“I have no idea what you’re talking about. My name is Ever and this is Damen—” Damen shoots me a look of absolute horror, unhappy at being pulled into it. So I shoot him a frown, taking a moment to tack on an eye roll to go along with it, returning my focus to her when I add, “As you already know,” shooting Damen another quick look, reminding him that his identity is hardly a secret where she’s concerned. In fact, she seems to know all about him, or at least his full name anyway. “And, I have no idea who this Adelina is, or what she could possibly have to do with me, so maybe you can fill me in, what do you think?”

“I am Lotus,” she says, voice like a whisper as her gaze lights on mine.

O- kay, not exactly what I asked, but still progress. I guess.

“Damen is the reason.” Her head turns toward him. “Your love is the symptom.” She glances back and forth between us. “But you, Adelina, are the cure. The key.” She settles on me.

Oh boy.

Just because I keep myself from sighing, doesn’t mean I keep myself from thinking: Here we go again—more cryptic ramblings that make absolutely no sense.

“Listen, here’s the thing, like I just said, my name is Ever, not Adelina. In fact, I’ve never been Adelina. I’ve been Evaline, Abigail, Fleur, Chloe, and Emala but never Adelina. You got the wrong girl.”

I sigh and turn away, annoyed by the game. Catching a glimpse of relief in Damen’s gaze—a glimpse that soon turns to rage—when the old woman steps forward and grabs ahold of my sleeve.

“Hey—” Damen’s voice is sharp, but Lotus ignores him, her grip tightening on my arm as she peers at me intently.

“Please. We’ve waited so long. Waited for you, Adelina. You must return. You must make the journey. You must find the truth. It’s the only way to release them. Release me.”

“Where are Misa and Marco?” I ask, though I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because they’re the only things that feel tangible and real in this otherwise surreal scene.

“There are many who await you. The journey is yours. Yours and only yours.”

“What journey?” I ask, voice trembling like a sob. “I’m sorry but none of this makes any sense. If it’s so important for me to do this, even though I’m not Adelina, then maybe you can quit with the puzzles and explain it in a way that’ll mean something to me.”

“The journey back.” She bows her head again, leaving me with a view of silvery hair with no discernable part.

“Back to where?” I plead, face flushing with the makings of hysteria—and knowing I need to dial it down a notch, or maybe two.

“Back to the beginning. To the scene you’ve yet to see. Back to its very origin. You must see it. Learn it. Know it. All of it. Though, you must be warned it is only the start. The journey is long, arduous, but the reward very great. The truth begets true happiness—but only the pure of heart may seize it.” Her gaze switching to Damen as she adds, “The journey is yours and yours alone, Adelina. Damen is not welcome there.”

Damen cuts in, having heard more than enough. “Listen,” he says, “I don’t know what you’re trying to do here but—”

His anger halted by the surprising sight of her palm rising, followed by the shock of it pressing to his cheek. It’s like, one minute he’s yelling, a good two feet yawning between them, and the next, she’s practically pressed up against him, her rheumy old gaze boring into his, transmitting something, some kind of message or memory meant only for him.

I watch, fascinated, wondering just what it is that transpires between them. Knowing only one thing for sure, that whatever it is, it’s causing her to glow in a way that prompts a stream of light to radiate all around. The color spectrum so intense, it’s as though it originates from somewhere so deep, it can’t help but seep outward until the glimmer surrounds her.

But while she glows, Damen does the opposite. His normally tall, lean form appears to darken and shrink until he’s barely a shell of himself.

“Damen Augustus Notte Esposito,” she says. “Why do you deny me?”

I watch, startled to see him so flustered he’s unable to respond, unable to find his own voice, much less fight his way out of whatever it is that she shows him. Just about to intervene when he shakes his head, straightens his spine, and yanks himself right out of her spell, pulling himself together enough to say, “You’re crazy. You’re wrong and you’re crazy. And while I have no idea what your deal is or what you’re trying to do here, I do know you better stay away from Ever. Far, far away, do you hear? Otherwise, I can’t be held responsible for what happens to you, regardless of how old you claim to be.”

But if he expected her to back off or run away scared, well, he must’ve been just as surprised as I was to see her smile instead. The two of us watching her face brighten, her cheeks widen, her lips spreading and lifting enough to display a startling array of teeth—startling in that a good deal of them are either graying, yellowing, or entirely missing.

Her attention shifting as she moves from him to me, taking my hand in her soft papery dry one, her words confident and sure when she says, “His love is the key.”

I look at her, release myself from her grip. “I thought you said Adelina was the key?”

“It is one and the same.” She nods, as if that made any sense. “Please. Please consider the journey. It is the only way to release me.