Madigan was a tall man and nearly as broad. His thick, dark curly hair and full beard covered much of his face, but could not disguise his kind brown eyes.
“I have much to tell you in very little time,” he said in a gravelly voice, then coughed again. He winced in pain.
“May I get you anything?” Sabine asked. “We are healers of sorts. Calliope”—she turned to her aunt—“could you fetch my kit? It’s right behind you on that shelf.”
He reached a hand out and stilled Calliope. “There is nothing any of you can do to help me.” He took a ragged breath. “I came to warn the guardian.”
Sabine’s stomach twisted. They had never, not once, revealed the identity of the guardian outside their village.
She eyed her aunts, trying to gauge their reaction, but their expressions revealed nothing. She turned back to the man. “There are three of us,” he said. He shifted in his seat and his face contorted with another wave of internal pain.
He fell into a coughing fit.
“Us,”he had said. So this was one of the other guardians. She, of course, knew of the existence of the other two guardians, the Seer and the Sage. But as each of the three guardians lived separately in their own villages, she had never met either of them. They kept to their own, as it were. She knew only that they were both men.
Historically, all of the guardians had been men. Until her mother, then Agnes. And her aunts believed Sabine would be next. Though Sabine knew that would not be the case. If she were meant to be guardian, she would have been selected when her mother died. She used to argue that point with her aunts, but her protests had fallen on deaf ears, so now she didn’t bother.
It had been a shock to all of her people when her mother had been born. Every Atlantean family up until then had always had at least one male child. Never before had an Atlantean fathered a female first and then three subsequent females. So when Sabine’s grandfather had passed, the people had no choice but to accept her mother as the first female guardian. And the ancient ceremony had confirmed that choice. They had all believed she would fail, and when she did, they had mocked her name.
“But very soon,” Madigan continued once his coughing eased, “only two will remain.” He placed a warm hand on Sabine’s shoulder. “The prophecy has begun,” he said.
“Phinneas warned us months ago,” Agnes said quietly.
Madigan nodded. “Yes, Phinneas saw the signs sometime last year. Warning signs, but this—” He looked up at them, his eyes filled with such sorrow. “It has started. The Chosen One has arrived.”
“Are you certain?” Calliope asked.
Sabine knew that Agnes had received a warning, but she’d never known from whom. This must mean Phinneas was the Seer, which meant Madigan was the Sage. The warning was why they had moved here to London, why they had opened this little shop in Piccadilly.
“The prophecy,” Sabine repeated. She’d been warned of the prophecy her entire life. What Atlantean hadn’t heard tell of it? Though none had ever seen it, at least none that she knew. Perhaps this Phinneas knew the specifics, though everyone knew that the prophecy had been torn from the Seer’s book.
All Sabine knew was there would be a battle and the guardians would protect the elixir from the Chosen One.
Agnes was in danger.
Fear took root in Sabine’s stomach. She took a steadying breath. She refused to get distracted by anxiety. She would not make the same mistakes her mother had. Sabine had every intention of redeeming her family name by preventing the prophecy from being fulfilled.
When she and her aunts had received that warning those months ago, they’d developed a plan.
“We’ve prepared ourselves as best we could,” she spoke up. “’Tis why we moved to London. We are on alert, but certainly we should not live in fear.” She said it aloud to remind herself, to squelch the remnants of fear tingling inside her.
Madigan smiled. “She is a brave one.”
“Yes,” Agnes agreed.
“Tell me about this scheme of yours, child,” Madigan said.
“Since we know very little of the prophecy,” Sabine began, “it has been challenging to prepare. But we know the Chosen One will rise and attempt to steal the elixir, thus destroying the guardians.” Sabine sat forward. “And, of course, we know the dangers of misusing the elixir.”
Sabine paused while Madigan nearly collapsed in a coughing fit. He took a large gulp of whiskey, then nodded for her to continue.
“Are you certain there is nothing we can offer you?” Sabine asked. “Surely you must know that Agnes is the Healer.” Perhaps he did not trust their abilities. No doubt, word had spread about what had happened to Sabine’s father. It had taken years before anyone in her village had trusted the Healer again.
“No, please continue,” he said.
“We know that the Chosen One has a way to detect our presence, somehow sensing those who have used the elixir. So as a precaution, I came up with a way for us to hide in plain sight,” Sabine said. “Obviously, we can do nothing to hide ourselves or the fact that we’re exposed to the elixir. But we can change those around us. We’re selling the elixir,” Sabine said.
Madigan straightened as best he could; a deep frown creased his brow. “Have you gone mad? That’s an invitation for danger,” Madigan said, then turned to her aunts. “How could you let her do this? You’ll lead him right to your door.”
