Page 32 of Premonition of Peace

“Kat? What are you doing here?” I asked again.

“Same as you,” she said flatly, not bothering to meet my gaze.

My eyes flicked to Carissa, and back to Kat. I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know. “Did you do this? Did you kill her?”

She scoffed softly. “No.”

She couldn’t lie to me. She could give sketchy, roundabout answers, but she couldn’t outright lie. And this? She answered as plainly as she could.

“Then who?” I whispered to myself. “And why the text to both of us?”

“It means our time is up,” she said, clearing her throat slightly. I waited for her to give some extra clarification to that statement, but when silence was her answer, I pressed again.

“What are you talking about?”

“With Carissa dead, our time is up.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, moving closer to her. “Do you know what caused this? Or who? Why?”

She sighed. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I didn’t find another way.”

I was starting to get frustrated with the crazy mutterings and vague answers. “Another way for what?”

Kat tilted her head to look at me and her eyes were dead. “To save you.”

eleven

NATHALIE

I staredat her for a long moment, waiting for an explanation or some kind of expansion as to what she was actually talking about.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I put my hands on my hips, glaring at her.

My sister barely seemed to hear me, her eyes turned back to Carissa, her hands shaking as they lay in her lap. Instead of answering, she muttered to herself, whispering quietly about how hard she tried, how everything was over now, how she would never find “her” again, and so much more. I huffed roughly and looked away, running my hands through my hair.

“Katherine.” She didn’t answer. “Fuck, Kat, answer me.”

Her eyes lifted to mine, and she frowned. “I tried to save us, Nat. I really did. I tried so hard.”

She blinked back tears, and my mouth nearly dropped open. The last time I saw Kat cry was the day Prudence died.

“I don’t understand. You’re not explaining anything.”

“What is there to explain? Everything is over.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Might as well pack it up and start our goodbyes.”

I was struggling, my anger rising until it was barely contained. With everything happening around me, with all of the people depending on me, I didn’t have fucking time for this. I felt like she was wasting what little moments I had, and it was driving me up the wall.

“For fuck’s sake! Enough with the cryptic words,” I demanded, my voice shaking. “I need answers, Katherine.Now.”

“Nat, it’s not that simple.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to back down. I was getting answers today if it killed me. Too many things counted on me being right. Too many people counted on me being successful, and I couldn’t afford to let any one of them down. I hadn’t failed before, and I wasn’t ready to start now. At least not with this.

“Katherine, I swear to the gods if you don’t start talking . . .” I stopped myself, taking a deep breath before I began throwing out haphazard threats. Slapping the shit out of her crossed my mind. Maybe it would knock some sense into her.

She sighed deeply and looked away. For a second I thought she wasn’t going to answer and that would have probably sent me over the edge. But she did answer, finally.

“How much do you actually know about our family history?” she asked in a somber tone.

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