Nils frowns. “Will this even work?”
“It has to.” Irina mutters, flipping through the pages. “I definitely saw something about séances in here.”
That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Like Nils, I remain doubtful, but this is my chance to search Emilía’s room. There must be some photos, a note, or some kind of clue about who she was seeing in secret. I can’t make it obvious though, so I go along with the whole séance thing.
“Even if it works, is it really a good idea?” I ask.
“Just think of it as having a call with Emilía,” Irina says. “Or FaceTime, if you’re a seer.”
That gives me pause. “Isn’t that taboo here?”
Irina hesitates a moment. “Well, I haven’t really told anyone this,but…” She fiddles with the book she’s holding. “My Aunt Anastasia was actually a seer. She died in the Tragedy, so I only ever heard stories about her until I found this notebook of hers in our attic. It contains all her research.”
“Even so, a séance would require a seer, wouldn’t it?” Nils asks, sounding more than a little doubtful.
“That’s the thing… I’m pretty sure I am,” Irina confesses. “I’ve seen ghosts on and off my whole life, but my parents always dismissed me, saying I read too many books and have an overactive imagination. Until I found that notebook hidden among my aunt’s things, it was like this piece of myself that I’d been missing fell into place.”
My stomach sinks. I know whatthat’slike.
Irina pushes her glasses up. “I-I realize using seer powers isn’t technically allowed here anymore, but I had to bring it with me, okay? I just had to. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Actually, I kind of do,” I admit.
A smile spreads across her face. “Well, I’m pretty sure I saw something in my aunt’s notes about contacting spirits—we can try asking Emilía that way.”
“Aren’t you a witch, though?” Nils asks her.
“Just because I’m a witch doesn’t mean I can’t also be a seer.” Irina flips through the notebook. “Any of us can manifest seer powers. In fact, since the different branches of seiðr all stem from seers, I think we all have some degree of it. It’s just a question of how much.”
Nils leans over her shoulder. “Like how Egill was both a seer and berserkr?”
“Exactly. My aunt was a witchanda seer. When she attended Skallagrim, the school had a special program dedicated to it.”
“Kind of like an honors program,” Nils says.
Irina nods. “Without any formal education, I’m not very good, but… I think I can do this.”
“I’m willing to try anything.” I blow out a breath. “We need to find out who she was meeting. He’s probably the one who killed her.”
Nils frowns. “Why would you think that?”
“If a girl dies, it’s usually the boyfriend,” I say at the same time as Irina.
“Oh, do you like true crime, too?” Irina asks.
“Not really.” Not when my whole life is a true crime.
“Ah! Here it is,” Irina says. Nils looks over her shoulder while she reads. “I knew I saw it in here. Okay, according to my aunt’s notes, we need at least three people to perform a séance, so we’re good there. Oh, and something that was important to Emilía so we contact the correct spirit.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be hard to find here,” I say, using it as an excuse to search through Emilía’s things. I peek through her drawers and browse through her papers, but I don’t see anything from her secret boyfriend.
“This seems promising,” Irina says from across the room. “My aunt said that the longer someone is dead, the more difficult they are to contact. Since Emilía just died, I might actually be able to do this.”
“Any luck, Edith?” Nils prompts.
There’s a stuffed rabbit sitting on Emilía’s bed. If she brought this to Skallagrim, then this probably meant a lot to her. As I reach for it, I notice an odd scent on her blankets. My nose wrinkles. The scent is a little spicy, but also sweet. It’s not cologne though. It smells more like it belongs to an animal…
Or a berserkr.
