Free

Iris

I've had the Sight all my life. At least, that's what my mother calls it. I think the Sense would be a better name, because when I use my power I don't see things, exactly. It's hard to explain. I feel things. I can look into somebody's eyes and see their future. All I have to do is go near someone and I can feel what's in their minds. I can't control either of them: the visions just happen randomly.

Neither ability is simple. The mind is a complex thing. The thoughts are all jumbled and confused sometimes. There are parts of the mind I can't reach. Sometimes people can block me, often without even meaning to. Self consciousness or secrets can just close their mind to me. And as for my predictions... well, the future is unwritten. There are so many paths and possibilities. Sometimes it's impossible to tell which way the person will go. There's also never straightforward answers. It's like the future is a riddle I have to solve.
And sometimes the answer isn't always good, like the prediction I made for the princess earlier today. I hate seeing the pain in their eyes as I tell them.

But I knew, before we were even summoned, that she would need to find me, so I drew a map to our house. Maybe I can help her fix her future.

As soon as we get home it's the same story as usual. The loving mother act is thrown away. I am shoved into my room- the dank cellar under the little old cottage in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles of forest- and chained by one wrist to the wall. In case I try to 'escape'. I have tried, hundreds of times, but the farthest I've ever gotten is the edge of the woods. Each try, each fail, everything screams at me to give up, but I never do. I don't think I ever will.

As soon as Mother leaves, I sit on the bed with my back to the wall, facing the door, waiting. Being bored is the least of my worries. As night falls, I don't let myself fall into dreams. I hang on. Waiting. Waiting...

Deep into the night, I hear the lock squeak loudly and wince. The door creaks open, sounding unbearably loud, and the figure in the doorway freezes. We spend the next few minutes in tense silence, but there is no sound from Mother's room, not even the creak of a floorboard. The girl at the door relaxes and comes into the pool of light from my candle.

I recognise he girl I met earlier, Cressida, even though she already looks so different from the dainty princess in the beautiful gown, who sat on her throne with perfect posture, not a hair out of place. Now, she's plaited her black hair loosely down her back, and strands of it are unraveling and floating in her face. She's wearing a leather corset over a blouse, jodhpurs and high leather boots. A bow and a quiver of arrows is slung over one shoulder, a meagre satchel of belongings over the other. But the main difference is her face; the determined sparkle in her dark eyes, the stubborn tilt to her jaw. 

"Hello," she whispers.

"You want to know how to change your fate," I say. I don't see the point in idle conversation, not in this situation.

"Yes," replies Princess Cressida hesitantly. "And..."
She breaks off as I reach for her hand again, and the vision comes flying back. I nod.

"You need to go to another realm, called Orbis. You have some sort of illness... I'm not sure... but there's an antidote. A herb called tempus plantandi... I've seen it in Mother's potions book. It heals the horologium mortem."

"What... what does that mean?" 

I swallow. "Pull up your sleeve..."

She blinks at me, but does as I ask. Then she gasps. On her forearm is an ugly red mark. It's in the shape of a star with twelve points. Like a clock.

"The mortem is a strange illness," I say quietly. "You don't feel ill, you don't feel any different, but the mark will show up a few days before... and when it turns black..."

"I die," finishes the princess grimly. She's staring at the mark.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

She raises her chin and looks me in the eye. "This other realm, where I can find the... tempos plan-"

"Tempus plantandi."

"Right. How do I get there?"

I lean back against the wall. "Upstairs, in the cabinet nearest to the window, look in the bottom drawer. She keeps the key behind the portrait. Inside, there's a mirror. All you have to do is wait until the sun reaches its highest point tomorrow- noon- and let the light reflect off the glass into any surface. Think about where you need to go, and the light will become a portal. All you do is step through it. But you... what are you doing?"

Princess Cressida has produced another key, small and familiar, out of nowhere. She pushes it into the lock of the manacle that pins me to the wall. One twist and the iron ring clicks open.

"Come with me," she pleads. "I can't leave you here in this dungeon, chained up like a prisoner. And... I could use a friend with me."

I gape at her. Psychic or not, I could never have predicted this.

"Will you?" she prompts after a few seconds.

"Thank you," I breathe. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She beams at me, then pulls me off the bed. "If we're going to be friends, call me Cressida. And I still don't know your name."

I actually have to think about that. "I don't actually have a name," I confess. "Mother usually just calls me It."

Cressida looks at me with eyes of sympathy and sadness. She opens her mouth to say something, then shakes her head.

"Then..." she answers eventually. "Give yourself a name."

I ponder for a minute. I think of the mirror. Whenever I look into one, I see my deep purple eyes gazing back at me. 

"Iris," I say eventually. "Call me Iris."