Chapter 14
Ididn’t have far to walk, thank goddess, because the wind was biting at my skin like actual teeth as I made my way toward the Historical Society.
I was confident I would find Leila inside, as the dearth of tourists and the frigid temperatures meant that walking tours around the Cove were few and far between.
Sure enough, as a gust of wind blew me through the door, along with a flurry of snowflakes, it was Leila who looked up at me from the front desk.
“Wren! Hi!” Leila said brightly, and then her expression fell. “Is everything okay? You look… distressed.”
“Hey, Leila,” I said, shaking the snow out of my hair, and approaching the desk. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just had a question.”
Leila’s expression was a little too knowing. “Is this about Granny?”
“Huh? Well, yeah, actually, it is,” I admitted.
“I’ve been thinking about you since you came to see us,” Leila said. “You looked pretty shaken when you came out, though I’m sorry to say that’s fairly typical.”
“That makes sense,” I murmured.
“So, what’s going on?” Leila asked. “I’ve been texting. I thought we were going to meet on Friday.” She wasn’t quite successful in keeping the accusation out of her tone.
“I know, and I’m so sorry about that,” I said hurriedly. “It’s just… well, I’ve been kind of busy and now…” I took a deep breath, plucked the sea glass from the depths of my pocket, and set it down on the desk top between us. “It’s this sea glass. I found it just now, outside of Xiomara’s Cafe.”
“Ooooookay,” Leila said slowly, picking it up to examine it.
“The thing is, I gave that piece of sea glass to Granny Nightjar. It was the thing she asked me for, as payment for our appointment.”
Leila frowned. “Are you sure it’s the same piece? There’s not exactly a shortage of sea glass around Sedgwick Cove. Maybe it’s just similar?”
I shook my head. “I’m positive. It’s got a pretty unusual shape and size.”
“Fair enough. So what’s your question?”
Now that she was asking me directly, I was having a hard time figuring out exactly what question to ask. A general “what the hell is going on?” felt too vague, though it was definitely the question rattling around inside my head.
“I’m just sort of wondering… if there’s any chance she might have lost it out on Main Street? Or maybe she gave it to you or someone else, and they lost it?”
Leila shook her head. “Granny doesn’t leave the apartment.”
“Like, ever?”
Leila shook her head, and then rolled her eyes. “I know people like to say she only comes out at night, but that’s just a silly rumor.”
I wasn’t sure whether I believed her, but I let it go. “So then… do you think it’s possible that she gave it to someone?”
“No,” Leila said firmly. “Once Granny takes payment, she squirrels it away. Her bedroom is full to bursting with all kinds of random objects that she has demanded in return for readings.”
“What does she do with it all?” I asked.
Leila shrugged. “I’ve never asked. But I can promise you she doesn’t give them away. Honestly, Wren, I think it’s probably just a coincidence.” She extended her open palm toward me, offering the sea glass back. I took it and looked down at it again, turning it over between my fingers.
“You’re not convinced,” Leila said, smirking at me.
I sighed. “It’s just… the moment after I found this piece of sea glass, something very weird happened.”
Leila sat up a little straighter, looking far more interested than at any other point in our conversation. “And what was that?”
“I looked into the window of the cafe and… well, suddenly I was scrying.”
Leila blinked. “Oh.”
“Yeah. And it was… immersive.”
“Oh dear,” Leila whispered.
I nodded. “And very, very public,” I added.
“How can I help?” Leila asked. “I told you, scrying’s not really my—”
“Could you please just… just return that to Granny Nightjar for me? It’s hers, not mine, and I don’t want her to think that I’m going back on our bargain. She wanted it, so she should have it.”
Leila was frowning, like there was a missing piece to this puzzle, and it was bothering her. “Sure,” she said slowly. “But I really don’t know how—”
“Just… just give it to her. If it turns out I’m wrong, and it’s not the same piece of sea glass, then whatever. She can do what she wants with it. But if it is hers, I want to make sure it’s returned to her, okay?”
Leila nodded, and slipped the sea glass into her pocket. Then her expression brightened, and she asked, “Speaking of bargains, what about ours?”
“Huh?”
Her smile slipped. “The uh…” She dropped her voice so the woman wandering the displays on the other end of the room couldn’t possibly overhear. “The help with the whole Persi situation?”
“Oh right!” I said. I really had all but forgotten; though, in fairness, I’d been through a truly bizarre ordeal that afternoon, and it had driven everything else from my mind.
“Yeah, I… I’m sorry, things have been a little crazy.
Let me think about the best way to start. Can you give me a day or two?”
I could tell she was disappointed, but Leila did a good job of masking it. She kept her smile in place as she replied, “Of course. I’m off on Wednesday morning. Where would be a good place to meet?”
“Uh, how about Shadowkeep?” I suggested. I took the morning shift there every Wednesday, so it made sense. However, Leila’s face fell.
“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t want to… I mean, won’t Persi be there?”
I held up a hand to cut her off. “Persi is uh… off her usual schedule at the moment. She won’t be there. It’ll just be me.”
Leila’s expression cleared. “Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” I said hastily, trying to sound excited about the prospect of planning a romantic gesture doomed to fail. “And thanks again for returning the sea glass for me.”
I was out the door before she could reply. I actually felt relieved as I stepped onto the street. Maybe it was the fact that I had left that piece of sea glass behind with Leila. I felt lighter without it, like the things I’d seen in the window were no longer following me, like a shadow in the sun.
The things I'd seen in the window…
No, I couldn’t think about that yet. I still had to play the part of a normal teenager before I could even begin to process it. I shoved it away and returned to Xiomara’s Cafe, where Eva was waiting for me with a plate of food and a can of soda.
At first, it felt like being watched through an observatory window—I knew she was scrutinizing me as I ate, wondering if she could work out for herself what the hell had been happening with me when she found me outside the cafe, and effectively broke the spell of the vision.
But as the food disappeared from my plate, she began to relax.
I made conversation that felt forced at first, but eased as the minutes ticked by.
Eva’s expression shifted from skeptical to open, her voice from clipped and guarded to melodic.
We even stumbled into the topic of the visiting Durupinen, and there I found a gold mine of distraction.
“Wait, you were actually in the meeting?” Eva cried, her mouth falling open. “Xiomara didn’t tell me that!”
I smirked. “Of course she didn’t. She didn’t want you pumping me for details she didn’t want you to have.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “I could have just pumped Nova for those same details,” she said, “because you know she found a way to eavesdrop.”
I laughed. “Undoubtedly.”
“So tell me about it! All Xiomara would say is that ‘everything is progressing smoothly, and we are creating a framework for future cooperation,’” Eva said, doing a scarily accurate impersonation of Xiomara’s voice and mannerisms.
“So, nothing, in other words,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“Well, she’s not wrong,” I said, between bites of arroz con pollo.
“Oh come on, Wren, don’t leave me hanging! Their High Priestess came, didn’t she? What is she like?” Eva pressed.
I put my fork down. “She’s really… nice,” I said, and when Eva glared at me, I said, “I’m serious!
She spent a lot of the time trying to put us all at ease, to make sure we didn’t feel threatened by their presence.
She kept emphasizing that their only concern was making sure the Geatgrima—that is, the Source—was functioning as it should, and was safe.
Which, of course, is all that we want, too. ”
“And you believed her? Like, you don’t think she was just trying to, like, placate the Conclave or whatever?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. This is what they do.
They protect these Gateway things. She was fascinated by the fact that it amplifies our powers, but as that doesn’t seem to have any negative effects on the Gateway itself, they don’t seem to have any concerns about it.
Their real worry is the same as ours, that the Source stays safe from—” I cut myself off, but Eva didn’t need me to finish.
“From the Darkness,” she said.
I nodded, suddenly feeling like my throat was closing up, like I couldn’t possibly swallow another bite.
I’d been determined to distract both Eva and myself with this conversation, and instead, I’d led it right back to the one topic I didn’t want to discuss.
I took an enormous gulp of soda, choked it down, and pushed my plate away.
“Thanks for this, but I should really get going. My mom will start wondering where I am.”
I could tell that Eva wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t argue with me. She stood up as I did, and held out her hands for my plate.
“Call me tonight,” she said, “if you want to talk.”
I nodded, gave an awkward wave, and hurried out.
Well, I’d held it together long enough. I couldn’t hope to fend off what I’d seen forever, so now I guessed it was time to face it—to try to make sense of it.
I didn’t understand why it had happened—why the window of the cafe had suddenly become this window into the past, when I’d already walked by a dozen other windows without seeing a thing.
But the fact was that it had, and regardless of why it had happened, I had to try to understand what it had shown me.