Mirai

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I waited with my thoughts on Tamah and the countdown. On Rheseis and the fact that she had told Dad she would aid me as much as she could. What aid had the countdown been? Though I knew the answer to that question. Hadn't I concluded in the Maze that without the countdown I wouldn't have known I needed to find Tamah?

"After your tenth birthday, Rheseis told me the rest of what she had planned and how she hoped to help you," Dad started his explanations again. "Your powers would continue to grow and it would come a time when I would not be able to handle both my own and your powers. When that time came, I would be forced to take the necklace off. That in turn would make your powers slowly return to you. She hoped you would be strong enough by then that even if the coven tried to restrain and use you, you would be able to fight back. However, the flaw of her plan is that you are now receiving the powers that ought to have grown slowly in you for several years during a very short time. You haven't gotten used to them gradually, so the risk of the powers becoming too much and making it impossible for you to stay in the present is great."

I moved my hand up and touched the back of my neck.

"Thirty days," Dad nodded. "She assumes it will take thirty days before your inner sight has grown too strong."

"Okay," I said slowly and lowered my hand again. "So I won't die in thirty days?"

"No. Not physically. But you'll be unable to handle your inner sight, so it will become all you know. There is, of course, the possibility, now that you are here, that this world will help you control it enough. But the chances of that are slim."

"Can you teach me how?"

"It isn't something that can be taught in that sense. It is all about strengthening your mind. And that has to come from within."

"So... There's nothing to do?"

My thoughts were again on Tamah. I had promised I would always be there for her. Promised to protect her. What a mate I was. I could only give her a few weeks.

"The reason why a mate is extra important for a flagae is because they help us live in the moment. Or rather, they give us a good reason to live in the moment. Having that, something, someone, that binds us to the present makes our inner sight easier to control. Of course, other things can do that as well. But nothing can do it as well as a mate."

"But I have her! I found her, so everything should be alright," I exclaimed, but Dad shook his head before I even finished.

"The bond needs to be stabilized as well."

I stood up so violently that the chair fell to the floor, and so quickly my mind hadn't processed my flared-up anger properly. But standing up, I knew exactly what I was upset about.

"I will not do that! She's in no state for that." My voice was low but hard. I couldn't stabilize the bond. Not now, and not before the countdown reached zero. My mind replayed all that Zeus had done to her. If I told her we needed to stabilize the bond, if I asked her for sex with the threat of me disappearing hanging over us, I would be no better than Zeus and all the people who had ever hurt her.

"Time moves differently in here," Dad said, his voice still calm compared to mine. "A day sometimes just lasts a few minutes. Other times a week, a month, or even a year. Yes, you only have twenty-six days left, but if you stay in here, that might equal twenty-six years."

"That doesn't matter," I snapped back. "I will never ask that of her, and I forbid you from telling her."

I then turned around and ran from the kitchen. I hurried upstairs and to the room Tamah was in. But once I got there, I felt uncertain about what to do. I wanted to hurry forward, lie down next to her, hug her. But that didn't feel right. Not with the new information I had just gotten.

There was a window in the room, however, so I walked over to it to look out over the world we were in.

It really was beautiful, but that wasn't too weird considering that it was magical. Everything around looked perfect. The grass was green and cut to a perfect length. All the flowers bloomed. The sound of the waves and the smell of the sea were enough to be noticed without becoming overbearing.

I wondered what would happen. If I would find a way to not become a slave to my inner sight. Find a way to stay with Tamah for forever.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Tried to connect with my sight to see the future, to see if I could find the answer.

I hadn't held much hope since my sight was unreliable at best, but to my surprise, it worked.

At least sort of.

I saw me and Tamah on the beach. Watched us lying on the grass under the moonlight. Saw me sitting in bed, reading a book out loud, while Tamah laid next to me. Problem was, I had no idea when those things took place. It could all be things we would do the very next day. Or it was events that would happen years into the future. I had no way of knowing.

I opened up my eyes again. This all really was too much for me. I was an eighteen-year-old girl whose biggest worry should be what to wear tomorrow or something similar. Not whether I would be able to continue living my life.

I took another deep breath and tried to see something more again. And again. And again.

After the fifth try, I had a layer of sweat covering my body that shook slightly. I held onto the windowsill to not fall to the floor. But I hadn't seen anything more other than different glimpses of things I would do with Tamah at some point either soon or far into the future.

I prepared myself for a sixth try when I stopped.

The present. That was where I wanted to live with Tamah, that was where I risked not living.

I turned around to watch her sleeping figure. I couldn't find out what the future held, but I knew what I wanted in the present. It was to be with her and help her heal from her past. For that I needed to be here, not looking for answers in the future.

What would happen, would come to happen. There didn't seem to be anything I could do to stop it. The only thing I could do was to take care of the time I had left. Living in the present. With Tamah.