Nettie lay in the dark, oddly comforted by the story. Nettie didn’t need a code. She didn’t need proof. She could feel her grandmother watching over her now. Kezia had been the first to die. Soon all of her family would be with her. Nettie would be the only one left to carry their memories.
“What is your ability?” Nettie finally asked.
Liliya hesitated. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Try.”
“When I close my eyes and focus, I can move out of the room with my mind’s eye and see other things.”
“What things?” Nettie propped herself up on her elbows, astonished. “You mean you can see through walls?”
“In a way. It’s like I’m traveling without my body. But I can’t go far.” When she saw the look on Nettie’s face she added, “Why are you so amazed? You’re the one who can see the future.”
“I didn’t know that was possible. How far can you go?”
“I’ve never been able to see past the monastery.”
“But you can go anywhere on the grounds?”
Liliya nodded. A dark look came over her eyes. “I’ve found it’s best not to.” They had heard the sounds at night, the screams of other prisoners. Evanoff and his team of scientists were not just experimenting on children. Nettie had caught glimpses of men and women undergoing brutal procedures.
“Will you follow me, when they take me?” Nettie asked. When Liliya hesitated, Nettie said, “It will make me feel better, knowing you’re there.”
“Will you tell me my future then?”
Nettie agreed and a pact was made. She pulled her cards from her pocket. It was her first time using them since arriving at Makaryev. Soon Evanoff would have her use them repeatedly.
Liliya looked on in fascination. “Is that how you do it? With fortune cards?”
“Sometimes,” she said, although she didn’t actually need them.
The future simply came to Nettie as knowledge. But the cards helped her focus her thoughts, and touching them made her feel closer to her grandmother. The parchment felt alive in her hands. Nettie believed that Kezia’s stories about Aishe, Simza, and Dinka lived within the cards, that they carried their spirits. These cards had saved her life.
“They’ve been in my family forever.” She held them out to Liliya.
Liliya gently took the cards. “They’re so beautiful.” She handled them like priceless treasures as she mixed the deck.
Nettie laid them out in a crosslike pattern, like she had seen Kezia do so many times before. The faces of the cards were faint shadows in the moonlight, reaching out like a hand to guide her.
When Nettie finished telling Liliya what she saw, Liliya looked at her with tears in her eyes.
“Did you lie to me?” she asked in a timorous voice.
Nettie shook her head, at first not understanding. “I told you what I saw.”
“But does everything come true?”
“So far,” Nettie said without any pride.
Liliya bowed her head and covered her face as she wept. For Nettie had not only told her she would survive this place, she had told her the names of her children and grandchildren. She said the next chapter of Liliya’s life would be filled with love and beauty—two things Liliya had thought she would never know again. Her heart was filled with hope for the first time in years.
“Promise me you’ll stay with me,” Nettie insisted again.
Liliya could see the terror in her eyes and understood. Nettie had seen her own future. “What’s going to happen?” Liliya whispered. Nettie could only shake her head, unable to explain. Liliya took her hand. “I’ll stay with you, no matter what.”
***
Liliya kept her promise even in the darkest days. Evanoff was consumed with unraveling the mystery of their abilities and he had singled Nettie out. He used various aids—barbiturates, sensory deprivation, electric shock—to force her into hypnotic states. He threatened to hurt the other children if she didn’t cooperate.
