The Fire Seer

2 - Secure Your Place

Two weeks later

I recovered slowly. Doctor Juliette insisted on rest to ensure my body was okay, but more than that, my heart was okay. Dreams had haunted me every night, depicting flashes of indiscernable violence and moments of Elijah's breathy laughter. I begged Ilya to tell me why she had given me this ball-and-chain of a gift.

The one thing that changed was my treatment. Try as he might, Alpha Elijah Sinclair could not deny the divinity of a Seer in his midst. I was given a spacious room on the third floor far from everything else, just a step down from the attic but nice enough to avoid the protests of the nine Elders. Elder Simone was enraged, praying nightly over the ancient monoliths for forgiveness towards the foolishness of Elijah, but there was no reaction. Elder Simone concluded that the Goddess was watching closely and quietly, and she would not intervene.

Many nights, I curled into my new bed of stiff foreign sheets I did not know and cried myself to sleep. On the once off chance that I tried to flee, Beta Markus had dragged me back himself. Elijah's orders had developed strangely. First, I was just another wolf. Then, he sent out an announcement recognizing the existence of the Seer, not their identity. Thirdly, he announced that the betrayer Davina was the Seer, but she would hold no privileges, yet the relenting of the Elders revoked this until finally, we were up to date. I was the official Seer, an Oracle of Ilya and a blessed wolf worthy of the respect and adoration of all. News spread like wildfire no matter how Elijah sought to repress it, and Elder Simone visited to tell me of the packs that wished to visit to pledge protection and gifts upon Ilya's Chosen One. I felt sick just thinking of how furious Elijah must be.

When Doctor Juliette cleared me, I was free to roam the packhouse, but I only left my room at night. Pack meetings roared downstairs in thunderous choruses of our city's voices, and it seemed attendance had been impeccable enough from the curiosity of me that the pack had to set up the meeting space outdoors in the field. I watched the meetings from my window, using Laluin to listen in to the mighty arguments and profanities shouted. Our pack was split between those who wished to give no leniency to the betrayer and those who saw my gift as forgiveness by Ilya and wished for my position to be made official. Some called for the reinvestigation of the incident, and some even so sanely recognized that a sixteen-year-old was still a child and mistakes were made. My heart felt full watching my pack consider me for the first time, that they might actually find forgiveness in themselves and relieve me of this burden of six years of guilty conscience.

The next Saturday's pack meeting was just as heated, demanding my position be solidified. They had to hold the meeting outside just to handle the full attendance of the pack, all who had their opinions on how my life should be led now. Elijah forcefully called for order, but the seething of the pack was in full swing. How dare these people shout about how my life was to go when I was not present?

I made my way down the stairs in my tattered jeans and band shirt, barefoot, as I was never allowed new shoes after the old ones disintegrated, and I exited the packhouse to the meeting. Sunlight hit my eyes in harsh rays that made it hard to see. The grass had turned brown in the approaching winter, and the cold of early December air bit into my arms and my feet.

The ones who noticed my arrival turned as I walked onto the field, my feet pressing into the grasses as I stalked towards the stage. The chorus of angry voices grew quiet as I approached, and Elijah watched down the center of the crowd as I walked up the middle towards him. Behind him, Markus and Anthony sat beside Beatrice, all watching intently. I met Beatrice's eyes and scowled, looking back to Elijah. Whispers circulated of my golden eyes and of the magic of the Seer in her glory, while others spat on my name and my existence. "Stop," Elijah ordered, but in the weeks that had passed, I realized why Absolute Authority had never quite worked on me. It was always meant to turn out this way. The future could not be stopped so easily. I did not stop pressing on.

Halting at the front of the stage, I looked up coolly at Elijah, who so helplessly could do nothing. He could not strike me here—that much was evident. He could not allow me on the stage as though we were equals. Yet, he could do nothing as I turned towards the crowd at the foot of the stage, my voice carrying out over them.

"To my pack," I started, "For six years, I have been made prisoner to the walls that were once my home. I have not ventured into town, nor held any place here except the betrayer since I was a child. Two weeks ago, I cursed the Goddess and said she had abandoned me, for the abuses I suffered were endless and cold. In her grace, she offered me her hand." I put up my hand, staring at my palm for a moment before looking back at the all. A sea of faces watched me, and the anxiety of it was not lost on me. "Yet here you all are, denying it like I have tried to. I know not why I was chosen. But I was. But I was." I smiled brokenly. "I have been hurt by all of you, directly or by complacency. That is why, after the Winter Solstice, I will leave Ironfang Pack and never return."

The crowd erupted with protests. Someone lunged at me for the kill and was tackled by another. The crowd was frenzied, and next to me, feet thudded into the ground, and Elijah took me by the neck. I stared down his arm into his eyes filled with hatred and rage, and I smiled. "You will be going nowhere, Davina," He snarled. I laughed. "What will you do, Eli?" I asked gently. He wavered at the nickname, his expression stricken with horror. The crowd's rioting drowned out our voices. "Will you continue to use me as your punching bag to overcome the fact that no one but the rogues were responsible for our parents dying? I was a child, Eli. I," Tears welled in my eyes, "I missed my best friend. I missed you so bad, and you couldn't even look at me." His grip loosened. His soft brown eyes turned glassy. "I will leave, and I will never return. I hope you find peace when I'm gone."

"I will never let you go, Davina," He said quietly, gritting his teeth. "I won't allow it."

"Then you will be enraged again as I leave for good. You can not stop me," I said. "I just wish... I wish you had given me the chance to live fully."

His hand fell from my throat in defeat. "Then, until you go," He said, "Enjoy the prison I have built just for you, and remember why you live in it. I was a child too when I lost them all. I will never forget."

I turned, walking through the roaring chaos as a voice of authority rang out in an order of Make way for the Seer. I did not look back at Elijah. I couldn't bear the pain of it.