Carlo had a twin? I was about to confirm this, when my mother piped in. “Clearly you didn’t know Carlo as well as you thought you did. His parents split up long ago—Domenico lived with his mother in Sybaris while Carlo moved to Seattle with his dad. The boys were estranged.” My mother looked over at my father. “Although in the wake of what’s happened to Carlo, I’m sure the whole family will come together.”

“What’s happened to Carlo? Has he arrived at Court yet?” My mind leapt to his voice-mail message, which I hadn’t had the chance to check.

Dad shook his head, his jaw clenched slightly, which made me feel anxious about what he was about to say. “He’s . . . gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” I pulled my chair as close as I could get to the glass. “Did he take off?”

Was he angry with me for punching his brother? Had he already left because of me? My chest hurt knowing how much he had wanted to find his soul mate—how he had never skipped a Gathering since going to his first one.

Mom’s face was filled with sadness. Her eyes lost their fury as she cast her gaze to the floor. The lines between Dad’s eyebrows gave more years to his actual age. “He’s gone as in . . . we’ve just heard the news that he died en route to Court, Avery,” he finally said. “A car accident.”

My parents exchanged a look—a conversation passing between them. In a normal situation, I would’ve asked what it was, but my mind was blank. Carlo was gone. I had the same feeling I had the day Bryan told me he was on his way to tell me something. Carlo was gone now, too, and there was nothing I could do to bring him back.

I don’t know how I got back to the cell. Carlo was dead. Standing in the middle of the empty cell, I did nothing but exist. I was shutting down. How could he be dead? My mind couldn’t accept it. I kept replaying the conversation with my parents—they could be cruel, but they would never lie about something like this. I lay back down on the hard bed, numb to its discomfort. A tidal wave of grief washed over me and I let myself be taken away by it.

First Bryan. Now Carlo. I wished I could have a face-to-face conversation with the Fates because there was one question I was dying to ask: Was everyone I cared for doomed to die?

Chapter Ten