Three days later I came out of a shoot to find Monica waiting outside. She looked almost transparent.
“I couldn’t stop it.”
“You contained it. I suppose…”
“Trying to stop something that’s been foreseen is hard, I think. You tend to subconsciously move towards it instead of away. Or try…”
“Try so hard to stop it you cause it.” She adjusted her scarf. “I think I need to learn that.”
“And what do you see now?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Nothing you need to know yet.” She smiled. “Not every message I get is for you.”
“Of course not. Lunch?”
“Lunch.”
We repaired to a deli, but she had little appetite. She managed a salad…I had a half sandwich and a cup of soup.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do it,” she admitted.
I reached for her hand with my free one. “Nobody’s asking you to cling.”
“Not even you?”
“Especially not me. I might be too close, as some people are saying, but…”
“But you’re starting to get that…”
“That you’re very important, that Odin has something in mind, and if you can trust him this much, I can trust him…a little.”
She laughed, although it was weak, hollow not from lack of humor but from lack of strength.
The door opened and three men walked in. I ignored them as they pulled off hats and gloves – it was a cold day.
“I trust him to a point. I’m still Loki’s daughter and I still know all the stories.”
“I trust him with myself. I trust that he’s not doing this to be cruel, or to hurt me, but because it has some necessity to it.”
I nodded to her. We finished lunch talking about inconsequences. How the other girls were. How much people were praying for her.
I could tell the prayers were not going to be answered in the way any of them hoped. She was weakening physically, but she was also changing. Changing in a way I didn’t have words for.
Finally, she left, slipping outside. The three men did at about the same time.
I stayed seated until I heard a yelp. On my feet, I ran for the door.
No sign of them. No sign of Monica, but I thought I saw a struggling form in the back of a car as it drove away.