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𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 Athena thought - all the terror, the despair, the shattering of her heart. The minutes were ticking by more slowly than usual. Jasper still hadn't come back when she returned to Alice. The human was afraid to be in the same room with her, afraid that she would guess... and afraid to hide from her for the same reason.
Athena would have thought she was far beyond the ability to be surprised, her thoughts tortured and unstable, but she was surprised when she saw Alice bent over the desk, gripping the edge with two hands.
"Alice?"
She didn't react when the girl called her name, but her head was slowly rocking from side to side, and Athena saw her face. Her eyes were blank, dazed...
Her thoughts flew to her cousin. Was she already too late?
She hurried to her side, reaching out automatically to touch her hand.
"Alice!" Jasper's voice whipped, and then he was right behind her, his hands curling over hers, loosening them from their grip on the table. Across the room, the door swung shut with a low click.
"What is it?" he demanded.
She turned her face away from the human, into his chest. "Athena," she said.
"I'm right here," she replied.
Her head twisted around, her eyes locking on Athena's ones, their expression still strangely blank. The girl realized at once that Alice hadn't been speaking to her, she'd been answering Jasper's question.
"What did you see?" she said - and there was no question in her flat, uncaring voice.
Jasper looked at the girl sharply. Athena kept her expression vacant and waited. His eyes were confused as they flickered swiftly between Alice's face and hers, feeling the chaos... for she could guess what Alice had seen now.
Athena felt a tranquil atmosphere settle around her. She welcomed it, using it to keep her emotions disciplined, and under control.
Alice, too, recovered herself.
"Nothing, really," she answered finally, her voice remarkably calm and convincing. "Just the same room as before."
She finally looked at her, her expression smooth and withdrawn. "Did you want breakfast?"
"No, I'll eat at the airport." Athena was very calm, too. So she went to the bathroom to shower.
Almost as if she was borrowing Jasper's strange extra sense, she could feel Alice's wild - though well-concealed - desperation to have her out of the room, to be alone with Jasper. So she could tell him that they were doing something wrong, that they were going to fail...
