Children of the Fallen: Bloodlines (BOOK #3)

Chapter 15: The Sword Thing

Victoria Brooks- Finley

As soon as I got the notification that my jet was ready I messaged Morgan and left Chloe to resume her texting with Sterling. With all that's going on it was nice to see her smiling at her phone.

Dead silence is what I endure the entire car ride and half of the plane ride with Morgan. She sat staring out the window at the night sky with her chin resting on her fist. "Did you ever get past it?" She suddenly asks breaking the silence.

At the sound of her voice I nearly break my neck to look at her. "Past what?"

"Your family. Watching them die like that, did you ever get past it?" She asks.

My lips part as my stomach ties itself in a knot thinking of what to say. "Not entirely." I say the unfortunate truth. "I got through the worst of it but it will always be a sore spot. A wound that never properly healed but to be honest I wouldn't know how to properly heal something like that."

She nods at me before turning her attention back to her window without another word. I glanced over to her every now and then and for the remaining 15 minutes of the flight her hand stayed on the back of her neck rubbing it deeply.

At nearly 5am I knock on the the back door of Zade and Jareth's bar with a silent Morgan as she has been since that one brief conversation. Zade looks through the tiny peephole and a second later the large metal door groans open. "What are you guys doing here?" He asks nervously looking over at Morgan.

I step in past him. "We need to talk. Is Jareth here?"

"I am here, what's up." Jareth says behind us with a scotch bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. His long wavy dark brown hair, let down and swaying as he saunters over to us. I nod my head in the direction of the stairs indicating that I need to go the Silent Room.

Down the stairs, Morgan- still silent follows me into the room with Zade and Jareth leading the way. I close the door and lock it as soon as everyone's in. "Why do we need to talk?" Jareth says sitting down on the arm of the couch while Zade plops down in the sectionals corner still anxiously eyeing Morgan. Every time she meets his stare he flicks his eyes away from her.

"Morgan has questions," I squint a little unsure what said questions entail. "And we have a favor to ask."

"What favor?" Zade asks warily, looking away from Morgan.

I walk around the coffee table, standing at the front of the room. "I've asked you this before- to track down Luciens dagger but I need you to try again."

"Why?" He asks with his eyes darting from me to Morgan.

"It's important. We need it, so work your magic and get it done." Morgan finally speaks.

Zade looks to me with worry and intense displeasure shining in his eyes, like he knows his and Jareth's secret is already known by Morgan. It is, so it's not a wrong assessment. "My magic can't track down Celestial items that's not how this all works." Zade responds with a lie hoping what he's starting to believe isn't true.

"I know you're both Celestials and you're a Celestial Witch." Morgan admits.

"You told her Victoria?" Jareth cuts in with a tone matching Zade's wide eyes.

"Yes, she did." Morgan says. "Your secrets safe don't worry. Can you track it?"

Zade, dumbfounded and betrayed runs a trembling hand over his face. "Why would you tell her?!"

"As I said..." Morgan raises her voice with ire lacing her tone. "Your secret is safe. Can you track the dagger?" She asks again.

Jareth sighs, disappointed as he puts his now empty glass down. "From what he said," he points to Zade, "Lucien's got some powerful spells on it to hide its location. He couldn't break through them. Maybe... if I let him channel my power on top of it, he could get somewhere."