Beyond the Border | ✔

18 | rule 57

RULE 57: FORGET ABOUT WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ON THE OUTSIDE BACK BEFORE OUR HUMBLE BORDERLANDS WAS FORMED. 

✷ C H A P T E R      E I G H T E E N ✷

"Her visions are never accurate, Sage. Don't worry about it," Mina shouted while I high-tailed it out of the tent.

Many will die, and you will be the reason why, my dear.

I will be the reason why. Me.

Her words stuck to my skin, evaporating into my being. Did her vision carry any truth? She was a clairvoyant; I was somewhat familiar with the premise of what they did, but I was not sure about the accuracy of their predictions. She could be spewing nonsense, or she could be accurately predicting my future. Only time would tell.

An image of my burly, overprotective Pa laying dead was thrust into my mind. My hand curled into a fist while I gritted my teeth with determination. There was no way I was going to let that happen, not if I had anything to do with it.

I needed to find a witch. And fast. For a moment, an idea popped into my mind. I could scour the Pack's Fair for any little crumb of information that would lead me to procure a witch. But again, the clairvoyant's words were in my head: "Witches are an endangered species. You would not catch one of them here." While a witch might not be in the proximity, information about one could be.

However, it would be hard to get any groundwork done with Theo tagging along. Not to mention, Max would more than likely be lurking in the shadows, as well. On top of that, Mina had said we were not to separate; I did not think Theo would take kindly to me disappearing on my first outing since my escape about a month ago.

"You good?" Flynn asked cautiously, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded my head very slowly. Taking a shallow breath in, I knew why the vision weighed so heavily on me: deep down, I believed it could be true. It would be my worst nightmare, but there was a truth to the vision. The Border could fall, and I would be held responsible. Many Borderlanders would risk their lives to not be taken away from the Borderlands.

There was a protocol in place for such an event. Of course, we never anticipated such a day would occur when our hallowed Border would fail us, but there was a plan in place just in case. We would fight and defend our land — even if it cost us our lives. Many would die. That was a guarantee.

"There any truth to her vision?" Theo asked cooly, appearing not to be taken off guard by the prediction. Theo seemed to be highly calculative most of the time I was with him; he was always coming from an angle, trying to analyze something — anything.

I was about to respond when Mina spoke instead. "Don't be ridiculous, Theo. Miss Orville is senile. She lost her certification over five years ago. I only went in, because Shay said she was predicting lottery numbers. She's just spewing nonsense. Look, Sage, you have nothing to worry about."

Mina's words — while nice — did not provide comfort. I could not be for certain there was nothing to worry about until two months' time, maybe even earlier.

"Why would she say something so cruel?" I asked, still burdened with the weight of her words.

Despite the potential impact of the prediction, I couldn't quite shake the harsh and glaring nature of it. It cut into my skin like glass, and I felt defenseless. I was just an ordinary girl from the Borderlands.

"Because she charges—"

"—no, she scams—" Flynn cut into the conversation.

"—because she scams her customers. Word of mouth brings in more people, which means more money. She charged me fifty bucks for that prediction," Mina finished while Theo let out a grunt. "I think it's best if Theo tries to calm Sage. We'll meet you guys back at the entrance of the coliseum for the fight."