Persephone Alcmedi 00 - Wicked Circle

later, when her friends wanted to go out, she was reluctant, and I knew she was thinking of you. I encouraged her to go.” Her expression hardened, fell. Tears welled up. “Four of them went out dancing. Only two of them survived when a drunk driver hit their car on the way home.”
    Toni tugged a tissue from her purse.
    She shoved the diary at Johnny. “This was her diary. She kept it sporadically during high school. It tells the story of you ‘the loser’ becoming you ‘the boyfriend’ across the spring, and there’s more after . . . after you disappeared.” Toni swallowed and crumpled the damp tissue. “She didn’t know she was pregnant until after you were gone. She was so scared when she told me. Evan was born on Valentine’s Day.” She valiantly met his eyes and said, “He’ll be eight this February. It’s the last birthday of his that I’ll see.” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she dabbed the tissue at them again. “Then he’ll have nobody, John. Nobody but you.”
    Suddenly the puzzle that was his past had new pieces that changed the picture entirely. With all the instincts he’d been struggling to control, Johnny sat there oddly aware of the absence of them. He was numb.
    He made himself think the words: My son.
    Was it possible? Comparing his school pictures and this child’s, yes it was. Not just possible, but probable.
    So why didn’t an immediate course of action spring into his mind?
    I’m not father material.
    A wanna-be rock star lived a selfish kind of life. A wærewolf could be dangerous. A political leader lived with constant danger.
    I should tell her to put the kid into children’s services. Let a normal family raise him.
    His heart skipped a beat at the thought.
    He’d only traveled his rock-star path searching for a sense of belonging, and didn’t family provide that? He knew plenty of wæres who were fantastic parents. Who were the political leaders trying to make the world better for if not their own offspring?
    All he’d wanted since waking in the park was to know his past and to find his family. This wasn’t a possibility he’d ever considered, but he had some leads now that could help him find his parents.
    That was still a goal in his heart.
    Recognizing that, he knew that his own need to find that truth would never leave him. He couldn’t leave this kid—his kid—to grow up with the same need to know. He couldn’t let him grow up without real family. He couldn’t cut him off like he’d been cut off.
    Johnny stood, and his voice was as unsteady as his legs. “Toni, if you’ll ride back to the den with me, I’ll get my car and drive you home.” He tucked the pictures into the diary and put it in the inside pocket of his sport jacket.
    “It’s a very long drive.”
    “I want to meet him.”

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

    I ’d drifted in and out of sleep so many times and was so hungry and thirsty that I couldn’t be sure if only minutes had passed, or hours. My body was stiff and sore, and my shoulder still felt hot and swollen. My right fingers, however, weren’t prickly like before.
    I hadn’t felt Menessos awaken, so it must not be night yet . . . but with this barrier up, I might not feel him rise.
    If Liyliy’s sisters killed him . . . would I be able to tell the difference in the ache a master feels and all the pain I feel now?
    Damn it, what if he’s gone? Johnny can’t help me.
    I’m all alone.
    Something creaked overhead and suddenly half of the ceiling slid open, retracting into itself with a terrible metallic clang. Dim evening light flooded into the darkness. I’d begun to think maybe I was in one of those domes where the Department of Transportation kept salt for the roads, but this was not like being inside of an upside-down bowl. In fact, the walls actually sloped in at the bottom .
    I took in my surroundings. The place was a long rectangle with metal supports placed at regular intervals along the walls like ribs in—a ship? A cargo hold!
    I wonder if she read me while I was unconscious?
    Welded onto the far wall was an odd ladder with half-moon footholds. It rose toward the catwalk below the roof-door, where the silhouette of a giant owl suddenly appeared and dropped through. As she landed, Liyliy tossed a plastic bag to the side and resumed her human form. Her silken gown flowed down to her ankles. Quicksilver flowed and formed an owl-motif bracelet. She extended her arm, pointing a finger at me as she advanced; a crude knife