Page 11 of Tear of Destiny
“Uh, okay. Thanks for the tip,” I reply only half seriously.
“You’re welcome. I’m Alessandro by the way. I joined the hunters a few days ago.”
I raise my eyebrows and stare at the guy in disbelief, which makes him laugh.
“Your face is priceless.”
“I’m just surprised,” I admit. “You don’t seem like a typical hunter.”
“Fair enough. Until recently, I had no ambition to be one. But my family insisted on it.” He scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. “They figure I have too many crazy ideas in my head that need to be driven out. So now I’m supposed to be of service to the community and hopefully learn some life lessons at the same time.”
I can’t help laughing. “That sounds serious.”
Alessandro shrugs. “Oh, it’s okay. There’s a lot of fun to be had here too. I was just checking out the school actually. Looks nice.”
“You sound really enthusiastic,” I reply with a grin.
“Oh, these institutions are all the same. You’re expected to abide by the rules and conform. If everyone did that, life would be pretty boring, don’t you think?”
“So you’re a freedom fighter,” I observe. “And now that thirst for freedom has gotten you shipped off and incarcerated with the hunters.”
“Uh, yeah. Luckily, I have a talent for making the best of things,” he replies with a wink. “For example, now I get to focus on my greatest passion and see loads of key spirits.”
“Then I guess all it worked out fine,” I tease.
He laughs loudly. “You could say that. Anyway, it was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again. It’s not often I meet someone else with a fire spirit. What was your name again?”
“Teresa.”
I shake his hand. So he has a fire spirit too. That surprises me, and I glance around to see if I can spot his spirit, but I can’t.
“That’s a pretty name. I’ll remember it.”
He waves as he walks away. He’s about to turn a corner when I see a key spirit flash past me: a large sleek leopard. How apt.
Chapter 6
Ican’t believe Lucia knew this whole time,” Kate says, reaching for a handful of chips. We’re in her room. Having made ourselves comfortable on her bed, we’re trying to decide whether to watch a movie. But we keep returning to the day’s events.
“At least Lucia can see how messed up Max’s actions were. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Max. And I find it really sad that Lucia still has her back. The fact that she knew what Max was up to – honestly, I never saw that coming.”
Kate nods. “What will you do now? How are you going deal with those two?”
I shrug. “What choice do I have? I’ll avoid them. They’re clearly not my friends.”
“No way,” says Kate. Her thoughts seem to wander, and she says, “Hmm, we can’t do much about Max and Lucia. But what about Mr. Brian? It sounds like he’s afraid Charles told you something you weren’t supposed to know. We should find out as soon as possible what that is.”
I nod tentatively. “Charles was trying to warn me about someone, and he must have had his reasons. We need to becareful.”
“He didn’t give you any clues about who it could be?”
I shake my head, and then I remember something. “But he did say the words ‘two trees.’” Something tells me I’ve come across that phrase before, although I don’t know where I might have heard or read it.
“Means nothing to me,” says Kate. “What do you think he was referring to? A place or an object? Maybe one of your great aunt’s paintings?”
I jump up at the mention of Frida because I suddenly remember where I read those words. “Frida’s secret room. I need to go there now.”
“What?” Kate sounds confused.