She ignored my jibe and continued. "Tell David to stop coming after us. Our marriage is over and I never want to see him again."
Her words sank like a dagger into my midsection. I cried out at the pain and felt tears simmering behind my eyes. "What?" I pressed against the barrier. "Mom, what are you talking about?"
"From now on, my family consists of me, my daughter, and my parents. You, him, and your demon blood are to stay away from us. If I hear of either of you trying to find us, I'll formally request Templar intervention. Do I make myself clear?"
I leaned against the barrier for support and felt the hot sting of tears as they broke through the dam and ran down my face. "What's wrong with you, Mom? Why are you doing this?" Someone had to be controlling her, or else this was an illusion. This was not the woman who'd raised me. "Who the hell are you?" I shouted and pounded against the invisible wall. I stumbled forward, almost face-planting on the asphalt when the barrier abruptly dissipated.
She walked to me and her expression seemed softer, less angry. "I am your mother." She pressed a hand to my forehead and whispered something in a language I didn't understand. A tingle gathered at her fingertips and worked its way down my head and through my body. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "I'm sorry, Justin but it has to be this way. Give David my message, please." She kissed my forehead. "I have no choice." Fear blossomed in her eyes. "No choice." With that mysterious statement, she turned her back on me.
"What were you trying to warn me about when you called me? You said, 'whatever you do, don't,' and I lost the connection."
She answered without turning around. "The same thing I just told you. Whatever you do, don't try to find us, Justin." She wiped something off her face. Slid into her car and left.
I tried to move, tried to follow her. But whatever she'd done to me had locked my muscles in place, and all I could do was follow her car with my eyes until it vanished from sight. Elyssa appeared before me moments later, eyes wide with alarm. She patted my face and spoke to me, but it was several minutes before my muscles responded to commands and I could speak past the suffocating pain lodged in my chest.
"What happened, Justin? Who was that?"
I sucked in a breath to overcome the agony burning in my heart and scanned the area. Before I could ask which way the car had gone I felt a sudden release of pressure in my head and a vivid memory burst through my mind's eye.
Riding in a car down a long winding driveway toward a mansion on a hill. Children laughing at a birthday party. Chocolate cake. Mom, standing in the corner of the room, alone with another person I can't see. Talking. Arguing. Her shoulders tense and then slump. She turns toward me and I catch a glimpse of the other person's face. A man's face. He smiles. But the smile has no kindness to it. It's the smile of a person who enjoys pulling the wings off flies or torturing animals for sport. A terrible feeling nearly overwhelms me as I stare into that very familiar face. If he had his way, I would be that tortured animal.
"Justin?" Elyssa's face snapped into view.
I yanked my head back, wobbling on my feet as I played the memory back a few times, trying desperately to remember the man's face. Why did he look so familiar? "Where did she go?" I asked.
"Where did who go?" She looked around, her forehead creased. "Who were you talking with?"
"My mom." The words caught like steel barbs in my throat and it was all I could do to keep back the furious tears threatening to break free. I was so angry I could hardly think straight. I wanted to destroy something. Take the Conroys and break them, one over each knee. I didn't even know what they looked like, for god's sake. My only memory of my grandfather was the horrible recollection of him coming and taking away my baby sister.
Elyssa's eyes lit with excitement. "She came to see you? What did she say?" The joy in her eyes flickered out when she saw the sorrow branded on my face. Her mouth dropped open a fraction and understanding drowned the joy on her face. "Oh, Justin, I'm sorry. I thought—"
"She told me to deliver a message to my dad. She doesn't want either of us in her life anymore and she'll call on the Templars if we try to find her."
Disbelief washed across her face. "Are you kidding me?"
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. "At first I thought it wasn't her. That it must be a trick. But then she touched my head and somehow I knew it was Mom. No one was controlling her." Had she released the strange memory? Or had her mere presence triggered it? "Right after she left, I had another memory return."
She inhaled a sharp breath. "Tell me."
I explained it, though it seemed hard to express the details in words. "I saw the man's face so clearly the first time, but it's harder now."
Elyssa snapped her fingers in my face, startling me. "Eye color?"
"Gray."
"Hair?"
"Silver. Slicked back."
"Glasses?"
"Yeah, he had on round spectacles." As if those few ingredients were enough, the man's face came back in vivid clarity and I ground my teeth at the sight. I knew where I'd seen his face before. "Remember the gray men I told you about? The golems?"
She nodded.
"They look exactly like him."
Elyssa rocked back on her heels, her eyes thoughtful. "This means something, Justin."
"Mr. Gray is an asshole?"
"Your mother helped you." She grasped my hand. "She helped you! This exact memory returning now is not coincidence."
I ran my other hand through my hair and growled. "She just told me to get the hell out of her life."
"Maybe she didn't mean it. Maybe she can't say what she wants." Elyssa touched my forehead as if she could touch the memory itself. "She gave you a gift to hunt down your enemies. Mr. Gray might know how to save your sister."
I took her other hand in mine and squeezed as the hope dangling by its fingertips from the cliff of doom in my heart reached up another hand and took a firmer hold. "Maybe you're right." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "I hope you're right."
"What are you going to do?"
"Tell Dad and figure it out from there, I guess." I looked back at the milling mass of students. "I just don't understand why she's doing this. The day before she left she told me she'd love me even if I hated her. It's almost like she knew she'd be doing something terrible. Like she'd planned all this a long time ago."
Elyssa pressed my hand to her heart. I looked into her eyes and felt the pain and anger melt away. The tight band of pressure across my chest eased. I drew in a breath and squeezed back. No words were necessary in that perfect moment. I knew she wasn't just standing next to me. Elyssa was with me, a part of me I could count on more than anyone else in the world.
The love I felt for her right then swelled in my chest until I thought I would burst. I hugged her and buried my face in the soft strands of her black hair. I drew in her soft sweet scent, the smell of leather and oil and something else. Maybe it was just the shampoo she'd used that morning, but it made me think of her.
"What do you want to do now?" Elyssa said, pulling back and regarding me with a soft expression. "Your father is free and clear and it doesn't look like the good old boys will be blackmailing you anymore."
That was a really good question. Dad would want to go after Ivy and Mom. But there was a lot on the proverbial plate. What Underborn had said about Thunder Rock and about the instability of the Conclave struck a nerve with me for some reason. I wondered if getting to the bottom of Thunder Rock would clear up relations between Elyssa's father and me, or if it was just wishful thinking. But how could I possibly hope to solve something that happened before I was born?
No matter what Mom said, I had to find her and Ivy no matter the consequences. It was time to plan. Thunder Rock could wait. Mr. Gray awaited somewhere. Probably right in this very city. Dad might know where the mansion in my memory was. He and I would confront the evil bastard and find out why he was sending his puppet minions after me. I gazed at Underborn. He probably knew exactly where I could find this man. But his price was too steep. Maximus deserved a painful death, but I wasn't the one to do it. Let the master assassin handle it. I'd find Mr. Gray without his help.
I let my gaze drift toward the crowd of students. "Mom doesn't want me coming after her, so you know what that means."
Elyssa returned a knowing smile. "Naturally you want to go after her. Maybe the mansion from your memory is a hint. Maybe she really wants you to find her."
I nodded and felt hope gain a firm hold on the cliff of doom. "One hopeless quest down, a million more to go."
"I'm in." She pursed her lips. "But remember what you promised about planning."
"I haven't forgotten."
She tilted her head slightly and stared deep into my eyes. "My god, you've changed."
I quirked an eyebrow. "Miss the bottle-bottom glasses?"
A smile brightened the serious look on her face. "Sometimes. I still remember the shorter chubbier version of you, thick glasses and all." She pressed her hand against my surprisingly firm stomach. "But don't worry, I won't stop liking you even with all these disgusting muscles you've put on."
I laughed. "Give me a few tubs of ice cream. Maybe I can get rid of them."
Her hand felt hot against my skin, even through the shirt. She pressed it flat and ran it up to my chest, her violet eyes searching mine. "How do you feel?"
"Oh, I have a little indigestion, probably from all the gore. Nothing a little Pepto-Bismol won't clear up."
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm being serious, Justin. You killed someone."
"I did what I had to do. He tried to kill your mom. He took a shot at you." My entire body tensed. "Yeah, I feel conflicted about it. But I had no choice."
