Page 8 of The Gargoyle's Glade
My mouth dropped open, and I stumbled over several false starts before I could commit to speaking again. “How do I begin such a conversation? ‘Hello, Merry, apologies for ruining your day, but I had a mysterious vision when you touched me, and in it you were dead. Sorry about that.’”
Ophelia snorted in amusement. “Perhaps a bit more demurely, sure. She’s new to some of the parts of this world, Coltor, not incompetent. In fact?—”
My volume increased, a frustrated noise rumbling out of my throat. “That’snotwhat I mean.” I caught myself, but too late. I’d interrupted my elder andgrowledat her. That alone could have ended my existence. Thankfully, she looked moreamused by my outburst and lack of manners than murderous. “Apologies, Ophelia. I mean no offense. But she… she didn’t ask for any of this. And according to my vision, she’s going todie. That feels very urgent.”
The old woman, still grinning, grunted and waved a hand at me as though I were the one being ridiculous. “Of course she will, nephew. Like it or not, none of us escape that particular fate. No matter how long it might take to get there.” Her smile faded, and her gaze took on a faraway quality. The shift in the energy within her little hut had my skin crawling.
“Of course. But what I mean is, she will diesoon. Perhaps only days from now, it’s hard to know for sure.” Unease slithered through my stomach again, the terrifying flash of future I’d gotten over tea at d’Arcan replaying behind my eyes. The thought of that vibrant woman suddenly ceasing to exist was more than I could stomach.
“Shemight. And you know as well as I do that time is relative.” She shook her head and I felt like a child being scolded as she turned a disappointed look on me. “You’re giving this new gift too much control, Coltor. It’s showing you possibilities, not absolutes. It is fully within your power to direct how things go.”
“It’s always the worst outcome that comes true though.”
I’d only had a handful of visions, but they’d all skewed to the most negative scenario when they’d come to pass. The old merchant who’d injured himself trying to keep fruit from spilling off his cart because of a clumsy child. The discovery that the milled grain in one of the warehouses was tainted with toxic mold after a whole section of the city grew ill and Hailon went to help heal them. The reason for rats congregating in a drainage ditch being the body of a missing man.
“Always?” She scoffed. “I believe that may be an exaggeration. And your experience pool isn’t very reliable, now is it?”
She wasn’t wrong. I rolled my shoulders back, trying to release some of the tension. “Perhaps. But I don’t want it to go that way.”
“So change it. Change the visions. Forsee more possibilities so that you can tip the scales in a fairer direction. If I were a betting woman, I’d wager that the outcome is more even than you think.”
I tilted my head and stared, molars grinding together. I knew she wasn’t being intentionally flippant, but her tone was infuriating. “Do you have a suggestion for how I might go about such a thing?” The diplomatic words scraped out of my throat. “I’ve no clue how to incite visions at will.”
“It’s notmygift, nephew. That is for you to work out. I’ve already given you what help I can.”
Her lack of insight and my own feeling of helplessness only exacerbated the frustration bubbling in my veins.
“I was perfectly happy minding my own business until that demon stumbled into the ruins. Seir showing up was one of the first bad endings I was shown.” I’d foreseen that a demon would come into the ruins and we’d battle. Seir was indeed a demon, and we had fought. I’d even taken injury from his blade. But I’d been deserving of his wrath in that moment, and as far as demons went… he wasn’t so bad.
Ophelia laughed then, full and heartily. It went on so long tears started running down her cheeks. “Is that what you believe? Truly? That Seir and Hailon interrupting your tragically boring existence at that post in the ruins was a bad thing? That Merry showing up here with that horse like she did is something negative?” She laughed loud and openly, her shoulders shaking and hand slapping along the arm of her chair.
I stared back at her and all the bluster left my body. My chin dropped to my chest, and I scrubbed at my face with my hands, willing some sanity to return to me. “No.” Their friendship hadproven something I desperately needed, and Merry arriving was many things, but none of them bad.
“No, indeed. Good lad.” She patted my knee as though I were still a youngling who admitted to filching a sweet from the kitchen. “You were lonely, whether you want to admit it or not. And you were unwittingly slipping into the beginning stages of all the wonderful types of madness that tend to plague our kind when we focus too much on our duty and not enough on our souls.” Such profound knowledge and wisdom always came from her mouth so casually, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
Seir’s close proximity and talent had allowed me to get away from my post. Hailon’s easily offered friendship had reminded me that not everyone was a threat. They were good neighbors. And one could very much argue that Hailon’s mere presence had drawn Merry, who was something else entirely.
“Perhaps.”
“Not perhaps. I know you’re young yet, but you were on the verge of something destructive, Coltor. Trust me, I know the signs.”
This assertion and the way she blinked slowly, like she was battling her own memories, only furthered the itchy tingle that had settled under my skin. “Do you get lonely out here by yourself, Ophelia?”
She gave a dry laugh, but I could see the flicker of sorrow under her smile. “I’m quite used to being alone, and in many ways prefer it. Loneliness and I are old companions. I thought…” She paused, stopping long enough to pour herself a fresh cup of whiskey tea, lingering so long between the halves of her sentence I began to wonder if she’d abandoned it altogether. When her voice came again, it was low, and I knew it would be best to stay away at least a few days. I’d acted out, then asked the wrong questions of my elder, and her mood had turned dark. More salted licorice from the city would certainly be required forme to return. “After my sister and I had our… falling out, she returned to the conclave permanently and I remained here in the Dread Forest, safe under my wards.” Her eyes met mine, a soft sheen in them. “She’s well?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
Ophelia’s sister, Euphemia, was centuries younger than her, and thrived on theatrics. In fact, she was the voice of the conclave and hosted all the celebrations. How the pair of them had gotten along at all was a mystery to most of us, as were the details of the fight that had separated them.
“Good, good.” She gazed off again briefly, then collected herself and returned to the conversation. “I’ll likely stay here, alone, until the time comes for me to return to the stones. That’s what I signed up for when I denied things like my mate bond and a council seat, after all. A quiet existence, very few visitors. No… entanglements. The city and other stone kin are close enough, should I require something. In some ways, this is much like what you had, until recently, yes?”
I went with the only response I felt was neutral enough to be safe. There were several nuggets of profound information in what she’d said to me, things that certainly weren’t common knowledge if they were known to anyone at all. “Yes ma’am.”
“But I was incorrect in my calculations. I was not yet finished helping others or taking on students.” A weak grin returned, a flicker of the friendly light returning to her eyes. She suddenly appeared very tired and worry replaced my fear. “The fates are constantly balancing, Coltor. That’s why you sometimes see multiple outcomes. All are possible, depending on what steps you choose along the way. You just have to choose wisely.”
“How do I do that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But I can’t conceive of any circumstance where there wouldn’t be more than one possible outcome, even if you are onlyshownone.”
