“I disappeared because if I didn’t go into hiding I’d have been captured and forced to reveal my visions for the future – altering everything. I foresaw my return, at this exact date and time.”
Lallielle smiled, just slightly at this. “Frannie is one of the only natural-born soothsayers. It’s among the rarest talent. Her skills have always been in demand, although she’s equally admired and feared.”
“So the hair ... eyes ... part of the package?” Lucy leaned forward. She was now sitting on the floor with Samuel.
Lallielle nodded and Francesca continued. “I stayed hidden, waiting, watching events unfold. But now I’ve returned to reveal the information that could spell the difference between survival and annihilation.” She shook her head in frustration. “I don’t see everything, just glimpses and they keep changing.”
“Why does it change?” Lucy took the words out of my mouth.
Lallielle laughed derisively. “Because free will exists. Frannie sees a path, but people change their minds, make other choices, and everything shifts.”
“Yes. I saw one future for Aribella at first. But the moment Lallielle sent her away an entirely new path opened.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, and up to the tension forming in my temples. “So what am I supposed to do now?” Since apparently it was outside my control.
Francesca shook her head. “You need to stay here until you turn eighteen. As I told your mother long ago, this is the enlightening of your Walker powers.”
I shook my head. But she continued anyway.
“But after this you have to find the other half-Walkers girls.”
“Excuse me? Half-Walkers.” Josian snorted out his disbelief. “Aribella’s the only one.”
Francesca shook her head. “No, she’s not. There has been one woman of power on each planet to carry a half-Walker female to term.”
“So you’re telling me I need to travel to other planets, which are vastly different to any world I’ve ever seen and what … just stumble across these girls?”
Francesca’s eerie smile crossed her face. “Exactly ... you catch on quickly, Aribella.”
I looked around the room in puzzlement. “And if I don’t do this, the world will end?”
She nodded again.
Excellent.
“I’ll check my schedule and get back to you.” I stood to leave the room, needing some air. As I walked out the front, I could still hear them arguing through the open window.
“I’m going with her,” Josian said loudly.
“You cannot go, Josian. You need to start rallying your people. I see an epic battle. We already have the smaller chance. There are too many outcomes for a clear future. But we need all the Walkers.”
Lallielle sounded angry. “I just got Aribella back. She was stabbed in the chest and now you expect me to send her off alone, to strange planets.”
“No, Lalli. I see a few of her friends along for the journey.”
Lucy’s voice came from behind me. “You’re not going without me, Abbs.”
She’d joined me on the front porch. I was sitting on the railing, my feet dangling, so she leaned in next to me.
Josian’s voice rose again. “I can’t even sense Aribella. How will I find her or know if she needs me?”
“The half-Walkers are cloaked to Walker powers. It’s a safeguard. You can’t sense her, but neither can any other Walkers. The only reason you’ve ever caught any of her thoughts was through close proximity and a paternal relationship.”
Josian continued to roar: “She’s too precious to risk in this endeavor.” He really was like a red-maned lion at times.
Lallielle’s voice was calmer. “If Aribella wants to do this, we’ll let her go. She’s strong. She survived Earth for years without us. This is probably why I had to send her away: to make her strong enough for this challenge.”
There was silence for a minute, before Josian spoke again, quiet and deadly. “Know this, soothsayer, if anything happens to my Aribella, if she doesn’t return to me safe and sound, you will not need to worry about the Seventine. My rage will destroy the worlds.”
Sighing, I took Lucy’s hand. We walked back inside to face the angry and concerned room.
I glanced between everyone. “I want to say hell no and eff this. But since we’re talking the end of the worlds, it’s looking like I have no choice but to find these half-Walkers.”
No doubt that was going to much harder than it sounded, seriously.
Lucy glared around. “I’m going with Abby, though, and no one better stop me.”
Samuel stood then. “Over my dead body. If Aribella chooses to leave, well that’s her prerogative, but ... Lucy cannot be risked.” For once he was stepping away from his reserved personality.
Over his dead body? “That can be arranged, ass-hat,” I muttered.
He glared before turning back to Lucy. She simply raised her eyebrows. Samuel took a moment before reaching up to massage his temples. He pushed his dark hair back.
“I’ll be accompanying the girls,” he said unhappily.
I laughed out loud. Samuel glared his hatred. I shrugged. What? It was funny.