Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) by A.L. Tyler Page B

thought she had tapped into some manner of mystical knowledge about the future, and that her discontent meant they were all tragically doomed to suffer an unknown fate if they didn’t turn back.
    Lena was nearly miserable enough to wish that a cliff would appear, and a semi would drive them off of it.
    Cheryl finally wore herself out around eight that night and fell asleep with her face pressed against the window in a downright comical manner. Devin, being Devin, stole Lena’s cell phone right off of her hip to take a picture.
    “That’s great, Dev, just great.” Lena said, frowning. “You’re a true friend.”
    “I’d expect nothing less from either of you.” Devin said with a grin. He showed her the picture on the tiny screen. Cheryl’s slack-jawed and vacant expression was stretched and squished and dimly reflected in the glass that she had collapsed against. “What? You don’t think it’s funny?”
    Lena took a moment to gather herself. She didn’t want to wake up Cheryl; she was so sensitive lately that Lena feared even the most tempered of emotional states around her might disrupt her enough to wake her up. She was beginning to remind her of Hesper, so tuned in to the world that even the quietest of goings on was like a scream in her ear. Lena wasn’t sure, but she could swear Cheryl was developing the ability to hear private thoughts.
    “I just think you’re being a little ridiculous, that’s all.” Lena said in an entirely even tone, taking back her phone and shoving it into her pocket. She was very keenly aware that Cheryl had fallen asleep at just around the time her own emotional state had finally worn down to a dull hum in the back of her mind; she didn’t want Devin riling both of them up again.
    Devin glanced over his shoulder into the backseat before turning back to face Lena. “How so? You didn’t find the stash of potatoes in my bag, did you?”
    Lena threw him a sharp look, but he seemed entirely unfazed. She had to wonder for a moment if he actually had a hidden bag of potatoes somewhere in the back—it seemed like the kind of joke he would play. “No, it’s just that you seem to believe it’s possible to tell the future, Dev, and in my experience, even with all the many things full Silenti can do, I’ve never…”
    Lena trailed off as the words tumbled from her mouth. In the darkening light, she glanced at Cheryl’s sleeping form in the rearview mirror. Maybe full Silenti   could  tell the future, but there was only one person that had ever claimed it to be true, however inadvertently. It seemed years, and not months, away from her now. She could see Griffin’s dark silhouette before her, the lighted interior of the car glowing behind him as he confirmed his guilt. It had happened in a field, much like the ones surrounding the car now.  
    “I never would have put you on that train if I had known. He never told me that Aaron would die in the crash.”
    Pyrallis had known the train would crash. He had strategically put Lena and Aaron on it, knowing that the father would die and throw the daughter into a custody battle. It was a  specific  event and not a large generality like a stock market crash; aside from the one incident, Lena had never known any Silenti to be able to predict an event so precisely. Not even the legendary Silenti of times past, hidden away in Pyrallis’s books, were that good. He had known somehow, and the only person likely to know how he knew was the last person she wanted to talk to at the moment. Lena gave Devin a sidelong glance to be sure he didn’t know that she doubted herself, and then pulled the car off on the shoulder.
    She didn’t believe they were in any danger. But she had to be sure.
    “Stay here with her.” She said calmly. Devin only shrugged and nodded, and then turned around to dig a soda out of the cooler in the back seat.
    Lena got out of the car and walked a short distance away. She pulled out her cell phone and reminded