Jenny Plague-Bringer(41)
“I’m not as scared as you think,” Jenny told her.
“I thought...with who else can I talk about these things? I’ve never been able to talk with anyone. The priest, he told me I was making it all up, when I was a child. He told me never to speak of it.”
Jenny folded her arms. “You’re saying you came here because you wanted to be...friends with me?”
“Is that so strange?” Mariella gave a small shrug. “I thought, we have some things in common. We could talk about...shopping for gloves, perhaps? I know many fine places to buy gloves in Paris.”
In spite of her angry mood, Jenny couldn’t help laughing. She quickly covered her smile, but the damage was done. Mariella had broken Jenny’s stern glare.
“I am very sorry how this turned out,” Mariella said. “I did not know he was yours. You could have told me.”
“I thought it was better to get rid of you,” Jenny said.
Mariella looked hurt, her eyes shimmering.
“You have to understand, though,” Seth told her. “We’ve met others like us—”
“You’ve met others?” Mariella sat up. “Where? Can we speak to them?”
“—but we aren’t very nice, as a group,” Seth continued. “I mean, we’re mostly psychopaths. Present company excluded, as far as I know.”
“The ones who caused us the most trouble are already dead,” Jenny added, raising her eyebrows just a little.
“What could the others do?” Mariella asked. “Do we all have different powers? Where do they come from?”
“They’re all different,” Seth said. “We come in pairs. Opposites, like me and Jenny. Healing and plague. Love and fear.”
“Then I must have an opposite somewhere,” Mariella said. “If I can see the future, then he would...what? See the past?”
“That’s not very useful.” Seth snickered.
“It could be, if there’s something in your past you want to hide,” Jenny said.
“That’s a little more useful,” Seth conceded.
“Would he be a boy?” Mariella asked. “How could I find him?”
“Let’s go back to the sociopath-slash-psychopath thing,” Seth said. “If someone like that is out there, odds are you don’t want to meet him.”
“Give me your hands again.” Mariella stood up and approached him with her palms out. “I need to see something.”
Jenny watched as Mariella took his hands and closed her eyes. Seth sat there awkwardly, trying not to look at Mariella at all.
“There are many possibilities,” Mariella said. “The future is always shifting and changing. But one thing I see clearly for Seth is the man who will hunt him down.”
Jenny sat forward. Mariella might or might not be able to see the future...but if she could, it didn’t mean she was telling them the truth. Jenny thought of Ashleigh’s intricate, destructive little plots and tried to imagine what Mariella might be scheming.
“I really don’t like the sound of ‘hunt me down,’” Seth said. “Like kill me?”
“Take you. Kidnap you,” Mariella replied.
“Who is this guy?” Seth asked.
“He is older. Some gray hair.” Mariella’s already-closed eyes squinted, and she clutched Seth’s hands tighter, as if she were concentrating hard, or maybe trying to pass a kidney stone. “American. He has soldiers...influence...I think he has a touch like ours. I’m not certain of his power, but his eyes are...” Mariella’s eyes opened wide and she released Seth, hurrying back from him and shaking her head. “He has my eyes.”
“Your opposite,” Seth said, and Jenny wanted to scowl at him. She wasn’t sure whether they should be helping the girl or not. “Sometimes we have the same eyes.”
“Like yours.” Mariella stepped forward, looking at Seth, then at Jenny. “Blue. The same beautiful shade of blue...”
“When is he coming?” Jenny asked.
“I’m sorry?” Mariella shook her head as if she’d been momentarily hypnotized, looking into Jenny’s eyes. “When is who?”
“The guy we were just talking about. The one who’s going to hunt Seth down? When is that going to happen? And where?” Jenny asked.
“Right here,” Mariella said. “Not far into the future.”
“We can change that,” Seth said. “Right? We can pack up and move somewhere else, hide ourselves better.”
“It is possible.” Mariella held out her hand, and Seth reluctantly took it again. This time, she gazed into his eyes instead of closing her own. Seth stared back. It made Jenny uncomfortable.