Page 27 of A Seer and Present Danger

“There were so many futures. I never see that many at once. And two people were jumping through the futures like hopping across rocks.”

“People?”

“A man and I woman, I think. I couldn’t see their faces.”

She was quiet, staring out the window. “If some of those futures are real, then the man and woman could be real too. Moving between futures means they have some kind of power over time.”

“Gods?” I asked.

She nodded. “Maybe even demigods.”

“I’m a demigod. I can’t hop around between futures.”

She smiled and tipped her head. “Have you ever tried?”

That made me laugh. “No! I can’t even pick the right future half the time. Can you imagine me jumping around in a bunch of fake futures? The fallout would be…well, I don’t know what the fallout would be but probably not good!”

“I suppose,” she said, opening her door. “We can ask Myra if her magic library has any info on what a demigod seer like you can do.”

“Oh, I forgot to say, I did see us trying to find clues in the dark, and um…maybe getting chased?”

“Chased? By who? When?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s okay.” She pushed her door and got out. “We’ll just wear our practical shoes for a while.”

I got out of the car too. The community center was a brick building that used to be an elementary school. It was always a little cooler inside than I expected. Bertie’s office was at the end of one of the halls, but we headed straight to what used to be the gym.

“So, the donations are good this year?” Jules asked.

I pointed. “See for yourself.”

We strolled into the room and Jules whistled at the mountains of clothing, toys, pillows, backpacks, art supplies, camping gear, and more.

Bertie had made some order out of the chaos, lining up tables to make it easy to walk between them, and stacking all the extra donations along the walls.

Finished, labeled boxes were arranged neatly on the stage according to age group.

“Every time I think I couldn’t be more impressed, Bertie does something like this,” Jules said.

“I know, right?” I grinned and waved at the half dozen people sorting through donations and chatting.

Then I spotted the Valkyrie herself.

“Brace yourself,” I murmured.

Jules cackled softly.

“Piper, I didn’t expect to see you today.” Bertie crossed the room, the heels of her flats striking clean, percussive clicks against the hard floor.

“Just here to help out before work.”

She raised her eyebrows and tipped her head. It wasn’t a smile, but it was approval, which was a huge compliment from her.

“Jules, are you here to sort?” she asked.

“I could. This looks like a complicated system.”