“What do you mean?” Myrcedes tilted her head.
“How did she say they would contact them?” I pressed the Seelie.
“Something about building a bridge to the Bay and using that to cross over…”
I shook my head and scoffed as a full grasp of their plan hit me. Myrcedes grabbed my arm in frustration. “What do you mean?”
“The witches are bastards, but they’re creative.” I saw her confusion and stroked her hair to calm her down. “They use magic to force what reapers do naturally, which is build the bridge to the Bay. When you’ve gone to the Bay to help a soul, you remain at the shore. You let them find their way through it. That’s what’s meant to happen. But I guess if you arrived and followed the soul into the forest, there’d be nothing to stop you, that’s what they’re saying. Every soul stays there. So to contact someone, they’re trying to build their own bridge. But I guess not everyone can be reached?”
Kalian nodded. “Apparently, the reality of the Bay is that your experience is dictated by your life. The more terrible things you’ve done, the further in you will be sent. Someone like Minerva… she’s too far gone to be found. Even the witches who’ve been searching for her… they can’t find her.”
“So you can talk to people,” Myrcedes sighed and went to plop down on the sofa. “Fine. Just not the one person I need to speak to.”
I sat down next to her and rested my hand on her leg. “We’ll get our answers, little owl…”
“There’d be someone else who’d know the prophecy,” Kalian said slowly, as if he was still contemplating the validity of what he was saying. The three of us looked at him in confusion and expectation. “The Seer.”
“Who?” my Queen frowned. “Who’s the… seer?”
“The Seer who made the prophecy,” Kalian elaborated.
“The prophet,” Syrion broke in. “Yes, they would know. But we’ve scoured the memories of everyone who could have been told about the prophecy. No one had any memories of the prophet or their name.”
“When was this prophecy made?” As the Seelie asked more questions, I noticed Myrcedes rev up. Did he know something else?
“We suspect it was a few millennia ago.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It wouldn’t have been significant to anyone except those Minerva killed or blocked the memories of.”
Kalian leaned against the wall and appeared deep in thought. Before I could even make out what was going on, Myrcedes was up and by his side. “Kal, do you think you remember her name?”
“Maybe…” I perked up as he said that. “I remember at one point, a funeral for a Seer… we were all surprised. She was younger than the rest by a lot, even though Seers in the fae realm have longer life spans. No one seemed to know how she died…”
I watched Myrcedes seem to rev up like an engine as he spoke. “You think this might have been the one?”
“I can’t remember another Seer funeral that came that suddenly. Usually, they premonition their own passing, and we prepare for it.”
“If she worked for Minerva, what are the odds she’s in a similar position in the Bay of Souls?” I raised an eyebrow.
The Seelie shook his head. “Absolutely not. The Seers of the fae are unclouded. They’ve learned to disregard anger, pain, hate; charity and balance drives their lives. They aren’t subject to the rule of the crown. Minerva tried, but after a few thousand years, she realized no amount of threats or bribes could change the way the future was predicted, so she gave up on even trying to corrupt them. If she was ever a Seer, she’d be nowhere near Minerva’s situation in the Bay.”
“Who was it?” Syrion jumped in.
Kalian was clearly still struggling to think. I didn’t blame him. I knew that when you lived a long time, it was easy for things to fade if they weren’t significant.
“I think her name was Alless…”
26
Myrcedes
Alless. I kept the name in my head as I opened my eyes to the Bay of Souls.
That was the easy part. I’d developed a talent for being able to jump to the Bay without the connection of a recently departed soul, which had completely shocked Daath and Syrion when I mentioned it. They had wanted to send me on a reaper assignment just so I’d be able to go; the pair of brothers almost thought I was lying when I said I didn’t need that. At that moment, I realized how little I’d caught them up on what I’d been doing on Earth, and I made a mental note to fix that after I got back.
I couldn’t jump within the Bay the same way I could anywhere else because the area was so unfamiliar, and I didn’t know exactly who I was looking for. I knew Alless by her name, but I didn’t even know what she looked like. Daath had been hesitant due to these very catches, but Syrion helped persuade him that the Bay was safe, even though it was unknown. Still, as I made my way toward the line of trees, I felt slightly uneasy.
I’d seen the Bay from the shore dozens of times, and it was familiar to me, but never had I ventured into the forest itself. The bark of the trees was so pale I’d always assumed it was just dead, but as I got closer, I realized everything around me was actually quite healthy. I reached out to touch the trunk
