“We have to hurry,” I say. “I told you. They’re right behind me.”
He still looks completely bewildered. He opens his mouth to say something else, but we’re both distracted by a soft noise that comes from the direction of his bed. There’s a lump under his covers. And it’s moving. The sheets are tossed aside, and a girl in a black nightgown sits up, rubbing her eyes and blinking around the dim room in confusion.
It’s Valentina Moretti. She’s a few years younger than us. She’s the oldest daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Occhia, and one of my many admirers.
I laugh. It’s the only possible reaction. Ale hiding a girl in his bed is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year.
“What could possibly bring you here, Valentina?” I say. “You’re in for a serious disappointment.”
At the sound of my voice, Valentina shoots to her feet. She looks utterly terrified, which I also find hilarious.
“She’s supposed to be here, Emanuela,” Ale says. “She’s—she’s my—”
Then I realize.
She’s here because she’s his wife.
Valentina runs for the door.
“Wait!” Ale lunges for her. “Valentina, don’t—”
She’s already gone. Her feet are pounding down the hall, and when Ale turns back to me, his face is all panic.
It’s been three days. And he already has another wife.
“You have to go,” Ale says.
“Go?” I echo, trying to make sense of it.
“Emanuela, she’s the watercrea.” His voice is desperate. “She controls everything. She has magic. You can’t—you can’t just run in here and expect—”
He grabs my wrist. I pull away.
“Expect what?” I say.
He tries to grab me again. I stumble back.
“Expect what?” I say again.
The door bangs open. It’s Ale’s mamma. She’s in a dark green robe and her eyes are furious.
“How are you still alive?” she demands, sounding very much like she’s taking it as a personal affront.
I ignore her and turn back to Ale.
“My family?” I say.
I don’t know what, exactly, I’m trying to ask. But he’s still giving me that helpless look, and I still don’t understand it.
“The watercrea was going to kill me,” I hear myself saying. “She was—the guard was taking me to her. She was going to—”
“And that’s what you deserve, isn’t it?” his mamma says. “You disgraced yourself already by not going to the tower the moment you got your omens. You disgraced your family. The least you can do is go away and let us all be free of you.”
Ale already has another wife.
It’s like I was never even here.
“Emanuela,” Ale says in a cautious voice. “You got your omens.”
“No,” I say. “You don’t understand. I just got one omen. It’s not spreading. But she was going to kill me anyway.”
“But—what?” he says.
“You don’t know what it’s like in there,” I say. “There were so many people—and these girls—they—”
“Shh,” he says, casting a glance at his bedroom door. “Emanuela, you can’t be in here. You have to—”
He’s not listening to me. He’s not helping me.
I could have gone to my family’s house, but I came here. I knew seeing Ale would make this all feel a little more bearable. I knew he’d do anything I asked him to. If he were in trouble, I’d help him. He’s my best friend, and if he were taken away, I would never be able to just carry on like nothing had happened. He knows that.
“I’m sorry,” he says. His mouth is trembling. “I’m sorry. I don’t want this, either. I don’t. But—”
“Don’t you dare apologize to her.” His mamma sweeps into the room and takes his shoulders. “We all belong to the tower in the end, and we go with honor, like Papá. Only a coward would run from that.”
Ale’s papá went to the tower a few months ago. Ale was very quiet about the whole thing. He never said anything to me about it, so I never said anything to him. He wore the white memorial handkerchief in his pocket for a day, as is customary, and then it was like it never even happened.
“I’m sorry,” Ale says again.
No. He’s not sorry. If he were sorry, he wouldn’t have been lounging around in his luxurious bedroom with his books and his new wife, not thinking about me at all.
I shove him and his mamma out of my way. I run for the bedroom door.
I don’t need him. I don’t know why I’m even here.
“Wait!” Ale says. “Wait, don’t—”
I’m halfway out the door when a woman in a red silk dress steps into my path.
I freeze. I don’t want to, but it’s the watercrea’s magic again. She’s stopped my blood in its tracks, or at least, that’s what it feels like. All of a sudden, my body doesn’t belong to me anymore.
“Believe it or not, I understand why you tried to run,” she says. “It’s not easy to realize that when you’re gone, the city will carry on without you, just as it always has.”
I stand there, frozen, and I imagine Ale at his new wedding. I imagine his new bride listening to the toasts meant for me and opening the gifts meant for me and sliding so easily into my place at his side.
“I knew you were hiding an omen the moment you walked past me at your wedding,” the watercrea says. “Do you know how?”
My heart is pounding in my ears.
“It was your fear,” she says. “The moment you looked at me, I saw it in your eyes.”
I wasn’t afraid of her. I’m not afraid now. She doesn’t know me.
She tilts her head, examining me. “You were hiding it for a long time, weren’t you? I’m sorry, little girl. You didn’t stand a chance. Once I see you, I can’t let you go.”
I’m not just another prisoner to her. Not after what I’ve done. She’s determined to punish me herself, and she can, because she controls everything in this city.
She steps aside, and her magic pulls me out into the hall.
No. I can’t go back there. Not without a fight. It
