Free Seeing is Believing by Michelle Graves Page A

understand—too little, too late. I should’ve been there for her, made her want to stay.
    “Molly, it’s time; we have to head out to the Order.” Ian linked his fingers in mine pulling me from the settled helicopter; my troubled thoughts had kept me distracted through the entire landing.
    “Where are we?” I stepped out into the dense air, slowly surveying my surroundings. Cypress trees sprouted up from the water in all directions. I looked up to the canopy of trees and watched as Spanish moss danced eerily in the wind. Wherever this was, it was creepy, and swampy. I was pretty sure an alligator was going to rush out of the water at any moment to chomp me to tiny Molly bits. I was so not going out that way!
    “We’re in the Okeefenokee swamp. It is the latest headquarters of the Order,” Bruce supplied, pulling our bags from the helicopter.
    “What do you mean latest?” Unable to pull my attention away from the strange calmness of the black water, I hoped at least one of the men would answer me.
    “The Order moves frequently to avoid detection. They are a mistrustful lot and have been living on the outskirts of the Council for thousands of years.” Bruce handed Ian our bags and motioned for us to follow him.
    Trying to carry my own bag would’ve been a useless endeavor, so I didn’t even offer. I’d learned over the past few months to pick my battles with Ian. Otherwise, we would be fighting continuously.
    Bruce led us through the swamp on a rickety old boardwalk comprised of what looked like three pieces of rotting two-by-fours hastily nailed together. The water sloshed around my feet, causing the alligator fear to resurface. I really didn’t want to be eaten by a scaly dinosaur-looking critter. It was on the top of the ways I absolutely did not want to go out; right up there with drowning and fire. Reaching forward, I grabbed onto Ian’s shirt to steady myself. I could swallow my pride and let him help me this once.
    “You okay?” Ian’s normally playful voice was strained. Tension radiated from his every pore, and I cursed myself for being so self-involved. Ian was about to return to the people he had not seen in thousands of years. Well, most of them were probably gone, but some surely remained.
    “Are you?” I asked in return, hoping he would give me an honest answer for once.
    “Fine,” Ian gritted out. Yep, that was totally believable. One of the things I loved about Ian was that he was a terrible liar. Okay, not loved. I absolutely did not love Ian. Nope. Just strongly liked. Yeah, one of the things I strongly liked about him. That sounded better.
    “Molly, you are gripping my shirt a bit too tightly,” Ian murmured, turning my attention to my white-knuckled grip on his t-shirt.
    “Sorry.” The apology left my lips as we came to a dilapidated house in the middle of the swamp. How this place had even gotten here was beyond me. The fact it hadn’t been swallowed up by the swamp years ago was a miracle. Everything about the house screamed “I’m haunted, don’t come in here” or “Must have a current tetanus shot to enter.” Either way, the place wasn’t inviting at all.
    “Brother.” Conall, still caked in blood, came out to embrace Ian. Tears fell silently from his eye that gleamed with both sadness and ferocity. Something wild lingered there. Something I’d never seen in his eye before. “There was nothing any of us could have done. He knew. He told me as we entered the battlefield not to interfere. He made me swear an oath.”
    “But why?” Ian’s voice choked in his throat.
    “There is much to be discussed. Much that you must know.” Conall pulled back, holding Ian by the shoulders. The two men looked at one another, a silent conversation passing between them before nods were exchanged.
    “So, this is the Order?” I asked awkwardly, unsure of what I should be doing. Ever since I’d left the lab, I’d felt like a fish out of water.
    “It is. We should go in,