“What?” Sage snapped, trying to see, scared it was a bug.
“You’ve gotvvystall around you… just like Nana White.”
Sage ran her hands down her arms and belly, looking all around. “What are you talking about?”
Mina scooped something away from Sage’s shoulder and held a cupped hand in front of her. “It’svvyst. Magic. Can’t you see it? It’s clinging to you.”
Sage concentrated, and she could almost see it. She focused on Mina’s hands and colorful, viscous smoke swam into view, like it had always been there. Sage touched it, enthralled. It responded to her touch, seeking her, climbing up her finger.She looked down at herself and now she could see what Mina had seen. Strands of it wound around her like airy snakes, even diving into her pockets and weaving through her hair.
Sage ran her hands through some, dislodging it, but it flowed back where it was soon after. “Vvyst? This is… this isfoxenpower?”
“It’s Nana’s magic—or what makes the magic, I guess.”
“Nana’s!” Sage was horrified. “Why is it on me?!”
Mina shook her head. “No, no, that came out wrong. Nana is the strongest with it, but I can see it and use it a little, and your Aunt Bristol can, too, and some others, even some Van Crimsons.”
Sage relaxed, and a sudden happiness filled her. “It’sfoxenmagic. I havefoxenmagic?” She moved Mina around to the back of the vehicle where Canyon wouldn’t be able to see them from in the house, then she ran her hand through thevvyston her right forearm. It puffed up and swirled around her hand and then she had twice as much, colored the prettiest shimmering emerald green she’d ever seen, with twists and stars of pink threading through here and there.
Mina peeked around the vehicle at the house, then looked at Sage suspiciously. “Who’s in there?”
Sage took her by the shoulders and turned her so she could see Canyon’s truck parked between the trees in the yard.
Mina turned to stare Sage in the eyes, a look of horror on her face. “Thevod?”
Sage nodded. “Twovodvod.”
Mina pressed her body up against the back of the SUV and stared at the house through the windows. “Are they aggressive?”
“No, perfect gentlemen,” she said in a low voice. “They say I’m a One True Mate from thevodprophecy and they’re hereto guard me.” She leaned in and whispered, “One of them got gored by Kiki. I put Foxglove paste on him so he wouldn’t die.”
Mina didn’t say anything. She put her hands over her mouth, her eyes flitting from Sage to the house, to Canyon’s truck. Her eyes widened, her gaze softened, and she stared at Sage, then took both of Sage’s hands, leaned forward with a look of pure, radiant joy on her face, saying, “The prophecies are colliding.”
Excitement swooped inside Sage. “The prophecies are what?”
“Prophecy 742,” Mina breathed. “You're thevixiewho’s going to take her rightful place among thevod!It makes perfect sense. Novixiehas any place with thevod… unless she’s the fated mate of one of them, then shewouldhave a rightful place with them! And! If there’s a wolven prophecy that says the same thing then nofoxenorwolvencan argue against the pairing and say it’s wrong. Don’t you see!? It’s happening! The end is coming andyouare thevixiewho’s going to change everything for allfoxenfor all time!”
Goosebumps broke out over Sage’s arms and her head swam. Her? She really was what thevodwere saying she was? Mina believed it? Sage sagged against the vehicle as the weight of centuries of prophecy settled on her shoulders.
“B-but.. the bofox is going to change things forfoxen, not the vixie of sign 742.”
Mina nodded breathlessly. “Ok, ok, but hear me out. Thevixiewill summon the bofox! Nana White hasn’t been able to do it, so maybe she can’t. Maybe onlyyoucan!” She pressed Sage’s hands together. “You’re going to summon the bofox! Everyone’s going to be free!” Mina broke down in tears and covered her face with her hands, sobbing like Sage had never seen before. The bofox was foretold to break the Tether forever and for all. Couldit really be true that it was going to happensoon,and thatshe was destined to be a part of it?
“What about my father?” Sage asked. She’d never known her father. Her mother wouldn’t talk about him. Nana called him a horse’s ass. Bristol had been the one to tell her about him… but Bristol didn’t even remember his name.
Mina waved a hand. “That guy. He wasn’t your father. If you’re a One True Mate…” Mina stopped, staring at her, and when she spoke again her voice had no strength. “… then your father…” She didn’t finish the thought, but Sage knew. If she was a One True Mate, then her father was supposed to be an angel.
Sage looked toward the house, seeing Canyon watching from the window. She corralled her hate for him as best she could, determined to do her part. If she was thevixie, she would meet her destiny. She would listen to what Canyon had to say with an open mind.
“Mina,” she said, pulling her hands away and turning to fully face the house, locking eyes with Canyon inside. “Do you know anything about—” Sage hesitated. They didn’t talk about Nana White much, because you never knew if she was around. Sage thought about how to phrase the question.
“Do you know anything about a pendant with an angel on one side and a wolf on the other, something that might belong to me?”
Mina didn’t answer. She pressed her hands to her cheeks, muttering, ‘dear deae,’ then she whispered, “Abigail has it. When Abigail discovered your mom was with young, and there was no mate in sight, they had a big fight. Just after, your mom sent me to get a necklace she’d buried at the base of a tree. She described it just like that, with an angel on one side and a wolf on the other—but when I got there, it was already gone.”
“Nana took it?”
Mina nodded. “I sensed her nearby; she’d just left or was watching me.”
