Chapters (34)
“You can read minds too, can’t you?” I was not too fond of the idea that she could know all my secrets if she chose to dig deep enough. “You read my mind at the beginning of the school year and asked about the Dark.”
“Sometimes.” Tisha leaned against the blackboard and massaged her forehead. “I don’t know all your secrets, nor do I want to know them. I can only read surface-level thoughts.” Tisha suddenly glared at me. “I’m not a liar!”
I grimaced. “I didn’t say that.”
“But you were thinking it,” Tisha accused.
“There’s a difference between thinking something and saying it.” I glanced down at my shoelaces. I was disappointed that she couldn’t tell me anything about Nulan, but it was a long shot to start with. “So . . . you think Zeran is going to betray me.”
“That’s what I saw.” Tisha crossed her arms defensively. Not that I blamed her. I didn’t mean to question her godling powers. “My mom says that people only think they want to know the future, but it’s too big of a burden to bear when you can’t do anything to change it.”
“Are you saying once you see something, it will happen?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Tell me,” I insisted.
“I saw Zeran with two other darkbringers in an old factory by Thirty-Fifth and Ashland,” Tisha explained, then her silver eyes started to glow. “One of the darkbringers said, ‘If you want to save your brother, bring us the young guardian. The one they call Maya.’” Tisha paused, and her voice deepened. “‘I’ll deliver her when we meet next, then you’ll tell me where to find Billu. Do we have a deal?’” Tisha glanced away. “I had another vision. You were unconscious and tied up in a sack while Zeran and another darkbringer stood over you.”
I stared at Tisha, speechless. I hadn’t expected her to give me a rundown. If Zeran had asked, I would have helped him find his little brother without a second thought. That was what friends did for each other. Instead, according to Tisha, at some point in the near future, he’ll go straight to the darkbringers to offer me up in exchange for his brother. I was more than a little hurt.
Now I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to confront him about it. Would he tell me the truth or lie to cover his tracks? Either way, it was going to be extremely unpleasant for both of us.
When the first bell rang, Tisha adjusted her Hello Kitty backpack. She gave me a sympathetic look before she turned on her heels and left the lab. She’d been right—or at least her mom had been when she’d warned her: people shouldn’t know their futures, especially if there was nothing we could do about them. This really sucked.
Nine
