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When I see her concerned expression, I nod. To distract myself, I ask, “Did it work? Were you able to focus on a happy thought?”
She glances at Ty’s keyring, which she’s attached to her belt loop.
“Not really. Gray still looks the same as ever and can’t seem to do any hexes.” She runs a hand through her hair, looking lost. “What if I just can’t do it?”
I put an arm around her shoulders and try to cheer her up. “Ty’skey chose you for a reason. Gray belongs with you. He would never have chosen you if you didn’t have any power, and then you wouldn’t be here.”
She nods, but I can see the doubt written all over her face.
“Maybe we should concentrate on a different emotion. How are you feeling right now?”
She shrugs. “I’m tired. But is that really helpful?”
“Hmm, I guess we’ll find out,” I say with a grin.
We practice together again.
After class, Kate suggests we do homework together, but I have to decline.
“I want to see Mom today, so I’m planning to stop by the hospital.”
But before that, I have other plans. For hours now, I’ve been itching to test out my idea.
“Sure, see you tomorrow then. Say hi to your mom from me.”
I hurry to my room, pull out the painting, and enter Frida’s hidden room again without any problems. There, I take a look around. The wall with all the photos, articles, notes, and connecting lengths of yarn is the first thing I notice. Can I maybe find a small piece of the puzzle here? I let my eyes wander around the room and wonder where to drip some blood. On a shelf? An object? The floor?
I decide to stand in the center of the room and try it there. I prick my finger with a needle and squeeze it so that two drops of blood fall on the floor. I wait, but nothing happens. My eyes scour the room. Did anything change? It doesn’t seem like it. Apparently, Frida didn’t want to make it too easy for me. Where could she have hidden something? What am I overlooking? I glance at the shelf where I found the photos. I think of Charles’ photo. It was important enough to Frida that she wanted to keep it here. I go to where the photo used to be and squeeze my finger again. A drop of blood wells up and falls onto the shelf. Andanother. My heart pounds, and I wait with bated breath. Will it work this time? I breathe the dusty air. The diffuse light of the milky lamps makes some corners look pretty dark, so I take a few steps around the room. No, nothing.
“Shit,” I mutter, about to go back to the shelf and try again, when I notice something out of the corner of my eye. A darker spot on the wall to my right, low down near the corner. I go to it and see that a kind of flap has opened, revealing a small rectangular hole in the wall. I peer inside, but it’s too dark to see anything. I feel inside it with my fingers and have to push my arm quite far in before I feel something. A cold, smooth object. It feels like a small box, and I pull it out. The box looks unremarkable at first glance. It fits in my hands and is made of metal, maybe brass – it feels heavy anyway. It’s plain and unadorned. I open it without hesitation.
First, I take out some folded sheets of paper. I unfold them and see that it’s some kind of report. I only read a few lines. I can take a closer look at it later. I’m more interested in the other object in the box: a heavy ring that appears to be made of gold. It has a black stone in a slightly raised setting. I wonder where she got it and what it meant to her. I hesitate before putting it on my finger. It’s big and doesn’t really fit me. But there’s no hex on it because nothing else happens. It’s a nice reminder of Frida though, so I decide to hang it on the chain around my neck.
Finally, I read the report. There’s a reference number but no addressee. However, it soon becomes clear that it must be a report for the Tempes.
Observation of kindergarten teacher Colette Dubois, aged 35, resident of San Francisco.
Suspicion: possible family heredity.
03.05.2010 6:00 am - Miss Dubois gets up, showers, makescoffee, eats breakfast.
03.05.2010 7:00 am - Arrives at place of work. Talks to colleague. The children begin to arrive, and she greets them warmly. No indication that she has one of them in her sights.
03.05.2010 9:27 am - One of the girls, Elisa Smith, falls off the slide and grazes her knee. Miss Dubois comforts her, hugs her, and tends to the injury. She seems caring and not distant or cold.
I flip through the pages. My great aunt has written pages and pages on this woman’s daily routine. She must have observed her for weeks. I find photos of a room and a list of objects found in it. Frida was evidently in Colette’s home. It’s strange to think that Frida spied on this woman and rummaged through her things. I have a suspicion as to why she did this, although I wasn’t aware that the Tempes actually assign hunters to individuals to sift through their lives. I hope they don’t do this with key candidates, and this makes me think of Ayden. I’m sure he wasn’t following me everywhere. If he was, then he wouldn’t have needed to squeeze me for information. So this approach must only be used in cases where there’s a very specific suspicion.
I come to a kind of summary, and my hunch is confirmed.
Although as a kindergarten teacher Colette Dubois has access to vulnerable wards who would be easy targets for a goddess of destiny, I can say with certainty after two months of observation that Colette Dubois is no goddess of destiny. She exhibits normal social behavior and has friends with whom she meets regularly and fosters close ties. She has hobbies and takes loving, attentive care of the children entrusted to her. She is empathetic, sometimes a little chaotic and disorganized, but she laughs frequently and is friendly and helpful. It can be ruled out that the goddess of destiny Melisende Martin passed on herpowers to her descendant Colette Dubois. I would like to end my report with a renewed request to be allowed to carry out an investigation of Patricia Morgan. As I’ve already expressed on multiple occasions, there are suspicious circumstances that urgently need to be followed up. For this reason, I ask you, the Council, to authorize an investigation. With the conclusion of this assignment, I now have time to devote to Ms. Morgan. I assure you that I will carry out my work with the utmost focus, attention, and professionalism.
With thanks,
Frida Mitchell
I reread Frida’s request to the Tempes Council to be allowed to take a closer look at this Patricia Morgan. I can tell how important this investigation was to my great aunt. Did she ever get to pursue it?
It sounds like she had already made the request at least once before and been turned down. But I’m more interested in why my great aunt hid this report here. I assume the Council received it and that this is a copy. But why was it important to Frida for her descendant – for whom the paintings and the blood seal were intended – to find this? What answers are contained in these pages?
