June 2007

About a month into her stay, the Sorensons asked for a volunteer to rescue their grandchildren. Eyes looked to Vanessa as her driving was well known and Rochester was far. Of course, she accepted as the Society had already briefed her on what to do, and she had already done her part of using the granddaughter's teacher as a vessel and scaring her into running face-first into Errol's scheme.

The Sorensons had played right into the Society's hands.

Vanessa took her dark blue custom Ferrari that she had flown into Connecticut as a surprise for Warren before she had learned of his fate. It had always been his favorite. Of course, now it suffocated her. She saw the scratches in the leather from his jeans' metal and remembered how she had yelled at him for it. She saw his reflection in her rear view mirror, fixing his hair and flashing her a smile.

Vanessa shifted to sports mode and peeled towards Rochester. Scenery blurred together as she reviewed what she knew. By the time she arrived, she already knew how she wanted every second to go.

She drove into their neighborhood and saw Errol's van parked on the same road. Errol would never be her preferred agent to work with, but he got the job done at least. In between all his facetious flattery.

Vanessa parked and walked up to the door. As soon it opened, Vanessa snapped into mission mode. It was almost like when she was controlling someone—but this time, her own body became the vessel. With the dissociative barrier, she didn't get close to anyone and it made betrayals and ruthless decisions easy. Until Warren, of course.

Almost everything in Vanessa's life came with that caveat.

The mother was pleasant, and they waited patiently for the kids to arrive. Vanessa aced all her screening questions and talked about her recent, imaginary trip to Canada like the good agent she was.

Kendra's appearance stopped their conversation. The kid was thirteen, had just finished seventh grade, and was a granddaughter to Stan and Ruth. The Sphinx wanted her to be at Fablehaven for reasons Vanessa hadn't been able to figure out yet. Vanessa hadn't known the Sphinx to involve children in Society or Knights' business, and this deviation confused her. Nonetheless, Vanessa promised herself that whatever she had to do, she would try her best to avoid harming the two children.

Vanessa smiled and extended a hand. "You must be Kendra. I'm Vanessa Santoro."

She had already met Kendra before, technically, in her teacher's body. But, vessels were always different. They weren't her.

Kendra took her hand, and Vanessa continued introductions with her father. Seth entered as well. Even younger than Kendra, concern poked through Vanessa's dissociative state. Not now.

"I've looked forward to finally meeting the famous Seth Sorenson," Vanessa said.

"Me?" Seth replied. He stood dumbly, and Vanessa turned away to hide her amused smile from him. Kendra caught it though, and didn't look happy. Well, that was fine. They didn't have any more time for chit chat anyway.

Vanessa checked her watch. "I hate to be in a rush, but we have a lot of ground to cover before the night ends."

If she had to guess, the Society would set up a big ambush soon after she left to really hammer in the danger to the children. If she was correct (which she probably was), her colleagues would appreciate an early night in.

With delayed goodbyes and back-and-forth offers of help and denials, Vanessa finally got the two children to her car. It was a long, quiet night after the ambush, and it muddled together with the blurry streetlights. Except for one conversation that carved itself into Vanessa's memory like a knife.

The thing is, when her file had suggested she adopt an exotic accent to really sell the whole magical explorer front (which, at this point, was less of a front and more like reality with all the missions she had gone on), Vanessa had naturally pivoted to her Italian accent. It was the only one she could do well, because she remembered it from her Nonna.

Over-exposure tinted the memories of her Nonna, as young children's bright eyes tend to do, but she remembered the warmth of the old woman's hugs. She remembered her lilt and cadence and soft voice. And, generally it was humorous to hear that soft accent saying crazy things like "Tanu, grab the gaseous potion" or "Coulter, head for cover from the fog giant" and all the other outlandish things the no-nonsense woman would've waved her hand at, despite the fact that she had married a narcoblix.

And with this accent, in the dead of night under the blurring streetlights, Vanessa's voice seemed to not be her own.

"I'm just...scared." Kendra barely spoke the words, Seth asleep in the backseat.

It was the most true thing the young girl had said the entire night, yet Vanessa met the truth with falsehood as she shifted gears to round a tight corner. "It will all be okay. We'll protect you."

In that moment, the Italian-accented words seemed to ricochet off the windshield and back at Vanessa's ears. She felt young. So young. Younger than Kendra was. The last time she had seen her Nonna, she must've been seven. She must've heard some iteration of those words a thousand times hiding from unicorns under the bed or loud thunder booms or her mom's sharp words. She didn't think she'd ever hear them again.

Vanessa cleared her throat around the frog lodged there and glanced over at Kendra. She had fallen asleep.

Vanessa returned her gaze to the undulating asphalt horizon.

The lives Vanessa had lived all kept crashing into each other like waves in a stormy sea. She felt like a lone captain of a dingy, waiting for the storm to pass. Loud thunder, bright glass cracks of lightning, and threatening sea salt waves tormented just one Vanessa, small and wedged between forces of nature.

Her Nonna's voice left her, and all she could hear was her mother. She needed to toughen up. She couldn't cry. She couldn't act like a spoiled brat and throw a tantrum.

She needed to survive.