They all stared back at me with different looks on their faces. Alannah leaned closer to Ternen. “Will the vow hurt?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s just a vow to the goddess to keep whatever we say here secret, even under threat of command or death.” Alannah paled. I reached through and held out my hand. “Don’t be scared. It doesn’t mean you will face death. It just means the goddess recognizes your sincerity for secrecy, and she makes it so that we can keep our secrets.” I smiled back at her.

Ternen nodded. “I’m ready, but I don’t know what to say.”

I pulled my hand away and turned in my seat, so that my back was pressed against the door. “I, Amy Maclean, vow to keep your words from everyone except the goddess. I swear that nothing you say that could be used against you to cause harm will leave my mouth. Only the goddess will know our secrets, and I beg her to keep them for us.” I felt the acceptance of my words settle in my chest. I nodded to Ternen, and he repeated my words.

“Holy goddess, I felt this warmth hit my chest. What was it?” He looked at me.

I grinned. “That was the goddess accepting your vow and agreeing to keep our secrets.”

Ternen rubbed his chest, awe still on his face. “That was…amazing.” He turned to Alannah. “It felt like total acceptance.”

Alannah looked amazed as she took her own vow. She ended up rubbing her chest too, tears brimming in her eyes. “I’ve never talked to the goddess before.”

I leaned my face against the seat so I could meet her eyes. “Maybe it’s time you started.”

We all turned to Rick. “I don’t know.” He seemed hesitant.

“Why?”

He looked back at me, and I could see the need in his eyes. The need to trust. The need to vent. He was a man full of need. But he closed his eyes and pulled away. “Because what if we get questioned about what we talk about, and instead of telling them about a lunch, we just clam up?” He shook his head. “That would screw us over even more.”

I tilted my head. “That’s not how this works.” I looked out the window. “Say we go have lunch. We talk about all our secrets. But in between, we have small talk, or the server asks us questions. If you are commanded to talk about the lunch, your vow will automatically select the innocuous random questions we discussed. Like the weather, or family issues. Say we talked about my family in detail. If you were asked, you would just say we talked about my dad, that you remembered old stories about him.” I looked back at Rick. “Innocent facts the goddess selects so that nothing can be inferred or used against us.”

“Seriously?” I nodded.

“The goddess will do whatever it takes to keep the oath.” I smiled.

Rick looked between me and the two in the back before he nodded. “Okay.” Then he said the oath. Once he was finished, his hand shot to the middle of his chest. “Holy hell.” He sighed as he sat back. Then he looked at me. “How do we discuss this in public?”

“Easy.” I winked. I stepped out of the truck and waited for them to hop out.

“That doesn’t actually tell us anything,” Rick growled as he caught up with me.

I laughed. “It’s a long story, and it might make you look at me differently, and that’s okay. But I swear, I would never hurt you or any of your families.” Everyone just looked at me, slightly confused and very much on edge. I smiled. “Let’s sit down before I get into it.”

They followed me into the steak house. “Hi, is it just the four of you?” The hostess smiled and grabbed the menus. “Yeah.” I nodded and looked back. “If it is at all possible, can we have a table away from everyone else? If not, it’s okay.”

“Of course. It’s our lunch, but it’s dead today. I’ll give you our back booth.” She turned and beckoned us to follow. We made our way through the restaurant until we ended up in the far back corner. “How’s this?”

“Perfect.” I slid into the booth, shifting inwards until I was near the back. Alannah slid on the other side, sliding in next to me, with Rick and Ternen sliding in after us.

“Your server will be with you in a few minutes.” Then we were left alone.

I quickly sealed the area so that no one but us could hear what we were talking about until they came within the circle. Then I turned to everyone. “There, we can talk without being heard.”

“How?” Rick leaned in and then froze. “Hello?” Then he looked at me. “Why is there an echo?”

“How well did you know my father?” I countered.

“I mean…I want to say well, but you have me feeling like it’s not well at all.” He looked closer at me. “Now, why is there an echo?”