Page 15 of Mate Night Snack
“She shouldn’t be able toseewhat she’s seeing, either.”
Miriam didn’t respond right away. Her gaze dropped back to the girl curled on her floral cushions. Her hazel eyes fluttered but didn’t open. Her fingers twitched like they were searching for something invisible.
“She’s waking up,” Miriam whispered. Emmett knew what she meant and it wasn’t about Katniss simply waking from a fainting spell. “And the town’s not going to like it.”
Emmett stood, pacing once to the window and back. “She said she saw a girl. A red coat. Then… she sawme. Hurt. Bleeding. Or at least that was what it sounded like through her mumbles as she drifted in and out.”
Miriam looked up. “You believe her?”
“I don’t know what else to believe.” He rubbed a hand through his hair. “She’s not lying. I’d smell it.”
Miriam made a low, thoughtful noise.
He should’ve left it there. Should’ve gone straight to Maeve’s tavern like he’d planned. But something in his gut had told him to double back. A flicker of unease, like the trees whispered wrong.
And sure enough, he’d found Katniss crumpled in the moss like she’d been dropped by something too big to see.
“I thought she was just another outsider chasing a dead story,” he said.
“She still might be,” Miriam replied, folding her hands in her lap.
“No,” he said, voice tightening. “There’s somethingpullingher. You know it. She’s not here by accident.”
Miriam nodded slowly, then stood. “Wait here.”
She disappeared into a back room, the one that smelled faintly of cedar and old parchment. When she returned, she held a small glass vial in one hand, a strip of fabric in the other. She dipped the cloth, then gently pressed it to Katniss’s forehead.
The girl groaned, shifted, then blinked groggily.
“Welcome back, sweetheart,” Miriam said softly. “You gave him quite the scare.”
Emmett crossed his arms, grunting. “I wasn’t scared.”
Katniss looked up at him, dazed. “Still the charmer, I see.”
Miriam smiled. “Good, her sass is intact. That’s a sign.”
Katniss sat up slowly, eyes scanning the room. “What… happened?”
“You tell me,” Miriam said, handing her a glass of water. “You blacked out. Again, according to Emmett. What did you see this time?”
Katniss hesitated. Her fingers curled around the glass like it anchored her.
“The inn,” she whispered. “Broken windows. Blood on the floor. Emmett—he was hurt. Bad.”
She looked up at him, guilt flickering behind her eyes. “I saw you dying.”
His stomach twisted, but he didn’t let it show.
Miriam pulled a stool closer and leaned in. “Do you know what a seer is, Katniss?”
She blinked. “Like… fortune tellers?”
“Not exactly. Seers don’t guess. Theywitness.Past, present, sometimes futures. Glimpses through the Veil, uninvited.”
Katniss went still. “You’re saying I’m—what? Magic?”
“Not magic,” Miriam said gently. “Gifted. And probably born with it.”
