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Chapter 29
CHRISTY
Turning the envelope over in my hand, I notice that it’s sealed shut. There’s no name on the front, but I open it regardless. The paper is thick, smooth to the touch. Curiosity combined with a growing sense of unease makes me unfold it, my eyes sliding over the neat cursive. There’s something familiar about the handwriting and as my eyes focus on the opening line, I begin to read.
To my darling girl,
It’s hard to write this letter knowing that the contents of it will break your heart as surely as mine is breaking now. I cannot impress on you enough how much I love you and wish that things could be different, but life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. It’s a lesson I’d hope you wouldn’t have to learn, but alas, you’re my daughter and you’re cursed with this gift, just like I am.
My heart skips a beat, my eyebrows pulling into a frown as a memory lurks at the edge of my consciousness. I pause for a moment, trying to remember.
Then it comes back to me in a rush.
I was five, standing in the doorway of my mother’s bedroom door as she sat at her desk and cried over a letter she held in her hand. I remember asking what was wrong and she’d smiled, folded up the letter and placed it in an envelope just like the one I’m holding now. Could this be that letter…? With a tremulous intake of breath I continue reading, needing to find out.
I’ve made many mistakes in my life, but the worst one was turning my back on Fate. I thought I knew better. I thought I understood what love was, that it was enough to conquer anything, including her whims, but that’s only ever a possibility if the person you love loves you back.
You see, Fate didn’t want me to fall in love with your father. She had other plans for me. Plans I chose to ignore all because I thought I knew the kind of man your father was.
I didn’t.
To him I was nothing more than a passing fling, a distraction during a time in his life when he needed a warm body to hold onto. But even though he didn’t love me, he cares about you enough to keep you sheltered, clothed and taken care of from afar. You might think that’s not how a father should behave, and you’d be right, but in his line of work family can be used against you. He stayed away to keep you safe, so I know he loved you in his own way, even though it might not seem like that.
I take a deep breath, blinking back the tears and pushing down the sudden onslaught of emotion. Kate has only ever mentioned our dad in passing, and never kindly. He hurt her badly. He broke her heart. He wasn’t a good man.
By the time you read this, you will have already met your sister, Kate. She is your family now. She will look after you and care for you in my absence. That girl has the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she is strong enough to endure it. Just like you are strong enough to live a life that will take you on a journey of self-discovery.
Though, I have to warn you. Your path is filled with far more mountains than valleys. You will struggle to overcome many things, my darling girl. It’s going to be hard. There will be people who will hurt and betray you, and others who will heal and love you.
My darling, I can’t protect you from the pain. I can’t stop what’s happening, and if you’re reading this now, then Fate has already begun to weave her magic, setting you on a new path that will test you beyond anything you’ve endured before.
Sickness rolls in my stomach at my mother’s words, a sense of dread filling me. I swallow it back down, ignoring the crashing beat of my heart and continue to read.
It won’t be easy, this new path, but you have to trust me when I say that you cannot stray from it. You must, above all else, follow it to wherever it leads. If I have learnt one thing being a seer, it’s this: you cannot run from your future. You cannot hide and you cannot take another path. You may want to fight against it, but it will only cause you more pain in the long run. I know that because I’ve lived it.
Christy, I’ve seen parts of your future.
I’ve seen the castle and The Masks.
I’ve seen some of the decisions played out by the people around you, and it’s costing me greatly not to share them with you, to forewarn you. But I know that if I do, Fate will have her revenge and I cannot risk that again. I won’t.
What I can tell you is this: the Masks are bad men. They have been moulded into their father’s image. They are cruel and wicked. I’ve seen just how much.
But that isn’t all they are.
There are depths to these men. Crevices that run deep. Cracks line their souls. They are not infallible.
You’ve been put in their path for a reason, my darling girl, and when the time is right you will understand what that is and what you need to do.
I draw in a shaky breath, my eyes filling with tears at my mother’s words because they confirm what I’ve known all along, no matter how much I wish it wasn’t true. The Masks and I were meant to find each other. It doesn’t hurt any less knowing that’s true. In fact it’s worse, because I understand that I never really had a choice.
There’s something else too. This letter is in your hands because I made certain that you’d receive it just at the right moment. If everything has gone according to plan, Cyn is the one who gave it to you, or Cynthia O’Farrell as she was named at birth. You might know her as Thirteen. (Yes, I saw her in my visions too).
She is the daughter of Niall O’Farrell and Aoife O’Brien. Aoife was my best friend. She was murdered in a family war between the O’Farrells and the O’Briens when Cyn was just a child. Your fate and hers are intertwined, just like her mother’s and mine were. She’s here for her own reasons, as much as ensuring this letter gets to you safely.
If you do anything, trust her until you can trust yourself.
Like me, she too has run from her fate, but it will catch up with her. Be a friend to her when that happens. She’ll need you.
