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“C’mon, lighten up!”
Ava couldn’t speak for the others, but she knew that the Master’s request sure didn’t work on her. How could they “lighten up” when they knew what the future held for them? For their world?
The Master sighed and flopped back into his chair. He rested his chin in his gloved hand, sulking—until he shot back up with an “aha!”
The five Foretellers exchanged looks as the Master flitted through his stacks of books before emerging with one lone sheet of paper.
“This oughta cheer you up,” he said, holding up the paper in triumph.
“What…is it?” Aced said, peering closer.
“Ah, ah, ah,” the Master said, snatching it back. “No peeking.”
“Then why would you hold it out to us?” Aced mumbled as his cheeks flushed.
“That script…” Gula said. “Is it ano—is it a lost page from the Book of Prophecies?”
“Bingo! Look at you all, so smart,” the Master said. “This page diiidn’t quite make the cut—a little too off topic. But! I think it’s just the pick me up you need right now.” He straightened out the page, cleared his throat, and said, “Soulmates!”
“Soulmates?” Ira echoed. “What do you mean, Master?”
“I mean, your soulmates! The person you’re fated to fall in looove with and spend your life with. At least until, you know, the war.” He paused. “Anyway! Aren’t you excited?”
Ava hugged her arms to her chest. She wasn’t excited at all. In fact, she felt significantly worse than before. She didn’t want a soulmate. As long as she had her friends, she was perfectly content. Surely the Book of Prophecies wouldn’t have given her a soulmate against her wishes, would it?
To Ava’s surprise—and horror—the others’ interest was piqued. “You really know?” Invi said softly.
“Course I do,” the Master said. “They don’t call me the Master of Masters for nothing. Now, enough suspense. Let’s give you all a date with destiny! …Get it?”
None of them laughed, but they all stayed silent to hear what would come next.
The Master looked over the sheet. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, no surprises there. Okay! First: Ira and Invi.”
Ava’s heart kept pounding.
“Gula and Aced.”
She balled her fists.
“Aaaand, Ava and Luxu!”
The Master cast the sheet aside and began applauding, and each slap of his hands felt more like a slap to her face. Ava and Luxu. Soulmates. The others exchanged sheepish looks in pairs, and Aced’s face had turned even redder than before, but Ava couldn’t hear anything they were saying over the rushing of blood in her ears.
She liked Luxu. But not like that. Never like that, not anyone. The thought of…no. No, no, no.
“Ava? Are you alright?” Gula said, pausing in his teasing of Aced.
Ava’s lip quivered. And she ran from the room.
Ava didn’t know what to do, but she knew she needed to escape. Somehow. It took five minutes of racing thoughts and racing steps before she realized where her legs were carrying her, and she froze.
Up ahead was the top of the hill. The one where she met with Luxu whenever she was feeling overwhelmed.
Luxu was the last person she wanted to see now. But how could she talk to Gula, or Invi, or any of the others when they’d be so busy talking to each other? At least Luxu hadn’t heard the news.
And as long as Ava never mentioned it, maybe he’d never have to.
At the crest of the hill, Ava spotted the top of a black hood. She couldn’t help but continue upward. Luxu did always know how to help.
Before she got close, Luxu turned around. “Ava,” he said gently. “You’re here.”
The familiar tone of his voice was instantly comforting—but the nagging thought of what that might mean twisted Ava’s guts into a knot. “Were you expecting me?”
Luxu shrugged. “I had a feeling.” One way or another, they always wound up there at the same time. They usually teased each other about their “special connection.” Now Ava wished there was nothing special about it at all. “What’s up?” Luxu asked.
“…Nothing.”
Luxu didn’t buy that for a second. He sat on the ground and patted the spot next to him.
Ava sat. Her fingers tangled in the grass and the flowers, accidentally uprooting a few of them. She stared down at the crumpled stems between her fingers.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Luxu asked.
She shut her eyes. “Does it even matter whether or not I want to?”
Luxu looked at her in confusion.
“Our whole lives have already been laid out for us, whether we want it or not,” Ava said, staring down at the town far below them.
“That’s not true,” Luxu said, and Ava clenched her fists. But before she could speak, Luxu kept going. “Some things might be…decided,” he said carefully, “but that doesn’t mean we have no choice. The Book of Prophecies…I haven’t read it myself, but the book isn’t that long. It can’t hold every detail about everything. That would be impossible.”
“Maybe it says more than you think it does,” Ava whispered.
“Like what?”
“The Master read an extra page to us today,” Ava said. So much for her vow to never speak of the conversation again. But she’d never been great at hiding things from Luxu. “It said that you and I are…soulmates.”
“Ew, what?” Luxu exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “But that’s so—oh shoot, Ava, I didn’t mean—”
Ava burst into laughter before he could finish. It bubbled out of her chest on and on until she clutched the ground for balance and gasped for breath.
“Ava, I’m so sorry,” Luxu said, grabbing her shoulder. “That was rude of me, I shouldn’t have—”
“No, Luxu,” Ava said, letting out one more fit of giggles. “I reacted the same way.”
“Oh. Phew.” Luxu relaxed back onto the ground. “Wait—you don’t like me?”
“Of course I like you!” Ava said with a smile, but as soon as the words left her mouth, the potential implications of them caught up with her. “But not like—I don’t—um.”
The two of them fell silent. Luxu tugged his hood farther over his face.
Ava struggled to find the right words, if there even were “right” words. “It’s nothing personal, Luxu,” she tried. “I’ve just never felt that way about anyone.”
“Do you ever want to?”
Ava shook her head.
Luxu hummed. “Then why would the Book say that about us?”
“I don’t know!” Ava tucked her legs close and pressed her face to her knees, hiding the half of it that wasn’t already hidden by her mask. “I don’t want it.”
“Well, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want,” Luxu said softly. “And I don’t want it, either.”
“But the Book said—”
“I know it did,” Luxu said. He took a deep breath and curled up his legs too. “But maybe…that’s not what it meant. Maybe it’s a different type of soulmates.”
Ava lifted her head a bit. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…have you talked to anyone else about this?”
“No,” Ava said. “I’m not sure any of them would get it.”
“Hey,” Luxu said, nudging her shoulder, “I’m sure they’d listen.”
“But it’s easier to talk to you.”
Luxu turned his head and fiddled with his hood again. After a moment, he said, “You get me more than the others do, too.”
“Really?” Ava said with a little too much excitement.
Nodding, Luxu said, “I haven’t even seen any of them since the Master sent me off. You’re the only one who knew where to find me.”
“Of course I knew,” Ava said. “It was obvious.”
“Yeah, obvious to you.”
Ava giggled. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
Luxu scooted closer until their shoulders brushed. “Maybe being soulmates doesn’t have to be just falling in love. Maybe it’s just…being someone’s special person. Whatever that means to them.”
“…Oh.” Ava’s cheeks started heating up. “And you think I’m a special person?”
She wondered if under that hood, Luxu’s cheeks were warm too. “Super special,” he said.
It was a little strange to hear something like that so straightforwardly. But it was also nice. “You’re special to me, too,” Ava said.
“No pressure, huh?” Luxu said, and Ava laughed.
“I guess that doesn’t sound so bad,” Ava said. “If we can just keep doing what we’re doing now.”
“Definitely,” Luxu said.
With a big exhale, Ava leaned her head against Luxu’s shoulder. As long as it was her and Luxu’s type of soulmates, she might actually enjoy it a lot. So what if the Master said it meant one thing? Ava could decide for herself whether or not he was right.
And maybe the Master and the Book of Prophecies could be wrong about other things, too.