A Promised Prophecy

Chapter Eighty

Seeing Celeste's name gave me a moment of hope. She was the one I had been searching for. She would know the answers. She could help us. Yet, all she sent was the recipe we needed. After the initial shock of excitement wore off, I was left feeling let down. No other messages. No other indications that she was safe. No guidance on a path forward. It felt anti-climactic.

"She's alive." James barely whispered as he spoke. Then he turned to me with a huge grin on his face. "I was so worried when I didn't hear back from her. But she's alive."

I didn't want to correct him but, technically, we hadn't seen her yet. There was a chance she wasn't alive, and someone was just using her phone. It was a thought that I had in the moment, but wasn't worthwhile to bring it up to James. There was no reason to ruin this moment for him. Besides, there were bigger issues I had. If Celeste was alive and still in contact with Est and Callisto, why didn't anyone tell us? What were Est and Callisto thinking? Could we even trust them? I felt like a fountain of self-doubt, each intrusive thought like water cycling through me.

"I'm glad," was all I could get out in response to James, who continued to stare at his phone screen with a smile.

"I have everything we need for this potion." He shook his head in disbelief. "Phoenix feather shard, dragon blood resin..."

He began counting on his fingers. The fact that many of these ingredients were ultra rare didn't surprise me, like it did the first time I saw him with a rare ingredient. Except, this time it made me pause. How did he have every single rare ingredient we needed? I wondered how often Est or Callisto came back from a trip and shared it with him as a token of friendship. Or maybe Celeste began stock piling the ingredients needed and saving them for him. It was no coincidence anymore, not like it was to begin with, but the cover was pulled from my eyes, and I saw things for what they were worth. I started to wonder if I lasted as long as Celeste thought I would...or if she figured I would go to Dreadshade Summit sooner. Everything I thought was my own choice suddenly felt like I'd play into the hands of my prophecy.

"Even if I don't have them on me, I have them at the Vault. It's risky, but I think we can go get them." The excitement in James's voice pulled me back to reality. This was an exciting moment, regardless of the truth. I could be getting my powers back. Not only that, if I was following my destiny, I wouldn't just have my powers back, I'd be the most powerful witch in fire magic the world had ever seen.