Kiki looks around with a mixture of awe and disgust.
The days have been shortening as we near the turning of the year and deep winter. Twilight isn’t long off and although our shadows trail us, ours are the only ones until we pass the charlatan’s stalls. I keep a wary eye out for the seer who tricked me out of my fish not long ago.
Arms with bangling bracelets stretch toward us from the edges of the lane. Disjointed and hungry voices offer predictions, charms, and readings.
Kiki slows, and I drop back to hasten her along.
“We have no business here,” I say in a low voice. “A bunch of clairvoyant rubbish.”
Her eyebrows lift. “Do you mean like psychics?”
“They’re charlatans if you ask me.”
“My mother used to visit one all the time.”
“Liars, mystics, fortune tellers, seers. Pick your title. People persist in their hope that a seer will predict good fortune coming their way. They claim to know your future in exchange for a coin—a dukh—, anything shiny. Even a fish,” I say resentfully.
“Can they see the future?”
“Trust me, there’s only one future for all of us in Raven’s Landing,” I say, thinking of the king’s punishments.
She glances over her shoulder, hesitating.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” I urge, not interested in being tangled up in their rot.
“Maybe they can help,” she says.
A familiar voice comes from the darkness. “Of course, we can help.” The seer who took my fish glides out from her stall. Her unveiled gaze is cat-like and trained on Kiki who wandered on icy boots into what must seem like a very strange world to her.
“No, we’re just leaving,” I say briskly.
“We’ve met,” the seer says to me. “If you’re wondering whether the fish was put to good use? Yes,” the seer teases. She turns to Kiki. “I can tell you whatever you want to know.”
“Good. Finally, answers.” Kiki lifts an eyebrow in my direction then disappears through the door.
“Let’s get this over with.” I exhale and stalk into the stall before dropping into the chair I occupied not long ago.
The seer glides in, securing the door behind her. “Nice to see you came back and brought someone from afar.” The seer surveys Kiki’s glittering eyes.
Kiki studies her just as closely.
“Please, take a seat,” the seer says. She turns to me, sniffing the air. “Brought another fish?”
I roll my eyes and fight a growl.
Kiki takes a few steps forward as though accepting my familiarity with the seer despite what I said outside. Her eyes land on an orb covered with a scarf on the table.
“I’ve never seen someone like you in the Basin,” she says to Kiki.
“I don’t reckon you’ve seen anyone like her anywhere.” This is ridiculous. I explain to Kiki, “She caught me trying to escape the patrol with a fish I caught the other night. Foretold that we’re all going to die...” I trail off. It was a bit like the message Kiki said she received come to think of it.
The seer smiles at Kiki and looks at me with disdain. “He calls me a charlatan,” she says, nodding dismissively in my direction. “I call him a rowser. Always up for a fight.”
“You have to be to survive in Raven’s Landing.”
She leans closer to Kiki. “Let me be clear. I don’t tell lies. I merely see chance, possibility, and what could be. The rest is up to you. And I see much in you both,” she says, beckoning Kiki to open her palm. “What I will tell you cannot hurt you. They’re just words.”
“Words can hurt,” I mumble, rubbing my knee. Words can hurt very much.
The seer turns Kiki’s hand over and traces the faint lines with closed eyes. “I see you’ve been through a trial and have traveled very far.”
I scoff. That much is clear by the clothing Kiki wears.
“You’ve lost much.”
“Obviously. Life here isn’t measured with gains unless you live in the castle,” I say, unable to help myself.
The seer ignores me. “You wish to share something,” she says and then adds, “You’re afraid.”
Kiki pulls her hand away. “I am not.”
The seer lifts her eyebrow with a subtle look in my direction. “You’re not afraid?”
“I’m not afraid.” Kiki’s voice is piercing, an arrow hitting its mark. She said that earlier and I am struck by the truth in her tone. The absoluteness of it. Considering she’s left her own realm and landed here, she doesn’t seem afraid at all. Mystified, confused, perhaps. But not afraid. Then again, she hasn’t been here long.
After a moment, the seer’s dark-rimmed eyes flutter shut and when she speaks, her voice is thin and distant. “Demons shadow thieve, while the fae court grieve. Four sisters to find. One compass to bind. Four crowns to take. One curse to break. Before twelve moons turn, else the realm will burn.”
No way am I giving her a fish for this garbage. I get to my feet, accidentally kicking the table and breaking the seer’s trance.
Kiki looks up, alarmed. “What you said was the same as—”
“The message you already received,” the seer says.
Kiki’s eyes widen. “How did you know?”
“I can see it.”
The tower bells ring loudly, signaling it’s almost the demon hour.
“We have to go,” I say.
The seer tsks. “Always running.”
“I’d fly if I could. I’ve had enough run-ins with the patrol lately.” I pat the tapestry on the wall, searching for the secret exit I used last time I was here that leads to the back alley.
“I don’t doubt that you would,” the seer says. “If you knew the truth.”
I drag my gaze from the seer and her nonsense to Kiki.
She hasn’t moved. “What you said, what
