Everything Is Eternal (Book Two)

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Sometimes Kate feared she would be trapped forever. Trapped in a body that was suddenly too fragile. Trapped in a house that wasn't her home.

She was no longer imprisoned by the Sacred State, but she was still immured.

The loneliness often overwhelmed her. Aside from the occasional visits from Arthur and the constant presence of Evelyn, Kate was alone. Will had made oblique references to being alone when growing up. Was this what he meant?

When Kate was younger, all she had wanted was to be alone. All her childhood, she shared a room with Vanessa until her sister finally took off. Kate had a room to herself for less than a year before her mother disappeared and Vanessa returned home. Then came the horrible year of Vanessa's marriage, and Kate had been obliged to share a room with Josiah. After that was done, their broken family had moved into a two-room tenement with Isaac. Kate no longer even had a bedroom, since she and Josiah had to sleep in the main room.

Kate was only just realizing that she had never been alone. The closest she ever got to privacy was when she was semi-living with Elijah; there were many nights he didn't come home, and she had the place to herself. By the time she was nineteen, she was practically living with Will and then they were married.

There was a time when she craved solitude. Now she feared she would never grow accustomed to it or to losing her independence. Despite the oppressive laws, Kate always came and went as she pleased. Marriage hadn't stifled her independence. Will never questioned when she didn't return at night. He respected and cherished her freedom.

Now Kate understood why Will was that way and she worried what an indefinite imprisonment would do to her husband.

If he was imprisoned.

That was another thing Kate hated. The bleak thoughts. She had never sugarcoated the truth, but wasn't one for dwelling on melancholy thoughts. It reminded her of the effects of spending too much time in the Edges and even that never affected her too much. But ever since her purification, emptiness had gripped her. Her attempts to discover what happened to Will was a way to distract herself from that desolation. But, when she was alone, the despondency would return.

So she was elated to have a visitor, especially since it was someone she thought she would never see again.

"Matthew!" Kate cried.

Matthew wasn't as demonstrative as someone like Shin, but he ran over to her bed and flung his arms around her. Kate embraced him, overjoyed to see someone she loved.

After a moment of a fierce embrace, he pulled away. Flustered by his actions, his typically pale face was red.

"Kate..." he said, his voice choked with emotion. "I can't tell you what it means... seeing you. I thought... I feared..."

"I'm all right," she assured him.

That was a lie, and she had a feeling he knew it. They both stared at each in uncomfortable silence.

"I brought you a note from Vanessa. There's also one from Josiah... and that should show how worried he was," Matthew said.

Kate almost smiled. Josiah was the only one in her family who showed little interest in writing.

"And I've something you wanted," Matthew said, opening his haversack and dumping a great quantity of papers over the brocade bedspread.

She picked up a crumpled piece of newspaper. "I asked for Will's recent writing... he couldn't have possibly written all of this."

"No." Matthew shook his head. "I thought you might have been interested in what's happening. I assume information here is a bit... limited."

She nodded. "Quite limited."