She’d thought it was a curiosity shop, but this was nothing like what she expected. The shelves were supposed to be packed with all kinds of tokens for clients to burn and hold when the Firebearer looked into the future. Vi would’ve thought the place abandoned, if not for the rose petals, quills, and wheat.
It was almost as if someone had expected her to come here, laying out the tokens like invitations. Was it possible the old woman had had a glimpse of the future before she left the West? Had she known Vi would come?
But if that were the case, Vi would have to believe there was some deeper meaning to the seemingly random things strewn about.
Her hand closed around the watch at her neck on instinct and Vi took a deep breath. She couldn’t allow herself to get unnerved by this strange place. She was here for one thing—a vision. It didn’t matter what the place was used for before, or after.
Crossing the path of wheat to the doorway, Vi pushed aside the heavy curtain that had been barely open a sliver. Inside the small back room was a recessed fire pit and a single fire burning like an invitation. The white-blue flame waiting for her, a silent instruction.
Taking a breath, Vi knelt before it, opened her eyes wide, and stared into the flame.
The fire nearly exploded, tendrils wrapping around her in an eager embrace. Yet unlike the fire Vi had created and manipulated before, this did not singe her clothes. It hovered just off of her flammable fabrics and caressed the exposed skin of her hands and face. It crashed on her like a wave; Vi couldn’t have shut her eyes if she tried.
White. Her vision was nothing but white hot fire. A tingle rose in the back of her mind, her eyes widened further, and there in the distance of the whiteout was the silhouette of a man.
Vi found herself standing on a rocky beach, her father opposite her.
Father!She wanted to scream. But as was normal in her visions, Vi couldn’t hear or feel. She could merely bear witness to a future that may or may not come to pass.
Aldrik Solaris stood with all the regal poise of an Emperor, perched on a large stone covered in blue frost. He stood as if in defiance to the grime that covered his cheeks and the shackles that weighed down his arms. His hair was greasy, stringing around a face coated in thick, dark stubble. Clothes that had once been white were soiled in filth.
Still he held his head high. Even when she shouldn’t have been able to recognize him, Vi did. She knew her father from his bearing alone. Moreover, she knew him from his eyes—eyes as hard and dark as iron.
Next to him was a woman Vi didn’t recognize. Her hair was white and extended down to her waist in loose, wispy locks that caught the faintest of breezes. While her face seemed youthful—no older than Vhalla’s—she held a silver, bejeweled cane in her hand. The appendage caught Vi’s eye.
The woman was missing her arm.
Frost floated off her hand and through the thin sleeve of her shirt. She had a hand made entirely of ice. Vi continued to stare, fascinated by the novel use of magic.
The woman lifted her cane, pointing out to sea. She said words Vi couldn’t hear to her father, who remained expressionless. Vi turned, looking toward the source of the woman’s attention.
Bright sunlight filled the horizon, blinding her. Vi squinted, unable to make out what the woman might be pointing at. Everything grew hazy, and Vi realized far too late that the light wasn’t just from the sun, but the ending of her vision.
It wasn’t enough.
She spun back around, looking for her father. He had nearly vanished, engulfed by the white light overtaking everything. Vi tried to run to him.
An expression of horror had overtaken her father’s face as the woman grinned wickedly.
Father!She screamed with every decibel her mind could generate.Father I will come for you!
Perhaps it was all in her imagination, but his eyes seemed to drift in her direction, if only briefly. Vi held his gaze for one last second. One more moment to see her father living and breathing.
The fire receded all at once, releasing its hold on her and retreating to nothing more than red hot embers, a slumbering beast. Vi fell forward into the soot and ash, into the coals.
“Show me again!” she cried, flames burning between her fingers, trying to ignite the spent wood. “Show me more!”
But no more visions came. She couldn’t plead with the Apexes of Fate, or make demands of them. They showed her what there was to see and nothing more.
Vi hunched over the remnants of the fire, breathing slowly. Her magic wavered and wobbled, the flame dancing with it. She stared bitterly into the orange and red glow, simmering like her resolve. Hoisting herself upright, Vi wiped her face, smearing soot but ensuring no rogue tears had slipped over her cheeks.
Standing, she looked down at the remnants of the fire, glowing like fading stars on charcoal.
Her father was alive. He was alive, and waiting for her arrival. Vi took a deep breath—she still had time to make it to him.
When she opened and stepped back through the door, the empty store was lit by the first hazy lights of dawn. The room was the size she’d originally expected it to be—small, with only two tables and some shelves along the walls. The gate was open once more, as if inviting her back into the world.
With a breath, Vi accepted the invitation, wheat crunching under her feet as she started for the exit. Adjusting her headscarf, Vi stepped into the early morning light with a deep breath and turned left—away from the hotel, and her family.
