Chapter 416: Chapter 416

Chapter 416

Lanie

“Is there any way for us to close that third eye?” I asked Malachi and Stella at the same time.

Malachi frowned. “Without the one who cast the original spell? I have no idea. But then, I’m not a witch.”

“Can you ask someone? There are, witches here,” I said.

Stella frowned. “Only Braden and Charlotte know that the leadership council has no true power. If we go to any witch-kind for help with this, Malachi would have to reveal that everything he’s bragged about is nothing

more than a farce. Besides, it would probably kill her.”

“If she has to die to protect Brightsky, then she has to die,” Malachi stated harshly.

Stella shook her head. “She doesn’t have to die, and I can’t allow you to even attempt her murder.”

I thought for sure my grandfather would fight her about this, or at least pop off with some nasty

comment, but all he did was narrow his eyes at her.

I turned to Stella. “Can we block it, then? There must be shields or spells that would work without hurting

her. She might not even have to be aware of it.”

“Mother, you of all people should know that casting a spell on someone to hide a part of their nature can

only hurt them in the end.”

“It’s already been hidden from her, hasn’t it? You said she doesn’t know,” I reminded her.

“She means the harm would come in having her find out,” Malachi said. “So long as they can use her,

Gabriela is a liability to the entire enclave.”

Stella got up from the couch and spun in a slow circle.

She wasn’t moving fast enough to bell the hem of her dress out around her ankles, but it did, and I

laughed a little to myself. As a little girl she’d often done the same thing, “like a princess.” I enjoyed that glimpse of her childhood, but I didn’t cling to it. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that holding onto the past was never going to lead to a better future.

“Actually, Malachi, she is our asset,” Stella said as she slowed, stopped, and faced him.

Again, his eyes narrowed. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingertips under his chin. His lips pursed as his brow furrowed.

“How so?” he asked.

“The High Council can only see what she sees in the moment. They can’t control her or make her go to

look at things they want her to see. But we can. At least, we can control what and who she has access to.

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Chapter 416

It would be simple enough to make sure they only see a carefully curated view of what goes on here,”

she

explained.

“If they have to watch through this third eye using a scrying tool, how do we know that they’d be watching

at the right time?” I asked.

“They’ll have someone watching all the time,” Malachi said dismissively. “They would never leave their tool unmonitored, even when she’s sleeping.

it.”

“So they must have seen you, as you are now,” I said to Stella.

She nodded. “Yes. They know I’ve grown. They’ll know I’m a Celestial, too, since you’ve talked to her about

“If they know so much, what are they waiting for?”

I asked her. “Why haven’t they launched an all-out attack on the enclave already?”

“Brightsky was not their priority until recently.” Stella paused and looked guilty. “When I was still a child, they didn’t care as much about me, either. Their concerns were the hybrid testing facility.”

“But now you’ve grown up, and they’ve seen it. Which means they’ll be trying to get their hands on you.

Which puts all of us in danger,” Malachi snapped.

I thought of what Xander and Mason had told me when we were alone in bed after we first discovered our daughter was now an adult. They’d told me all about what they’d found out about the pictures of the newcomers to Brightsky’s portal town, and also about the missing records and purposefully bricked phone.

All of it made sense now.

“Did the High Council send Aldon to Standard to keep an eye on things, or to infiltrate us somehow?” |

questioned.

at

“It’s still cloudy,” Stella said. “Which means he has not yet decided for himself which path

take.”

“Will feeding Gabriela this curated information help push him into a decision?” I asked her.

g to

“Yes.”

Malachi’s laugh was harsh. “How can you be so sure?”

“Need I remind you,” Stella said, “exactly who I am?”

She rolled her eyes and looked so much like him that I wasn’t sure if she was flat-out imitating him of

simply had inherited his mannerisms along with the color of his eyes.

“Daddy and Abba don’t need to bother going over any more security protocols with Charlotte. What we

need to focus on now is making sure that Gabriela begins feeding the High Council exactly what we want

them to find out.”

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