CHAPTER NINETEEN

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say to that. As the words sink in, the color drains from my face.

"Okay," I say to her. "Let's say this is true. Let's say I believe you. There's got to be something we can do, right? Some way to change it?"

"No," she says. "I'm sorry. This is how you were meant to be. There is no changing your future."

I have to let that sink in for a second. I don't even know what to say. I look out at the water, and it seems to be mocking me now. I can feel it, and it's not nice. It's trying to tell me that I'm about to be consumed in pain, and that it's all going to be my fault.

"So, you're saying then that I should tell him to forget about me. I shouldn't marry him."

"I'm not saying that," she says. I'm not saying anything. But it would be the only way to save his life."

And with that, she is gone.

I am left sitting on that bench, staring out into the water. I can hear a single bird chirping in the distance. And I can hear my heart pounding in m