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“Oh, I think we can.”

Grace tossed the pasta into the boiling water and began cutting the vegetables.

“Grace…” I wondered if I should really say the next words, because they were incredibly difficult to get out. “You're important to me. “

Grace paused and looked up.

“Since when do you care about other people's feelings?”

Despair overwhelmed me.

“I just want us to get along now that I'm part of the prophecy,” I lied, because what I really wanted was Grace back as my friend. That was all.

“You're not worthy of being part of the prophecy.”

I stared. Or maybe I froze. I couldn't do anything else as the next razor blade slashed across my heart. But this time it was rusty.

“Believe me. I never wanted to be part of the prophecy. I don't even believe in that nonsense.”

I didn't know if I sounded desperate, but I hoped I did, so that Grace would finally understand me.

Grace's eyes narrowed and she glared at me angrily. “You should be ashamed of yourself for talking about the words of ancient Quatura scriptures like that!”

“They're probably not even the words of the Quatura,” I started but she interrupted me.

“How dare you?!”

Once again, her eyes flashed green.

“Grace, just question it,” I began, feeling my rationality return, as it always did when I spent too much time on an emotional level with Grace and her arguments didn’t make sense.

“No, Julie! Questioning isn’t always the right solution!” She continued cutting, and I could see that she was trying very hard to control her element. I was jealous that she could do it so easily. “Look where it got you! You're killing our sisters.”

I flinched.

How could I respond to that? She was right. I had killed someone. No one around me was safe because I didn't fit into the system. They couldn't control me.

But hearing it from Grace's mouth...

I looked down at my hands again, felt the cold, felt the destructive energy inside me.

What had I done?

They had touched me...

Panic overwhelmed me. A visible blue flicker shot through my veins, emerging from under the sleeves of my white blouse and disappeared into my palm, like an electrical impulse.

“Sometimes you just have to adapt in order not to go down mercilessly.”

Grace no longer looked at me. She just continued to chop the vegetables much too loudly and in an irritating rhythm.

“Vivienna and I invest so damn much in the Circle because we know our future depends on it.” She raised her eyebrows without looking at me. “But you? You do nothing. On the contrary... You hurt people. Kill them.” She shoved the vegetables into the pan and they began to sizzle. “And you hang out with that scum.” There was a hint of hysteria in her laughter, and it felt like she had power over my emotions if I didn't stop letting her get to me right away. “Good thing that will soon be over.”

I gave in to my damn feelings and tried to explain myself.

“Can't you see that they're just like us!”

I moved closer to the kitchen counter and stopped in front of her.