I glanced back over my shoulder. The blue-eyed boy stood a few feet away, tears trailing down his cheeks. Eli is the gift I bring you. Hear him. Keep him safe. He knows the way.

Marshall grabbed the boy’s arm and led him away.

A terrible urge to protect the child surged through me, but I knew there was nothing I could do for him in my position. I watched as he was escorted off. Nausea swelled in my stomach and I swallowed to keep it at bay.

My thoughts turned to the life growing inside me. The life I had just endangered by interacting with my father. How many laws had I broken because I allowed myself to be swept up in my father’s drama?

Be careful, Grace, Bobbie’s familiar voice warned. An echo in my mind alone. And then she was there, standing across the street, hidden in shadow, invisible to others because she was there only for me. To protect me, I thought. Against things coming. My father had come and brought the boy, Eli.

Protect your heart.

Even from the boy?

From everything.

Yes, I thought, protect my heart from everything.

Chapter
Eighteen

“THE PATIENT FELL INTO A COMA SEVERAL MINUTES after we began to administer care,” Dr. Charles said. “His vitals are stable, but there’s no telling when or if he’ll wake.”

I looked through the glass window that separated the clinic’s waiting room from one of three patient care rooms. My father lay alone and motionless on the white bed inside. Several monitors stood around him, reporting his steady vitals.

My mother stood beside me. She was still in shock over seeing her husband for the first time after so many years. Her eyes were glazed, her body rigid. I was a little surprised she’d rushed to the clinic after hearing he’d come. Maybe he hadn’t been as bad a man as she’d insisted.

Jamie lingered in the far corner of the waiting room, arms crossed, eyes pointed downward. He hadn’t said anything since arriving and had hardly looked at our father. I could only imagine the internal war taking shape in his mind. If Rose and Harrison hadn’t been in the room I may have asked him about it.

“Do we know where he came from?” Harrison asked, staring through the glass.

“We found his truck beyond the western border, recovered it and moved it to a secure spot inside the perimeter,” Claude answered. The first guardian on the scene, Claude was normally gentle and as loyal as they came. But when threats loomed, he knew his role. “The truck was clean. Mostly camping supplies and what you might expect from a long trip. Probably on the road for a while.”

“And the boy?”