“As what?”
“A music teacher.”
I studied the woman’s face.
She had dark hair, a calm smile, and one hand resting protectively on the girl’s shoulder.
Something about her seemed familiar.
Not because I had met her, but because I had seen her features reflected in someone else.
The door behind us opened.
Rachel stepped into the room.
Emma stood beside her.
I rose sharply.
“You were supposed to stay at the apartment.”
“Emma remembered where she had seen the tree symbol,” Rachel said.
Emma held up her library book.
Embossed faintly beneath the dust jacket was the same seven-branched tree.
Thomas stared at the book.
“That should not exist.”
Emma opened it to the inside cover.
A library card pocket had been glued there. Behind it was a narrow strip of paper containing an address and a date.
Tomorrow’s date.
Beneath it were six handwritten words:
Bring Emma. She deserves her real name.
Rachel looked at the photograph in my hand.
Then she saw the woman standing beside the first Emma Carter.
Her breath caught.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
