The next day found Sabrina pacing impatiently back and forth across the orchard, glancing up every time she heard a voice. She had sent a note to Heloise via the Helferin as soon as she'd woken that morning, asking her to come to the orchard at noon. Sabrina hoped the other girl would show, saving her the trouble of tracking her down, but one way or another, Sabrina would find the Seer and secure her assistance.

The sound of approaching footsteps made Sabrina raise her head yet again, and this time, she smiled...Heloise was walking towards her.

"I received your note," the other witch said, no small amount of caution in her eyes. "You said you needed to talk with me about something important?"

She stopped a few feet away, as if ensuring herself an escape route, which Sabrina found quite rude, and she pursed her lips in displeasure.

Heloise gulped and looked like she was considering hurrying away, so Sabrina took a deep breath and tried to appear more pleasant.

"I'd like to talk to you about your affinity," she said.

Heloise blinked a few times, clearly not having expected her affinity to be the topic of conversation.

"I want to know what my future holds," continued Sabrina. "You're a Seer, so I need you to look into it and tell me what's going to happen."

Heloise hesitated before reaching up and nervously twirling a stand of dark blonde hair around her finger. "It doesn't exactly work like that."

"Then how does it work?" asked Sabrina, her eagerness to learn something about an affinity other than her own overriding her innate dislike of the other girl.

"The future isn't fixed," explained Heloise. "It's not static or still or laid out in a straightforward fashion. It's far more complicated than that."

Sabrina nodded. Affinities were always more complicated than they initially seemed.

"Well, however you do it, I want to set up a time for you to look into my future," she said. "If you need supplies or if I need to pay you, just let me know."

Heloise made a face. "I would never charge a fellow Hexen for using my affinity." Her expression turned worried, and she ventured a glance at Sabrina. "Are you sure about this? I just never expected you, of all witches, to ask me to look into your future. You used to make fun of me in school."

"I didn't make fun of you," clarified Sabrina. "I simply offered to read out loud whenever it was your turn because it was so obvious you hated it, and it was torturous for the rest of us."

"You mean it was torturous for you," grumbled Heloise. "You also pitched a fit any time we were paired together and refused to work with me because you said I'd only slow you down. You ended up doing group projects on your own because the teachers were afraid of you and always gave in."

Her teachers hadn't been afraid of her...they'd just been wise enough to agree with the convincing arguments Sabrina had made. But regardless, none of this had any bearing on what she needed from Heloise.

"Is this your way of saying you're not capable of looking into my future?" Sabrina challenged the other girl, changing the subject. "Because I can always ask another Seer. You were just the first one who came to mind."

"I'm more than capable!" replied Heloise indignantly. "I just think you might not like what you see, and I don't want to be blamed if that turns out to be the case."

That was fair.

"I won't blame you," assured Sabrina. "I understand Seers have no control over what they see. You're not creating the future...I just want you to describe it to me exactly as you see it."

Heloise stared at a pile of red and yellow leaves, taking her time in considering the request, which only annoyed Sabrina further.

"I can understand why you'd hesitate," she added. "But upsetting the daughter of the current Sprechen—who also happens to be one of Gerta's best friends—might not be the most intelligent choice to make here."

Heloise looked up, her blue eyes widening. "Are you threatening me?"

Sabrina considered saying "no," but that wasn't exactly true, so instead, she simply shrugged. "I'm just saying I might be a good person to have owe you a favor one day. That's all."

Heloise sighed, her shoulders drooping as if she no longer had the strength to maintain her resistance. "When do you want to do this?""

"The sooner, the better," said Sabrina.

The girls agreed to meet in a private room later that evening, and while it was obvious Heloise was eager to be on her way, there was one last order of business.

"In case anyone asks questions, I need a reason to be meeting with you tonight," explained Sabrina. "I need you to break something of yours that's metal—the chain of a necklace, a picture frame, a tea kettle, it doesn't matter what—and then send me a note via Helferin asking to meet so I can fix it."

Witches could always tell when they were being lied to, so if Sabrina's mother questioned her absence that evening, Sabrina couldn't simply concoct a story saying she'd repaired something she hadn't or have Heloise pretend to have something in need of fixing. But by planning ahead, Sabrina could provide a truthful explanation if asked, even though it wouldn't be the entire truth.

Heloise grimaced but didn't question the need for such an elaborate plan, and agreed to break something and send Sabrina a note about it later that evening.

Sabrina couldn't help smiling as she walked back inside the castle. In just a few hours, she would know more about her future than anyone else ever had or would...including her mother.

*****

Marlene had called an emergency High Council meeting after dinner to discuss the events of the Nichts and the Schwarzwald, which would keep her occupied for a while, but on the off-chance she returned to the apartment first, Sabrina was prepared.

As instructed, Heloise had sent over a note via Helferin, saying she'd broken an important family heirloom and asking if Sabrina could meet with her to repair it. Sabrina scribbled a note to her mother, explaining where she was off to, and left it on the table next to Heloise's message. Allowing her mother to read Heloise's words for herself was a calculated move, making Sabrina's absence even more plausible.

Gazing down at the evidence of her plotting, Sabrina couldn't help but wonder—was this what her mother felt like, pulling strings and orchestrating things behind the scenes? Was her ability to concoct such a believable falsehood something she'd learned from watching the Sprechen day after day?

Sabrina didn't want to dwell on that, so she quickly made her way towards one of the castle's numerous towers, stopping twice to lean against the stairway railing and catch her breath. The stairs were being changed out in favor of ramps, since not everyone could access stairs, but it was a slow process that hadn't yet reached this particular tower.

Heloise had said she'd meet Sabrina in a room that could be identified by a dark blue door painted with yellow stars, as well as a white moon depicted in various phases. Sabrina found it easily enough and rapped sharply on the wood, in case Heloise was already inside.

"Come in," a voice said, and Sabrina nodded, pleased Heloise had taken this seriously and was ready to get started. Stepping inside, she quickly closed the door before taking in her surroundings.

The room was small but not claustrophobically so, and while there weren't any windows, tapestries hung on the stone walls, depicting different celestial constellations woven with metallic thread so they shimmered in the available candlelight, making the scenes appear to be moving at times.

A wooden table took up most of the available floorspace, and two chairs were seated opposite one another. A red silk handkerchief was spread over the table, and numerous candles burned in candleholders of different shapes and sizes. Crystals were placed strategically across the table, and something shimmered overhead, catching Sabrina's eye. Looking up, she was surprised to see tiny lights covering the ceiling, twinkling like silver and white stars on a cloudless night.

"Please don't touch anything," instructed Heloise in a commanding tone, before glancing fearfully at Sabrina as if such a direct order might have offended her.

Fortunately, Sabrina loved nothing more than knowing exactly what was expected of her at any given moment, so she merely nodded and took a seat, placing her hands in her lap.

Heloise reached down into a bag at her feet and withdrew a small figurine, which she placed on the table.

Sabrina picked up the figure, which was only a few inches tall, made of pewter and fashioned into a miniature ballerina. The dancer was balancing on one pointed foot while the other leg was lifted high behind her, and one delicate arm was raised overhead; the other arm was broken off at the elbow, and Heloise set the missing piece in front of Sabrina.

"I wasn't certain how badly I needed to damage it," the Seer said in a worried voice.

"This is fine," Sabrina assured her, before closing her eyes and connecting to the pewter. Images flashed across her mind, pictures of the metal's history, as well as a detailed written chronology she quickly skimmed. She was surprised to learn the ballerina truly was a family heirloom, passed down from mother to daughter in Heloise's family since the founding of the Hexen.

Holding the broken arm against the figurine, Sabrina concentrated as the metal absorbed the part that been damaged, then guided the tiny pieces to their rightful places before carefully lining the edges up, reattaching the arm, and smoothing away any evidence of injury.

Opening her eyes, Sabrina smiled to see the ballerina's previously-broken arm now extended straight and proud before handing the figure back to Heloise. The other girl let out a sigh of relief before gently slipping the ballerina back inside her bag.

Even though it was none of her business, Sabrina couldn't help but ask, "Will you continue the tradition of passing down that figurine if you have a daughter?"

Of course Heloise might not wish to share something so personal, which Sabrina would respect, but as someone who hadn't known either of her grandmothers and hadn't been gifted anything owned by elder generations of her family, she couldn't help but feel curious and perhaps even the slightest bit jealous.

Heloise nodded. "I don't look into my own future too often," she said, "but every time I do, one thing always remains the same, no matter what else changes...I have a daughter, and she inherits the figurine." A gentle happiness spread over Heloise's face as she lowered her eyes to the table. "I name her Elise," she said shyly. "I can't wait to meet her."

Sabrina was even less interested in becoming a mother than she was in having a romantic relationship, but rather than make a snide comment, she simply nodded. After all, she'd been the one to prompt Heloise's disclosure, and even she had to admit that if she ever had a daughter, she'd like to pass on something to her, as well.

Heloise cleared her throat and straightened in her seat, clearly ready to move on, and Sabrina immediately put all other thoughts out of her mind; it was time to learn what her future held.

Tucking her hair behind her ears, Heloise gazed directly at Sabrina from across the table.

"Every Seer looks into the future in a different way," she explained. "Some read tea leaves. Some read palms. Some read the flames of candlelight. Some hold something very valuable to a person—like a childhood stuffed animal or a favorite book—and take a potion, allowing them to see into the person's future. Others will burn a strand of someone's hair and read the future in the smoke, while others swallow a drop of a person's blood. I use cards."

She held up a dark blue velvet bag and pulled apart the drawstrings with practiced ease before reaching inside and withdrawing a deck of cards.

As she set the cards on the table, Sabrina leaned closer for a better look. The backside was beautiful, a deep purple painted with gold and silver designs. She wanted to reach out and touch one, but remembering Heloise's earlier instructions, she kept her hands in her lap.

"I'll do three different readings," explained Heloise.

"Only three?" Sabrina was surprised. "I want to know all of my possible futures...or does each person only have three?"

"Everyone has numerous futures," replied Heloise. "There are multiple possibilities, and you never know when one choice might change one or more possible futures. Alternatively, just because something can happen doesn't mean it will come to pass. The three futures I'll describe to you have the greatest likelihood of happening as of the moment I do the reading, but that could change as soon as you leave. It's a rule among the Seers to only reveal information about three futures at a time, since that seems to be the limit of what most people can handle."

"I'm not most people," Sabrina pointed out, and Heloise nodded.

"I completely agree," she said, and based strictly off her tone, Sabrina didn't know if she should take Heloise's words as a compliment or a criticism.

The other girl continued."But if you want to know about more than three possible futures, you're going to have to find another Seer. I'm not about to go against the limits of my craft."

Sabrina sighed, but she also couldn't fault Heloise for going along with what she'd been taught her entire life. And even if she only knew about three of her futures, well, that was more than she knew right now.

Sabrina gave a decisive nod. "I'm ready when you are," she said.

Picture by MiraCosic from Pixabay