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“Most conversations operate under the guise of truth,” he said.
“And yet, most of us walk around lying to one another,” Charlotte said.
“Is what you’ve just said a lie?”
Charlotte arched her brow. “I suppose we’ll get nowhere in this conversation if we both attempt to be cleverer than the other.”
“Round and round we go.”
Charlotte couldn’t help it: a smile flickered across her cheeks. “I have a hunch about you, Jeffrey.”
“What is that?”
“I have a sense that you know more about the mystic than you’re letting on,” she said.
Jeffrey’s eyes glittered. “Go on.”
“I think that you were near the mystic’s once-place of business for a reason. You didn’t see me banging on the door by accident. You were there with a purpose.”
She was mostly bluffing; still, his eyes seemed to affirm this as truth.
Was it possible?
“You said at the dinner party that you don’t normally believe in such bizarre worlds,” he said.
“It’s true.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to perceive you as anything like the others,” he said. He took a step towards her and furrowed his dark brow. “But you have to explain why you returned. I can feel the hollowness between us. I know there’s a great deal you haven’t yet explained.”
“And why should I explain anything to you?” Charlotte asked, her voice catching.
“Perhaps I can be of help,” he said.
Charlotte hesitated. Her mind raced. “It sounds ridiculous aloud. I’m sure it does. But there was something the mystic said that ultimately became true. Something horrendous. And I cannot rest until I get to the bottom of it. I need to know if there was any way that I could have stopped it. I feel unable to breathe; such is my guilt.”
“Does this have anything to do with your cousin’s death?” Jeffrey asked.
The words tore through her, shocking her.
“What did you just say?” She had to ensure she hadn’t made some sort of mistake, had to ensure that she hadn’t misheard him.
Of course, the look of shock across her face was a dead giveaway that he’d been correct.
Jeffrey stepped closer to her. His eyes reflected a kind of compassion, although Charlotte wasn’t certain. They certainly didn’t know one another for any sort of feeling to exist between them.
“You think you had something to do with your cousin’s death, as the mystic foretold it …” Jeffrey suggested.
Charlotte flushed. How was it he could articulate her innermost thoughts?
“But you couldn’t have known what the mystic foretold would become so,” he continued. “There was nothing you could have done.”
“I don’t know about that,” Charlotte whispered. Her tears did not fall, although they hovered at the edge of her glassy eyes. “She told me she was a mystic, and she said something incredibly specific, something I should have investigated. I even questioned why she knew my cousin’s name. I should have said something, even to my dear friend, who was with me. But I gave no credit to her words. And now, my cousin is dead.”
“You couldn’t have known, Charlotte. Remember that.”
Jeffrey reached out and gripped her wrist for a moment. The contact was such a surprise that Charlotte jumped. He held her gaze for a long, beautiful moment, then suddenly stepped back, turned towards the road, and sauntered away.
Charlotte’s confusion brewed heavy in her stomach. She stepped back, her head spinning, and nearly collapsed into her mother’s arms.
“Darling, there you are. I thought you’d gone.”
“No. I only stepped out for air,” Charlotte lied.
“It’s time to go,” her mother said. “I can’t imagine a worse place to purchase fabric. It’s entirely unorganized; the man who operates the fabric is a complete imbecile; I’ve told him that I’ll explain what he’s done to all of my friends. In time, I know, he’ll close up shop.”
Charlotte’s eyes turned behind her mother’s shoulder to spot the fabric store owner, who stood with a perplexed expression, and his hands extended. Charlotte mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to him as her mother cut behind her and walked towards the carriage.
The fabric store owner gave a small shrug, then turned back towards the front counter. Charlotte made a mental note never to become her mother. It seemed she was on the hunt to destroy the earth and everyone on it.
