Page 67 of Tear of Destiny

“Claire can be hard work sometimes, but she’s actually really nice. And she can be a lot of fun.”

“I have no doubt about that,” I say.

“She and Ayden have known each other a long time,” he continues.

I wish he wouldn’t mention his name. He glances over at them. They’re standing at the buffet with drinks, in an animated conversation with a couple of friends.

“But that’s inevitable when you grow up as a child of a Councilmember. We all know each other really well. It’s not always easy, because secrets don’t stay secret for long, and things quickly come to light whether you want them to or not.”

“Like your organized fights?” I ask with a smirk.

He shrugs. “Or worse,” he replies with a wink.

“Are you going to entertain me with gossip now?”

At that moment, his phone rings. Alessandro excuses himself and answers it. He doesn’t say much before ending the call and turning to me again. “Sorry, a minor emergency. I need to leave, but I’ll be right back. Try not to get too bored in the meantime.” He hurries to the door.

I certainly won’t because this is my chance. Nobody’s paying any attention to me now. Claire and Ayden are deep in conversation and have their backs to the door. So if I hurry, they won’t even notice me leaving.

I quickly find a way through the crowd and make my way to the exit. With a pounding heart, I step out into the corridor and follow it. Eventually it ends, and there’s another one running left and right. I turn left, where the corridor looks pretty deserted but has large windows.

I rush to the first one and look outside. I can’t see Noah, but I’m more or less in the right place. I rattle the handle, but the window won’t open. It’s locked.

I try the others, but none of the windows along this wall can be opened. So I have no choice but to continue along the corridor. Fortunately, I soon find a bathroom with a small window. I say a silent prayer and can’t believe my luck when the handle turns. I open the window, lean out, and look toward the corner of the house. At first, only Yoru responds to my quiet hiss. He appears under the window and looks up at me. Noah must be nearby because I left my key spirit with him. And sure enough, he too appears a few seconds later.

“Tess,” he says, looking up at me.

“Come on!” I say.

He doesn’t hesitate for a second. With an energetic leap, he firmly grasps the window sill and pulls himself up. Our key spirits follow. Yoru takes a run-up, sprints up the wall, and scrambles onto the window sill. Rain has no trouble getting up either.

“Okay, what now?” Noah asks as we leave the bathroom.

“We need to find that room again that Alessandro showed me last time. It was somewhere on the second floor.”

It takes us a while to find a staircase. And when we reach the next floor, nothing here looks familiar to me at first. Which is hardly surprising because I wasn’t paying attention to the way we went last time. And there’s so much stuff everywhere that it’s hard to tell anything apart.

We reach a corridor filled with figurines and statues that stretches to our left and right.

“Let’s try this way,” Noah suggests, turning left. I nod and start to follow him, but I turn my head as I’m walking. The statue beside me jogs my memory, and for a moment, I’m paralyzed.

I recall the first part of Kate’s premonition. An iron man with a fixed stare. His lance sharpened. He stands on guard there, guarding what must not be seen.

The statue reminds me a little of a Chinese terracotta warrior. He’s standing there in full armor and helmet. In his hand is a spear, and his expression is so serious and cold that you could almost believe there’s life in this iron figure. I follow its gaze; the eyes are pointing slightly to the right, fixed on a plain wooden door. I slowly walk toward it. My heart begins to pound the closer I get.

Kate’s next words come to mind:Anguish shrouded in darkness. A past that must not be forgotten.And I clearly remember the last part too. Pain and death await me there. But there’s no turning back.

“Teresa,” Noah hisses behind me. “What’s wrong?”

“Kate had a vision,” I mutter. “I can’t explain why, but I’m sure this is the place that she saw. There’s something waiting for us behind this door.”

I look nervously at Noah. He studies my face without saying a word. Then he reaches out and opens the door.

Chapter 29

In front of us is a long, ancient staircase that looks the opposite of opulent. It’s totally utilitarian, made of rough-sawn timber. Noah takes out his phone and lights the way. There’s no way of knowing what’s down there in the darkness.

The steps creak under my weight, and I breathe in the damp air, which becomes cooler the lower we go. When we finally reach the bottom, we step onto a cold gray stone floor. Old dressers with silver fittings and handles, chairs stacked on top of one another, boxes, statues, figurines. There are even stuffed animals standing around on top of cupboards and small tables.

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