Touch (Touched by the Fae 3)

I can’t stop myself from reading it, then reading it again.

It says:

Holy shit. If this is what I think it is—and despite the highly questionable source, I’m betting it is—then I’m finally looking at what might be the complete Shadow Prophecy.

But… wait a second.

This isn’t right. Even before the strange “corrections” and obvious additions, it isn’t right.

Back in the abandoned house in Acorn Falls, Carolina and I dissected every line of the Shadow Prophecy after she insisted I memorize it. The whole part added to the bottom of the page, but meant for the top, wasn’t in the prophecy Lina showed me. I mean, to be fair, she did tell me that her awful mistress—aka the horrible Fae Queen, Melisandre—only allowed her to have a snippet of it, but still.

What is this?

I recognize the original handwriting. It’s definitely Lina’s.

But it’s wrong.

“ ‘...more than an adviser, a confidante, a friend…’” I recite under my breath. That’s what I remember. That’s what she told me, made me memorize.

That’s totally not what this says.

I glance back at the page, ignoring the added scribbles in script.

…more than a lover,

a consort, a friend…

That’s, uh… that’s a pretty big difference. Forget the rest of it. This one line changes everything. According to Lina’s original version, the Dark Fae I was fated to partner up with was supposed to be a helper. An adviser.

If the prophecy said all along that I was fated to mate the Dark Fae, why didn’t anyone tell me? It happened anyway, which only makes my stomach drop.

If that part of the prophecy came true without me knowing, what about the rest?

My fingers tighten around the edges of the crumpled paper, the sheet snug between my gloves. I’ve been carrying this paper around with me since I came back to the Wilkes House and found Lina. It was next to her body, almost as if she was holding it when she died. I never looked at it then—couldn’t, not when I was running to save my own life—and forgot all about it until just now.

Hell, I never even noticed it when it fell from the pocket of my jeans.

Where did it come from? How did Lina get it? Why? Was she trying to warn me that the prophecy I knew was wrong? Or was it just one more lie?

I’ll never know and, as I marvel at the page, I try not to obsess over it too much. It doesn’t really matter, does it? How can it? My friend is gone and, based on the added scrawl near the top and bottom of the page, even her updated version is not even close to being complete.

That man…

How did he know this? Who is he?

How did he know to give me this?

Something’s wrong. When I first thought he might be the same guy who warned me against Dr. Gillespie, I was worried that he was following me. It’s not him. At least, I don’t think it is—or didn’t.

But how does he know?

A couple of minutes ago, I had to ask myself whether or not the homeless man hanging out outside of my parents’ building could be part of Faerie all because he didn’t say ‘thank you’. I thought I was overreacting. Now I’m sure I’m onto something.

What the—

Who is he? Why did he give me this? How the hell does he know the rest of the Shadow Prophecy?

Can I even be sure that it’s right? Ash admitted that there are way too many versions of it out there, despite it ruining my life, the only thing I can be sure of is that a halfling is prophesied to finish the Fae Queen’s terrible reign as ruler over Faerie.