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“Absolutely,” Charles agrees. “And the food was exceptional. The speeches could have been a little shorter, but the music at the end was great.”
“Did you dance?”
My mom’s wink makes it clear what she’s hinting at, and I’m reminded of Ayden again. Why does he have to keep popping into my head?
“No, Kate and I mostly just hung around the buffet tables and stuffed ourselves at the end with desserts.”
Mom laughs and shakes her head. “I would have done the same.”
“How are you, anyway?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
She shrugs and tells me about her work, which is pretty stressful right now. She drains her cup and stands up, saying, “I’ll grab another coffee. I could use the caffeine boost today. Do you guys want anything?”
Charles and I decline, and Mom goes to refill her cup.
“How’s your foot? Are you back at work?” I ask, trying to make small talk.
“Better, thanks. I’ll be back out in the field next week.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Trying to draw out a few Noctu?”
“I hope to encounter some because it’s always good to be able to take a few of them out. But I’m just part of a security detail. There’s a big Council session, and we always have a number of hunters present for the members’ protection.”
I nod and wonder how to use this opportunity to find out more about Frida.
“The hunters have a lot of responsibilities,” I begin, looking up at him with a thoughtful expression. “Patrols, fighting the Noctu and the fallen, protecting Council members...” I hesitate and then add, “And tracking down goddesses of destiny.”
Charles looks at me wide-eyed, momentarily lost for words. “How do you know about them? Did the principal’s son tell you?” He tilts his head to one side and ponders this. “Hmm, I find that hard to imagine. He’s pretty conscientious...”
“No,” I concede, toying with a sugar sachet. “I met one. She was my mom’s colleague.”
Charles looks at me incredulously, and I tell him the main points of the story.
“I can’t believe you got mixed up in something like that. Most students don’t know the goddesses exist.”
“I know.” I tear a piece off the sugar sachet and continue, “Did you and Frida ever track down goddesses? Was that one of your responsibilities?”
I can see in his eyes that he’s shutting himself off from me. He doesn’t want to talk about it, and he’s casting around for some innocuous response.
“We had a lot of different responsibilities. But yeah, that sort of thing was part of it. I’m not allowed to talk about it, as I’m sure you understand. You’re not supposed to know about any of that stuff, and believe me, it’s better to stay out of it.”
“Could you do that in my position?” I ask with a piercing look.
“I know where the boundaries are, and I sure as hell don’t want to overstep them. But I can understand if it’s difficult for you.” I detect a slightly admonishing undertone – or am I imagining that?
“Frida thought it was really important to track down the goddesses, am I right?”
Charles meets my gaze and then sighs and shakes his head. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” He hesitates before saying, “Frida was an excellent hunter. Her work meant everything to her. But I guess she just got in too deep and could no longer distinguish reality from delusion. She had these crazy ideas and kept coming up with new ones all the time. I hate to say it, but she became dangerous. She made mistakes. Eventually it resulted in this terrible incident.”
“And someone died,” I say, prompting him to keep talking.
He nods slowly. “I was there,” he admits to my surprise. “We had just completed a lengthy deployment and stopped in at headquarters to write up our reports. Frida wasn’t in the best headspace, but maybe she was just tired, overwrought. I should have paid more attention to her at that point, but my mind was on other things, and I went to the park without giving her another thought... Whatever the reason, it shouldn’t have happened. I’m just glad that there weren’t more people in the park that day.”
He gets a far-off look in his eye. He’s probably seeing the scene play out in front of him – and however it may have transpired, it’s a scene he’ll never forget.
“What happened?”
Charles opens his mouth, but then he’s jolted back to the present by approaching footsteps. My mother’s on her way back to us. He gets that closed-off look again.
