Agnes opened her eyes and gasped. “My ribbons. That silly old fool. Why would he keep all of these?” She ran her hand reverently over the bag of ribbons as she spoke.
“Because he loved you,” Calliope said.
“I’m sorry, but we read through some of the letters,” Sabine said. “We thought they might help us.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, perhaps assist us in figuring out a way to stop the prophecy.”
Agnes looked up. She shook her head. “Don’t be. There is nothing I’m ashamed of in these letters.” She motioned to Calliope. “Hand me my box.”
Calliope reached beneath Agnes’s bed and withdrew an old wooden box. Sabine had seen it before, plenty of times. Her aunt had always had it, as far as she’d known, but Sabine knew better than to ask what was kept inside. Agnes withdrew another stack of letters. “Here are his letters to me. And you’re right, perhaps you will find something helpful within them.”
Sabine took the letters, both sets. “I’ll make certain you get these back.” She would share these letters with Max, because they might hold some clue that could aid them in their search. But they also might reveal secrets she’d worked hard to protect. Earlier on the train when he’d asked why Agnes and Phinneas couldn’t be together, she’d lied, come up with a false reason about a Seer and a Healer not being free to marry. But it was the only thing she could think of, aside from telling Max the truth about Agnes’s being the third guardian.
Agnes wept freely. Sabine longed to say something or do something that would ease Agnes’s pain. But she knew there was nothing that could help. When her own parents had died, she’d had to allow time to soften the pain. It still lurked beneath the surface and sometimes would crash upon her, but most days she simply missed them.
“What of the Seer’s book?” Lydia asked.
“We found that as well, though someone was coming back after it. We had to run and hide in the woods.”
“We’re so thankful you’re safe. Max took very good care of you,” Calliope said.
“Phinneas faithfully wrote all of his visions down in that book,” Agnes said.
“I was hoping you could take a look through it,” Sabine said, holding it out to Agnes. “See if you can find anything on the prophecy and his interpretation of it. I know he didn’t have the entire prophecy, but he knew enough about it to have found the dove.”
The aunts exchanged glances.
“Did he say where?” Lydia asked.
“No, it was an incomplete letter to Madigan. It said he found it, but it was safe for now so he didn’t want to remove it and risk endangering it,” Sabine said. “Max and I have decided we should try to locate it, to be prepared for the battle with the Chosen One.”
“Where will you go?” Calliope asked.
“That’s what I was hoping you would help with.” She handed the book to Agnes, then placed her hand over her aunt’s. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on you. So if you can’t do this, I will do it myself.”
Agnes’s shoulders straightened. “Of course I can do it.”
“The Chosen One will be after you now,” Lydia said to Agnes.
“Let him come. I will not fear him,” Agnes said.
The following morning, Sabine was surprised to see Agnes join them at breakfast. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, a testimony to a late night spent crying.
“Good morning,” Max said to Agnes as he rose from his seat.
Sabine’s heart contracted at the show of kindness. As much as he tried to prove otherwise, Sabine knew Max was a good man.
“Morning,” Agnes said. She took a seat next to Sabine. “I’m not hungry, but I wanted to join you. I think I may have found something.”
Sabine pushed her own breakfast away from her, making room for Agnes to set down Phinneas’s book.
“This is from entries he recorded sometime last year. He plainly says in order to locate the dove, you must go where it all began.” She looked up at Max and then Sabine. “I think he’s speaking of where the first ship from Atlantis landed. Lulworth Cove. See the part where he refers to the ocean’s door?” She pointed to the next page. “That’s what our people called the rock formation that looks like an arch. It’s near the chapel that overlooks the cove.”
“Durdle Door,” Max said.
“What?” Sabine asked.
“That’s officially what it’s called. That rock formation,” he said. “Durdle Door.”
Sabine read through the words in the book. It wasn’t very much to go on, but it was a place to start.