Page 64 of She Who Was Once the Sea

He chewed his lower lip. "There was a man, centuries ago. One of the original members of the Fratelli. I don’t think that it ever sat right with him what was done to your family."

My mind wandered back to the day we met with the original Fratelli. To the man who warned us about what was coming and urged us to leave the city. I couldn’t recall the exact details of his features, and so my memory superimposed Garrett’s face where his should be.

"He kept a diary." Lucas was still talking. "It mostly discussed the changes made within the city, how the leaders diverted water and moved the canals underground. But he also mused on the Stone Witch. It never made sense to him why the Fratelli dedicated themselves to hunting the cursed and not the curser. In fact, the original Fratelli used to invite her to meetings. She was a collaborator.

"And in those musings, he noted how she seemed to thrive on the energy in a room when fights for power took place. That she seemed weaker, more tired, when it would rain." Lucas looked sheepish for a moment. "He was clearly far smarter than either Garrett or me, because he figured out the truth about her much faster than we were able to. And he devised a plan to destroy her, thus freeing the city from her influence."

He fell quiet again.

"And?" I demanded, shaking him once more.

"And she destroyed him," he whispered. "Or, if she didn’t, she had him destroyed. It’s difficult to say. The last entry in the diary was him writing about his plan. He never wrote again after that. I had to look him up in the Fratelli archives to determine what had happened to him."

"What happened to him?"

"The official records indicate that he was exsanguinated. By a member of your family."

I shook my head, and he nodded. "I thought not. And so, it had to have been her. Either way, he was killed, and his plan never came to fruition."

We were both quiet after that. Lucas stared at me while I let his words roll over and over again in my mind.

"She thrives on yearning," I finally said, finally understanding the motive behind her bargain with me. "In any way she can create it, she wants the people to feel like they are lacking something."

"Exactly."

I exhaled a long, slow breath. "Then tell me," I whispered. "What was the original plan?"

But before he could begin to explain, the door to the apartment burst open, flying off its hinges and sending us both tumbling across the room.

I felt my head crack against the cold stone floor and then I remembered nothing more.

Chapter 29 - Garrett

The library basement was crowded when I arrived, dozens of tourists making their way through the room, taking pictures of the ancient stones beneath the glass floor. But Lucas was nowhere to be seen.

I stood awkwardly against the shelves for a long while, watching tour groups and families walk in and out. A few of them openly stared at me in my black robes, and more than one child pulled at their parents’ hands to ask about me. The robes always drew attention, but I had to remind myself that it was just my clothes causing them to stare, and not their knowledge of my new condition.

After a while, I started pulling random books from the shelves and pretending to read them myself, eyes flicking back and forth between the pages and the people filing in and out, constantly searching for Lucas.

When several hours had passed, I thought about trying to text him. But just as I was pulling out my cell phone, I paused. There must have been a reason he told me to meet him in a note, so I refrained and kept waiting.

At seven, an attendant came downstairs to inform the crowd that the library would be closing soon. When she saw me, she smiled. "Fratelli are welcome to stay a little longer."

I nodded and smiled tightly, pretending once again to examine the books on the shelves until the room grew quiet and I knew I was alone.

It had been at least a few hours since I’d arrived. Perhaps Lucas had already come and gone? Perhaps I’d waited too long to come, and he’d given up on waiting for me?

Or maybe something is very wrong.

I shook my head at the thought, not ready to entertain the possibility just yet.

Finally, I turned to head back towards the door. Whether Lucas was home or whether he was in trouble, I could do little to help him here. I decided to go back to the Fratelli Monastery. If he wasn’t back by morning, I’d gather the brotherhood to help find him.

I smiled at the library attendant as I exited the building, and she nodded in return.

Outside, the sun was low in the sky, but still relentless. As I walked, I glanced over at the fountain in the northwest corner of the square. It was surrounded, as usual, by tourists with cameras snapping photos of the bare-breasted women and the tall, proud king of the seas. The sight of it made me feel queasy as I dwelled on what I now knew. I pictured Marella, trapped inside one of those blank, stone faces, staring out at the world for centuries as it passed by.

Just as I was about to turn down a side street to take advantage of the shade, a flash of white gold caught my eye.