A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,108

see or how well I can interpret it. Sometimes it’s clear, and sometimes I have to take some educated guesses.”

“And how does it work?” I ask her.

“Shh,” she replies, giving me an impish smile. “Be quiet and let me concentrate.”

I imagine if Arwen were a human on earth trying to see the future, this would be the point she’d gaze into her crystal ball or close her eyes in concentration.

She’s unable to do either of those things, but she goes unnaturally still as she grips my hands.

There’s no swaying, murmuring, or chanting. She’s not putting on a show the way Patty did back at Madame Beaulieu’s shop. Arwen is so still that I can’t even tell if she’s breathing.

And that’s when a red glow starts in the center of her chest. It’s subtle, and I can only see a part of it as her square neckline covers quite a bit. But it lights up from under the fabric and above it gets brighter, then it starts to get larger. As it does, the red fades to an orange, then a warm golden color that starts to expand outward, lighting up the entire domed hut. I gaze around, fascinated at what is a shimmer among the glowing light.

My attention goes back to Arwen, who hasn’t moved a muscle. Eventually, the glow ebbs from her chest, but the shimmering light remains everywhere inside the hut, permeating every square inch. It hangs, starts to pulse, then I watch in awe as it starts to pull in on itself. Coalescing tighter and tighter until there’s a ball of glowing gold above my head.

“So pretty,” I murmur, just as the ball shoots at the speed of light straight at me. It slams into my chest so hard that I jerk backward. There’s no pain, just a slight warmth permeating my entire body. Arwen doesn’t move, merely grips my hands harder.

I glance down to see my chest glowing brightly, but it doesn’t feel like anything at all. For several seconds, it just sits there, and I gasp loudly in shock when it punches loose of my body—again without any feeling really—and shoots back into Arwen.

She jerks, sucks in a lungful of air, and lets it out in a big whoosh. While she has no eyes, I can tell her focus is back in the hut with me. She gently releases my hands as the light in her chest dwindles and dies.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“That was… weird,” I admit. “And incredible. Did you learn anything?”

“Yes,” she says, reaching down to grab her pipe. When she puts it in her mouth, there’s smoke coming from it, although she made no move to light it and I’m sure it wasn’t lit when she had set it down. She takes a few deep puffs, then blows the smoke out to the side. It smells like pine needles and bonfires.

“Your story is far more complicated than I ever thought possible,” she begins, taking another puff on her pipe. “It started at your birth when you lost your sister.”

“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “I lost my sister a few weeks ago when she changed into a Dark Fae.”

“No,” Arwen corrects me. “You lost her at birth. Your twin was taken. In her place, someone placed a changeling.”

“A what?” I exclaim, not prepared at all for this information.

“A changeling is a Dark Fae who is put in place of a stolen baby. It is supposed to be a catalyst for great magic.”

“But who would do that?” I ask, my mind reeling.

“I don’t know. I could not see that detail, but I do know there was an angel present at your birth.”

“An angel?” My voice is weak, and I feel like all my energy has been sapped. “You think an angel did this?”

“No, not at all,” Arwen says. “Something evil did this. That changeling was placed with your family to suit some awful purpose in the future. I just know there was an angel there at the same time.”

My stomach rolls with nausea as I must ask the most awful of questions. “Is my real sister… my twin… dead?”

“No,” Arwen replies softly. “In ordinary circumstances, they need to be kept alive to keep the changeling alive until it can turn into its intended form. After that, the human is really not needed.”

“But you did see that she’s still alive?” I ask, a bit of hysteria starting to settle in. Prophecy be damned, I need to know where my twin