I'd seen Father sick and sitting in his chair presiding over a banquet before, despite the fact he should have been in bed. Or Mother getting back up after stumbling and putting on a brave face as she righted herself.
Besides, why shouldn't I feel excited about being able to see the future? If I could do it, then there might be a chance I could see something that would help us heal Mother, or break the curse hanging over her head. Of course, there were other things I wanted to know, but they could wait.
There was the slight issue of my not knowing how to see the future. All the times I'd done it before, it hadn't been intentional. I'd either been asleep or concentrating on something else.
Neither of those would make it easy to use the gift of being able to see the future if I had it.
I pushed a hand over my face as I tried to work out what to do. Should I stay in bed or get up?
Staying lying down was probably the best bet. I'd seen the future more in my sleep than when I'd been awake, which meant that I should probably be as relaxed as I possibly could. If this didn't work, then I'd write a message to Topher and get him to join me. He'd probably have some ideas on how to do it. Actually, once I got up, I'd do that anyway. If I managed it, then he'd love to hear about it.
I took a deep, steadying breath and counted to ten, trying to relax. It was more difficult than I anticipated while my palms itched, and my heartbeat raced a mile a minute.
I was thinking about this too hard.
So trying to relax wasn't going to work. But what could? Perhaps I needed to think about the future I wanted to see. Everything I was wondering about flooded through my mind at once. Mother's curse, the people with gold-ringed irises, whatever was going on in Urbis, whether or not Topher would be in my life for a long time to come...
Wait. No. Not that last one. I meant Jake, not Topher. Even as I told myself that was the case, I knew it was a lie. Somewhere along the line, my feelings for the two had started to get muddled, and I wasn't sure what the best way to sort them out was. Only a couple of weeks ago, all I'd wanted in the world was for Jake to notice me, and now, he had. But so had Topher. And he was the one I kept turning to when I needed help.
Those were thoughts for later if I wasn't sure how I really felt about either of them. But then, my love life was the wrong thing to focus on when I was trying to see the future on purpose. I needed something easier. Simpler.
An idea hit me. I knew what I should look for.
I closed my eyes and thought about my Fright Festival costume. When would it be ready? That was what I hoped my gift would tell me. It might have been a frivolous request, but I wanted to check out how things worked before I moved on to bigger problems that actually made a difference.
My costume. The cape, the green stones. Mother and I had worked on it together. Before she fell asleep.
Even with my eyes closed, the world around me swirled and slowed, just like it had when I'd seen the spell that nearly killed Jake. It was working. I focused harder.
My room came into focus behind my eyelids, but I knew it wasn't real. At least, it wasn't real yet. I saw myself sitting on the edge of my bed. A knock sounded on the door, and I sprang to my feet. I grabbed a dressing gown and slipped my arms into it before hurrying over to the door. In the vision, there was a maid waiting behind it with a garment bag in her hands and a smile on her face.
My eyes snapped open. I hadn't seen very far into the future, but that didn't matter. I'd done it. That was the main thing.
I swung my legs around and sat on the bed, wondering how long I'd have to wait for the maid to arrive. I hoped it wouldn't be long. Then I could focus on trying to use my gift for bigger things. Perhaps, I should use the waiting time to write a note to Topher. I needed to see him now more than ever. He could help me make sense of this and help me work out how to use it better. I was certain he'd have answers I needed.
Before I could make my way over to the dresser, the expected knock sounded on the door.
Excitement pounded in my chest. This was proof of what I'd managed to achieve. I bounced to my feet and put on my dressing gown. I didn't want to open the door wearing nothing more than my nightclothes.
I pulled the door open to find the smiling maid there, garment bag and everything. Relief washed through me. There'd been a small voice in the back of my head trying to tell me that I was crazy for thinking I could see things that were going to happen in advance.
"Good morning, Your Highness. I have your Fright Festival dress for you," the maid said.
"Thank you, would you bring it in?" I asked.
She nodded and entered the room, hanging the garment bag on one of
