by Kallysten
First Vision of Destiny
Alicia
By Kallysten
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2009 Kallysten
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The right of Kallysten to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First Published July 2009
First Edition
All characters in this publication are purely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Edited by Mary S.
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First Vision of Destiny – Alicia
With a deep sigh, Daisy took a last look at her preparations. Everything appeared to be in place. She had set out enough finger food on the dining room table to get the party started, and she had more stacked in the fridge. Three bottles of wine waited, uncorked; she had a suspicion that some of her friends would need some liquid courage before they went through with it, never mind that they had pestered her for months to set this up. She couldn’t wait to see their faces when they heard about the small print.
She trailed a finger along one of the two bottles of champagne, drawing a line in the fine droplets of condensation. The bottles would stay in the ice bucket until midnight. It was New Year’s Eve, after all. Whatever else her friends wanted, she intended to welcome the New Year properly—which didn’t mean with excess. She had kept the decorations to a minimum. They were all adults, and a few balloons, streamers and some red and gold confetti on the table around the food were more than enough.
“If they’re not happy, they can organize the whole thing themselves, next time.”
Her voice sounded too loud in the empty cottage, reverberating off the high ceiling. She winced. She had to calm down a little before her guests started arriving, or she would ruin the night for everyone.
It was her own fault for telling her friend Alicia about Sam Woods. The self-proclaimed seer and Daisy’s older sister had attended college together, becoming close friends over the years before he had become famous. Daisy had thought he was a charlatan from the first time her sister had explained what he did exactly, and finally meeting him at the wedding he had supposedly foretold hadn’t changed her mind.
Alicia had ignored Daisy’s reserves. Her eyes had widened when Daisy had told her about him, and right away she had asked about arranging for a séance. It had only become worse when Alicia had told the rest of their friends, seeking support when she couldn’t sway Daisy on her own.
Sighing again, Daisy went to the table and picked a cheese-covered cracker from a plate. She munched on it while helping herself to a glass of wine. The scent of berries rose from the glass before she even brought it to her lips. She hadn’t looked at the labels when raiding her father’s wine collection in the basement, trusting him to have only flavorful bottles in stock. He had known, when she had asked to use the cottage for a party, that she would be helping herself to a few bottles, just like her mother had known she would be using the china and glassware. Even now that they were adults, that was the good thing with being the youngest of four children; her parents had seen and heard it all, and they didn’t ask too many questions.
Taking the glass of wine along, she stepped through the French doors and onto the balcony. For a couple of seconds as she took in the view, she forgot to breathe. A symphony of gold, red and orange played through the sky, lighting the horizon on fire. As far as she could see, the ocean glittered under the slowly setting sun. A few white sails were catching the wind in the distance. She took a sip of wine. She envied those people who would greet the New Year on a small boat, with only a spouse or lover at their side, or maybe their children. She loved her friends, she really did, but this was not her idea of a good time. She tipped the glass and finished it in one long gulp. Not her idea, and yet, there she was, ready to play hostess.
A few more minutes passed before the first of them arrived. The clear chime of the doorbell startled her. She glanced at her watch as she stepped back inside and went to open the door. Five minutes to seven: just a little early.
She set her empty glass aside and smoothed her hands down her dress nervously. She had opted for a blue cotton dress she had been told matched her eyes. A quick glance in the mirror by the door reassured her that what little make-up she had on was still perfect. Her short hair looked windswept, but she didn’t mind. She swallowed hard as she reached for the door handle, wondering who she would find standing behind the door. She hoped it wasn’t Woods; the last thing she wanted, she told herself, was to be alone with him, even for a few minutes. Still, her relief was tinted with a twinge of disappointment when she opened the door to greet a beaming Alicia.
“Hi,” Daisy said, warmth filling her voice. “Glad you could come.”
Alicia was almost bouncing as she entered, her curly hair dancing like red flames on her shoulders. Her wide, excited eyes made her look like she was fifteen, and not almost twice that. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything! Is he here yet?” She craned her neck to peer around the living room and the attached dining room.
“Not yet,” Daisy said with a short chuckle. “You’re the first.”
She showed Alicia to the guest bedroom so that she could put down her jacket and purse.
“I’m so excited!” She clutched Daisy’s arm. “He said he’d do it for all of us, right?”
Responding to the hint of anxiety in her friend’s voice, Daisy tapped her hand gently before freeing herself. “He said he’d do up to ten people. Ben has a shift at the hospital, so that’s nine of you. You’ll get your turn.”
A shadow passed over Alicia’s face at the mention of Ben’s absence. She paused with one arm out of her jacket, then shrugged out of it. “Nine of us?” Alicia asked as she sat on the bed next to her jacket. She leaned back, her hands resting on either side of her. “Does that mean you won’t do it?”
Daisy’s eyes flittered for an instant to the charm bracelet on Alicia’s left wrist. Was it a trick of the light, or were the bite marks hiding beneath the charms redder than usual? She looked back at Alicia’s face. Maybe later, Daisy would try to talk to Alicia about it. Right now, Alicia was too excited to listen to her.
“I said I’d get him here. Not that I’d play.”
Alicia jumped back to her feet, grinning. “You say that now…”
“No, I’ve been saying that since the start. I like a bit of mystery in my life, thank you very much.”
Alicia laughed. They returned to the living room; already, another guest was knocking on the door. Daisy let Jack and Lydia in, and as she greeted them, she could see a car coming up the alley. She left the door open as she invited her friends inside.
“So, what made you decide to come?” she asked Jack, her voice teasing.
Of all her friends, he was the only one who had seemed to think like she did that the whole thing was ludicrous. Da
isy had thought it strange. His job as a Special Enforcer put him in regular contact with magic, after all. She would have expected him to be more open to this kind of thing. She was glad for the support, though, even if it hadn’t helped in the end.
Hands in the pockets of his faded jeans, Jack shrugged. He threw Lydia a sly look. “I still think it’s all a waste of time,” he admitted. “But if it amuses my girl, what can I say?”
Lydia huffed, crossing her arms as she mock-glared at him. Her dangling earrings swung at the small movement, catching the light. “If it amuses me? You said you’d do it, too! And I didn’t even ask you to!”
“Jack is going to gaze into his future?” Mike said behind him, and Jack stepped aside to let him, Brad, and Cathleen in. “So you finally believe in seers?”
“I’ve always believed in seers,” Jack said, on the edge of being defensive. “And hello to you, too.”
They shook hands, and as everyone said hello, Daisy herded the growing group toward the dining room and the refreshments she had prepared. As she gathered their jackets and purses, she couldn’t help noticing that, aside from Jack who never wore anything other than jeans, her friends had disregarded her request to keep the party informal. Both Mike and Brett wore suits and ties, while Alicia, Lydia, and Cathleen put Daisy to shame in a rainbow of cocktail dresses. She was sure they had dressed up to impress the guest of honor, and now Daisy found herself wishing she had done the same. She left them for a second to place their belongings in the guest bedroom, listening to the continuing discussion.
“I believe in seers,” Jack said again “I’m just not sure anyone can do what this guy says he does. I’m not sure anyone needs to know their future, either.”
When she returned, Daisy was pleased to note that eager hands had reached for hors d’oeuvres and wine glasses. She smiled and nodded graciously when wine and amuse-bouche were praised, happy that her efforts at playing hostess were appreciated. She still felt underdressed, however. As the conversation returned to topics that had been discussed ad nauseam the last few times they had met, her eyes flitted toward the master bedroom. She might find an appropriate dress in the closet there. Should she change?
“What about the seers who help the police find missing persons?” Alicia said. “They’re telling the future, and it’s a good thing!”
“And how about the one that predicted all those earthquakes?” Mike pointed out, raising his glass as though toasting the woman they had all seen on television.
With a slight shake of her head, Daisy focused on the discussion. She had no reason to dress up for someone she claimed was a fraud, after all. “How about all the earthquakes she didn’t predict?” she said. “Or all the other catastrophes that happen every day without anyone being warned?”
“Keep it up, and I’m going to start feeling guilty.”
She started at the words and turned to find that Sam Woods had arrived, along with her last three guests.
“Well, maybe you should,” she said. Heat was rising in her cheeks, but she ignored it, pretending to herself that it was just the wine. “It’d be far more useful if you could tell us if one of us will have a car accident or where to invest for our retirements. What you do—”
“I didn’t choose this gift,” Woods said. Cathleen handed him a glass, and he accepted it with a nod of his head without taking his dark eyes off Daisy for more than a second. “I don’t choose what to see. It’s just there.”
Forgetting the people around them, forgetting that she had asked him to come precisely to tell them about their futures, she gave him a hard look. “And you could let it stay there. We’re not talking life or death.”
He took a sip of wine, then smiled. “Ah, but my dear Daisy, we’ve had this argument before. Sometimes love is a matter of life or death.”
Daisy was about to respond—they had argued about this before, and she had had more than enough time to come up with the perfect answer. Lydia stopped her, however, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Daisy tensed at the unexpected contact. Lydia’s hands always seemed too cold.
“Daisy, come on, you’re going to make him mad, and then he won’t… What do you call what to do, Mr. Woods?”
From the corner of her eye, Daisy saw Jack’s features harden. He didn’t like the innocent smile Lydia was offering Woods. Truth be told, and it shocked Daisy to realize it, neither did she.
“Just Sam, please.” Woods smiled back at Lydia. Then, making eye contact with everyone, he looked at the ten people now gathered around him. Ten was the maximum he could do in an evening, he had told Daisy when she had approached him about doing this for her friends. “And usually I call it showing. Because that’s pretty much what I do. I show you a moment of your future. Not just any moment, but the key instant that will shape your relationships for the rest of your life.”
“Show us?” Joan, one of the latecomers, said with a small frown. “Like… a vision?”
She sounded skeptical but intrigued. Daisy didn’t know why Joan would even want to hear about her love life when she was happy with Brad and seemed so sure that her future would be spent with him. Even now, they were holding hands; Daisy sometimes wondered if they had ever let go since Joan had invited Brad to their senior prom.
Woods nodded. “Vision is a good enough word. You won’t just be watching, though. You’ll live it. You’ll become the person you’ll be in a year or ten or whenever this moment in time is. You’ll forget that you’re not there yet; you’ll know everything you need to know to deal with that situation.”
“And we’ll remember all of it afterwards?” Brad asked after glancing at Joan.
At that, Woods hid a grimace behind his glass. His eyes found Daisy’s as though to ask why she hadn’t told her friends all of this. She crossed her arms and returned his look. Why should she have to explain his games?
“Well, for a little while you will remember,” Woods said, raking his fingers through his spiked hair. “But the memories will start fading. The more you try to focus on them, the faster they’ll fade.”
For a few seconds, they were all silent, taking in the revelation they hadn’t expected. It was Jack who asked what they probably all thought. He was always straight to the point.
“So what’s the point of doing this at all?”
Woods sighed and threw another reproachful look at Daisy. She felt the sudden urge to stick her tongue out at him, and controlled it by stepping away from the group. She picked up an amuse-bouche and nibbled a corner of it. She could feel Wood’s eyes on her, like a weight pressing on her shoulders. When she turned to the group again, however, he wasn’t looking at her. Standing behind her friends, she listened to Woods’ little speech. She could have sworn it was word for word the same thing he had told a small group of curious listeners at her sister’s wedding that July.
“You won’t remember exactly what happened or what was said, but other people describe it as having a sense of what you ought to do when the moment comes. Whatever choice you have to make, it’ll be easier to decide. You’ll know what the right answer is.” He spread out his hands. “I can’t explain it better than that.”
Daisy had to jump back in. Noticing her jerk forward, Cathleen stepped aside so that she could enter the loose circle they had formed.
“But if it’s the future you really show people, it means they would have made these choices on their own anyway.”
“Maybe,” Woods said, shrugging. “Maybe not. Maybe that future only takes place if they get to experience it with me first. Or maybe you’re right and that’s what was destined to happen anyway.” His lips curled in a teasing grin. “Why, Daisy, do you happen to believe in destiny?”
Laughter erupted through the group. Daisy raised her eyes to the ceiling, letting out an exaggerated but good-natured sigh. Brad patted her back. Why her parents had ever thought that ‘Destiny’ would be a good name for their last child, she would never know. Thankfully, her childhood nickname had stuck, and no one called her Dest
iny anymore.
“So… how do you do it exactly?” Alicia asked eagerly. “I mean, is it hypnosis or something like that?”
Woods let out a quiet laugh. “Oh God, no. Nothing that complicated.”
“Really?” Daisy gave him a wide, mocking smile. Let him explain this one with a pun. “I thought that was something pretty interesting myself. Tell them, Sam. Let’s see if they still want to do it when they know.”
He frowned at her. “You could just have explained it to them.”
“What, and ruin my fun? Nah, I want to see their faces when you tell them.”
And she wanted to see him lose his self-confidence again, if only for a second, like he had at the wedding.
“What is it?” Joan asked, now sounding a little nervous. “What do you have to do?”
“It’s nothing, really.” He was still smiling, but there was a wary look in his eyes now, as if he was unsure how they would respond to this piece of information. “To show someone, I just have to kiss them.”
Laughs resounded around him before the group realized he wasn’t joking.
“Kiss?” Mike said, his voice a little higher than it usually was. “Like, a peck on the cheek?”
“Not exactly, no.” He met Daisy’s eyes again, and she could tell he was annoyed. “Let’s just say I discovered my talent when I dated my first girlfriend in high school.”
A few nervous chuckles rose, then were quickly stifled. The silence that fell on the group grew heavy. Daisy was starting to regret not having told her friends about the details now. It had seemed like a harmless trick to play on them after they had pestered her for so long to arrange that séance. But what if none of them wanted to go through with it, now that they knew? She’d never live it down, and she’d have embarrassed Woods needlessly. As much as she thought what he did was on the same level as fortune telling, she had nothing against him.
“So, who’s first?” she asked, subdued.