[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.]
Hecate waited until they were a dozen feet away before she glanced at Lin, her voice quiet and gentle. “Was it voices or a vision?”
“A voice,” he said, swallowing hard. “A knowing. I just—I knew. I know. They’re not here to cause trouble or to hurt us, they’re looking for something and someone and it’s important that we listen to them and try to help. I just—I just know.”
This is insane. Kailey stared blankly at her cousin even as her stomach dropped. “What are you talking about?”
He started to shake his head, then stopped, wincing and pressing the heel of his hand against his temple. “Just—it’s never been like this before, not exactly.”
“From what I understand, before the end, your mother heard someone’s voice, too,” Hecate said softly. “And she knew.”
“The end,” Lin echoed. “You mean before meteorfall?”
Hecate nodded. “Someone was warning her. It doesn’t surprise me that someone would reach out and warn her son, too.” She drew a deep breath, exhaling it softly in a sigh as she stared at the two of them. “Something was bound to happen someday. We always knew that.”
“What—Mum. What is that supposed to mean?” Kailey looked between Lin and her mother. “What is going on?”
Her mother glanced out through the open gates toward where Matt, Phelan, and Carolyn had stopped in the killing fields, waiting for the riders to approach. “I suspect we’ll know in a few minutes,” she said, her lips barely moving as she spoke.
A chill crept down Kailey’s spine. “What if he’s wrong? What if—”
“Your father knows what he’s about, Kailey,” Hecate said, her tone measured, reassuring. “But I don’t think Lin’s wrong. Not at all.”
“But if he is—”
“I’m not,” Lin said, his voice steady and gaze distant. “Not about this. Not today.
“Not today.”
