It was like he’d vanished into thin air. There was no sign of him anywhere, and in my mind, I was to the point of going around the whole area asking about him as if he were a missing person and we were anything more than acquaintances… friends?

I didn’t know what we were exactly at this point…

I knew I liked his presence.

I knew we were technically True Mates, but that didn’t really dictate that we’d end up together… It was more along the lines of fate and destiny saying we’d be a good match. People have fought destiny before. It wasn’t a totally certain thing.

And the less I saw of Noah, the more I looked and he wasn’t there, the less certain I was of destiny.

It wasn’t his fault, and I wasn’t blaming him. It was just me. Overthinking. Thinking we’d never see each other again and I might remain miserable looking out a window for him my whole life.

Jane tugged on my arm again.

“Hm?”

“I see Minnie. Come on.”

And Minnie would be a great distraction… if those even worked anymore. Jane had been trying to distract me for hours with no luck at all.

I was a lost cause.

Could Noah just not like crowds? Is that why he was out at nighttime instead of the day – because of the number of people? Maybe it was because he was mute. Maybe it made him more comfortable if he didn’t have to deal with interactions with people who didn’t understand his condition.

He was incredibly good-looking by my standards… maybe that could bring about unwanted attention from men and women alike?

Was I just overthinking his absence?

It hadn’t even been a day, I could worry when I didn’t see him tonight, at night. When there were less people.

If I didn’t see him then, I’d allow myself a little worry.

Pleasantries with Minnie occurred and then we all headed back to the rental house, the shades all open to let in the natural light instead of using electricity. I mean, it was sunny and bright outside. What was the point of using power for something that was already occurring? If it was stormy or we were doing something that needed even more light from directly above us, that was a different story.

But this was good.

Despite the happy greetings between us girls, it didn’t take long for everything to grow all too serious. I was sitting on the floor with a view of only the sky, so I could just relax and not sift through the people outside as Minnie laid out all the news for us.

“Some of the higher ranked witches are getting anxious. Something is going to happen, somewhere in North America before the next few years are up. You all should start getting prepared.”

“Prepared for what exactly?” Jane asked, her brows furrowed heavily over her eyes.

Minnie shrugged. “Something about a prophecy, about the beast you were told about. That’s all I know.” I noted that she looked distressed, frazzled, like it was a mystery she’d been trying to solve for a while. “Atella isn’t very forthcoming with the specifics right now. And neither is my Mom.”

Jane’s eyes widened.

“Atella? Who is Atella?”

Minnie’s eyes went wide too, as if she’d said too much. Had she not meant to mention this Atella person? Had her thoughts consumed her so much that she’d said what was on her mind, even if she wasn’t allowed to? Heck, was she even allowed to tell us any of this?

Though, in being entirely honest, Jane’s reaction was a bit more confounding to the both of us. The words had come immediately, without any sort of hesitation as she stared Minnie down like everything depended on her answer to the question. I stared between them as the conversation veered into a lane that I couldn’t contribute to.

“Atella…” Minnie gazed down at her hands in her lap. She sighed before meeting our eyes. “She is the High Witch, our – well, our leader, I guess. Why? How do you know her name?”

Jane looked down this time, like she was thinking hard about something. What? I had no clue. I hadn’t heard that name at all before today.

“Atella…” Jane mumbled to herself. “And what was the other name… Jade. Jade and Atella.”

“Jade and Atella?” I said, startling Jane. She looked at me in surprise.

“Uh, yeah. My mom, years ago…” She pursed her lips for a moment before she continued. “Well, she said she had some kind of vision about some guy saying those names while stuck in a cave somewhere. It wasn’t like a memory or anything, it was a glimpse of the future.”

“In a cave?” Minnie’s eyes widened, then she shook her head, brow furrowing. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask them about that. Add it to the list…” she trailed off.

She cleared her throat and I instantly picked up on that one weird thing she did all the time, whenever she wasn’t telling the full truth. It was what she did whenever she was hiding something. I’d figured it out when we were playing board games and cards years ago.

When I caught her eye and narrowed my gaze, she shook her head discreetly. Just a little shake, a small movement.

It meant ‘don’t ask’.

And well…

I decided not to ask.