antebellum [t. riddle]

xxviii.

december 1944

"what are you doing?" sicaria was startled by the sudden voice from behind her, whirling around to see riddle standing near the top of the steps. riddle's eyes left hers only for a moment to look at the holographic chart in front of her on the floor where she was sitting. they were at the top of the astronomy tower, and she seemed to be watching the thunderstorm.

she collected herself quickly as he made his way up the final four steps and turned back to the sky. "are you ever going to stop sneaking up on me?"

"what are you doing?" he repeated, staring at the chart on the floor. it consisted of a large circle, and there was a bright silver light directly in the center, around it were several lines, words he didn't recognize, and red dots. another bolt of lightning struck, and a red dot appeared on the chart, and she drew another line with her wand.

she clenched her teeth and didn't look at him as she wrote more words and symbols. when the thunder crashed, she made a small tick mark. "ceraunomancy."

"divination?" he said, standing over her as she sat on the floor, studying her face as she avoided his gaze. she sighed and stood, though she was still a few inches shorter than him. only from this level did she see the amusement present on his face. he looked between her, the hologram chart, and the dark, loud sky. "of the weather? explain it to me." there was a mocking tone in his voice.

"answer a question of mine first." he raised an eyebrow encouraging her to go on. "did you happen to stumble upon me or have you been following me around?"

he smirked at her and then turned to face the sky, alight with bursts of lightning and rolling thunder. from this height, they were able to see hills and empty grasslands past the village for miles and miles on end. the rain began to come down harder as the quiet pitter-patter filled in the gaps of their conversation. "have the clouds not told you i was coming? the sky is not answering your inquisitions?"

she glowered at him. "you mock me."

"divination is imprecise and futile." he stated, as if he was telling her something she didn't already know. you'd think i told him i saw zeus throw the lightning bolts down.

"i don't do it to see the future," she scathed, spinning the ring around her finger. "it's just a past time."

"explain it."

she seemed to debate it for a moment before sighing. "the basis of ceraunomancy is that i am the center of the universe-"

"how conceited."

"you asked for an explanation. do you plan on interrupting me every sentence?"

he chuckled at her indignation, edging closer to the witch. "continue."

sicaria eyed him for a moment before obeying. "the graph records where the lightning strikes occur and then the number of seconds between the light and the sound-"

"that's based on distance."

"i know that." she snapped "but again, i am the center of the universe, and this method of divination is based in time, not space. the seconds and chart locations get put into an arithmantic formula and i get a set of letters."

"you made the formula?"

she looked at him. "yes." his eyes glinted.

one of the things that intrigued tom most about sicaria was her intellect. he'd seen it in her mind; a treasure trove of knowledge from around the world. things and places that he could and couldn't recognize. no matter what she was doing, he could always see the wheels turning in her eyes, always thinking or analyzing something. so, he made it a point to always get as much magical knowledge out of her as he could, even if it was something as trivial divination.