CASSANDRA
After I concluded that the pendant wasn’t in the backpack, I discarded it and looked around the room I’d been confined to. There was a stack of boxes in the far corner I hadn’t noticed when I’d first arrived.
I rushed over to them and wasted no time. I rummaged through the closest one, and once I finished rooting through it, I moved on to the next.
I continued this way for nearly an hour.
In the process of searching my belongings, a pair of servants took turns delivering more boxes. With every one, I prayed to the Moon Goddess that the pendant had just gotten misplaced in a pocket or bag, and when it wasn’t in any of the spots, my frustration grew.
Finally, the servants stopped arriving, and I began to give up. My mother’s necklace wasn’t here.
Thankfully, one thing was cer
