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Fin nodded, glancing at me as I crossed the threshold. “That’s originally why I left. I wanted to find out what they were looking for—to see if we need to be worried.”
I pulled the door shut to block our voices from reaching Liam and quietly moved closer to Fin.
“Did you find any answers?” Jake asked.
“Not exactly,” Fin said. “There’s a prophecy that seems to be at the root of the excavations. It’s being used as some sort of propaganda by Eduart. I can’t remember the exact wording.” He shook his head and peered over his shoulder at me. “You have it memorized, don’t you?”
“Oh, um...” I cleared my throat. “‘Uncover and destroy the destructive force hidden under the earth in Death Valley,’” I recited. “I’m pretty sure it’s talking about you guys—your people.” I glanced back at the door to the man-made cavern. “Since Fin here is technically livingunderground.”
“Could be,” Jake grumbled and blew out his breath. “Damn prophecies—vague and cryptic, as usual.”
“Speaking of that prophecy,” I said, relaxing my hold on the notebook so I could open it to the page listing the prophecies I had scrawled from memory. I turned the book around to face Jake. “I think there’s more to it. I stumbled across these when I was going through my mother’s desk.”
Jake clenched his jaw at the mention of Mother. Not surprising, considering all the physical and mental torture she had put him through.
“She’s gone—dead,” I told him, hoping that knowledge would ease his mind some, even if it troubled mine. I hastily pushed onward, tapping the tip of my index finger against the page listing the three prophecies verbatim, starting with the one about the destructive force thathadto be Fin’s people.
Jake’s eyes moved from side to side as he read the lines.
Uncover and destroy the destructive force hidden under the earth in Death Valley.
One by one, the seven will fall until only one remains.
When purity kills and the last raven falls, look to the dreamwalker for guidance. The cure will...
When Jake reached the end, he looked at me. “Very ominous,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Why are you showingmethis?”
“The third prophecy is attributed to Becca,” I explained. “And the same fragment appears in every copy I’ve seen of her book of foretellings.” I met Jake’s cautious stare. “I think we need the original.”
“Then you’re out of luck,” Jake said, shaking his head. “There is nooriginal. Becca didn’t record most of her own prophecies—especially not near the end.” He cleared his throat, his focus drifting past me. “She wasn’t well.” His throat bobbed. “Zoe recorded what she could.” The corner of his mouth twitched, and again he shook his head. “But then, she wrote downeverything. She always had multiple notebooks going. They were stashed all over the farm, so she would always have one close at hand when she needed it.”
He was talking about the Patrons’ original homestead in Hope Valley.
Jake blinked and refocused on me. “That’s probably why Becca’s ‘book of foretellings’ is so spotty. We had bookshelves filled with Zoe’s notebooks at one point, but if you ask me, they should all have been burned.”
My eyes widened with terror. “Did you burn them?”
Jake looked at me and rubbed the back of his neck as he reluctantly shook his head. “No, Zoe wouldn’t let me. But we couldn’t bring them all when we abandoned the farm, either. We hid what we could, but I’m sure we missed a few. The fragmented prophecies that have been reprinted are probably from the notebooks we left behind.”
I searched his eyes, my heart beating faster. “Does that mean you know where the rest of Zoe’s notebooks are? The ones you hid?”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “Assuming they’re still there, yeah.”
“Where?” I asked, closing the book and once again hugging it to my chest.
Jake glanced at Fin, then returned his attention to me. “How badly do you need this prophecy?”
I laughed halfheartedly, my shoulders hitching higher. “The wasting sickness is destroying my kingdom, and every attempt to create a synthetic healing elixir fails. These prophecies are the only hope we have of a cure.”
“That’s not entirely true, is it?” Jake said pointedly, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
“I’m not like my mother,” I snapped. “I won’t imprison Healers and harvest their blood.”
Jake eyed me, his stare assessing. And then he sighed, his shoulders sagging as he looked to the sky. “Will I never be free of these damn prophecies?” he asked nobody in particular.
I reached out, resting my hand on Jake’s forearm. “Where are the notebooks?” I asked, hoping to skim the location from his mind. But there was nothing concrete. No images of places or flashes of memory. His mind was a vault, sealed tighter than ever.
I did, however, sense a hint of something dark. He was so weary. It settled around me, heavy and suffocating. It pushed the air from my lungs, and I locked my knees to keep them from buckling under the weight of his misery. How was he walking around with this leaden heart? How was he still walking around at all, talking to us like everything was okay?
