Chapter 7
My eyes flutter open. The purple evening sky melts away before me, and my gaze finds my savior's smooth olive face. Her black hair hangs in wavy curls over her shoulders. I pay little attention to our surroundings except to feel relief at the cleaner buildings and general lack of people. This street has a quiet air about it. The neat rows of houses and small shops feel more comforting than the crush of the market square, or the dark alleyways previously.
Bast's black cat prowls the stone walkway ahead of us occasionally sticking its nose into a destroyed building. It turns to look back at us and its yellow eyes seem to shine right through me. Those same eyes glance down at me from Bast's face. Before I can ask where we are, I feel something stab my side as my body shifts against Bast's abdomen. I reach my hand into my open jacket to find a crumpled sheet of paper. Only then do I remember what I was stupid enough to risk my life for. As I unroll it and squint at the characters Bast lets out a loud laugh. "That's what you came all this way for? You're more brazen than I thought."
I only continue to struggle through the spinning letters.
May the common man love his craft,
that he may feel the lift of wings.
May the common woman look to the stars,
that Orion's belt may inspire she.
To all those who seek,
the quickening of the oppressed calls thee.
Take heed.
That same symbol of a hammer with wings lies embossed at the bottom. The wings seem to flutter as the breeze flicks the thick paper around my hand.
I don't know what to make of it. My curiosity at the riddle overrides my other feelings. "What does it mean?" I inquire.
"The discontent rises." Bast murmurs cryptically. As if in response, Bast's cat leaps onto a nearby stack of crates, turning and yowling softly. The arms under me suddenly move and reach around me for a door handle. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to be entering what must be Bast's home. The entrance only brings me back to the present. "Please, you've done more than enough! I need to go and find my friends."
The small room we enter is cluttered with odds and ends. A broom here, a pair of mismatched candles there. Small baskets litter the space, filled with simple items such as several keys, one with dozens of rings of many sizes, and... are those bones? "Nonsense. You probably can't even walk." Bast whisks me through the rest of the house. I only have time to see crates piled floor to ceiling and a corner full of broken pots, with plants still lying inside them, before I am greeted with an almost normal looking bedroom. A tiny stove lies in one corner with a cooking pot beside it. Bast plops me down on the quilted bed so that I am lying down.
With the same quiet ease as before she moves over to the stove and begins preparing a meal. I can see there is already something ready.
I quickly sit up, tossing my legs to the floor. I begin to stand, but a wave of dizziness stops me. I would have fallen had the bed post not been there. For my trouble my arm wacks the solid wood and I yelp. The cat hops up onto my lap and kneads my shoulders making a very annoyed noise at my face. I lean back in surprise and end up awkwardly on my side. "Stop that!" Bast tosses over her shoulder. "Augur might do something rash if you keep putting up a fuss." I can only stare warily at the black cat.
A minute passes in silence until Bast carries over a steaming bowl. The instant the smell hits my face the hunger strikes. I've never felt this way before. Almost without me commanding them my arms snake out and I shovel whatever it is in my mouth. I pause only to blurt out. "I need to get to my friends."
Bast rolls her eyes. "If you care that much you shouldn't have run off." She scribbles something on a nearby sheet of paper with a piece of broken charcoal she pulls out of a sleeve. Folding it efficiently into a paper airplane she opens a nearby window flinging it out. "There." I keep wolfing down the meal. I think it's some kind of stew, but it's hard to tell with my taste buds burnt off.
"Who are you?" I ask. "How do you know me?"
Augur slinks to the pillow and curls up. Bast finds a chair and takes a seat. "I'm like you."
"Like me?" I inquire, confused. Her eyes bore deep into mine.
"I see into the future on occasion." A pause. A clock chimes in the hall. "Well, not me exactly." Her eyes find the cat. "Augur sees the riddles. I only translate them. My gift is the power to speak to cats. They are remarkably intelligent creatures you know..." Augur opens an eye at that.
"Do you have an idea why you are so weak all of a sudden?" Her voice is inquiring, but I can tell she already knows the answer. I hesitate, and think for a second. "Well, a lot happened tonight... It could have been-"
"Anything? Think carefully."
"Um." I wrack my brain. This is starting to feel like a test I might get from Pythia. Then I remember. "It happened not long after I Saw where the boy with the fliers went."
Bast's tone is thoughtful. "I thought so. Cassandra, you can't use your power like that again." I'm confused. "Why not?"
"Would you like to pass out in the middle of a busy street? Or even kill yourself? I had a similar experience using my power a way it was not meant to be used. I almost died that day." Shock filters through me at her words. "I didn't know."
"Tell me something." Bast pauses. "What?" I ask.
"How often do you get premonitions?"
"Almost every night when I dream." Her eyebrows raise at this and her yellow eyes gleam for a moment. "And I have a feeling you have not had a dream for a few nights?"
Surprise hits me. "How did you know?"
"You didn't see me coming. That... and there are large forces that are beginning to move. I can feel it." Her gaze goes to the window. As if the world were stretched at her feet and the chess pieces of hidden armies march across the landscape.
"So. Why haven't I had dreams?" A grin highlights her features. "Why would I know that?" She mocks playfully.
"Because you seem to have answers to everything else?" I reply.
"If I had to wager." Her head tilts to the side. "You know even the lowliest, least powerful, human has an inner magic, right?" She asks. "Yes."
"A Seer such as us has a much bigger store of this magic. Your powers act like a battery. So far, you have not had big predictions that need a lot of your inner magic. But bigger premonitions need a bigger store of this magic, and your battery. Following?" I nod slowly. I've never heard anything like this before. "Your battery only has so much magic it can generate in a day. I suppose that makes it more like a capacitor than a battery. Anyway. It needs time to charge up for these bigger output of predictions."
"Hence, the days when you don't have dreams." Bast concludes.
"So, I've stopped having dreams because there is a bigger future coming?" My chest tightens in fear. Pythia said I shouldn't worry about the future. But I do. What if this big event is something bad? What if it's another Fall? My heart beats faster.
"Cassandra." Bast's voice is firm. "I know exactly how you feel. I've met only one other Seer in my lifetime. She was much like you. She felt much the same way about her power. But you must not be afraid. What will be, will be, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Leave your worrying to things that can be changed."
A hint of cunning enters her words. "I heard the Presidents are going to be meeting with you. They will ask you to help them with their cause. You know this, yes?" The change of subject surprises me.
"Why else would they have rescued Pythia and I?" I mutter looking away. I glare back up at her. Sudden anger at the world burns in me. "I don't want to help them! Why should I? Their cause means nothing to me. What do I care about bringing back the old America?"
"That 'old America' as you put it brought with it necessary order and peace to the world. It wasn't perfect, but nothing is. What do we have now, Cassandra?" Bast's eyes dig into my burning heart. I can't help, but reject her words out of spite. "A world with three continuously warring Corporations. Each fighting for control of the others." She continues softly. "Who get's caught in the mix? People like you and Pythia."
"If you care so much why don't you do something about it?" My words echo her from minutes before. "We have the same power... Bast. People like Pythia and I are no body. No one cares about us. The rest of the world turns without us. Why would America try to destroy what order there is? The Corporations are not perfect like you said, but they do their job well enough to protect most people. Some just happen to be an exception to that."
Augur speaks up then. The long drawn out sound is unsettling. Bast makes a hmm sound as well and her eyes narrow in my direction. "Yes. You have been gone for far too long Cassandra. You've lost touch." Her voice grows regretful. "I can't act on America's cause for reasons I can't explain."
"Why!" I protest. "You have told me nothing except futile reasons I should join your crusade!"
"If you must know. I was cursed by a man called Massebah. I cannot leave."
Silence reigns while I think. I don't understand. I'm one of the unfortunate. Erudite has wronged me, yes, but the majority of society lies free. Free to live in the gleaming towers, or at the very least the farms of the Buffer Zones. My meal settles in my stomach, and I feel my eyes droop. My hand reaches up to rub my eyelids and the stove fire blurs. I groan, glancing out the window. I need to wait for Pythia and the others. Getting out of here, and away from this treasonous enterprise is a priority.
I should at least hear the Presidents out. A yawn escapes me. Then I think it will be time for Pythia and I to leave. I've had enough of being used. The world is used to sorting out its own order. That is what it's been doing the past hundred plus years. Why is a seer even needed?
I jerk as I feel arms wrap around me and lift me up lengthwise onto the bed. "Get some rest." Bast says. "Your friends will be here soon." Both Bast and Augur eye me as they leave the room. Why do I feel they know more than they are letting on?
The sound of heavy boots on the wood floor of the house wake me up. My heart sinks as I hear the last voice I expected to hear when I woke up. "Where is she?!" The gruff, tightly held anger, is clear in Jane's tone.
I sit up, quickly scrambling out of the bed. Bast's voice is calm in contrast to the growl I hear from Augur. As I walk for the door I have to steady myself on the nearby chair. I can feel that my strength has mostly returned. I swing the door open, and make my way into the hallway. A meld of Richard's, Pythia's and Jane's voices flow into each other in the next room with Bast chiming in occasionally.
Fear clenches in my chest at the chaos. "Of course you would be in the right place at the right time." Richard's voice is the coldest I have ever heard it.
"You heard what I told the Presidents. I won't discuss my position anymore." Bast replies neutrally.
In the next moment I enter a larger living room. Of course, this is yet another room cluttered with boxes, with a small clearing in the middle adorned in a large and elaborate rug. Everyone is scattered around in a loose circle. Bast is closest to me and the others are clustered on the opposite side of the room. Everyone's eyes go to me, and Pythia is the first to shout relievedly, "Cassandra!"
She moves to leap toward me, but only makes it a step before Jane shoves her out of the way and straight into Jim. One look at Jane is enough to make me take a step back. The look on her face is livid and I am at once reminded vividly of Vindhlér. In an instant she is in my face.
"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Her hand flies at me and I flinch, but she only raises her hand helplessly. "Our one job is to protect you and you jeopardize that to run off to who knows where?!"
I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. "I had to!" Any of the myriad explanations that leap into my mind end up fruitless. I start to panic a little.
"Had to what?" This time her hand does jab at my chest. I can only stand in disbelief at my own stupidity. Jane gives a cheerless chuckle, her face twisting, and continues. "If only I had your power. I wouldn't be running off like a child! I would be out there-" Her hand points in the direction of the door. "Fighting for something real! Instead of being a coward!" My back hits a pile of boxes. Tears of shame at my own weakness spring to my eyes.
"That's enough!" Pythia's hand lands on Jane's shoulder swinging her around. "Don't touch her again!" Pythia shouts. The intensity in both their eyes scares me. I have to do something. Even when everything in me screams to run.
"Stop." My voice is not loud enough. They turn to look at me. The overwhelming emotion turns my stomach. My own thoughts turn against me, and the tears start to flow more readily. I raise a hand to wipe my eyes. "She's right." My voice shakes, and I hate it. All of my doubts and fears seem to be coming true. I break down, sobbing. I feel disgustingly weak and my anger rises.
Pythia rushes to my side, wrapping her arms around me, and for the first time in my life I push her away. The confused, and hurt look on her face fuels my rage. It hits a peak, and I start to shake. The only thing I know to do in this moment might be the wrong one. I couldn't care less.
This time my voice warbles not with fear, but with fury. "Fuck you, Jane. I hate you so much right now." My arm rises to wipe my face again. "I hate you so much." My voice stumbles, and I follow it out of the room, somehow making it to the door. The chill in the air stops me.
Minutes pass as I try to get ahold of myself. Dawn is only a short time away, and the half moon slides back under the dome of the day. I tense as the door opens behind me. I turn to tell Pythia I don't need comforting... even though I wish she were here. Augur flits by me, and I am surprised to see Bast standing next to me on the stoop. Her yellow eyes shine at me in the semi-darkness.
"I'm sorry." Her voice is soft. "We don't have the luxury of time. Something is coming. Your lack of dreams tells me that." Bast walks away with Augur slinking behind. "Come!" She calls out. "I have something to show you!" Without a glance back at the house I follow. Maybe it's time I find my own path....
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