TELL ME THE TRUTH

Chapter Thirteen

Jeanne Saunier

2013

I woke up with a shriek. Ryan was crouched beside the bed, worry etched across his face. "Jeanne," he breathed.

"I'm okay," I lied.

He arched a brow at me. "What happened?"

"I had a vision. At least, I think I had a vision." I pushed a hand through my hand. "Ah, hell, I don't know, Ryan."

"Start from the beginning."

I took a deep breath before starting. I explained everything, from the moment I started feeling dizzy until I woke up. I told him about whatever I did to identify the magic that had created it. I left nothing out.

By the time I finished, Ryan was pacing my room. Tension rolled off of him in waves. "I don't like this," he said. "Where did you find the journal?"

"In the tunnels under the shoppe. They were in a box with Evangeline's journals."

He picked up the journal and held it between his hands. His eyes and mark glowed for a few moments.

"She enchanted the journal so that you'd have that vision when you read it. She wanted you to see what happened to her, how she died." He stopped pacing and looked at me. "What I don't understand is why. Why put you through that?"

I shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

"We need to call the Consulere. The older ones knew her much better than I did," he said, opening a portal into the corridor outside Mama's athenaeum.

"Wait."

He stopped, his foot already raised to step through the portal.

"Can we go somewhere else?" I asked in a small voice. "Maybe the bunker?"

Ryan let out a sigh. I could see the thought working behind his eyes. I'm sure the athenaeum would be more professional, probably even a much better location to meet at, but I just didn't feel up to it to be surrounded by memories.

I just couldn't do it today.

I was already so worn out from all that had happened. The vision from Camden, the journal, the vision from Mama...

It was just too much.

"Please?" I begged.

He swiped his hand in front of the portal, and it disappeared, leaving only a fine blue shimmer in the air. "You can't avoid the athenaeum forever, Jeanne. It's an important meeting place for us. It's protected. Any resource we could ever need is already there. If we meet in your bunker, we don't have wards. We don't have all the books that have been collected through the years."

"I know, Ryan," I forced out, my voice so quiet even I could barely hear it. "Today just isn't the day. I need time. Today has been pretty crazy so far, and it's about to get even crazier."

He nodded. "Okay, Jeanne. Today, we'll have them come to the bunker. You need to come to terms with using your athenaeum, though. There will be times when we'll need the protection that the athenaeum offers."

My shoulders drooped. "I know, okay? Just give me a little time."

He opened another portal, this time to the bunker that I had become so accustomed to. I had spent much of my spare time in that bunker, so much so that it had become a second home for me. If I had to meet a bunch of new people, this would be the best place for it.

I followed him through the portal, my skin tingling with the magic that followed the storm. That dangerously wild magic that was somehow still calm at the same time. Even after all that had happened today, it still made my heart race. It still affected me in ways that I would never admit.