything we have done has been to remain hidden and avoid detection. Why would we risk that kind of discovery?” He laced his fingers together on his knee, giving me a slight frown. “I assume you witnessed Miranda on the news. She was only there to make certain the humans would not discover our existence. It’s a standard precaution.”

“But why would she need to be there at all?” I demanded. “Why would Talon need to cover something up, if they weren’t involved?”

“There was a Talon agent on the plane that crashed,” Dante explained calmly. “The plane was one of ours, and it was carrying jet fuel to one of Talon’s bases on the eastern coast. Sadly, the agent on board was killed in the explosion with the rest of the community, but we still needed to send Miranda to investigate and remove any evidence that could point back to us. Again, standard precaution. Talon is protecting its interests and covering the truth of our existence, as they have always done.”

I hesitated. His explanation sounded perfectly reasonable, though I knew I shouldn’t believe him.