Page 27 of Tear of Destiny
His grin is amused but not condescending. “Well, you’ve probably learned my last name by now. And you’re no stranger to the Council with your gift. I don’t take much interest in politics or the work of the Council – to my family’s dismay – but I overhear things. And your name comes up now and then.”
A shiver runs up my spine, and I keep staring at him, lost for words.
Now he laughs raucously and shakes his head. “Don’t look at me like that! You look as if I we’re discussing your death sentence. It’s really not that bad. They’re just considering how your gift could be useful in the future. But first, they want to give you time to familiarize yourself with our world. And from what I’ve heard, you’ve already seen a lot.”
He cocks his head and looks at me expectantly, and I still can’t see any deception or suspicion in his eyes.
“I guess it’s not easy having that gift. It must be pretty weird suddenly seeing these threads appear out of nowhere and knowing how long a person has to live. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you if I have a long life ahead of me.”
“And I wouldn’t tell you,” I say slowly, my shock gradually fading. “I figure it doesn’t do a person any favors, I mean, we all have to die sometime. And it’s better not knowing when that day will come.”
“I totally agree with you. What kind of life would it be if we were deprived of the biggest surprise of all?”
That’s not exactly how I would have expressed it, but I knowwhat he means.
“And?” I press him. “What’s the Council saying about me? Have they decided what to do with me?”
Alessandro runs his hand through his hair and looks at me with his shining brown eyes. A memory flashes through my mind. I recall Kate’s words. Could it be…?
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.
Those were her words. And suddenly, a picture emerges. I was wrong. It wasn’t about the retirement home – not Rosie or any other resident there. It was about my collision with Alessandro. The first part is about me seeing the destiny threads again. Then the inevitable meeting: literally running into Alessandro. His dark brown eyes, which are at the same time bright and warm thanks to the points of light I was seeing at that moment. Hmm, and the last sentence is pretty clear now too: I’m being discussed behind my back. The Council is considering what to do with me.
“You make it sound like you’re some kind of criminal who needs to be put in her place,” says Alessandro, wrenching me out of my reverie. “It’s not like that. I don’t have a lot of time for the Council with all its rules and the duties it tries lay on you, but they mean you no harm. They’re just thinking about the best way to support you. And how your gift can be put to good use, obviously.” He comes a step closer and puts a reassuring hand on my arm. “But don’t worry, you’re incredibly important to them. They won’t try and force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“The way they didn’t force you to do something you don’t want to do?” I ask. “You didn’t join the hunters voluntarily.”
“You always speak your mind, don’t you?” he says with a laugh. “But yeah, you’re right. I’d never choose to join the hunters. It’ssupposed to be a punishment for me or an attempt to turn me into a more sensible member of the family. But you can’t just dye a black sheep’s fleece snow-white.”
I burst out laughing when I hear this analogy. “I guess not. So you’ll keep getting up to your old tricks while you’re here.”
“You got it. So you see, it’s really not that bad.”
“Oh, I’m sure you know how to have a good time. You seem to have a reputation for doing things for your own amusement.”
His eyes narrow slightly. He scrutinizes me, then says, “You’re full of surprises. Not what I was expecting at all. You’re interesting, clever, and you don’t give up easily. I like that.”
“Are you trying to change the subject?”
“Not at all. So you heard about why I was sent here? Hmm, what can I say? Everyone has their weaknesses. And one of mine is arranging these little fights between key spirits. Sure, things got out of hand a few times, and that sucks. But I learn from my mistakes, trust me.”
“If only your family could hear that.”
“Then they’d sentence me to ten years with the hunters. But let’s allow them to hope that I’ll lose interest in the spirits. I mean, I swore to myself too that I’d never allow an accident like that to happen again. That’s gotta be worth something, right?”
“It’s a start.”
I still don’t know exactly how those fights were organized. But Alessandro doesn’t seem like a bad guy. He seems to put too much emphasis on having a good time and too little on the consequences, but maybe he really has learned from his mistakes.
“Anyway, don’t worry about your gift and the Council. I can say for my family at least that, all things considered, they’re not so bad.”
He smiles and raises his hand in farewell. That’s when I notice that his destiny thread has disappeared.
Weird guy, I think as I watch him go. At the same time I can’t help wondering about the significance of this encounter. There must be a reason Kate predicted it.
Chapter 12
Our math teacher Mr. Klein is pacing up and down the room as the class broods over an integral calculus problem. I’m glad I only signed up for the basic math course because even this is making my brain cells overheat.