Endless by Jessica Shirvington

Phoenix had ripped apart our hopes by having Gressil kill Rudyard. How now, the only thing that kept us apart was the memory of Nyla and knowing that we could never allow that to happen to us. Finally, I told her about my first battle at Hades against Joel and Onyx, how Onyx’s sword had speared me and that Lincoln had been out cold.
    ‘I could feel my heart slowing, and then Phoenix was there. He healed me and saved my life. Afterwards, I told him to leave and never come back,’ I confessed, knowing that it had been that moment that had unleashed his darkness.
    ‘But he couldn’t stay away,’ Evelyn said, stroking my hair.
    Somehow we’d ended up on the floor, me still folded tightly in her arms. ‘You’re not the only one addicted, my girl. He’s drawn to you. That may end up being your greatest weapon of all.’
    Shepulled me up off the floor and sat me at the dining table before reaching for her bag and pulling out a folder of newspaper clippings.
    I pulled myself together and checked my watch. Lincoln should be on his way home soon. At least he hadn’t been there to witness my breakdown.
    ‘So this is where all our newspapers have been going.’ I tried for light-hearted but didn’t carry it off. ‘What are they?’ I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear, increasingly conscious of having just had a total meltdown in front of this woman. My mother ! And then another joyous realisation sprang to mind …
    I just told her I’d had sex with a dark exile!
    Feeling way too exposed, I started closing up.
    Remember the rules: No running, no quitting, no fairy tales. I can’t look weak in front of her.
    When I pulled out of my mind spiral, Evelyn was staring at me. She had her hands on her hips and was standing over me.
    ‘Don’t,’ she said.
    I blinked, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. ‘Don’t what?’
    ‘Do you think you didn’t inherit anything from me? You’re doing exactly what I would’ve done if I’d fallen apart in front of someone I’d sworn to never let my guard down in front of.’
    ‘Sorry?’ She had hit the nail on the head.
    ‘You’re shutting down and if you keep going like this it’s going to get us nowhere.’ She sighed and set her jaw. ‘It’s time you decided what I am to you. I know I can’t step into the role of Mum, I don’t expect to. I know I cause a problem with your relationship with your father but I don’t think it would help to just disappear on him, do you? So that leaves us needing tofind some middle ground. I suggest we start by working together to kill this bitch.’
    ‘Who are you?’
    ‘I’m Grigori.’ She smiled. ‘And whether you like it or not, I’m your mother.’
    Holy crap.
    She eyed me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. ‘We’re out of time and I need to know the rest, Violet. And I need to know exactly who knows it.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ I asked nervously.
    ‘I’m talking about your powers. I know about the senses, the extra strength, the healing, and I know about your ability to hold multiple exiles at a time. What I need to know is whatever it is you and Griffin have been hiding. And don’t even try to pretend there’s nothing.’ She leaned back in her seat, drumming her fingers on the table, while I mentally ran through the pros and cons of telling her.
    Griffin had drilled it into me that no one else could know about my ‘Sight’. He and Lincoln had been researching it and while they claimed they hadn’t found anything substantial and refused to speculate, I knew whatever they had found had them both freaked out. So I’d put Steph to work on it, too. At least she’d tell me if she found something. To date … nothing.
    I adopted a casual tone. ‘I can see things around me when I need to. We’ve started to call it a Sight.’
    Evelyn’s eyes went wide. ‘A Sight? Who called it that?’
    I shifted in my seat. ‘Phoenix.’
    ‘Jesus Christ! Is there anything our enemy doesn’t