“Prequel?” all the girls gasped.
“But, that’s just a myth…” Rose was pale as she spoke. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what I heard,” Mina nodded. “That he has it and needs the original.”
“Does he have the original?” Rose kept asking.
“I don’t know. My mother told me that my brother still has the book but I don’t know where he is, so I have no idea what exactly is going on. I guess, when I find my brother, I’ll know more about the book.”
“I haven’t heard any such thing,” Rose wondered aloud, more to herself than to Mina, “but I believe you. Dante has always struck me as murky. I’ve also heard some things which didn’t make much sense at the time but, now, with this knowledge, I think you may be right. Something big is about to happen.”
“Can I count on your help?” Mina wondered.
“Can we count on yours?” Rose asked.
“I never killed anyone who hadn’t killed someone else first,” Mina explained again. “Even though I know that you probably heard all sorts of horrible stories about me and my brother. I assure you, I never laid a finger on anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
Rose eyed her, as if she was trying to see right through her and weigh whether she was telling the truth or not. This was one of those moments where not even being a witch could help her. A few seconds passed, and Mina felt like she was melting under Rose’s scrutiny. She knew that there was no point in saying anything. She’d already said what she needed to say. Now, it was all up to the girls.
“Can we trust her?” Reeba asked Rose, both girls looking in Mina’s direction.
“What do you think?” Rose asked. “What is your heart telling you?”
Reeba smiled. The wolf howled again, but now, it was so far away that it was barely audible. A few birds chirped in a nearby tree, as if woken up by the sudden noise, but immediately went back to sleep. The forest was silent, asleep. It felt safe.
“I say we trust her,” Reeba said triumphantly, and all the girls agreed.
“I knew you’d think that,” Rose exulted. “Because, we can trust her. I’m sure of that but I didn’t want to tell you that myself. You needed to feel it for yourselves.”
“Is that why we went through this ordeal?” Reeba asked, with a smile.
“I can’t make the right choices for any of you,” Rose shook her head. “That’s not my job, even as the Elder. I can guide you, but the final decision always needs to be your own.”
Instead of a reply, Mina opened her arms and hugged Reeba. All the girls joined in and Mina could sense that sweet minty smell in the air. She closed her eyes, and enjoyed the moment, for the first time sure that, no matter what, things would be alright in the end.
Chapter 16
The following Monday, Mina was surprised to see a message shoved underneath her dorm room door. She quickly opened it, thinking it was from the same person who urged her to be quiet and who she was now suspecting was her brother. To her disappointment, as well as surprise, she realized it was from Renwick.
Raphael and I were thinking of hitting the Bunker tonight. Wanna come? Ren
Mina folded the message. She’d already gone there with Hendrik and was trying to figure out if showing up with two other guys her second time there was in poor taste. Maybe she could just hang out with them somewhere on campus, without it being the Bunker. She put the message on her desk and went to take a shower. She washed her hair, then wrapped herself up in a small towel, which barely covered her breasts and butt, then walked out into the room, dripping wet.
When she walked into her room, she almost jumped with fright. Right there, on the bed, she saw Renwick and Raphael, chilling. Their eyes were glued to her.
“Whoa, now that’s a welcome!” Raphael whistled at the sight before him and she instinctively covered her breasts, even though they were half hidden by the towel.
“What the hell are you guys doing here!?” she hissed at them.
“Shut up, you,” Renwick playfully punched Raphael, “sorry, Lucy. We didn’t mean to scare you. We just figured, we’d wait for you to get ready and then just hit the Bunker.”
They were both laid back, not even trying to hide the fact that they were devouring her with their gazes. She stopped feeling insecure all of a sudden and, instead, only remained upset, but even this sensation was diminishing and she couldn’t resist their tempting smiles.
“How did you get in?” she wondered, a little more calmly.
“Your door was unlocked,” Raphael replied this time, with a mischievous wink in his eyes. “You were subconsciously inviting us in, you see.”
“Do you mind?” she rolled her eyes, pointing at her wardrobe.