a bag and tweezers. She knew who it was. Her teeth ground together as she made herself keep her attention on the evidence.
Jack withdrew quickly, giving her the space she needed to lean forward and follow her senses to … yes. Right there.
She plucked a thin strand of something out of the blood and smeared it into the bag.
“Hair?” Camille asked from behind her.
“No idea.” Andy harvested the other strand she had detected, and this time she brought it closer, looked at it, and let her water touch it more completely.
The world around her shivered.
Then it blurred.
A picture expanded in her mind like a watercolor filling itself in, center to edges.
What the hell—?
What am I seeing?
The image tried to take over her awareness, and her lips moved almost outside her control.
“Arms … too big. Legs … not human. The rage. Ah, God, the rage!”
So betrayed. The energy seethed off the hair, hatred pure and cold. And determination to destroy every living thing in its path.
Andy rocked backward, lost her balance, and would have splattered all over the warehouse floor if someone hadn’t caught her by the waist.
The hands steadying her felt strong as iron, yet gentle and caring, and new rivers of emotion flowed into her. Completely selfless concern. Gut-level apprehension. Genuine warmth and respect. It was enough to make her legs wobble. Her breath caught so deep she coughed, and she pulled away from Jack Blackmore so fast she almost fell a second time.
Camille got her by the arm and steadied her, then pulled her away from Jack and the body they had been examining.
Andy held herself like she’d been broken open, like her insides might burst through to the outside world.
I’m a cracked dam .
Her awareness spun. Images from the past, from this morning, from now washed through her mind, and she saw other pictures, too, of herself, of her quad, of Jack, of people she knew, the same but changed in ways she couldn’t understand. They were nothing but fast snapshots rising out of water, then turning and vanishing below the surface again.
She could hear herself breathing, feel herself swaying as Camille’s grip on her arm tightened.
“You okay?” Camille asked as Bela and Dio hurried over.
“I’m not sure.” Andy’s mouth felt numb as she spoke.
“I saw something, but I don’t know what it was. I didn’t expect it.”
She didn’t say the rest, but it screamed through her mind.
And I didn’t expect him.
The plugged-in connection to Jack Blackmore and his emotions at the moment he touched her. The oh-so-undeniable confirmation from her own Sibyl abilities that maybe, just maybe, Jack wasn’t ugly on the inside. Once more she was way too aware of him standing close to her, but relieved and a little surprised that he didn’t shove his way past her quad to act on the worry steaming out of him like locomotive exhaust.
She heard male voices murmuring, but Jack said, “Let them do what they do. No medical examiner will find more, and the ME will miss all the paranormal traces. They’ll tell us if they need our help.”
“What is it?” Bela reached Andy, appraising her with the dark, steady eyes of a mortar and filling Andy with soothing earth energy. “What did the hair show you?”
“A—an—I don’t know. It looked and felt human or human-like, but it wasn’t. The composition was wrong.”
Dio jogged to a stop beside Andy, obviously hearing her explanation because she said, “What the hell does that mean? What about its composition?”
“It wasn’t natural.” Andy glanced around the warehouse, glad it was coming into full focus again. “Whatever left those hairs behind, it’s not human, but not natural paranormal, either. I can’t say it any better than that.”
“Unnatural paranormal?” Dio’s confusion showed on her face, and Bela and Camille looked just as perplexed. “What does that look like?”
Andy thought about Elana again and all of her lessons in the
Jack withdrew quickly, giving her the space she needed to lean forward and follow her senses to … yes. Right there.
She plucked a thin strand of something out of the blood and smeared it into the bag.
“Hair?” Camille asked from behind her.
“No idea.” Andy harvested the other strand she had detected, and this time she brought it closer, looked at it, and let her water touch it more completely.
The world around her shivered.
Then it blurred.
A picture expanded in her mind like a watercolor filling itself in, center to edges.
What the hell—?
What am I seeing?
The image tried to take over her awareness, and her lips moved almost outside her control.
“Arms … too big. Legs … not human. The rage. Ah, God, the rage!”
So betrayed. The energy seethed off the hair, hatred pure and cold. And determination to destroy every living thing in its path.
Andy rocked backward, lost her balance, and would have splattered all over the warehouse floor if someone hadn’t caught her by the waist.
The hands steadying her felt strong as iron, yet gentle and caring, and new rivers of emotion flowed into her. Completely selfless concern. Gut-level apprehension. Genuine warmth and respect. It was enough to make her legs wobble. Her breath caught so deep she coughed, and she pulled away from Jack Blackmore so fast she almost fell a second time.
Camille got her by the arm and steadied her, then pulled her away from Jack and the body they had been examining.
Andy held herself like she’d been broken open, like her insides might burst through to the outside world.
I’m a cracked dam .
Her awareness spun. Images from the past, from this morning, from now washed through her mind, and she saw other pictures, too, of herself, of her quad, of Jack, of people she knew, the same but changed in ways she couldn’t understand. They were nothing but fast snapshots rising out of water, then turning and vanishing below the surface again.
She could hear herself breathing, feel herself swaying as Camille’s grip on her arm tightened.
“You okay?” Camille asked as Bela and Dio hurried over.
“I’m not sure.” Andy’s mouth felt numb as she spoke.
“I saw something, but I don’t know what it was. I didn’t expect it.”
She didn’t say the rest, but it screamed through her mind.
And I didn’t expect him.
The plugged-in connection to Jack Blackmore and his emotions at the moment he touched her. The oh-so-undeniable confirmation from her own Sibyl abilities that maybe, just maybe, Jack wasn’t ugly on the inside. Once more she was way too aware of him standing close to her, but relieved and a little surprised that he didn’t shove his way past her quad to act on the worry steaming out of him like locomotive exhaust.
She heard male voices murmuring, but Jack said, “Let them do what they do. No medical examiner will find more, and the ME will miss all the paranormal traces. They’ll tell us if they need our help.”
“What is it?” Bela reached Andy, appraising her with the dark, steady eyes of a mortar and filling Andy with soothing earth energy. “What did the hair show you?”
“A—an—I don’t know. It looked and felt human or human-like, but it wasn’t. The composition was wrong.”
Dio jogged to a stop beside Andy, obviously hearing her explanation because she said, “What the hell does that mean? What about its composition?”
“It wasn’t natural.” Andy glanced around the warehouse, glad it was coming into full focus again. “Whatever left those hairs behind, it’s not human, but not natural paranormal, either. I can’t say it any better than that.”
“Unnatural paranormal?” Dio’s confusion showed on her face, and Bela and Camille looked just as perplexed. “What does that look like?”
Andy thought about Elana again and all of her lessons in the
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