Todos os capítulos de The Knowing in Her Blood: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

RubyThe gate was locked.Of course it was.Because apparently supernatural awakenings did not come with bolt cutters.I wrapped both hands around the cold metal and stared through it at the property beyond.The place didn't look like much.An old farmhouse sat maybe a hundred yards back from the road, barely visible through the trees. The porch sagged on one side. Paint had peeled away from the siding in long strips, and one upstairs window had been covered with plywood.A metal building stood farther behind it.No lights.No vehicles.Nothing moved.But the feeling coming from that house was so strong my teeth almost hurt."Well?" Dani whispered.I glanced at her."Well what?""Do your witch powers unlock gates?""They are not witch powers.""Fine. Does the Knowing come with locksmith services?""No.""Seems like an oversight."Levi was examining the chain."Would both of you shut up?"Dani looked at me."He's grumpy.""He's been that way since puberty.""I can hear you.""Good."No

EliasThe first thing they taught you was not to panic.Panic burned oxygen.Panic wasted energy.Panic made you stupid.I had learned that lesson twenty feet underwater with an instructor standing on my air hose.I'd learned it again in places where people spoke languages I barely understood and carried weapons they understood very well.And I'd learned it one more time when a roadside bomb flipped a vehicle hard enough to leave me hanging upside down by my harness, blood running into my eyes while the man beside me screamed for his mother.Panic never helped.Assess.Adapt.Act.That had kept me alive through the military.It had kept me alive through six years of law enforcement.And it had kept me from pressing the panic button hidden inside my belt when Earl Ray's men first put their hands on me.At the time, I'd thought it was the right decision.Now, tied up in the back of an SUV with three cracked ribs, a split lip, one eye swollen half shut, and two armed idiots discussing Ru

EliasThe first agent through the door almost got a gun pointed at his face.Not because I didn't recognize him.Because my body was still operating three seconds ahead of my brain."Mercer!"I lowered the weapon."Clear."Agent Cole stepped inside.Then stopped.His eyes moved from me...To the four men on the floor...To the shattered lights...To the gun embedded halfway beneath an overturned chair...Then finally to Ruby.He looked back at me."What the hell happened?"Good question.I had no fucking idea."Long story."Cole's eyebrows rose."You've been off-grid for three days, your panic beacon finally goes live, we track you to a wrecked SUV, and now we find you in what looks like the aftermath of a supernatural bar fight."Ruby crossed her arms."That's offensive."Cole looked at her."Which part?""The bar fight."He stared.I sighed."Cole, this is Ruby."His attention sharpened immediately.Too sharply.I noticed.Ruby noticed too.Of course she did.Her eyes narrowed."Why

The first thing I learned about preparing to walk willingly into a trap was that everybody had an opinion.The second was that every one of those opinions was apparently more important than mine.“No.”I looked at Elias.He looked back at me.“No?” I repeated.“No.”“That’s a real compelling argument you got there.”“I thought so.”Levi made a sound from somewhere behind us that might've been a laugh if he hadn't had enough sense to turn it into a cough.I cut my eyes toward him.He suddenly found the kitchen counter fascinating.Coward.The safe house had gone from quiet to crowded in less than an hour. Papers covered the little dining table. Clara's journals were stacked in uneven piles beside maps, photographs, and two cups of coffee nobody had touched because apparently kidnapping ruined everybody's appetite.Mine included.Mama's face kept flashing behind my eyes.Not a vision.Not the Knowing.Just memory.Her standing at the sink with her sleeves shoved to her elbows.Her fussi

“No.”This time it was me.Clara stared at me across the map.“What do you mean, no?”“I mean you're wrong.”“I wish I were.”“Mama doesn't have the Knowing.”“That doesn't matter.”“It matters a whole damn lot if Earl needs somebody to open a magical blood door.”Levi rubbed both hands over his face.“Can we please stop calling it a magical blood door?”Dani looked at him.“What would you prefer?”“I don't know.”“The Murder Basement?”“No.”“Grandma's Hell Cellar?”“Jesus, Dani.”“I'm brainstorming.”Under any other circumstances, I would've laughed.I couldn't.My eyes stayed on the map.Grandma Mae's property.I hadn't been there since the funeral.Couldn't.Everybody had expected me to.There were things to sort.Clothes to donate.Dishes.Furniture.A whole lifetime reduced to decisions about what stayed and what went.I made it through twelve minutes.Then I'd walked outside, sat on Grandma's porch steps and cried so hard Levi had taken the keys out of my hand because he didn't