Chapter 20 - The Watcher at the Gate
The bedroom went dead silent. The temperature in the room felt as though it had dropped below zero.
Jason crossed the room in two strides, kneeling beside me, his voice trembling with barely suppressed panic. "Lily... look at me, baby. What did the man do?"
"He didn't hurt me, Daddy," Lily said, her lower lip quivering as she sensed the sudden surge of terror in the room. "He just knelt down and asked if I was Lily Vance. He said he was a friend of Grandma's and wanted to help her fix the angel."
"Did you give it to him?" I choked out, my throat closing up.
"No," Lily said, shaking her head firmly. "Because Grandma said it was ugly. So I told him it was mine and ran back into the school building to wait with Mrs. Higgins until Aunt Sarah came to pick me up. But I was scared he would take it, so I hid it inside the teacher's historic vault in the library."
A gasp of relief escaped Jason’s lungs, so violent it sounded like a sob. He pulled Lily into a fierce, protective embrace. "Good girl. You are the smartest, bravest girl in the world."
Carol slumped against the hallway wall and slid down onto the floor, weeping openly, her face buried in her hands. "God forgive me. Marcus went to the school. He went after a child."
"He didn't just go after the deed, Carol," Jason said, standing up, his eyes burning with a dangerous fury. "He was scouting her. He knew she had it. The library at Oakridge Elementary is locked until Monday morning for the holiday break. But Marcus won't wait until Monday. If he realizes the angel is inside the building, he’ll break in."
I looked at the clock on Lily's wall. It was 2:45 AM, December 30th.
"The school alarm is linked directly to the municipal precinct," I said, thinking aloud as adrenaline flooded my veins. "Marcus won't risk an armed break-in that triggers a police response—not while he's trying to maintain the veneer of a legal conservatorship. He’s going to use his connections on the school board."
"Sterling sits on the regional education council," Carol whispered from the floor, wiping her tears with a shaking hand. "He has an emergency master key to every administrative facility in the district."
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"Then we have about four hours before sunrise," I said, turning to Jason. "We need to get to Oakridge Elementary before Marcus Sterling’s key turns in that lock."
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