I told her the next day at lunch.

She frowned. “But…”

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She looked across the table. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

Clara. Seb. Mike. Kanesha. It was one of the four, I was sure of that, but I didn’t know which one. And of course that didn’t mean the other three were safe.

The web of fate also had an element of chance. “We could talk to a norn.”

“Would they see more than Monica?”

I opened my mouth to say obviously, then shut it again. They might not. “And besides, finding them…”

“Unless they want to be found. Ask the ravens?”

“I will next time I see Hunin. Munin won’t be able to help.” He could only see the past, Hunin was the one who glimpsed the future. Brothers. Complementary. In many ways two halves of the same being. I liked them.

“Alright.” Kanesha frowned. “I will be extra careful,” she said, finally. “I trust you, but…”

“I need you to be self-rescuing,” I quipped. “I need you to be extra careful so I don’t have to watch your back as much.”

She grinned. “Don’t worry. You know I can look after myself.”

And that was that. Trust had to go both ways. I would catch her if she fell, and I would gladly take a bullet for her, but I’d much rather not have to. All four of them could look after themselves.

What if it was somebody else? What if it was, say, Bruce? No. I didn’t feel that and I was pretty sure…

…that Monica would have known. She didn’t know who it was. Which meant it was likely to be some chaotic situation, some circumstance in which everyone was in danger. “Be extra careful in big fights,” I added.

“I always am.” She studied me. “You…”

“I’m not in real danger. You are.” That, I thought, would settle it. But I wouldn’t stop worrying.

And the worst part of it was that I could relax only when and if the prophecy came true.

When somebody else died.