The Crystal Heart Read Free Page B

a frog’s, boy, and get that pile of cutlery polished till it shines!’ He dumped a mountain of silver knives and forks in front of me. They looked old as the hills and about as dirty.
    So I sat there and polished and polished, and all the while my hands were working, my mind was racing. Why was the Supreme Council of Krainos meeting here, on the island? Why all the secrecy? Could it have anything to do with the voices I’d heard – those words? Surely not.
    It’s the only way to keep our land safe , the voice had said. His voice. On the day of your eighteenth birthday, you must die . And that girl’s voice, her crying … How could such a wicked thing have come to my mind? Alek Los was a true hero, not someone who would murder a young girl in cold blood. He was not like the others on the Supreme Council, whom nobody held in much affection. Like everyone else in Krainos, I looked up to the Commander. He had saved our country. He continued to serve it selflessly. His aim had always been to keep us safe. Always …
    My parents had always said I put two and two together and came up with the wrong sum, that I had too much imagination. Gingerly, I felt the bruise at my temple. I knew I should just dismiss the whole experience, but I couldn’t. I had to know if those words I’d heard were real. I had to find out from someone who knew aboutthese things. From someone who could see into one’s dreams …
    I caught my breath as I realised where my mind was leading me. It was crazy. Dangerous. Yet not to try to find out seemed more dangerous than anything else. I had to see the witch. I had to ask her what it all meant.
    I could hear my friends’ voices in my head: Lunatic! Stupid! Reckless! But I also heard the voice of curiosity – the voice that had been nagging at me ever since I came to the island. I’d take all precautions. I’d wear the thickest blindfold I could. The witch’s capacity for magic might be quelled in the Tower, but not her second sight. It was inborn in immortals. You could no more take it from them than you could unhook the moon from the sky.
    I had to speak to her. Something deep inside told me it was urgent. The Commander’s honour was at stake. I wanted to be sure we still had truth and justice on our side; Krainos must not be stained with a young girl’s blood. And if it had been a hallucination, then she would tell me that too. She had to. Immortals cannot lie about what they see in second sight. They are bound to tell you. I knew that from all the old stories about the immortal feya . A feyin , who is only part- feya , may lie just like full-blooded humans do. But never an immortal. And so one way or the other, I would have my answer.
    Now, for a way to get up to the forbidden room … I’d never be able to get past the locked door to the elevator, but I could go up in the dumb waiter. If I crouched down low I could fit in its narrow shaft. There was a lever you turned in the cellar to open and shut the door, and if I left it open down below, I could get down again without mishap.
    I waited for what seemed like a long time. The conference doors stayed closed. The rest of the Tower Guard were confined to quarters but the kitchen staff had to keep working.
    â€˜And I don’t mind staying behind till the kitchens close,’ I told Lew.
    He looked hard at me, then growled, ‘I guess you think you’re going to get all the leftovers.’
    I nodded ruefully, trying to look as though he’d rumbled me.
    â€˜Then you’d better stay till I tell you to go home.’
    â€˜Yes, sir.’
    I told Franz I’d volunteered to work extra hours because I couldn’t afford to lose at cards again. And it was true – I had lost at cards a couple of evenings in a row. ‘Just tell Serek and Marcinek that old devil of a Lew kept me back,’ I added. ‘I don’t want them to know I’m penniless. You