Run Away With Me

Chapter 44: Don't piss me off.

I sit down, twirling my fingers as I watch Litosha going around the room, her long cloak crawling behind her. She swishes to the right and the white thing follows, she swishes to the left and there it goes again. It almost seems alive, along with Litosha's jiggling accessories that seem to clank against each other every time I try to make myself comfortable.

But I can't.

The room is small, suffocating. I could reach my hand to the other side of the room and touch the Seer. The walls are breathing on each other, much more so than in the front room.

I can hear Yaya's whimpers from the other room, her encore entering its final verses. My fingers twirl around each other, before I stop them and have them tap my knee.

The room smells of ancestry, but not Aunt Rosita ancestry, but Ancient Greek ancestry, as if this room remained intact over the course of thousands of years. It makes me uneasy and fidgety and uncomfortable, like this is a place that isn't supposed to exist.

I don't want to be here.

I look over to the door, the one I entered this room through, calculating my options. If I were to make my escape now, that would be great. Just stand up, walk to the door, open it and walk out. If the others have enough sense they would follow me.

"You seem nervous." I jump at her voice, for a second forgetting that she's in here. I smile her way, keeping my eyes elsewhere. My fingers find each other again and I clamp my lips together. "No need to be."

I don't respond.

"Now, shall we get started?" I want to shake my head, chicken out of this and not look behind, but instead I nod, leaning back as she signals me to. Litosha steps closer to me and I want to inch away, but that'll make me fall on the other side.

It would be better than this though.

Suck it up!

I listen stick-still while the Seer chants in some other language, her hands doing intricate symbols as she spirals around the room. I don't know how she hasn't managed to knock everything over.

"I see," she croaks, her voice almost not hers, "I feel bad luck in your future." The sound that flows out of her mouth is definitely not hers and I wonder what sort of demon crawled its way up in her mouth and called it home. "Bad luck that follows you much like a relentless goat."

"Surprising..." I mutter, remembering my previous encounters with bad luck. Rather than a goat, she could've just called it a gum; it's been with me since I was born.

"By your reaction, it seems as though this is nothing new." Her voice mellows out, resembling her own again. I scoff at her, turning my face the other way.

"Can't you see my past?" I mock, "it's littered with bad luck."

She clicks her tongue, the action making me feel like a child that's gotten scolded by her mother. But she laughs, a breathy thing that reminds me of a lazy cat choking.

I turn to her. Her eyes are misty, as if she's about to cry or she has yawned. "Let me get one thing straight," she says, crouching down. Now it really feels like I'm a child. "The Blommerdale household has birthed many great Seers, many of which have contributed to the history of the world. Mujeres valientes, mi mami always used to tell me, but alas the Blommerdale household in Reim has not been blessed with one this generation."

I frown. What the heck are we doing here then if she's not a Seer?

"While I cannot see much," she continues, "I can barely see past my nose." I notice a slight circle around her iris, the contact lens coming to view with her face so close. "But what I can do is enable other people to see. So, you shouldn't be spooked thinking all your secrets will get uncovered, but you should be afraid of seeing something you yourself won't like."