The stone path beneath my bare feet chilled me to the bone while the night air swirled around me, filling my senses with the unrefined, earthy smell of witch hazel. I was positioned on a stone path, lit by the moon above and surrounded by a garden wilted by the early morning frost. To my left, the path wound down to a small cottage. To my right sat a large sprawling beach house with several lights on. Why was I standing on a path in the middle of the night? Shouldn’t I be inside the cottage?
Something in my hand caught my attention and I looked down to discover that I was holding the compass from my valise. Why in the world? Zara. Training. Visions. My mind quickly put the pieces together and my memory came crashing down on me.
I was having a vision! I’d done it! But…this was definitely not my Epiphany ceremony.
Apparently I earned a big F in directing my visions. I studied the compass to see if it had magically begun to work. The face had completely changed, and I squinted in the pale moonlight to read it.
There were actually four needles on the compass; each pointing in a different direction, but I couldn’t quite make out the small writing on the face. One needle looked like it was pointing to A.M.? That would make sense, considering I assumed it was in the early hours of morning. Maybe that’s what the compass did for you: tell you not so much ‘where’ you are, but ‘when’ you are. Interesting.
A sound near the larger house caught my attention, and I froze as a figure stepped up to a side door and knocked. The awning she stood under drenched her in shadow, rendering it impossible for me to figure out she was. I crept forward to get a better view. She tilted her head slightly as if she heard a noise and I ducked down. When a single moonbeam lit her profile, I felt my heart seize in my chest. Keto.
After I collected my jaw from off of the ground and convinced my heart to stop racing, I quickly scooted up the path. Suddenly, the door opened and a cheerful Zara greeted her.
“Welcome, Keto!” she received her warmly. “Please, come in so we can chat.” The first thing I noticed was that her accent had dissolved. The southern drawl I’d become accustomed to was no more. As Keto stepped inside, Zara probed the side yard with paranoid eyes before shutting the door. I had to find a way to hear what they were ‘chatting’ about. Channeling my inner Cat woman, I scurried up beneath one of the lit windows. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear the murmur of voices inside. Nadia had been telling the truth! Zara was definitely hiding something.
If Selene hadn’t been able to see me during my vision of the essence ritual at the prison, maybe they wouldn’t be able to see me either. I cowered in misery as the phrase ‘biting my lip’ turned painfully literal. With my heart in my throat and the taste of blood on my lips, I stepped up to the side door and tried the knob. It gave under the pressure of my grip and I painstakingly twisted it the rest of the way and pushed the door open. I cringed and suffered a small heart attack when the movement elicited a hair- raising creaking sound from the hinges. Mental note - always bring WD-40 to visions.
I cracked open the door just far enough so that I could squeeze my body in and slide through.
I tip-toed down the hallway several paces, and then peeked in the doorway that led to an adjacent room. I snapped my head back and flattened against the wall when I realized that they were mere feet away.
“I can’t tell you how pleased I am,” Zara approved, her voice still void of any accent.
“I suppose it was only time,” Keto agreed grudgingly.
“Have you had word from Selene?” Zara asked casually. I peeked around the corner and discovered that they had shifted away from the doorway.
“No,” Keto sighed, “I don’t suppose I will for some time to come.”
“I believe it is for the best,” Zara replied. “She will come around.”
“I’ve never understood her extreme views regarding the Auras, but I suppose she is entitled to protect her descendents.”
“Except for one.” Zara’s tone darkened.
“Sacrifices are the decision of the willing,” Keto’s gaze turned piercing as she met Zara’s eyes. “There is no blood on my hands or Nadia’s.”
“I have a feeling the Furies will not see it that way,” Zara warned resolutely.
“No, I imagine not.” Keto shrugged. “That is not my concern, however. None of this is.
Especially not her.”
“Anastasia is young in years, but will be a great leader,” Zara countered. She was taking up for me?
“The Sirens are my only concern.” Keto crossed her arms in defiance and gazed out the window with a scowl.
“Come,” I heard shuffling as Zara spoke, “Allow me to show you something out in the garden.” Uh oh. In a flash I twisted the door knob and slipped back outside, already considering which tree I could hide behind. Before I could even make it to the grass, I fell down the two stone steps that led up to the door. Warm blood trickled down my arm and I reached up, just as pain pulsed up my shoulder. I crawled partly behind a bush, just as the two women walked outside. Something hard pressed against my butt and I wrenched the compass out of my back pocket. In the light I could see the face clearly. I laid down on my back and held it up to my eyes, just as I realized that one of the needles was pointing to what was clearly marked as ‘Up’.
I was suddenly back inside the cottage, presumably in the Present, lying on the couch. In an effort not to come unglued in front of everyone, I remained silent. I carefully and deliberately scanned the living room. A concerned Willow was sitting beside me, along with Finn.
“Where’s Zara?” I asked, not making any sudden movements in case my self-control up and ran away.
“She got called out for a disturbance on campus…something about two Tritons fighting over a Siren. Go figure,” Carmen rolled her eyes.
“Convenient,” I muttered. I spotted Dad sitting on the other couch, as I strained to pull myself upright and readjust the shirt that I had gotten twisted. That’s when I noticed the blood. I touched my arm gently to investigate how tender the cut still was. Yep, still tender.
“We’ve been trying to wake you up,” Willow explained as she began to clean the wound. “We didn’t think blood was a good sign at all.”
“I just…fell down some steps.” I shrugged and forced a smile to show them I was fine. “I’m such a klutz sometimes.” Finn grinned as Willow set to healing my cut with her hands. The tingling felt amazing, as it crawled up my arm and relieved the pain.
“You did great,” Finn grinned at me proudly. “Did you see what you were expecting?”
“Yes and no.” I smiled back at him and my heart warmed with love. I could tell that he knew something was off, but was refraining until I didn’t have an audience to analyze my every move. I was hoping that he couldn’t tell that I’d completely failed at directing my vision. I also needed time to digest what I had seen. I rubbed my temples as a headache started to come on. “I think I need to rest.”
“But I made dinner up at Zara’s house! Aren’t you hungry?” Willow frowned.
