“Maybe she’s broken,” Stefan suggested, and Delmare socked him in the gut.
“It’s not funny, guys,” I snapped. This was serious. Odette had fallen into some kind of trance, and we couldn’t break her out of it. Had the pool been bewitched? If so, why hadn’t I felt anything?
Theo looked down into the water, as if trying to see what she did. When it didn’t work, Theo took his hand and smacked the water, sending droplets splashing and causing a wave within the pool.
Odette jumped. She shook her head slowly, as if she was coming out of a fog. I gave a sigh of relief. She seemed okay, but I wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened.
Odette looked at Theo. She took his arm as he helped her to her feet. When her eyes set on me, Odette blurted out, “The alicorn stone is in Dolinska.”
Stefan and Delmare’s mouths dropped open at the same time, and Theo paled. I stuttered through my next sentence. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw it, in a vision,” she insisted. “I saw all of us together. We were walking through Dolinska… it was snowing… and then the vision jumped. I saw a wooden box, and Iknewit contained the alicorn stone. We’re so close to finding it!”
Odette’s words made my heart beat faster. Could this be real? I didn’t know how Odette could make this up, or why.
Theo frowned. “But Odette, you couldn’t see the future unless…”
I marveled as I realized the truth. “Odette… you’re aseer.”
I didn’t know much about seers, but Ethan had told me last semester that the only Arcanea who had prophetic powers were druids… and they’d died off years ago.
But if Odette could see the future— that meant she had to be a druid, too!
Odette blinked. “What?”
“You have to be!” I insisted. “You just saw the future. The only fae who can do that are those who havedrycablood!Druidblood!”
“The druids all died out,” Delmare said. “How does that make any sense?”
“We thought the Unseelie died out, too, but Emma is one,” Theo pointed out. His voice picked up speed as he gushed, “Odette, this is marvelous!”
“If Odette is a seer, why haven’t we seen her powers before?” Stefan asked. “You’ve never had a vision until now, have you?”
Odette shook her head. “No. This was my first.”
Odette’s voice was firm. “But I’m certain it was real. I saw the future. I felt it. You couldn’t get me to deny that if you held a knife to my throat.”
“Drycaneed pools of water to scry. They can’t see the future otherwise,” Theo said. “Maybe her powers triggered when she stared long enough into the courtyard pool.”
“Odette, do you remember any details from the vision?” I asked. It might give us a clue to where the alicorn stone was.
She put a hand to her head. “It’s all very blurry. I can’t recall the surroundings, or any specifics, only that we had the stone in our possession. It was winter… I think the city was decorated for Yule, so it must be sometime around Christmas. I couldn’t locate exactly where we were, but Iknowthe stone is nearby. I’m sure of it.”
Christmas was so far away, but at least we knew now when we were going to get our hands on it… only not what we’d go through to obtain it. “Did you notice anything else?”
Odette frowned slightly. “Ethan wasn’t with us.”
That made my heart stop. Ethan wouldn’t miss something so important. If he wasn’t there, that could only mean one thing.
The demon had overtaken him, and it was too late for us to save him.
“Do you know how much time we have?” I felt like I was talking past a knot in my throat.
“I’m sorry, I don’t.” Odette leaned on Theo. “I’m very tired, though. That vision took a lot of energy.”
“Let’s lie down.” Theo sent me a glance as he escorted Odette back to her dorm. I turned to face Stefan and Delmare.
“We need to tell Kiara about this,” I said. “She’ll know about druids.”
