Page 21 of Tear of Destiny
“There’s another hearing in a few days. Hopefully I won’t have to be there. I have a deployment coming up, so with any luck, I won’t be around for it.”
I swallow and type, “Good luck.”
“Noah?” Kate asks after I put my phone away.
I nod. “He wanted to know how I was. I asked him about the retirement home last time I saw him, but he doesn’t know where every individual Noctu is stationed. And he’s already risked a lot for me.”
“Hmm, then I guess we should just go there ourselves as soon as we can, right? I’ll contact them again about an appointment.”
I’m not sure what to say. Kate is probably right, but I’m hesitant. Wouldn’t it be better to just leave things be? My life is kind of out of control right now. That should be my priority.
I’m opening my mouth to express this when I see Kate’s face suddenly go blank. I instinctively reach for her hand and look at her with concern. “Kate?”
In a weird voice that sounds somehow cold and lifeless, she says, “Radiant as the sun. Shimmering gold. The path was determined long ago, a meeting inevitable. Swift and surprising, eyes warm and bright. In the background, the threads are long since spun.”
She falls silent, still gazing into the distance. My heart is in mymouth. What was that? I say her name almost fearfully and run my fingers over the back of her hand. Her chest is heaving, and her face is pale. I’m about to stand up and put my arms around her when she flinches and puts her hand to her head as if she feels dizzy or has a headache. Then she looks at me with a totally clueless expression.
“I suddenly have a headache,” is all she says at first.
“Okay…” I say. “And other than that, are you okay?”
She seems to sense my concern.
“Uh, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
I raise my eyebrows. Does she really have no idea what I’m talking about? “Kate, do you know what you just said?”
She frowns and looks at me as if I’m going crazy and then says, “We were discussing whether to pay a visit to the retirement home.”
I slowly shake my head. “Kate, you were somewhere else just now. As if you were having a vision or something. Although… this time it was different. You went pale, and your voice sounded weird.”
Now Kate looks a little scared. She shakes her head slowly as if she doesn’t believe what I’m saying.
“You really don’t remember?”
“No,” she says.
I try to recall her words, which isn’t easy. “You said something about a light, a predetermined path. And an unexpected meeting, and something about eyes… and threads in the background.”
Kate shakes her head again. “I really have no idea.”
I think hard about what Kate said, trying to recall the moment and the precise wording she used. Warm, bright eyes. Who has eyes like that? An inevitable meeting. Maybe we’ll meet someone in the home? My heart starts beating loudly when I recall the rest of Kate’s words:In the background, the threads are longsince spun.Is it about the goddesses of destiny? Is the home somehow associated with them? Will I find some clue there?
I have to force myself to stay in my seat. I’m tempted to go there right now, but I realize we can’t arrange it on the spot. After hearing Kate’s words, which almost sounded like a prophecy, I feel certain we’ll find something there.
Two Trees retirement home is about 50 minutes by car from San Francisco, right on the coast in a charming place called San Gregorio. But it takes me and Kate two and a half hours to get there with public transport. It’s a tiny little town by the sea. There’s a long beach below cliffs, and the view out over the water is gorgeous. From the center of town, we have to take another bus, and ten minutes later we finally arrive at the retirement home.
It’s a large white two-story house with a lot of windows. An inviting veranda runs around the building. Kate and I go inside and find a reception area where a roughly forty-year-old woman looks up with a friendly smile.
“Hello. What can I do for you?”
“My friend Kate called ahead. We’re both interested in doing an internship here, and we were told we could visit today and get a tour of the home.”
The woman types something into her computer and then nods. “I’ll let someone know you’re here.”
We take a step back from the reception desk as the woman makes a call. I don’t like having to lie, but there was no other way to take a look around the place. And we’re unsure how much of it we’ll actually get to see.
The home seems friendly and well kept. The large windows let in plenty of light and provide a view of a pretty garden with flourishing flowers and herbs.