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What did he think? That she was superior to me?

I would prove to him that his cute little girlfriend could kiss my ass.

“How long will this take?”

Miles took off his black overcoat, and I caught myself staring. This time he was wearing a white shirt that, as usual, fit perfectly, but sat untidily, and I thought I could even see the outline of the tattoo on his back through the fabric.

“Even though this is an interesting case, I have something else to do.”

My gaze wandered to his head and he turned to me.

What else exactly did he have to do?

“That depends on when Julie shows up,” Larissa replied, staring intently at Miles.

“I'm here.” Julie appeared on the last step of the spiral staircase. “Sorry... I had to shake Grace off on the way here.”

Back then, especially in high school, the two had been like an inseparable union. They had always sat next to each other, eaten together, walked home together. Now something seemed to have driven a wedge between the girls, and something told me it had to do with Julie's unconcealed closeness to the other species.

Hysteresis

Angus MacRae

Back then, during high school, Senseque and Quatura had been much more distant. We had known about each other, but we had listened to our parents and kept our distance.

It was as if there was an unspoken law keeping Quatura and Senseque apart, and I wondered if there had been a decisive event in the past that had driven us apart in the first place, or if all the hostility was due to mere mistrust.

My gaze wandered to the painting above the fireplace, which only added more questions to the thousands already on my mind.

“I brought you the prophecy.” Julie set her grey backpack down on the couch next to me and pulled out an old book. “I could be lynched for this, so please don't tear anything.”

She handed me a fragile piece of parchment and I took it with overwhelming caution.

Her warning was clear. And I certainly had no intention of giving the Quatura a reason to mess with the pack. Nor should Julie be held accountable for this.

“Normally, it’s kept locked away on the restricted archive floors, guarded by Guard Quatura, and only Interpres of the Consignat have unrestricted access to it. I was able to have it delivered to Amara’s study under her name, and I have exactly eight hours to return it before Amara gets back from the mayor’s office.”

Larissa and Miles just nodded, while Bayla and I stared at Julie.

I didn't even want to know how strict the Quatura were, what an Interpres or the Consignat was, or what kind of danger Julie was putting herself in for our sake. After all, she wasn't even benefiting from it.

“Read it aloud,” Larissa urged me.

This land was ours,

but they took it away,

killed our flowers,

made us their prey.

They fear our darkness,

searching for light,

using their sharpness,

for a merciless fight.