How Deep The Roots Go ( Book One)

Chapter 7

He smiled again, revealing very white teeth. "Caelum," he stated. "I must get back. I'm far from home. Thank you again," he left, falling into the crowd.

"Well there you have it, my friend. A nightcap for our most bizarre night on record," Temperance stated, her head nodding.

Violet didn't say a word. She was staring after him, her mind attempting to reach that place in thought where clarity reigned.

She huffed out a breath and snapped her fingers. "I knew it," she said finally.

Temperance nodded to a man that was trying to get by the two of them. "Listen, we need to get out of the street. Let's get home, I'm exhausted."

Violet turned around, eyeing the crowd, going on tiptoe. "He was looking for someone."

Temperance knew Violet was in her mode. When she read someone, particular an individual that was pulling away, or rather an odd ball, as she would say, Violet would search and harvest her mind for answers.

The streets were growing louder, which meant the celebration was no where near over. "Come on. I do want to have that conversation with your mother."

Violet pulled out of her zone and smiled. "Alright, let's get going then."

They made their way from the highly populated street of Bourbon, toward the outskirts of town. They both lived in the Quarter, a stone's throw from where they were right now. Violet lived above her mom's shop, and Temperance lived right across the street in her childhood home. Temperance moved back there after her mother passed. Typically they'd have hailed a cab, but the warm night air was cool enough where it was refreshing, and not suffocating. There were people here and there as Temperance and Violet walked toward home.

"So, what do you think the story was with that guy?" Temperance inquired, shoving her hands in her over sized cardigan.

"He spoke Latin," Violet stated, glancing at the night sky.

"Lost language," Temperance murmured.

Violet nodded, crossing her arms as she walked. "Don't you want to know what I saw?

Temperance managed to smile. "Not really."

"You're incorrigible. Usually you're more into things like this. After all, I'm not the one that can see into the future. You would think that it would at least peak your interest."

"Yes, but I'm not the mind reader," Temperance interjected, looking over to Violet.

"But before your sight was," Violet bit her cheek, pausing on what she should say. "Shall I say, temporarily took its leave. You were definitely more open to others and their peculiarities."

"True, but I'd like to focus a bit on me for now. Call me selfish, but I guess I'm just becoming more and more irked with my situation. First it's wasting fifty bucks, and then it's the man with the Bible," she smiled at a passerby on the sidewalk.

Violet stopped and turned to her friend. "That's exactly what I'm saying! Before your gift parted, you would have taken the time to find out why. That's who you are Temperance."

"I don't know who I am anymore, Violet. Without my gift, I'm lost." She swallowed hard. "It's all I know," she added.

"You'll be fine. And we will figure this out. A gift can't just be taken all of a sudden," Violet offered, shaking her head. "Without an explanation of sorts," she added further.

"Don't you detest seeing images of doom anyway?" Violet asked, shivering. "I don't think I could go on everyday like that."

Temperance had always thought that. But she didn't, and wouldn't, deny her heritage. There was a reason for everything, her mother would say. As to why the Augustine women were all bound with a gift that could foretell doom, was beyond her and even her oldest ancestors.