Page 93 of Sunflower

George didn’t respond for a moment, letting the gravity of the situation speak for itself. “I’m guessing your defenses have exploded, huh?”

Surprised that this was the first thing out of his mouth and not the sheer impossibility of me getting a vision in the first place, I opened and narrowed my eyes before looking forward and walking with the flow of traffic again. “How did you—”

A burst of laughter reverberated through my earbuds. “I’m older than you, bud. Alotolder than you. And my family is riddled with seers. I know how much visions can demolish your shields, especially when you’re not expecting to have one.”

“Considering that no-one in my family has ever had a vision, I’d say that’s a fair assumption.”

He kept chuckling. “About that. I did some research and consulted with some friends of mine.”

“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow as my interest increased.

“Turns out that someone in my family, way, way back, married someone in your family.”

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk again, much to the continued annoyance of those around me. “But I thought—”

“Yeah, so did I,” George said, cutting me off. “She was a normie, but we think she must have been a carrier. We don’t know how it never manifested in your family until now, but here you are.”

“Here I am…” I muttered, then sighed. Pressing my lips together, I said, “You’re goddamn lucky I’m gay and have no intention to breed, George.”

“Indeed. We’re going to have to run blood work on everyone in your family to see how far the gene got, and if it’s anywhere else, how diluted it’s become. It does explain your mother’s impeccable gut feelings, though, so I’m guessing the potential has always been there but never manifested fully until it got to you.”

Frustrated, I ran my hands through my hair and scratched my scalp, not caring how doing so would affect my hair. “How much more training am I going to need, George?”

He hummed as he thought. “Not sure. You’re an anomaly, bud. We’re going to have to play it by ear for a while.”

“Fantastic,” I said sarcastically. I thought back on all the training I’d had with George when I was growing up and how ecstatic I’d been when I’d finished. Well,thoughtI’d finished. Add in my upcoming course load for college and I couldn’t say I was thrilled about the change in my situation.

George chuckled. “Come on, now. You’ve got the basics down. We’ll just need to tweak things a bit to cover both abilities. You’ll be fine.”

“Hmph.”

“Eh, stop your moaning,” he said with a chortle. “It won’t be as bad as you’re expecting.”

I groaned. “God, don’t saythat!Now it’ll be ten times worse!”

His laughter increased into a hearty roar. “You’ll be fine, Callum. I know it’s Christmas Eve, but if you could drop in for an hour, we could work on some meditation processes to get you through until after New Year’s.”

I mentally calculated how long it would take me to get to his place from where I was, sighing with relief when I realized I stillhad plenty of time to get what I wanted from the jewelry store. “Yeah, I can do that. How does seven tonight sound?”

“Perfect. I’ll get Mary to make her famous meatloaf.”

My mouth started salivating immediately. “That sounds positively divine, George. I’ll bring some of her favorite cheesecake for dessert.”

“Ah, bless. You’re a good soul, Callum. We’ll see you at seven.”

“See you then, George.”

By the time I hung up, I was standing in front of the jewelry store, staring up at the sign over the door and wondering for the millionth time if I was doing the right thing. I knew what I’d seen, but was I only ordering it nowbecauseI saw it in the future? Or was I always supposed to get it now?

Running my hands through my hair again, I tried to wrap my head around how knowing what could happen in the future would affect my decision-making abilities in the present.

I gave up, reasoning it was far too early in the day to be thinking about that sort of thing. Even if itwasthree in the afternoon.

Just as I was about to gather my courage to finally go in, another call came through on my phone. I frowned at the name that appeared on the screen.

“Hello? Xander?”

“Hey, Callum. You got a minute?”

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