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She glances at Kate one last time and then bustles out.
“Please say you’ll come,” Kate begs me.
“Kate, I really don’t think it’s my scene. And your mom’s right – I have nothing to wear.”
She dismisses my comment with a wave of her hand and pulls me back into her room. There, she steps up to the wardrobe and opens it. “I have lots. I’m sure there’s something for you here.”
I can hardly believe my eyes. A whole row of evening dresses. Beautiful colors and gorgeous fabrics. They must have cost a fortune.
“Like I said, Mom’s already dragged me to so many of these dinners and parties. And I almost always get a new dress.”
She takes out a selection and lays them on the bed. I’m still overwhelmed by all this luxury.
“You’re gonna look great,” Kate says with a smile.
I roll my eyes and take a look at the dresses. A blue one catches my eye. The color is gorgeous, and the cut looks incredible.
“Go ahead. Try it on,” my friend urges.
I undress, and Kate takes my clothes and puts them on the bed. Then, I set about trying to get into the dress. It’s very tight. Once I’ve managed to put it on, I turn to Kate for help with the zipper. But she just stands there lost in thought, staring at something in her hands.
“Kate, are you OK?”
“Frida took this photo,” she said, still staring at the object in her hands. “It was a wonderful day. Frida often thought back to this moment. Charles meant so much to her. She loved his smile. I can see her too; the wind is playing with her hair; she’s so happy, enjoying the moment. But there’s also this sense of foreboding around her. Something cold, menacing, like a dark shadow. Black swirling smoke. It’s following her, pursuing her, reaching out with its dark claws.”
I stare at Kate, speechless. She stares at the photo for a moment longer and then tears her eyes away from it and looks at me in horror.
“I’m really sorry. It just came over me. I didn’t know what I was saying. I didn’t mean to invent this bizarre story about your great aunt. I know she’s important to you. I shouldn’t have said all that.”
She lowers her eyes and hands me the photo. It’s the one I found in the secret room. It’s a picture of Charles grinning at the camera. It must have been in my jacket pocket and fallen out. I look at it and try to organize my thoughts.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I say, although what she said has left me in a state of shock. “I can confirm a lot of what you just said. The man’s name is Charles, and yes, I assume Frida took the photo. They were close friends. Apparently, there was some incident...” I hesitate and then decide to ask. “Thesmoke you saw – it was pursuing Frida? It was a threat to her?”
“I... I’m not sure,” she replies hesitantly.
It’s clear to me that the special connection she just had is now lost, but I need to know specifics. “You said something about a pursuer and dark claws?” I can only think of one creature that fits that description. “Could it have been one of the fallen?”
Is it possible that my great aunt was on the Noctu’s radar, and they were hunting her?
Kate stares at me and seems unsure how to respond to my question. “There were dark claws scraping over the ground. Smoke reaching for her. Yeah, it’s possible.”
That’s all I need to know. I gulp and wonder what they wanted from Frida. Was she hunted down and attacked by them in the end? And was that somehow linked to the incident Charles refused to talk about?
I don’t know, but I have no way of figuring it out right now. First, I need to take care of Kate. I go to her and put my arm around her shoulder.
“I know this scares you. But there’s something you need to know – special abilities used to be common among key carriers. They were called gifts. Some people could sense magic or had magical powers themselves. Others were able to move things with their minds or teleport themselves. But there was also some with clairvoyant abilities and those...” I swallow before continuing, “...who could see destiny threads, like me.”
Kate just stands there lost for words and stares at me. After a few seconds she sinks down on her bed, looking mortified.
“So you have one of these special abilities too. And I... You’re saying I’m clairvoyant?”
She looks up at me with an imploring expression, but I can’t hide the truth from her any longer.
“So I’m not just inventing these stories? They’re all true?”
I nod. She thinks for a moment and then asks, “And thesedestiny threads that you see – are they really spun by the goddesses? I mean, Chiara said her mother was a goddess. But...” She shakes her head. “It all seems so surreal.”
After the fight with Chiara, I told Kate about the goddesses. And the Council had to explain a few things about those creatures too – it was unavoidable after the encounter with Chiara.
