Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

56. Steeped In Mystery

"Tea?"

"Yes, thank you," said Michael, smiling gratefully at Ling. He and Kate were sitting with the young seer in her tenement home, listening to the dreary groan of the wind press against the building's thin walls. 

Ling slid a steaming cup across the table in a single movement. A tiny drop splashed onto the sleeve of her washed-out blue dress. The girl scowled and wiped it away before it seeped through the muslin and burnt her skin. 

Kate already had a chipped teacup clasped between her hands, and she calmly sipped fragrant oolong tea while watching her brother and friend settle into onto their respective stools. Once they were all seated again, she addressed the fortune-teller; "I gather you know why we're here."

"It certainly ain't just a social call, though I am glad to see you, an' to meet your brother here," Ling said with a chuckle. "But yes, I do know why you're here. It's got to do with that strange story Rafe told me the other day, the one that had you two and your little sister hoppin' through time."

Michael raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How much did he get around to telling you?"

"He summarized everythin' that happened to you lot, but he didn't get into the specifics."

Kate said, "did he tell you that you predicted some of it? Because last time I was here, we discussed your magic and my dreams, and how we both saw the Countess's boat in visions. You also saw Cambridge Falls, and the Atlas, an' heard Michael here complaining about Hamish."

"The fake king, yeah," Ling murmured. "He did mention all 'a that."

"Did he also tell you about the prophecy?" Michael asked.

Ling shook her head. "He said there was one, but he didn't get into details."

Michael and Kate exchanged glances, and then proceeded to explain it all to the girl. They told her about how the Books of Beginning were created, they elaborated on their adventures in Cambridge Falls, they discussed the defeat of the Countess and the rise of her ominous master, and, finally, they told her of the prophecy hanging over their heads. How the two of them, and Emma, were destined to be the Books' Keepers, how unraveling this grand destiny was their only hope of defeating the Dire Magnus and rescuing their parents. As they told it all, Ling watched with a thoughtful, guarded expression, her hands clutched tight around her teacup.

Once they completed their strange tale, the young seer whistled sharply. "Goddamn."

"Yeah," Kate said with a mirthless chuckle. "Tell me about it."

Michael nodded. "It's been a strange couple weeks, that's for sure. And it seems as though there's more strangeness coming for me and my sisters, thanks to this prophecy. We want to understand it as much as possible, so we know what we're dealing with. That's why we've come to you - you're the expert on visions of the future, after all."

"Well, here's the thing," Ling sighed. "I dunno how much help I can be. Sure, I'm normally a damn good seer, but things have been odd, lately. I told Kate all about it, last time I saw her; some of my visions have been normal, like the ones about your adventure across time, but others are foggy. Foggier than I've seen them in around five years."

"Nothing's cleared up, then?" Kate asked.

"Nope. I should be able to look quite far into the future - years, even, though that does take more effort - and see things clearly, but for about a month now everything past winter has been distant, hard to see. Like I've been thrown in the Hudson and I'm trying to watch what happens from underwater."

Michael frowned thoughtfully. He'd read everything about magic he could get his hands on, since joining the Savages, but he hadn't learned much about the discipline of fortune telling. Yet even he knew that this unusual phenomenon Ling was experiencing had to be happening for a reason. A seer, especially one as talented as her, didn't just up and lose control of her powers out of nowhere. There had to be something interfering with her ability to look into the future.