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“Where are we going tonight? Do we take one of the doors?”
Noah nods, takes out his key, and summons a door that takes us to the Odyss. We continue on directly from there. We pass through two more doors and then find ourselves in an idyllic glade. It’s a clear night without a cloud in the sky and no sound apart from the faint whisper of the wind.
“So you’ve actually solved the puzzle?” I ask.
Noah nods and brings out the comb. “Do you have the piece of paper?”
I nod.
“Good,” he says. “You were right. The pattern on the comb changed. It took me a while to figure it out. The new point of reference is Saturn.” Noah looks up at the sky where the stars are twinkling above us. “At least I hope so.”
“Let’s try it,” I suggest.
Noah hands me the comb, stands behind me, and shows me exactly how to position it. “That’s Saturn up there. Yeah, that should fit.”
I hold the comb up to the firmament and wait for something to happen. I keep my eyes on the comb, but I see no glow this time. My arm starts to feel heavy, and I let it drop.
I look doubtfully at Noah. He responds with a clueless shrug. I have another idea and take the paper out of my pocket. As soon as I look at it, I catch my breath. It’s glowing. I stare at it with wide eyes as letters begin to appear on it. To my astonishment, the words are in English, and I quickly read them. The content baffles me and turns my world upside down.
Arthur,
I saw you. You were there when Charles attacked Patricia and Frida took the blame. You followed your friend because you sensed there was something up with him. The constant arguments with Frida. And she’s changed a lot too in recent months.
You were at the right place at the right time – at least that’s how you see it. Because now you have dirt on Charles, and you intend to exploit him. He has no choice but to do as you say if he doesn’t want to risk you telling the Council the truth about Patricia.
I’m sure you can guess what I am and what powers I possess, knowing about all that without being present. I watched it all unfold. So I’m giving you one warning: abandon your plan! You have no idea what it will unleash. I see what you’re doing in secret; the sinister plans you’re pursuing. You want to change destiny, and I intend to prevent that. You need to make a decision, and fast. I’m only giving you this one chance before I personally intervene and stop you. Trust me, you don’t want me as an enemy.
I advise you to take my warning seriously.
Veronica Williams
For several minutes, I stare at the name that’s now echoing in my head. Veronica Williams – Kate’s mother. She wrote this letter to Mr. Brian. But when? And more importantly, what did she know about my teacher? Reading between the lines, it’s clear to me how she came by the information. But I’m struggling to come to terms with it. Can it really be true?!
Noah reads the letter too, but he doesn’t recognize the writer’s name.
“Kate’s mom,” I croak eventually. I have to clear my throat before I can go on. “Kate’s mother wrote this letter.”
I look up and see his face stiffen. He runs his hand through his hair and paces up and down.
“Okay, I really wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me neither. I never got the sense that she knows anything about the key-carrying world. And if she does, the school seems unaware of that. Otherwise, they would have dealt with Kate differently and been more open with her parents.”
“No, she’s no key carrier,” Noah confirms. “The knowledge that she’s threatening Mr. Brian with could only have come from a vision. She must be a seer, and either she never had any odeon, or she chose not to be part of this world. But I suspect the former. There are non-key carriers with special powers too.”
Now it’s my turn to start pacing back and forth like a caged animal as I try to organize my thoughts. The questions rattling around in my head mainly involve Mr. Brian. What was his plan? Did he heed Kate’s mom’s warning? Or was she forced to intervene? Did she succeed? Is this letter the original or a copy? And does the letter have anything to do with the goddesses’ library? Did they archive letters like this there too? But then how did it get here?
I have to talk to Kate about all of this. Maybe she’s noticed something about her mom. And then we’ll inevitably have to talk to Ms. Williams herself. Will she let her mask fall? I have my doubts. I’m struggling to reconcile this letter with the elitist woman I’ve met. She doesn’t seem to care much about other people. Nor does she strike me as someone who would be compelled to fight. But that’s exactly what she’s threatening in this letter. Or have I got it wrong?
I sigh deeply and look down at the piece of paper again. It’s incredible to think where Kate’s visions have led me. Alessandro’s house. I realize that my initial assumption was wrong. The visions weren’t supposed to lead me to the glass cases containing the precious relics but to those strange cat figurines where I found the comb.
But what was it doing there? And how did Kate know I needed to go into that cellar? Was her vision about what Alessandro was hiding there? And why could she see those things? Does she have visions that are relevant to the people around her? That would be one explanation because so far, she’s only had premonitions relating to me or people in her immediately vicinity.
I rub my temples and try to organize my chaotic thoughts.
“You really need to talk to Kate’s mom,” Noah says eventually. “I doubt she’ll be eager to spill her secrets. But you need to find out what Mr. Brian wanted from Charles and whether Veronica actually managed to stymie his plans, whatever they were.”
Noah’s right. Those are the things I need to find out. I get goosebumps when I think of Mr. Brian. I can’t trust him – that became clear to me after he planted those misleading annotations for me. But is he still dangerous?
