“I found her.” Samantha’s voice was shaky with excitement. “Holy shit, I found Tessa. She’s in Los Angeles.”
Claudia dropped the phone, but I caught it before it hit the ground. “Samantha. Talk to me.”
My heart was racing. This was it. Van was right. This was what I’d been waiting for.
“Dastien?” Samantha’s voice sounded a little frantic, and she was breathing heavily like she’d been running. “Is that you? Because holy shit, I found her.”
I closed my eyes and thanked God. “Yes. It’s me. Where is she? How is she? What—”
“She’s fine. Or she seems fine. It was the weirdest thing. I literally didn’t see her. I bumped into her. God, I’d been annoyed that this chick shoulder checked me. But when I looked at her, I saw through all the magic around her. I could see her. I swear I could see her. But when I stepped away…it wasn’t her. It wasn’t her. So, I grabbed her, and there she was. I don’t know. Maybe I’m going crazy because I feel kind of crazy right now, but—”
I wanted to drop to my knees and thank God that someone had finally found her. I bowed my head. “You’re not going crazy. Tell me everything.”
“She doesn’t look like herself.” Samantha took a shaky breath as if she was trying to calm herself down. “And she’s covered in so much magic, it’s like she’s invisible. She—”
Changeling. The fey had made her a changeling. Just like we thought. “Did you talk to her?”
“I mean, kind of, but I totally freaked her out. She doesn’t remember me or who I am. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a weirdo because I flipped. It was unbelievably awkward when I realized and—”
“Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“Goes without saying. We’d never find her again. I’m watching her, but you gotta come. Like right now.”
I was already moving before I could think. “I’m already on my way.” I grabbed my bag from the hall closet. I kept it there—already packed—for exactly this reason. “Thank you for—”
“I didn’t do a damned thing.” She laughed, and it sounded just this side of hysterical. “I—I wouldn’t have even been here, but Eli told me that he was sending a friend to see me. He said I had to be there, and then he disappeared. And I almost didn’t come. Things have been—that doesn’t matter. Anyway, I needed help, and I thought that’s why he sent me here. So, I showed up, and instead of an angel or an archon or someone that can help me, I smack straight into Tessa.”
Keys. I stepped onto my porch, and I realized I didn’t have my keys. Where had I put them? I wasn’t even sure of the last time I drove my car. Shit. “Eli knew.” I was going to kill that archon right after I got my keys and my mate back.
I turned to search for my keys and found Axel, Lucas, and Claudia standing right behind me, staring at me.
I guessed I should’ve explained, but Lucas and Axel’s hearing was good enough to know. And Lucas was probably filling Claudia in through their bond.
I nodded at Axel, and he ran back toward his room, and I had to assume he was grabbing a bag to come with me. Tessa was his sister, so that tracked. Of course he’d want to come.
“I don’t know how long Eli’s known or what, but he set this up,” Samantha said. “Hang on a second. I’m sending you a picture. She’s literally getting a coffee at a Starbuck’s right now. Remember that she doesn’t look like herself, but I swear to God that is her. You have to believe me.”
“I believe you.” A Starbuck’s? “Tessa doesn’t like coffee.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. She ordered something. Wait. She got it fast. It’s not a coffee. She got a tea.”
“Tea.” Claudia said, which confirmed that Lucas was helping her hear Samantha’s side of the conversation. “Did she say tea? Tessa hates tea.” Claudia was right.
“She doesn’t like tea. Are you sure that’s her?” I wanted to believe—I really did—but I didn’t have it in me to be disappointed again.
“I swear on my life it’s her. I promise. You have to come. Like right now—right now.”
Claudia’s cell phone pinged, and I switched the phone to speaker so that I could check the picture Samantha sent.
There was a blonde girl. I couldn’t really make out the face, but she was tall. Rail thin. No curves.
She looked nothing like Tessa. This was the anti-Tessa.
This couldn’t be her. Could it? “It doesn’t look—”
“That is one hundred thousand percent Tessa Laurent. I promise, Dastien. It doesn’t look like her, but I promise.” There was no waver in her voice. No lies. Nothing but determination for me to believe her.
And I did. I believed her.