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Kate’s jaw drops when she hears this. I can see her mind ticking over, trying to make sense of it.
“She’s alive? But how … how is that possible?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I have no idea how she wound up as one of the fallen. Everyone thought she was dead. The Tempes believe that too. I don’t understand why. But I’m sure it was her. And that’s not all. She wanted to show me something. It was important to her that I see it, but then came the other fallen. We had to get out of there. I hope Frida’s okay.”
Silence descends, until Kate finally says, “We should get back to school.” She slowly stands up. “Then we can figure out what all this means and what to do about it.”
I nod, and we walk the short distance to school. I check the time and realize it’s lunch, and I’ve missed most of the morning’s classes. The Fabricis will definitely hear about this, so I’ll have to come up with a damn good excuse. But right now, that’s not a priority. All I care about is making sure Kate’s okay, and somehow processing all this new information.
We make our way to Kate’s room, but before we reach her corridor, we see Ayden coming the other way, looking pretty agitated. When he sees me, he stops in his tracks, then quickly strides down the corridor toward me. He takes me in his arms for a moment and then holds me at arm’s length to take a good look at me.
“Where were you? When you didn’t show up for chemistry, I messaged you and called you. What happened?”
It’s understandable that he was worried – I’ve gotten myself mixed up in bad situations in the past. So there are plenty of reasons why it would set off alarm bells for him.
“Not here,” I reply. “We were on our way to Kate’s room. We can talk there.”
He immediately understands that something must have happened. But he doesn’t ask questions, just nods and follows us.
In Kate’s room, I flop down in a chair. Kate sits on her bed and hugs her legs. Gray coils up, and Yoru sits down beside me, watching me closely. Ayden remains standing, studying my face anxiously. I tell him what happened, and he starts pacing up and down the room, fuming and clenching his jaw. When I tell him about Frida he’s stunned.
“And you’re absolutely sure it was her?”
“There’s no doubt in my mind. I can’t explain how, but I recognized her. And she didn’t hurt us. In fact, she protected us from Mr. Brian and the other fallen. The fallen never do that.”
“What about Mr. Brian?” Kate asks, her eyes wide with fear. “He’s still lying in the Odyss, right?”
“I’ll go get him,” I reply. “We can’t just leave him there like a piece of trash.” I feel sick at the thought of his mutilated body. I have no idea how I’ll get him out of there. But it’s a non-negotiable for me – even he deserves a proper burial.
“No way,” Ayden objects. “You can’t carry him. I’ll deal with him. But we can’t bring him here. How would we explain it? You can’t tell anyone that he attacked Kate. The Council would want to know why, and they’d launch an investigation. If she really wants to keep her powers a secret, then you can’t take that risk. Also, you’d have to tell them that one of the fallen killed Mr. Brian. And then they’d want to know why you two got away unscathed.” He shakes his head. “There’s no way. I’ll go to the Odyss and bury him behind one of the doors. It’s better if nobody finds him.”
I can tell he’s uncomfortable with this. I’m torn too, but looking at the situation objectively, Ayden’s right. Mr. Brian can’t be found.
“But what happens when he suddenly disappears?” I ask. “They’ll search for him.”
Ayden nods. “And at some point, they’ll assume he’s either gone AWOL or been killed.”
“Which will make the Noctu look bad again,” I add. “That could lead to more conflict.”
“Tess, there’s no other way,” says Ayden.
I bite my lip. I know we don’t really have a choice.
“We still don’t know what Mr. Brian was trying to hide from us,” says Kate, hugging her legs tighter. “And now that he’s dead, I guess we’ll never find out.” She rests her head on her knees. “It’s my fault for not being able to control my visions.”
I snort and shake my head. “If there’s anyone who knows how hard it is to control these gifts, it’s me. You did nothing wrong. Thanks to your visions, we may still have a chance of finding out why your mom threatened him and why he was so determined to eliminate you. I assume it had something to do with Patricia. I mean, it was in your vision that we witnessed him blackmailing Charles after he assumed Charles killed Patricia.”
“What I want to know is why Frida’s still alive,” says Ayden, resuming his pacing. When he catches my eye, his expression becomes even more somber. “And whose key you have.”
Fear makes my heart contract painfully. It didn’t occur to me, but he’s right. It can’t be Frida’s key.
Chapter 2
Deliberating this question, I pull my key on the chain out from under my sweater. I hold it up and examine it. But of course, it gives me no answers.
“Frida still has her key,” I say to myself. “She’s one of the fallen, fully merged with her spirit. But that means that her key’s still in her possession, am I right?”
“Correct,” Ayden confirms, folding his arms across his chest.
