CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Not long after we get home, Sarah leaves again. As if she has somewhere to be.

I watch from the front window as she walks down the path and veers right down the street. It's possible she just needs some space, but I don't trust her – not completely.

I make it out the house and all the way down the path before the door swings open behind me. "Melissa, come back inside," Katherine says. "We have some things to discuss."

"But Sarah–"

"We don't need Sarah for this. But we will need you."

Up ahead, Sarah turns a corner and disappears. Reluctantly, I return inside with Katherine.

They're all there when I reach the dining room – Ethel, Scott, and a couple more prominent council members, all gathered around Katherine's small dining table. It's formidable.

"And they're all loyal? Are you sure?" Ethel is saying.

"Completely," a man replies. He wears stocky square glasses and has skin the colour of charcoal. "If there was a leak in our council, I would sense it."

Ethel looks up as I enter. "Melissa," she says, acknowledging me. She beckons me to sit down. There are only two remaining seats – Katherine takes one, and I the other.

"This is David," Ethel tells me, gesturing towards the man in the glasses. "He can sense the emotions of others."

I look towards him, suddenly uncomfortable. He smiles. "Don't be nervous. I don't listen to most emotions – just the important ones."

His assurance isn't helpful, but I quench my nerves.

"We were hoping you could shed some light on the situation," Ethel says, dark eyes looking my way.

"The situation?"

"You were there. The intercept. Somehow they knew we were coming and we need to figure out how."

I stare at them incredulously. How can they sit around pondering the past when Caden has been taken? "I don't see how I can be of help," I say.

Scott leans forward, placing his clasped hands on the table. "Just tell us what you saw."

"I don't know. Smoke? Fighting?"

"Focus on the people," Ethel instructs. "Was anyone acting suspiciously? Did you see anyone who looked unusual?"

Lauren, my mind thinks instinctively. Instead I frown. "Why are you asking me? You were all there as well." Why are you bothering? I want to yell. What is the point of this?

A few of the gathered crowd exchange looks. "We were fighting most of time," Scott says. "We didn't see much."

"There's every chance they could have a seer or clairvoyant among their ranks," someone says – a young woman with boyish ash-blonde hair.

"It is possible," Ethel replies. "I suppose they also could have been more secretive about the route then we realised. It would make sense to have a decoy when transporting something so valuable."

"But that doesn't explain why they came with such a large force," David says. "If it was a decoy, they could have easily come with only a few men. But they brought dozens."

"It's almost as if they were protecting something," Katherine says.

"But what?" It's the blonde woman again. "They didn't have the Replicator with them."

"Maybe they thought it a good time to lessen our numbers," Scott says. "Somehow, they saw us coming – by seer or other means – and decided they would fight back. We weren't expecting an opposing force that large; it was the perfect opportunity for them to get at us."

Ethel sighs. "So they have a seer. That's what we're going with?"

"It certainly makes the most sense," Katherine says.

"Unfortunately," Ethel agrees. "If it was a spy on the council, it wouldn't be too hard to neutralise the threat. But a seer? They could be anyone, anywhere. And they'd see us coming before we could even get to them."

"Which is why we have to fight fire with fire," David says. "A seer for a seer."

At this point their eyes swing in my direction. "Me?" I say.

"You're the only one who can see past, present and future events."

"But I can't control it. What use is that?"

"There is a way," David says. "It's difficult, and it takes time, but there is a way to control when your visons come to you – and even when, where and who it is they show. But you can't do it alone – you'll need help."

Ethel begins to stand. "Hold on, I can call–"

"No," I say.

Everyone stares at me. Ethel stops. "No?"

"You want to use me to find a seer that may or may not exist? Well I'm not helping. Keon has Caden. He left me a damn note – Keon threatened him. And all you care about is how they knew we were coming!"

"Melissa," Scott says. "I'm Caden's father and I can assure you, we are doing everything in our power to get him back. In the mean time, however, we have to address the fact that they are one step ahead of us. And if we want to have any chance of surviving this Endgame – and very possibly the events of the prophecy – then we have to know how it is they know all our plans."

It's silent for a moment. Then I think, Screw it. "You want to know why they were there? They were there to get at me. The force they brought with them was a distraction, the explosion – a distraction. Keon had a message for me and that was how he delivered it – with fighting and death and the capture of a friend. Hell, he even resurrected one of my friends for dramatic effect! If they have a seer, they're damn good at their job. Not even the council knew I was coming and yet–"

"Wait. Melissa, stop there. You say they resurrected one of you friends?" Ethel looks shocked.

"Yes," I say. "Lauren. She was there."

Whispers break out around the table. Ethel quietens them. "Lauren's the girl who died last month, isn't she?"

I nod. "She went to my school. We were – friends."

"Is that possible?" the blonde woman asks. "If they can bring people back, then..."

I allow a moment for it all to sink in before speaking. "They took her body – after she died."

Ethel looks thoughtful. "If Lauren became a ghost, there's every chance they could have put her in a body – with the right technology, of course, and we know they aren't lacking on that front. But I would have thought the body has to be living."

"Apparently not," Katherine says, appearing dismayed.

"And Lauren was there, Melissa? You spoke to her?"

"I did. She told me she had a message from Keon – that he wanted me to stop, and that it wouldn't end well for me if I didn't."

Ethel frowns. "Lauren was a seer?"

I shake my head. "No. She did have the ability of mind control – she used it on me so I couldn't chase after her – but she couldn't tell the future. That was another."

"Who?"

"They wouldn't be alive anymore. Whoever it was foretold this a century ago."

"That's what she said? A century?"

"She said something like, 'it was set in stone a century ago'."

More talking, more whispers. Katherine just looks at me, her gaze burning my cheek. When I glance at her, I can see the gears turning in her mind, the realisation. Just the other week, I asked her whether or not there could be another prophecy – an earlier one. When I told her I'd seen it in a nightmare, it had been discredited. But now...

"I think there's another prophecy," I say over the talking, and as soon as the words leave my mouth, I know they're true. "One that existed long before the current prophecy."

"And in it?" Scott dares to ask.

"I don't know," I admit. "Nothing good. Lauren said Keon planned to fulfil it."

"That's it. I'm calling her." Ethel stands up. "The only way to find out the truth about the past and the future is with her help. And without it, I fear we may lose this battle."

The blonde woman beside me murmurs, "It's not a battle. It's a war."

It makes me shiver.

After Ethel's left the room, I ask what she meant by 'her'.

"She's calling Renée," David tells me. "A Seresin."

"A what?"

"Forgive me, that's what they're called in the language of the otherworld. You would know them by another name."

"Which is?"

Scott leans back in his chair. "She's a witch."