Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two Read Online Free PDF

then, either, but her guard had come down, and the old name had slipped out.
    Joe hugged Sharon and patted Daphne on the back. “It’s been an exciting day,” he said.
    Daphne avoided her parents’ eyes, holding back tears. She cleared her throat and asked, “Where do we go from here, Roger?”
    “Don’t you wanna take a look?” Roger asked.
    Everyone turned their eyes on Daphne, waiting for her reply.
    “Do you think I’ll regret it if I don’t?” Daphne asked Roger, speaking in a kind of code.
    “I think so,” he said. “Come on. I’ll be right there with you.”
    Daphne felt her knees about to buckle as she followed Roger through the narrow opening into the cave. She fought off images of getting trapped, of the cave collapsing on top of them and crushing them. He shined the flashlight on his face, holding one finger to his lips. Then he pointed his finger and moved the light toward a nest. He didn’t shine the light directly on the birds; rather, he pointed the light to the right of them and allowed the outer rim to cast a soft glow across the nesting pair, so as not to startle them.
    Then Roger moved the light to their left. Daphne searched for another nest, but instead, was startled to see a black hooded figure. She flinched, but Roger held her hand and stilled her. A black-gloved hand lifted the hood, and the light shone on Cam.
    Daphne gasped.
    Cam moved a finger to his lips in the same way Roger had, warning her to stay silent. Then he reached into a pale with a long set of tongs, plucked up a rock louse, and slowly reached over to the nest. Roger followed Cam’s arm with the flashlight as Cam released the bug a few inches from the birds. Daphne watched in amazement as one of the birds snatched the bug up in its beak and shared it with its mate. Then Roger took her hand and led her from the cave. She turned back to look at Cam but could no longer see him in the darkness.
    Daphne wondered as they followed the trail back to the jeep if Cam or Roger had put the handful of lice in her mother’s pocket. She smiled at Roger several times as they ascended the hill, unable to contain how pleased she was with the game. It took all her self-control to hide her eagerness for the next one.
    Back in her room, as she freshened up before lunch, she thought about her mother’s reaction to being called, “Mama.” Tears threatened to well in her eyes when she realized the added pain she’d caused her mother these past two years. Daphne hadn’t done it to hurt her mom; she’d done it to protect herself. Avoiding terms of endearment like “Mama” and “Daddy” was one of many ways she had prepared herself to leave everyone behind. Even though she was still upset over what they had put her through here on the island, she realized today that she’d never, ever stopped loving them. In a strange way, being punished by them through this therapy and having the opportunity to punish them back worked to bring them closer together.
    After calling Brock and learning he wasn’t hungry, Daphne walked with her parents to the banquet hall for lunch where they sat at a table with Cam and Bridget. She felt members of both the older crowd at Hortense’s table and the younger crowd at another looking at her with conspiratorial smiles. Did they all know what had transpired on the bird trail? She smiled back at them and enjoyed her lunch. At their table, her father retold what had happened with the bugs, and even her mother laughed.
    Daphne turned the silver bracelet around and around her left wrist, pushed herself to be brave, and said, “That’s Mama for you.”
    Her mother and father beamed.
    Then Cam said, “We’re taking a sunset cruise this evening after dinner.” He winked at Daphne. “I hope you can all go. It’s beautiful, isn’t it Daph?”
    It was Daphne’s turn to beam as she wondered which among Brock and her parents would be manipulated into jumping into the sea.
    “Absolutely,” she said. “You’ll