I did finally get a name from the spy – Finley – which I was pretty sure wasn’t his real one.

That was fine. I let him call me Jane. No trust, not really, but Monica was out and nobody was dead.

Yet.

That thought echoed through my mind like a premonition. A feeling that something or someone was on the edge of a precipice. It was probably just my anxiety for Monica.

Probably. But it didn’t feel like it was her I should be worried about.

And as we split up, she drifted after me like a ghost. “Jane.”
“What is it?”

“Keep an eye on people. Somebody…”

“I got it too.” Perhaps not as clearly as she did. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Which worries me more. It feels as if it’s not something we can prevent, as if it’s not something we’re meant to prevent.”

Cold went down my spine. Odin…was not…well. How much did he care about mortal’s lives as opposed to their souls? Not much. Exhibit: Monica.

“I’ll be careful.”

“It’s not you that needs to be.”

I decided that after this I really needed to track down my girlfriend. If that was still the right word. Partner might be more accurate, given how much time she was spending at my place.

You should get married.

I still thought about it. I supposed I was waiting for her to ask me, because that was the only way I could really be sure she wanted it, knowing what might happen, knowing what our world was like.

Knowing that she might well fear that for me this was only a fling, even if it was one that might last her lifetime. No. I could not ask. It would feel like the king’s proposal of marriage, one no woman could refuse.

I could not put her in that position. I could, though, seek her out when the chill ran through me from Monica’s vague premonition. One which almost sounded like a threat, except that I knew she would not ever hurt any of us.

I knew she was only a voice, a vessel of destiny, and part of me understood, just for a moment, what might come of her. For a moment I glimpsed why she had to die, and then it was gone, leaving only the sensation of having known. That there was a good reason for it.

I fled that feeling as much as anything else for my small home and a movie, and called Kanesha to join me. She brought chips and dip and we watched something ridiculously romantic and funny.

I didn’t tell her about Monica’s prophecy that night.