My name is shouted out on the street.
"They're looking for me," I say, hoping he'll let me go.
He grips my wrist tighter. "Something happened tonight. I could sense it."
I start to explain. "It was an accident"
"I don't believe it!" Kartik kicks hard at a stone on the ground, sends it flying.
"It's not what you think," I babble, trying to defend myself. "I can explain"
"No explanations! We shall give the orders and you shall follow them. No more visions. Do you understand?" His smirk is contemptuous. He's waiting for me to tremble and agree to his terms. But something inside me has changed tonight. And I cannot go back.
I bite his hand and he yelps, dropping my wrist.
"Don't you ever speak to me that way again," I snarl. "I am no longer content to be the scared, obedient schoolgirl. Who are you, a stranger, to tell me what I can and cannot do?"
He growls at me. "I am Rakshana." I laugh. "Ah, yesthe great and mysterious Rakshana. The powerful brotherhood who feel threatened by things they cannot understand and have to hide themselves behind a boy" The word hits him as if I had spit. "You're not a man. You're their lackey . I don't care about you, or your brother, or your ridiculous organization. From now on, I shall do exactly as I wish and you cannot stop me. Do not follow. Do not watch. Do not even attempt to contact me or you'll be sorry indeed. Do you understand?"
Kartik stands, rubbing his wounded hand. He's too shocked to say anything. For the first time, he's utterly silent. And that's how I leave him.
Mademoiselle LeFarge never does reprimand us. She sits silently the whole ride back, her eyes closed, a sad smile on her face. But in her fingers is the inspector's calling card. Between the jostling of the carriage and the long evening, everyone has fallen into a twilight sleep. Everyone except me.
I'm on fire with what I've seen tonight. Everything in Mary Dowd's diary is the truth. The realms are real, and my mother is there, waiting for me. Kartik's warnings are nothing to me now. I don't know what I'll find through that door of light, and truthfully, I'm a little afraid to find out. The one thing I do know for certain is that I can no longer ignore whatever power this is inside me. The time has come.
My hand is on Felicity's shoulder, shaking her gently awake.