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She was thin, impeccably dressed, with the kind of face that h cheekbones, strong yet fee eyes Given that set of features, randmother didn’t She looked hard and vicious, like a velociraptor in human skin Even her platinu to soften the impact Vulnerable or unsure weren’t even in her vocabulary And when she turned to glower at Rogan, I saw my father in her profile They had the saan stepped forward on ht
"This farce has gone on long enough," Victoria announced "That child is s toto you or anyone else"
"She petitioned the State of Texas for recognition of her powers," the Keeper said "She’s in the book It is done"
"Linus?" she ground out
"I’m a witness," Duncan said "I’m honor bound to protect her, Victoria You kno this works"
Victoria Tre her out of here"
"I’m afraid I can’t allow that" The Keeper’s eyes turned completely black No white remained
Darkness shivered in the alcoves between the books and grew, slithering across the walls, sing the light, a living terrible darkness An ancient pri Every hair on the back ofbright against the rising black tide that s
"You know the rules, Victoria," the Keeper said, his voice pure ic "You will have no contact with any member of the Baylor family You’ll make no effort to disrupt these trials We wouldn’t want any unpleasantness"
Rage shivered in the corners of lared at aze stabbed at Rogan "You should’ve returned my calls You think you have her, but you’ll never keep her She’ll duets a request"
She turned around and marched out, her human Rottweilers in tow
"Well, that was tense," Linus Duncan said He opened a billfold, took a card out of his wallet, and offered it to me It had no name, only a phone number "In case you need help or advice Call any time"
"Thank you" I took the card
The darkness vanished The Keeper smiled at me "It was a pleasure toyou We’ll be there in case of any problean and I didn’t speak the whole way to the car Outside, the sun had set and the bottomless Texas sky spread above us, an upside-down black ocean studded with stars We got into the car, and Rogan drove out of the parking lot
The night city slid pastin raphy on the page of an ancient book, the raptor stare ofIt didn’t seelanced at Rogan There was this odd distance between us He was there, in the car with er
"She called you?" I asked finally
"She left a e," he said
I waited but he didn’t elaborate "What did she say?"
"That if I helped her bring you into House Treive you towith that plan?"
"You would if she had your sisters Or youra knife to your one, and I got Mad Rogan instead: cold, calculating, cruel when he had to be
"And the Scroll?"
"The Scroll is one of the three main DNA databases," he said "You will be required to submit a sample to the Keeper to prove that you and Catalina are sisters Once the sample is submitted, you must choose a database They will sequence your entire faenetic matches for future spouses?"