The Library of Fates(31)

“My whole life.”

“So you knew all of this would happen.”

“It is written. I told Sikander it would happen.” She shook her head. “That if he decided to attack, you would escape. He knew that if he forced you to marry him, it would give him legitimacy, but that wasn’t meant to happen. He didn’t like my answers, but I cannot lie—those with the Gift, we’re not capable of lies. From time to time, I would try to evade his questions, trick him. But sometimes I would get caught and be punished,” she quietly said, and I looked at the burns and cuts on her arms, understanding that these injuries were what she was referring to.

The thought of what Sikander’s men must have done to her sickened me. And then I considered what they might have done to me. “Is there . . . anything I could have done to stop it from happening?”

Thala thought for a moment. “Some things are fixed, others are changeable. You can’t change what’s fixed or fix what’s changeable. That’s what my mother always said.”

“But you warned me about it. Wasn’t it so that I could actually do something about it?”

“I wanted to earn your trust . . . so you would free me. I needed you to understand that I . . . have value.”

I looked away, uncertain of how I felt. I reminded myself she had no choice. She wasn’t capable of lies, and the fear of being physically hurt loomed over her every day. I couldn’t even imagine what her life had been like for all those years.

I looked around the square, wondering what Shalingar would become if Sikander ruled. Instead of the sound of Shalingarsh in the cafés surrounding us, would everyone one day be forced to speak Macedon? Would people keep slaves? Would women have no option but to stay indoors while men roamed the streets without a care in the world? Would there be dowries, discrimination toward the tribes in the west? And what would happen to the Sybillines? Would he manage to find them? To take them prisoner?

“They’re going to come looking for you,” Thala said. “Sikander’s strategy is that he hunts down every member of a royal family, killing them one by one. He takes the women as his consorts. Then he instates his own satraps to administer his rule.”

“I don’t know anyone who would agree to report to Sikander.”

“Someone will,” she said. “Someone always does.”

“Can you see whom it might be?”

“I can’t see everything,” she said. “Only what I’m meant to see. And sometimes it changes.” Thala continued, “Sikander and his men—they don’t understand anything about visions, about magic. Reading the future is like reading nature; the patterns of the rain and the sun and the wind. It moves and recedes. But they want to know everything about the future. And that isn’t possible. Even the vetalas couldn’t tell you that, and they’re the most knowledgeable beings who ever walked the Earth.”

“I could use the help of a vetala now,” I whispered. “Or my father . . . I wish my father were here with me now.”

“I told you. You can undo what happened.”

I turned to her. “Sounds like magic.”

She hesitated before turning to me. “Have you ever heard of the Library of All Things?”

I shook my head, but a line of goose bumps crept over my arms. “A library?”

She lowered her voice. “It’s a place my aunts told me about,” she said. “We have a tale about it in Macedon. Every person who has ever walked the Earth has a book that tells the story of their life. These books are kept in the Library of All Things. There’s a Keeper of the Library—a vetala—and if you find him and ask him permission, he’ll allow you entry into the Library. But only for a short period of time. It’s where I plan on going next, so I can undo my own past. All we have to do is find the Keeper of the Library, urge him to give us entry, and once he does, you can find your father’s book, tear out the pages where your father was killed, and then—”

I stood up, startled and angry. “Are you crazy?” I asked her.

Thala shook her head at me, confused.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You expect me to find some magical library guarded by some creature who doesn’t exist and that’s the way I can have my father back?”

“Well, what did you think? That it was going to be easy?” she asked, her voice gruff again.

I balked at Thala, baffled, furious. I opened my mouth to say something, but just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face—sharp features, hazel eyes. Walking the town square in plainclothes was Nico, flanked by a handful of Sikander’s men.

Terror flashed across Thala’s face. She grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the well, her hands trembling.

“If we don’t get out of here now, it’ll be even more impossible.”





Thirteen



“WHERE DO WE GO?” I glanced to my left and then to my right. The town square was busy, but there was no place to hide.

Just then, Nico’s eyes met mine. I shuddered. He pointed at us, a salacious grin spreading across his face. I was wearing a scarf across my face and so was Thala, but we stood out, from the dirt and grit on our clothes. He turned and yelled something to his men.

We didn’t wait to hear what it was. We were already barreling across the square, heads turning to glance our way.