“Yeah, you and the rest of the world,” Dog sneered. “Good luck there.”
Stygian snarled in fury, tore across a shallow creek bed and fought to right the vehicle as he all but forced it up the sharp, uneven incline.
The Dragoon wasn’t meant for the speed or the terrain he was using it against, but he had little choice. He had to get to Liza. He had to get to her before Cassie did, and he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell…
Cassie tilted her head to the side and regarded the older woman that stepped into the sitting area of the suite she and her father, Dash, had been shown to, from the connecting bedroom.
Immediately, her gaze went beyond Liza Johnson to the hazy form of a young woman, of approximately the same age, that moved behind her. The form had long blond hair, gray eyes, higher cheekbones and her lips were more lush, but with a slight resemblance to the woman known as Liza Johnson.
The flow of natural, sun-kissed hair was like a halo around the spirit’s head, while her gray eyes watched Liza with a mixture of sadness and fear. This was the real Liza Johnson, Cassie sensed. The woman the young girl would have become had she not died in a fiery crash at the bottom of a canyon.
“Liza Johnson,” Rule Breaker—God love his heart but she did love his name—stepped forward for the introductions. “Dash Sinclair and his daughter, Cassie.”
Liza stopped in the middle of the room, watching them warily, her darker gray eyes moving between the three of them before they settled on her. Cassie sensed the flash of trepidation.
“I see you’ve already heard about me.” Cassie sighed as her gaze moved to the misty form of the young girl now standing close beside Liza.
“It’s nice to meet you both.” Liza extended her hand to accept the handshake Cassie extended, before taking Dash’s proffered hand as well.
Her father was still as handsome as he had been the day he had rescued her and her mother, Cassie thought, but this was one of the rare times that a woman hadn’t sighed in appreciation of her father’s rough, dangerous good looks.
“A very nice avoidance of my statement.” Cassie laughed.
“Don’t taunt her, Seer,” the spirit chastised her. “She’s facing more than you could understand.”
Spirits chastised her often these days.
“Yes, Ms. Sinclair, I’ve heard of you.” Liza nodded, her gaze darkening, not with fear, but with a flash of resignation instead. “If you’re looking for Stygian—”
“No, I’m here to meet you,” Cassie assured her before turning to her father. “Dad, I’m sure I’ll be fine now,” she promised him. “Could Ms. Johnson and I chat for a minute, privately?”
Her father scowled at her.
“You shouldn’t be here. You’re going to ruin everything. Go away. I’ll find you later.”
Yes, the spirits had learned to do just that. This one had been calling out to her, though. Cassie had sensed it even before Stygian had requested her presence. She’d sensed this spirit since the moment she had met him, knowing they were somehow tied together.
“I’ll be right outside,” her father promised her.
The spirit turned to Liza then. “Tell her to leave. You’re tired. You know Stygian will want you to wait for him before talking to this woman.”
A frown creased Liza’s brow. “We should wait for Stygian,” she said, though her jaw tightened and her gaze flashed in irritation at herself as she heeded the subconscious demand of the spirit at her side.
Cassie tucked her hands into the back of her jeans and watched the woman and the spirit with a heavy heart. “I’m here to help you, Liza.” She glanced at the spirit as she spoke before meeting the other woman’s gaze once again.
As she spoke, Cassie wasn’t surprised to see the dark-haired being that slowly wavered into view on the other woman’s left.
It was all she could do to hold back her shocked surprise as the spirit of Honor Roberts appeared, looking as she would have without the plastic surgery that made her look more like Liza Johnson. The alterations to her face weren’t drastic. An added fullness to her lips, a rounding of her aristocratic nose, her cheekbones had been sharpened, and her eye color darkened from blue to gray.
The two girls hadn’t looked much alike before the alterations, but just enough had been done to bring her closer to Liza Johnson’s facial features, while the differences between Honor and Liza had been explained away as damages that had to be corrected from the wreck.
It was obvious the spirit of the true Liza Johnson was weary. She was tired of lingering in the half state, not alive and yet not dead. While Honor Roberts appeared to be patient, if concerned, with Cassie’s presence.
“It isn’t time.” Honor Roberts shook her head as she watched Cassie worriedly. “You can’t do this right now.”
Oh, how she wanted to question these two, to learn the secrets they hid. To know their thoughts, their fears in that state; one held to the earth through ancient magic, the other kept silent, unable to take her rightful place within the body she was still held to, yet could not share.
“Liza, don’t you think it’s time we talked?” Cassie asked, holding the other woman’s gaze, wishing she could read her as easily as she could hear the two spirits standing to each side of her.
“Ms. Sinclair, I’m certain you’re here to help,” she said tensely. “But you’re not someone I can deal with right now. If I wanted to talk to any ghosts that followed me, then I have six tribal chiefs that would be more than willing to talk to me.”
“Oh yeah, right, like they’re going to give her any answers.” The young blonde beside her rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Those old geezers won’t even take her phone calls when she gets up the nerve to call them.”
“Are you certain they’re that willing to help?” Cassie asked as she withdrew her hands from her back pockets and moved to a nearby chair. “Have they been answering the calls you’ve made to them?”
Liza smiled faintly. “Jonas probably told you he compromised my phone the second he had the chance. He’s known all along I was trying to reach the chiefs.”
Cassie nodded at that as Liza sat slowly on the couch across from her.
“He didn’t mention it actually,” she said, her smile commiserating. “But knowing Jonas, I have no doubt he did just that. He’s very worried about Amber.”
“You could draw that damned Breed a road map and he’d still ignore the obvious,” the dark-haired vision cursed Jonas, as most fully living creatures did as well. “He wouldn’t listen if he could see and hear us, as well. He’s like one of those junkyard dogs that just refuse to let something go.”
“Amber’s his little girl.” The other vision sighed as she berated the darker one. “He can’t let this go, and you know it.”
“Just as you know that he’s refusing to see the truth,” Honor’s spirit stated irritably.
It was all Cassie could do to keep her expression from revealing her complete amazement at these two. It was no wonder the woman they knew as Liza Johnson couldn’t navigate her way through the drifting nightmares and fragmented memories to find the place she needed to be.
To remember.
“There is a time and a place, Cassie.” Honor’s spirit suddenly turned to her, the wavy, hazy figure all but glaring at her as though she had read her thoughts. “The time has not yet arrived.”
But the place was here? Was that what she meant?
“Ms. Sinclair, did you hear me?” the woman known as Liza questioned her, a hint of her irritation showing in her tone.