Foretell (32 page)

“It’s okay,” she said. “You should know about them. Everyone should.”

She took a moment to compose herself, brushing leaves off of her dress while I waited for her to begin.

“The first thing you should know is gypsies were persecuted for simply being the outsiders not so very long ago. They were often the scapegoats for crimes they never committed. The Order of Dracul didn’t start out as an extremist group. At first, they were sort of the secret vigilantes amongst us, passionately advocating for the rights of Roms. They fought to put an end to the prejudices. Most importantly, they sought to obtain a land we could call home. The members of the Royal families supported the Order, wanting to rule more than just the people.”

Aurelia stared at a patch of flowers, her eyes welling as if she were remembering something painful. She cleared her throat and turned back to me. “What the society didn’t understand was that we were never meant to own land. Personally, I believe it is God’s will for our people to roam forever. The Order of Dracul never accomplished anything. They never obtained the land they desired. Instead, all they did was get a lot of our people killed unnecessarily.”

I wanted to ask how so many people were killed, but I hesitated. I didn’t want to push Aurelia to tell me any more. The subject was clearly hard for her to talk about. And besides, I now knew why Tatiana wanted to keep her membership a secret.

We went back to training, and this time I concentrated on fighting the curse, putting all my energy into it. I didn’t improve much since last night though. The longest I held out was a minute and ten seconds.

Aurelia saw my look of disappointment, and stroked my hair endearingly. “Don’t fret, my love. It’s still progress.”

“I really wanted to get to two minutes,” I said, trying not to sulk.

“We’ll get there,” she promised. “I’ll try to think of something new for tomorrow.”

She left me shortly afterwards. I didn’t blame her. I doubted I would’ve done much better today. Even though I’d forced myself to focus on the task at hand, subconsciously I thought it was tearing me apart knowing Rex was here, somewhere in this forest.

After Aurelia left, I stayed behind in the gardens, taking advantage of my newfound freedom. I found a bench near a bed of daffodils and spread out across it, lying beneath the sun’s warmth.

While there, I found myself dreaming, and they were good dreams. They didn’t involve little, demonic children covered in bloodstains. Instead, I dreamed of beautiful things.

I dreamed of Rex.

I looked up into the sunlight and saw his beautiful face hovering over me, smiling at me between the golden rays. I blinked several times before the familiar squareness of his jaw sharpened into view and before I recognized his perfectly sculpted lips. When I knew it was
him
, I didn’t get angry. I didn’t yell or damn him to hell for hurting me. Instead, I simply smiled lazily, so incredibly happy to see him.

In my dream I think I was Tatiana. Rex’s eyes were like warm honey, caressing me with an intense emotion. It looked like love. I must be Tatiana in my dream because Rex reserved that emotion only for her. He gazed at me like I was the one thing he wanted in this world.

His hand brushed my cheek, fanning back my hair. He lingered there, stroking the dark strands away from my face and staring at me as if I were something precious.

Softly, Rex bent towards my face, close to my ear, and murmured, “I love you.”

I was so surprised, so taken aback by his words. I wanted to say it
back
. I wanted to tell Rex I loved him too.

But the words were lodged in my throat. I was Tatiana. I didn’t really want him to love me. Not this-fake me.

Rex brushed his lips over my forehead, stroking my hair one last time before he left.

I tried to stop him. There was so much I wanted to say. He couldn’t leave yet! I needed to tell him that it was
me
, Essie, and I loved him too.
With all my heart.

I woke up before I could stop him, dazed and mumbling an incoherent, “Wait, Rex. Don’t go.”

Once I fully awoke, it occurred to me maybe I’d been in the sun too long. It must have gotten to me.

A tear fell across my cheek. I was back in the world where Rex never told me he loved me. I was back in the world where he was with Tatiana and I could only dream of such things.

Training with Aurelia changed dramatically the next day. All morning she’d been pacing back and forth between the petunias and the violets, debating over what we should do to increase my time. “I have an idea,” she finally told me. “But you’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

“O…kay,” I said, feeling an impending nervousness spread over me. She walked towards me slowly.

“What do you care about more than anything?”

I was startled by the question. When I thought about the things I cared about, it frustrated me to pieces that Rex’s face came to mind. I pushed his image aside. I would never admit my feelings for him again. Not out loud, anyway.

I thought of other things too, like my puppy and going to college. And despite my resentment towards them, I even thought of my mother and Indie.

I settled on telling Aurelia about Abby. She twisted her diamond necklace absently, considering this information. “Why do you want to know?” I asked curiously.

Instead of responding, Aurelia grabbed my arm and asked me how she could find my puppy-and kill her.

“
What
?” I gasped.

“Fight against the answer, Estelle. Believe that I’ll put your Abby to death; therefore, you mustn’t tell me.”

A part of me knew Aurelia was only doing this to help me. But another more emotional part of me thought of my sweet, little puppy, and how I was appalled at the thought of someone trying to kill her.

I clung to the ground, pulling at my hair, and groaning with exasperation. They symptoms were relentless. Tears sprung to my eyes as I stared at Aurelia helplessly. She watched her stopwatch, counting down the endless seconds.

Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I told her Abby was in northern California, and gave her the information for the nearest vet who would put her to sleep.

Drained, my entire body slackened after the answer slipped out. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I tried.”

Aurelia didn’t chastise me though. Instead, she began jumping up and down sporadically. “Estelle, you did it!” she screamed through bursts of laughter. “Five minutes and thirty-two seconds.”

My eyes widened at the news. “Give me the stopwatch,” I said incredulously. I wanted to see the proof with my own eyes.

Sure enough, it was just as she’s said. Five
whole
minutes and thirty-two seconds. I was amazed.

My earlier bout of fatigue faded and I jumped with Aurelia, both of us laughing excitedly.

I stopped jumping as an absent thought occurred to me. Aurelia must have wanted what she asked for in order for the answer to come. “Did you really want to kill my dog?” I asked accusingly.

“Yes,” she replied, without the slightest hesitation.

“Why?”

“I pictured your Abby as a ferocious wolf with rabies, blood and drool hanging from its fangs, killing innocent children while they slept at night.”

“Oh,” I said, thinking of my little wide-eyed black Labrador with her girly pink collar, way off base from Aurelia’s description.

“Do you know what this means?” she asked excitedly.

I waited for her to tell me expectantly.

“Estelle, this means you can control the curse.”

A huge smile found its way to my lips.
I could control it
, I thought to myself, unable to fully wrap my head around what was happening.

“Do you think I’ll ever get to the point where I don’t have to strain against it?”

Aurelia lifted her hands into the air. “Anything is possible,” she said. “We have to keep training. We have to get you to the point where it comes naturally, when it’s your choice.”

I nodded, ready to pour my heart into the training. Then I hugged Aurelia until she could barely breathe. “Thank you,” I said. “I don’t know where you came from or why you’re helping me. It’s like you’re an angel or something, coming out of thin air, but…just thank you.”

She laughed, trying to catch her breath. “Thank
you
for trusting me. Now come on, let’s get back to work. Maybe we can get you to ten minutes before the end of the day.”

I was on cloud nine while walking back to my camp. In fact, this was probably the best mood I’d been in since leaving Vancouver. Realizing I could fight this curse gave me hope, in more ways than one.

At the last minute, I decided to detour back to the marketplace instead of camp. I was too energized, too revved up to sit in my tent or to plot with Salazar. I wanted to do something celebratory. Feeling hungry, I headed to the gyros stand Xavier had taken me to.

The day dwindled into evening, the sun setting fast on the horizon. The marketplace was bursting with crowds and entertainment at this time of day. I knew I shouldn’t linger around so many people, so I quickly paid for my gyro and perched myself up on a hill where I could watch a fire breather’s performance from a distance.

I ate slowly, enjoying the show and people watching. Ironically, it occurred to me how much my life had changed over the course of the last few weeks. I’d once been a naïve recluse, hiding within the confines of my mother’s mansion. Now I was here in Romania, in the midst of a magical forest, watching a man blow fire from his mouth. I never would’ve imagined I’d ever end up here. It was surreal, this feeling of roaming. I’d been like a caged bird for so long, it felt like a dream to finally explore and wander.

After the show ended, someone announced a troupe of belly dancers would take the stage next. Since the dance would undoubtedly remind me of Lina, I decided to retreat back to camp. I’d just stood up when I noticed a hush had fallen over the crowd. “It’s Princess Leticia!” someone yelled, catching my attention.

Lettie
.

My heart pounding furiously, I looked up slowly. Rex stood next to the princess in the distance.

My breath caught in my chest.

Rex spread a blanket across the grass and they sat, talking while they waited for the show.

He’d found her. He’d found his missing princess. I watched, unable to move. His profile came into view and I realized he was looking around, scanning the crowd.

My breath came back in waves, heaving in my chest. I couldn’t stand there any longer. He might look in my direction.

So I ran away.

I ran as fast I could, taking every ounce of willpower I had not to cry.
You cry way too much, Spence.
Rex’s words echoed in my mind. I swore I’d never cry for him again.

I tripped clumsily over a rock, and fell to my knees. It didn’t hurt, but it reminded me of my wakeboarding injury. I saw Rex pouring the peroxide over the cut, me digging my nails into his arm from the awful stinging. I traced the area of my knee that had been cut, no longer feeling any pain from the wound.

I wasn’t allowed to cry.

I picked myself back up, running again, and heading nowhere. The sound of someone calling my name resonated from behind, but I didn’t stop to see who it was or what
they
wanted.

I found myself by the river’s end, near the waterfall where I’d first met Aurelia. There, on a grassy bank near the water’s edge, I fell to the ground, unable to run any further.

The cool water lapped against the bank, reflecting a troublesome image of myself. My large brown eyes stared back at me inconsolably, begging me to make the hurt disappear.

Somewhere in the distance, my name was called again. This time I turned to see who it was.

Aurelia’s bright red hair sharpened into view as she jogged down the hill I’d just come from. I wrapped my arms around my knees, waiting for her to catch up to me.

A few moments later, I heard the soft crunch of her footsteps approaching. She moved to sit next to me. “What happened?” she asked breathlessly.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“This certainly doesn’t look like nothing.”

I glanced at Aurelia. “I’m still waiting for it to feel like nothing,” I clarified. “I haven’t given up hope yet.”

She chuckled softly. After her humor faded, she tentatively asked, “So do you love him?”

I bit my
lip,
afraid of hearing myself admit it. I only nodded, preferring not to speak the words out loud.

“And I’m assuming he broke your heart?”

I nodded again, staring out into the horizon hopelessly. The last few rays of the setting sun streaked the sky like glowing embers. I wondered if my sister would see the same glorious sunset once it reached her part of the world. She would think it was beautiful.

Aurelia sighed. “I know a little bit about broken hearts,” she told me.

“Do you know how to fix them?” I asked bitterly, meaning for the question to be rhetorical.

“Actually, I do. But I don’t think you’ll like my answer.”