by Abra Ebner
“I won that hand!” a male voice laughed, causing the bright light over our heads to quiver.
“You cheated. You always cheat!” The second voice was undoubtedly female, the light changing to a subtle green.
I blinked a few times, urging my eyes to adjust after the dim light of the previous spaces. I felt the strain of it pulse across my forehead. As my eyes allowed me to make sense of what the space contained I saw them, seated at a table in the middle of the space. Their outlines cleared as time passed and my sight grew stronger. In the chairs, silhouettes formed—one male, and one female.
I followed in Srixon’s shadow as he approached the table. The two figures stopped laughing as they saw us. I could just make out their faces as they turned, both happy and welcoming in a way I hadn’t expected. Once within the bright light, things became considerably more clear, and it felt as though I were standing in the middle of a sunny field. Birds were singing with a pulse of life that was anything but underground.
“Hello, Srixon.” The woman began, calming a chuckle and nodding. Her golden hair tumbled gently over one shoulder. It was glossy and perfectly curled, tied back with ribbons and braids. “Who have you brought for us?”
She turned her attention to me, her golden eyes sweeping over my figure. I felt weak in her presence, a great sense of power emanating from the light she had surrounded us with.
“This is Max Gordon.” As soon as Srixon said my name the woman’s eyes grew brighter.
“Oh, my. I should have known that!” She shook her head and slapped her hand of cards down onto the table. “Curse this card game for my lost attention. Forgive me. You look so different in person.” She tilted her head and gathered herself.
She had a surprising personality. I expected a prophet to be more regale. Instead, I found someone normal and free—if not for her striking appearance. She collected the cards in the pile before her, arranging them in her hand and tapping the compiled deck against the table. I was stunned to find them playing such a trivial game. I guess I never considered exactly what I would expect. In my mind I’d always pictured something more along the lines of chanting monks or intense meditation—certainly not simple card games.
“Well, my name is Genevieve, and this is my brother June.” She extended her hand toward June and he tilted his head in greeting. “But please call me Gen.” She winked at me, recoiling her hand and shuffling the cards before her.
I bowed gently, hands behind my back. “Nice to meet you, Gen.” Though they seemed normal, I got the sense that I was not to offer my hand in greeting.
“So, now that I have my thoughts straight and know who you are, I’ll assume this is the part where you come to know the prophecy.” She gave Srixon a look of disappointment, one that made me think she was angry with Srixon for not having shared the prophecy with me earlier. “And I will tell it to you.” It was as though she was explaining an act in a play before she was about to perform it.
“Thank you.” I nodded.
Gen nodded in return. “As you already know, Jane is still an important part in all this. Of course, she was more important alive, but things change when some people don’t do as the prophecy instructs.” She gazed upon Srixon one more time. “It’s an occupational calamity when you allow those within the prophecy to know the prophecy. Someone always fowls up.” Her bitterness toward Srixon was merciless.
June snickered. Based on his rather reserved contribution to the conversation, I assumed his sister was the one that did all the talking.
“You, however. I don’t see you fowling up . . .” she paused with a grin, narrowing her eyes as though seeing the prophecy change and mold with every word she said. “Especially since I’ve warned you, you’ll succeed. You’re of a much stronger soul than the man I previously entrusted . . .”
Another stab at Srixon.
“ . . . with a much stronger sense of duty. Though try to keep your heart as much out of this as you can,” she warned. “Of course I mean ‘heart’ in a whimsical sense, given yours isn’t quite like the rest of ours.” She giggled.
I didn’t care that her words were a bit trite. I was willing to take any warning she was willing to give. I didn’t have the option of failing, not this time. The prophets were the answer to a lot of the problems ahead so I saw this as my chance.
“The prophecy as of right now shows that the Black Angels will win this, unfortunately. I say ‘will’ hoping that by telling you, something will change, but that depends on your success with a couple of tasks that I have put a lot of thought into.” She paused, looking off into space and smiling to herself. Her brother smiled as well. “Already I see multiple paths forming from the few words I’ve said!” She exclaimed, clapping the deck of cards down on the table. She took another moment to marvel at an invisible point in the distance before returning to the conversation. At last she blinked the images in her minds-eye away. “The most important thing involves your past lover, Avery. This is perhaps the most complicated task you will face and I suggest you focus on this task alone. You need to find her and bring her back to the light.”
I shuffled one step forward. “But . . .” I interrupted. “I didn’t think a pixie could get their light back once lost.”
She shrugged. “Most can’t because most kill those that take it from them to begin with. Luckily for you, she hasn’t killed you—yet. Heavens knows why.” She tilted her brow, judging me. “But, because you broke her heart, you can fix it and restore the light, also. You hold a great power in that sense.”
Srixon’s robes swished beside me. Looking at him sideways, I caught the look of relief and excitement on his face. This is what he’d wanted. “How?” I wasn’t about to lie and allow Avery to fall in love with me again. Eventually it would end as it had before and we’d be right back here with the same problem though worse. Besides, it solved nothing with concern to Jane.
“How?” Gen tilted her head, repeating my simple question. “That, I can’t divulge. There are too many options and I don’t want to risk telling you one and having it be the wrong option.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but I understood her point. “I understand.”
She nodded. “Bringing Avery back to the side of the priory and the Knights will curb your brother’s grip on the Black Angels. I want to tell you that he will experience a change of heart, but it is unsure if it will happen now, or later, or possibly never. Either way, Avery’s alliance with us will bring the surge of their power to a standstill. It takes the ingenuity of a woman to organize such a war, after all.” She smirked before continuing. “Taking her from them will throw their plans into disarray. This will not end things, but it’s a first step.” She shifted in her chair. “On another note, Jane needs you. I can tell you the old prophecy involved her killing Avery, something that would have come at a mental cost to Jane, but a cost we were willing to take.” She eyed Srixon again. “At least most of us.”
I heard Srixon squirm beside me.
“In the new prophecy, her role comes and goes depending on your success in bringing Jane back. I warn again, do not focus on this task alone. The task to get to Avery back is far greater. Besides, I see a lot of grey area when it comes to retrieving Jane from the Ever After. It’s never been done with great success. She may never be the same Jane you knew before. I’ve seen souls banned from the Ever After for cheating death in this way. The risks are extensive and the task delicate. Her punishment as a Seoul is nothing compared to the punishment she could face.” Gen picked up her cards and shuffled them again. “She is a stubborn soul as well, this makes seeing her choices harder for me. I can never know exactly what she’ll do. Quite the firecracker, I must say.” She gave me a wink.
I did not respond.
“Do this, and we’ll see how the prophecy changes.” She dealt the cards between her and her brother. June happily collected his cards and fanned them in his hands. Her attention on me had gone and they began to play.
“Ace,” her brother bar
ked.
Gen shook her head. “Go fish.”
JANE:
Eliza and I had walked quite a ways down the river. She urged me to leave the bank, but I was afraid that if I did, I’d miss Max if he were to appear in the In-between. Eliza had tried to convince me that leaving the water’s edge was alright, that I wouldn’t miss anything, but how did she know?
She popped the head off a tall flower as she walked past, spinning it between her fingers. “I’m a seer, but also a bit of a prophet. Just like the prophets of Winter Wood.” She reminded. “Not all seers are prophets, but only seers can be prophets. Part of my struggle in my last life was escaping the Black Angels. I was a very rare breed as a prophet, and as such, they wanted me for their side. They hunted me like game. My entire family was murdered one by one until I had nowhere to go. Anyone close to me, even for a moment, died. I was a curse.” She dropped the flower to the ground unceremoniously. “Finally, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I took my own life.”
I stopped walking, not able to picture how such a young girl could ever feel so lost, so tormented that she would take her own life. Girls her age were supposed to worry about simple things, not be chased down like game.
“How could you kill yourself?” I gaped. “How did you do it?” I immediately regretted the question but it ran off my tongue so fast I couldn’t have stopped it if I tried.
Eliza plucked another flower as we stood there, spinning it in her hand like the previous. “I poisoned myself. It was a painful way to go but all I had at the time. If I were to do it again—”
“Don’t do it again.” I shuddered. For whatever reason, it reminded me of Emily and how I used to fear the direction she was headed in.
I focused on Eliza’s spinning flower, wondering how Emily was doing without me. Despite the fact that we’d never really gotten along, in my mind I was still her guardian. I felt confident that I could protect her as long as I was there, but now I wasn’t. I had to take refuge in the fact that Wes would never let anything happen to her, but trusting Wes was another challenge altogether. Emily was so new to her moral lifestyle that I feared a relapse. I found myself tense and irritated with the subject. I tried to change it. “So, as a prophet, can you still see what’s going on in the living world?”
She shook her head. “No. Only this world, and only things as they appear to me. Like you, for example. I can see an ever-changing array of future outcomes for you as your mind continues to think. It’s exhausting how your mind works, but fascinating at the same time.” We began walking once more and she dropped the flowers to the ground.
“I can relate to that,” I offered. Her shifting outlook on my future must be like the deaths I used to witness, always changing. My visions of death had stopped since I’d been here, but then again, I hadn’t been around too many people to know if it was a permanent change or not.
“You can relate to that.” She nodded. “That’s why I like you, I suppose.” She looked to the river we were walking along, across to the side of the In-between. “I know you’re waiting here for Max, but I can assure you that he is not going to visit for a least a few days, if not weeks. You can’t stay here by the bank forever. It’s boring, quite frankly.”
I was reluctant to believe her. “How can you be so sure if the future is always changing? And how can you tell if you can only see the futures of what’s right in front of you.”
She giggled. “Because his arrival is part of your future and you’re right in front of me. One thing I’ve learned about Max the last few years is that he is very predictable. He picks a plan and sticks to it. He won’t be back for a while, trust me.”
I sighed, feeling let down by that fact.
“Don’t feel let down. He’s busy trying to fix things for you and you know that.”
I had my thoughts blocked as best I could but still she was reading them. “How is it that you’re doing that?”
She grabbed another handful of tall grass and pulled it out of the ground. “Because I’m good. Because I’ve been doing this for a very, very long time. As a prophet, naturally my seeing ability is stronger. It takes layers of potions, tricks and rings for you to block your thoughts from me.” She looked at the ring still on my hand, the ring Max had given me. It was a weak attempt at helping me block my thoughts from people like Greg, but it wasn’t perfect. “You may as well assume that I will always be listening to your thoughts. Prophets have to have exclusive rights to everyone’s minds in order to accurately foresee the future—tricks like that ring don’t work.” She giggled then. “Don’t worry, I’m used to people thinking I’m irritating.”
She took the words right out of my mouth, thinking how I really did think she was irritating as I had a number of times before this.
“It’s a curse I’m used to. Having someone always inside your thoughts would irritate me, too.” She was twisting the grass between her fingers, making rings of green until the blade broke and she dropped it to the ground. She sighed, looking happy and refreshed. “Come on. I’ll show you the city.”
I stopped again and pressed my brows together. “City? What city?”
STELLA:
At last I reached a road that cut through the forest like a scar. The pavement was black, a glaring yellow line streaming down the middle that screamed human in a place so full of the natural. I looked in both directions, each identical. There was not a car or person in sight. I bit my lip, wondering which way I should go. I walked to the middle of the road, standing with my feet on the yellow lines. The pavement was wet, the sky overhead slightly overcast. I closed my eyes and spun until I almost fell down. Taking a minute to catch my balance, I finally opened my eyes, facing an unknown direction and ignoring the woods I’d just come from, afraid I’d recognize my path. I took a step forward, making my way to the shoulder and out of the middle of the road.
Fate had gotten me this far, fate would take me the rest of the way just fine.
I walked for a ways, only the occasional car passing until one slowly pulled up beside me. It was an old truck, puttering loudly, making it hard to ignore. I heard a window roll down, but I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me.
“Hey.” A man’s voice snaked over the rumble of the engine.
I disregarded his greeting, pulling the hunter’s coat more tightly around me.
“Hey,” he barked again, more forcefully. “Where are you headed?”
Did I look like I wanted a ride? I stopped and his truck stopped too.
“You realize you’re about three miles from town, right? That’s a mighty hike on foot. Where did you come from?”
At last I bothered to look the man in the face. He was exactly what I expected—scruffy, unkempt and admittedly creepy. I shuddered to myself. This was not a good situation.
The man smiled a sly smile. “Why don’t you let me take you into town?”
I almost wanted to laugh. Like that’s what he really wanted to do. I knew if I had to I could easily fly away right now, but I wasn’t willing to blow my cover so fast. If I got in his car I would lose the ability to escape. I found myself eyeing the road behind me, wishing another car would come along and scare the man off.
I shook my head.
The man laughed. “I’m not leaving until you let me give you a ride.” It sounded sinister. “Seriously, I hear there’s a storm coming. You don’t want to get caught in the rain, not a skinny thing like you.”
Was he an idiot? I was wrapped in a jacket twice my size. I’d be fine. That threat maybe worked on stupid girls, but not me. I shook my head again.
The man continued to chuckle menacingly.
I shut my eyes, the sound reverberating to my very soul. This was an inconvenience—a problem. When I opened my eyes, I was relieved to hear a car echo through the forest, headed up behind us. I looked back, seeing an old Suburban approach. I looked from the Suburban to the man, tilting my head as though to say, “Now scram,” though I knew I wouldn’t be able to form the words.
I saw an admittedly frustrated look arrive on the man’s face as he looked in his rear view mirror. It was disgusting to see. If this was how the world was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a part of it. Thankfully, I heard his engine rev and he closed the window as he drove off. The Suburban passed me a moment later. I watched the two cars disappear into the distance and the sound of their tires on the rough pavement faded away. I was left with nothing but the familiar, comforting sound of the woods—and the rain that had just begun to fall, right on cue. I pulled my hood over my head, allowing its oversized reach to fall down half my face.
After that event I was no longer sure that I wanted to leave the woods at all. I was comfortable here, things were predictable and safe. I had to remind myself that I didn’t want safe anymore, and comfortable wasn’t very entertaining. I remembered my urges and stuck to them. There was someone I was meant to meet, someone important to me. I knew he was within this world where the disgusting man in the truck had come from. I only hoped I would know who he was when I found him, and that he was better than what I’d seen of this world so far.