The Psychic Legacy

Chapter 26: Belong

"Fate?!" I scoffed.

And then I immediately regretted it. The woman, Octavia, was smiling gently at me. Not like she was in on the joke, but that she truly believed that fate was behind our sort of reunion. I had basically just laughed in her face, after she had been so kind. I felt my cheeks heat with the awkwardness.

Fortunately, my disbelief didn't seem to offend her. Finally she gave a low chuckle, and swirled her cup, watching the leaves spin in the gentle whirl. "Yes, it does sound a little silly," she said. "What is it about fate that seems so impossible? You've seen more than your fair share of our world. Surely you're familiar with impossibilities by now."

"Maybe I just don't want to believe in it," I replied, my voice low. My gaze quickly darted to Anne and Sofia, who were still watching me. "Maybe I don't like the idea that all of this suffering was just waiting for me."

Octavia shook her head. "Not waiting—fate is not a set of directions you follow to the letter. It's the destination," she explained, still swilling her leaves. "However you get there, you end up right where you need to be."

I cocked my eyebrow. "And I need to be... in mortal danger?"

She huffed, tilting her head. She seemed to be getting exasperated that I wasn't catching on. "You need to be here. Fate led you to my door, just like it did last time. Fate wants me to help you."

I pressed my lips into a line, but said nothing else. The concept of fate still seemed ridiculous, insulting even. But I wasn't about to argue with the woman who was willing to help me.

It did take me back, though, to the night I first met Luc. It felt so long ago... Remembering myself, sitting at his simple table, in curtained-off half of his apartment, as he laid out the cards for my reading. I could see those very cards, laid out in a complex pattern, but I couldn't see what he did in them. He saw my growing attraction to him, saw that we'd fall for each other. A fate true enough that the Malix began its hunt...

Had it really been fate? Had fate drawn me to him? Had fate set up me for this? Running for my life while trying to save his?

Or maybe Octavia was right and I had landed right where I belonged.

Maybe fate had drawn me to him because it knew I would be the one to stop this.

Once and for all.

With a deep breath, I nodded my head. "We'll take all the help we can get."

Octavia smiled. "Good," she said, taking a long sip from her tea. "Thought you might." She smirked.

"So, what do we need to do?" I asked her.

She smiled again, and took her tea and drank deeply, draining the rest of the cup in one go. When she brought the cup down from her lips, she held it out for me.

I peered inside. Only the sodden leaves and a little liquid remained. It looked like nothing. I glanced up at her, wondering what she was expecting me to see.

What's this? Lillian asked, sounding like she had zoned out again. I don't read tea leaves.

Octavia chuckled, like she had heard her. "Reading tea leaves is a lost art," she said, pulling the cup back to her to inspect for herself.

"It's not exactly modern," Sofia said, leaning back in her chair now. She had settled down, resigning herself to Her voice had settled to an even pitch, an almost bored tone that sounded more like Anne's.

"Sofia just says that because she never practiced," Octavia said, giving me a little wink. "She wasn't immediately good at it, so she refused to bother with it."