‘I thought of you today, when we were making bread. Lydia tried a new recipe that included cinnamon and I know how you love the smell. The entire cottage smelled of the sweet herb and, for a moment, it felt as if you were there wrapping your arms around me. I will not speak of how I wish things were different, we know that cannot be. But you are in my every breath, every beat of my heart. All my love, Agnes.’
Max watched in silence as a few stray tears escaped Sabine’s eyes. She continued to watch the scenery chug by outside their window.
“They were lovers,” he said.
She shook her head. “I never knew.”
“Why couldn’t they be together?” Max asked.
“It is our way. The three guardians represent three separate peoples, similar to tribes.” She met his eyes. “Phinneas is from the line of Seers whereas Agnes is from the line of Healers. There is no mixing. It simply isn’t done,” she said. “And Phinneas was a guardian. A union between them would have been forbidden.”
“Is Agnes the third guardian?” Max asked.
Sabine chewed at her lip, then took a deep breath. “No, she is not. I am.”
“You?” he asked.
She glanced around the train car before answering. “Yes.”
“So then you must have come to London to find me and my map and to gain access to the prophecy?” Max asked.
“Not precisely, though we did need the prophecy. And we knew you had the map in your possession.”
“But there still might be other information in that book that will help with the prophecy,” Max said.
“Yes. I’m hoping Agnes can help decipher it, because she obviously knew Phinneas quite well.”
They read silently for a few moments. “If not specifically for the map, why did you move to London?” he asked.
“To sell our products,” she said simply.
Beauty products from a family of Atlanteans. A family where one member was a guardian, which meant they protected elixir from the fountain of Atlantis. He set the letter he was reading on the seat beside him. “Your products must be very good to cause such a stir in Society,” he said. He was beginning to piece together the mystery surrounding Sabine, though admittedly he had not expected her to be the third guardian.
“I suppose,” she agreed. “But you know it only takes getting something into the right hands and then everyone else has to have it.”
“Not your typical jar of crème full of empty promises, though.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “No, your products are authentic.”
“What are you suggesting, Max?”
“The elixir. You’re putting it in your crème.”
She said nothing.
“Why, Sabine? Monetary gain?” he asked.
“Of course not.” She frowned, clearly offended.
“If the elixir is as dangerous as you’ve suggested, why put it out there?”
“It was the only way. We did it for our protection.” She chewed at her lip before continuing. “The Chosen One has ways of detecting those from Atlantis through the elixir.”
Max thought for a moment before speaking. “So distributing it across London allows you to hide among the rest of us,” Max finished for her.
She nodded.
“That’s very clever,” he said. He said nothing more for a while.
She picked up Phinneas’s book and flipped through it, narrowing her focus to one page, then slowly turning a page.