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Chapter 218
Leesa blinked, not sure she had heard Dominic correctly.
“What do you mean, I have to activate it?” she asked. “How? Why? I don’t understand.”
Before Dominic could answer, the train pulled into another station and lurched to a stop, the seventh or eighth such stop since they had boarded this train.
“I’ll tell you in a moment,” he said. “But first, it’s time for us to change trains again.”
Leesa didn’t really want to wait for his answer, but she had no choice. The doors slid open and they exited the car. At least they didn’t have to go above ground to make the transfer this time. They simply hurried across a wide, dimly lit platform and boarded an identical looking train getting ready to head in the opposite direction. Once again, they managed to find a seat that afforded them at least a little bit of privacy.
“Now, to answer your question,” Dominic said after they sat back down. “The avatar is activated simply by opening the box, but the box c
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Leesa pulled into the parking lot of the diner Dominic had told her about. When she turned the engine off and looked up the road, she saw him standing on the opposite side of the highway, a hundred feet or so away. He gave her a curt nod to acknowledge her arrival and then poked his head and arms into his car through the driver’s side window. A moment later, the car began rolling slowly forward, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road about ten paces from where Dominic stood watching. As soon as the car stopped rolling, Dominic gave Leesa a quick thumbs up—the signal they had agreed on that she should proceed as planned. She grabbed the ivory box from her bag and got out of the car. After waiting for a truck to flash by, she hurried across the road and found the spot Dominic had described to her. The old oak tree—almost twice as thick as any of its neighbors—was just barely visible from the highway. Its gnarled branches spread wide in every direction, and Leesa could im
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“How… what….what are you doing here?” Leesa managed to ask, still shocked by the sudden turn of events. “You have a friend of yours to thank,” Stefan said, turning and looking behind him. Leesa followed his eyes and saw Jenna walking slowly toward them, together with a pretty female Leesa did not know. She wondered if the woman was a vampire or another witch. Leesa rushed forward and enveloped Jenna in a tight hug. “Thank you,” Leesa said when she finally let go. “How did you know what was happening? And how on earth did you get these vampires t
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