XAVIER
The last thing I expected in the middle of the night was a call from my niece.
“Who’s calling?” Emily asked, her voice still thick with sleep as she stirred.
“It’s Jackie,” I told her. “Hold on a minute, babe … hey, kid,” I answered the phone. “What’s up?”
My stomach was immediately sealed shut: on the other side of the phone, Jacqueline was ugly sobbing – and I couldn’t understand a word of what she was saying, only catching some “Amy” and “Erik” and “Devon” here and there.
Those three names in the same sentence are not a good sign, I thought.
“So?” Emily asked again. She was now completely awake – and I could see, she was covering her fear with pragmatism.
I don’t know, I said via our mind link. I can’t get a word out of her.
Give me the phone, she replied. Put on s
