68: The truth about Katherine

The idea that Katherine Dragović, the world’s worst existing creature, was alive was absolutely nauseating. In fact, as I processed this newfound piece of information, my head began to throb in pain, so much so, that I began rubbing at my temples. Sebastian, however had a worse reaction than I did. The moment he learned that his mother was alive, the coffee table on which one of the flowerpots were carefully placed was in half and the actual flowerpot was shattered into millions of tiny little pieces.
“Why the fuck am I only hearing this now?” Sebastian yelled at the top of his lungs. Lucretia sighed deeply and then attempted to touch Sebastian’s shoulder tenderly, but he shrugged her hand away. I expected her to be saddened by his action and her face to be filled with guilt and regret. Instead, I only saw rage and annoyance. It was a similar expression to the one Sebastian made whenever I said something he did not agree with- which was most of what I said.
And right as wiped her tears away and she opened her mouth, I knew we were in for a world of trouble.
“Listen here you ungrateful, spoilt little brat! Don’t you think I would have fucking told you that your mother’s alive if I could. The problem was *you*.” She said.
I remained silent as I watched this family quarrel unfold, not daring to even attempt a little remark which I knew would be nothing if not lethal.
Sebastian scoffed and folded his arms over his chest before saying, “I was the problem? How so. Tell me Lucretia, how the hell I’m the problem when you hid something so important for so damn long? The fucking woman killed my wife!” After he said this, he gripped one of the nearest, unoccupied chairs and threw it across the room, shattering the wooden furniture into pieces. And during all of this noise and yelling, Demetri somehow managed to fall asleep and this little anomaly seemed to engrossed Vincent who stared at him in deep confusion. He clearly had no interest in the conversation, or rather, the verbal brawl going on between the two Dragovićs. But I was, even more so when Lucretia literally hovered Sebastian’s body in the air with nothing but her magic.
“That’s exactly what I mean! Your irrational ass would have ruined the very design of how this is all supposed to play out. In fact, I’m sure if I told you sooner, you would’ve gotten yourself killed, and as a result, Phoenix would never have been resurrected at all.”
“What do you mean? And get me the hell out of this.” He said.
“Only if you agree to calm the hell down and just listen to me.”
Sebastian turned to me, almost as though he were finally asking me to defend him. However, I agreed with Lucretia. He needed to calm down, not only because Lucretia asked but because I was dying to know why she never told him. And so, I raised a brow and shook my head. Reluctantly he sighed and nodded in defeat.
She smiled and set him back on the couch. “Good. Now we can finally carry on this conversation in a civil manner.” Her eyes then rested on me, and she gave a sympathetic smile. “Forgive me, Phoenix. I suppose you are the person most deserving of an apology, but I’ll get to that in a moment. First, let us travel back to Sebastian’s mother for a moment. Now Katherine had the very first necklace I created and so it wasn’t as stable and as efficient as yours. Because of this, when Katherine entered her vessel, the body did not take Katherine’s shape.”
So not only was Katherine alive and breathing, but she looked completely different this time around. As if the fact of her being alive wasn’t bad enough.
“But the problem runs deeper than that, and also relates to why I hadn’t told Sebastian about his mother until now. There was an unforeseen consequence to using soul magic. Because you and Katherine have in a sense “cheated death” you are virtually indestructible. You will not die, even a strong immortal creature such as Demetri will not be able to destroy either one of them. There is, however, a slight loophole. Since you and Katherine are basically on the same soul level, you both are able to destroy each other. Now the reason I didn’t tell you, Sebastian, that your mother was resurrected a few centuries ago was because you would have tried to go after her immediately and you would have indeed died. Since your connection with Phoenix in her life as Diana was the strongest of the four Anchors, your death would have resulted in Phoenix being unable to be resurrected. Now not only would that mean you would enter the after life and she would stay trapped within the soul stone forever, but it would also mean that any hope of destroying Katherine would be lost and knowing what she has in store for the world… she *needs* to be destroyed before we have another war. But I can’t say more than this.”
“The fuck you can’t. What does she have in store for the future? What does she look like? Where can we find her?”
“You see that’s the thing. I am physically unable to tell you anything more than what I have said. When Phoenix was born, you came to visit me, do you remember?” Sebastian nodded intently. “Well, I was going to tell you then. With Phoenix alive, I knew you would have been less irrational and more open to listening. However, upon hearing of your visitation, my “father” used one of his wonderful new restrictions. You see I can’t tell you more than what he wants me to tell or else this happens-”
She attempted to open her mouth but the second her lips parted, they disappeared from her face, as though they had never even been there in the first place. Then, just as soon as they disappeared, they reappeared, as if they’d been there all along. “Do you see what I mean? I’m afraid this is what it has come to now. I can, however, tell you one more thing. You have already met her. In fact, she is much closer than you ever could have imagined.”
And it was then that it immediately clicked. Xavier’s mother’s name was Katherine. Could she have been *the* Katherine this entire time without us knowing it? If so, it explained so much.
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So *is* Katherine *the* Katherine? Or is there someone else you are all suspecting?
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!