Page 30 of Ashes of Honor
“There’s a little girl, around ten. Her family would have arrived around the time of Jax’s passing.”
“We would have known if anotherSeerentered The Compound,” I said dismissively. “Gifts are recorded upon entry, as you know.”
Jessa pushed to her feet with excitement in her tone. Her long legs crossed the room and stopped directly in front of me. “Not this one. She’s young. Her parents would have claimed her as a simple Scholar to avoid detection.”
“Do you have a name?” I asked, dragging my gaze from her dirty sneakers up to her eyes.
She didn’t budge. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I have a face.” She grimaced. “Vaguely. It’s been tugging on my memory.”
“Ronan?”
Jessa offered two sure nods. “Reina mentioned Moe saw the VeilSight Disruptor from a vision. Has she told you the details?”
“This family has no more secrets.”
She paced over to Amaia’s bookshelves. Thumbing through the books she’d left behind, she pulled one loose and inspected it. Jessa flipped it over and glanced over the back before slipping it back where it belonged. “Right,” she whistled. “Anyway, the VeilSight Disruptor has kept my mind fuzzy. Tugging on the tendrils of my memory before I was debriefed. The more time I’ve spent away, the more I remember.”
I trailed her around the room, marking exactly what she had touched. I could never be too sure with this one.No, I certainly could not. “You want us to believe that Ronan enlisted a child as a spy?”
“What? Like it’s beneath Monterey to do so?” She arched a sun blonde brow. “She’s not a spy. But she was one of their best-kept secrets and her power extends beyond normalSight. Ronan doesn’t know where she is. He’s been trying to find her.”
“She’s powerful?”
Jessa found her way back to the leather couch and lounged across it. “Extremely.”
“We just have to figure out who she is,” I muttered, more to myself than the woman before me.
“Exactly.”
“I’m assuming that’s no easy task?” There had to be some catch.
She shakes her head, “No. Her family fled to protect her.”
“And they chose the place he hated the most?”
More questions surged through my mind. Why could Jessa remember some things and not others? What would happen if we found this girl? Why … why … did they seek refuge in Monterey, of all places?
That answer was easy to assume. We were the safest place they could be. With our walls and our military, for a long time, we had seemed impenetrable. And we would have been, had we not fallen from the inside out.
“Who better to protect her than Ronan’s biggest fear,” Jessa confirmed without me having to voice the question aloud.
“This is great information, Jessa.” Jessa smiled though it fell at my next words, “How does this better serve The Compound? We have threeSeers, and several more in our network. All who are powerful?—”
“He designed the VeilSight Disruptorandthe wards around her magic. If Ronan has it on, she has the potential to bypass them both.”
Shit.We needed her. Unfortunately, to get to her, it appeared I may need to rely on Jessa.
“So, how do we find her? Take you around the classrooms, pile all the kids out in front of Compound Hall?”
“No.” Her answer came fast and sure. She sat up straight, eyes boring into mine. “That will scare her family away. You need an in. Someone to gain their trust.”
“Excuse me if I’m being presumptuous, but I don’t think that’s you.”
Jessa’s laugh was carefree, as though she had known that was never a solution. “Oh, it’s definitely not me. Like I said, I’m only here to help.”
