“I’m just stressed out,” Claire protested. “The last thing I need is caffeine.”
“Right. But why?” Sasha asked. “I know you. Something’s up.”
Claire played with her spoon. She was about to start talking when the empty chair next to Sasha scraped against the floor.
When Claire looked up, it was right into Allegra St. Martin’s blue eyes.
“Hey,” she said.
“Allegra!” Claire hoped she sounded surprised and not rude.
Sasha was less diplomatic. “Wow, have a seat why don’t you?” she said sarcastically, taking a drink of her coffee.
Allegra rolled her eyes. “What? I’m supposed to ask for an invitation?”
Claire gave Sasha a brief glare before turning to Allegra with a smile. “We’re just surprised to see you, that’s all. What’s up?”
Allegra leaned in, her glossy black ponytail hanging over one shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me?”
The words hung in the air for what seemed like forever before Claire was able to formulate a response. Even then, it wasn’t exactly brilliant.
“Uh . . . What do you mean?”
“Seriously?” Allegra tipped her head, looking from Claire to Sasha and back to Claire again. “That’s how you’re going to play it?”
Claire was relieved when Sasha stepped in. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re getting at, Allegra? Save us all time.”
Allegra leaned back. “You’re keeping secrets. I don’t know exactly what they are, but I’ve been seeing them.”
“Seeing them?” Claire repeated.
“I get these . . . visions . . . dreams,” Allegra explained. “I don’t know. Call them what you want. I don’t get them all the time, but when I do, they’re almost always right.”
Sasha’s face was guarded. “And you’ve been getting them lately?”
“Yeah, but I’m only getting pieces. Something about pictures and . . . letters, I think, and maybe a little girl or something. I can’t make sense of it.”
“A little girl?” Claire could explain the pictures and the letters, but the little girl didn’t fit.
Allegra waved her hand. “Whatever. You know how it is; I can’t always see the details right away.”
Claire didn’t know how it was, but she didn’t say anything.
“The point is,” Allegra continued, “something’s going on. I’ve been feeling a threat for a long time. A threat against the Guild. But I haven’t been able to see it clearly. Then the thing with the panther blood happens, and all of a sudden, I see all this other stuff.” She looked pointedly at Claire. “Then, I started seeing you.”
“Me?” Claire’s stomach turned over. This was the second time that someone from the Guild had told her they’d had a dream or vision involving her.
Allegra nodded. “I think it’s all tied together, but the parents have locked lips. No one’s talking, not even my mother, and you know how unusual that is.”
Claire considered her options. She could deny everything. Wait for Allegra to leave and fill Sasha in like she’d planned. But Allegra knew. Claire didn’t know Allegra well, but she was willing to bet that she wasn’t the kind of girl who would just give up and walk away. Not when she sensed a threat and a secret.
“What makes you think I know anything?” Claire finally asked.
Allegra shrugged. “Call it a hunch. Only my hunches are better than most.”
Xander wasn’t going to like it. He hadn’t even wanted Sasha to know.
Claire sighed. “Okay, but this is just between us. Between us and Xander. No parents and no Guild until we say so. You have to agree or I can’t tell you anything.”
“Done,” Allegra said without hesitation.
Claire looked at Sasha. “Sash?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Sasha sounded offended. “If you tell me not to say anything, I won’t say anything. You know that.”
Claire’s nod was slow as she tried to think of a place to begin. Finally, she reached into her bag and pulled out the letters she’d printed from her computer. She pushed them across the table.
Allegra reached for the stack of paper. “What is this?”
“They’re letters. Just . . . look at them,” Claire said. “I took them with my phone, but I transferred them to my computer and printed them out. I think they’re pretty clear now.”
Allegra unfolded the papers and shuffled through them.
“Who talks like this?” she asked, setting them down on the table. “It’s like reading Shakespeare.”
“Look at the dates,” Claire instructed.
Allegra sighed and picked up the letters again.
“Eighteen eighty?” She looked up.
“Turn them over and look at the signature lines,” Claire said softly.
Sasha grabbed the stack of paper out of Allegra’s hands. She shuffled through the pages, turning them over as she went.
Finally, she looked up to meet Claire’s eyes. “These are from Marie the First.”
Allegra sat up straighter. “What?”
Sasha looked at her. “Marie the First? Marie Laveau?”
Allegra rolled her eyes. “I know who Marie the First is. It’s just . . . Let me see those again.”
Sasha handed her the pages.
“Is this really her handwriting?” There was awe in Allegra’s voice.
“I think so,” Claire said.
“Claire . . . Where did you get these?” Sasha asked
It took Claire a minute to find the words, but once she did, she couldn’t stop. She began with the fact that Eugenia Comaneci had known her name, something she’d only told the Guild leadership and Xander. Then she told Sasha and Allegra everything else, only leaving out the conversation she and Xander had overheard between Maximilian and Estelle.
Some secrets weren’t hers to tell.
By the time she finished recounting their mission to the house on Dauphine, her hands were shaking.
When she was done, the two girls just sat there, staring at her with something like shock.
“My picture was there, too?” Sasha asked, her voice just above a whisper.
Claire nodded. “But yours and Xander’s didn’t have Xs. We think the ones that are marked are connected to the families that have had break-ins.”
“So the pictures that had Xs—including mine—are the ones whose houses have already been broken into?” Allegra asked.
“Well, we don’t know for sure,” Claire said. “But it kind of makes sense.”
“And what, Xander and I will be next?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know,” Claire admitted. “But these letters could be a clue.”
Sasha picked up the papers and flipped through them again. “Why not just take them to the Guild?”
“We’re going to—eventually. It’s . . .” She struggled for a way to explain without exposing Estelle. “It’s complicated.”
“I think it’s smart to keep this from them,”Allegra announced.
Sasha looked at her in surprise. “You do?”
Allegra made a sound of frustration. “Come on. Do you really think our parents have any idea how to handle a threat? A real threat?” She continued without waiting for their answer. “They’ve only been in charge for what? Twenty years? And in that time nothing remotely interesting has happened. Everyone’s played by the rules and they’ve just . . . sat back, running their little stores in peace.”
Sasha frowned. “Not all of the Guild supply houses are small.”
“You know what I mean. The Guild has become another high society clique. Our mothers are more concerned with headpieces for the ball and which charitable board they’re on than with overseeing the use of the craft. And our fathers are more concerned about keeping peace with our mothers. The Guild could be working to keep voodoo relevant. The timing’s right. People are into all kinds of stuff: homeopathy, eastern religion, meditation, even paganism has made a comeback. But if the Guild has their way, the world of voodoo will stay a secret, just the way they like it.”