would we hate you?” Seth asked, but Mariella just kept looking at Jenny, her green eyes hopeful, her lips twitching nervously.
“I don’t hate you,” Jenny said. “But I’m sure you understand, I’m still pretty bothered by what you said.”
“What she said about what?” Seth looked back and forth between them. “What am I missing?”
Jenny and Mariella held each other’s gaze. Jenny didn’t exactly want to tell Seth what Mariella had said, about seeing herself and Seth together in the future, or Mariella’s sweaty, hot dreams about Seth. She could only imagine the expression on Seth’s face if they told him about that. As if they were sharing the same thoughts, she and Mariella burst into laughter at the same time.
“What’s so funny? Jenny?” Seth asked, looking frustrated now. He drank down his entire glass of wine, then held it like a microphone. “Hello, can anybody hear me? Is this thing on?”
“You had a bad vision about Seth, too,” Jenny said. “A man who was hunting him. Can you see anything else about that today?”
“I can try.” Mariella pulled her gloves off and reached for Seth’s hands.
“So, me getting attacked or killed, that was the funny thing?” Seth asked. “That’s what you were laughing about?”
“Quiet, Seth, let her concentrate,” Jenny said.
Mariella gazed into Seth’s eyes, holding his hands tight. He kept glancing away, looking uncomfortable.
“I can see him,” Mariella said. “He comes and takes Seth to a dark place.”
“Does that mean I die?” Seth said.
“He takes you as a prisoner.”
“What about Jenny?” he asked.
Mariella closed her eyes. A pained look crossed her face. “I can’t see her future any better than my own. It’s like a dark cloud. All I can think is that her power might block mine in some way. I certainly can’t touch her.”
“That’s why I always have enemies among our kind,” Jenny said. “Most of them can’t even try to control me or use their powers against me, or they’ll die from the pox.”
“Jenny can’t be tamed,” Seth said. “She’s like a wild animal.”
“That’s right,” Jenny said.
“A badger, maybe,” Seth said, and Jenny gave him a light punch in the arm. Seth pretended to cringe in pain. He asked Mariella, “So, I get taken prisoner. How? Why? For how long?”
Mariella shook her head, her eyes still closed, her teeth grinding together. “I...can’t. It’s never been so difficult, not with normal people.”
“We’re definitely not normal,” Jenny said.
“I can see the man dragging Seth away...but everything’s hidden behind a scramble of colors and a cloud of sleepy fog.”
“What’s ‘sleepy fog’?” Seth asked.
“I don’t know, that’s just what I feel!” Mariella opened her eyes. “I must be involved, that’s why I can’t see much. Or Jenny is involved and I can’t see her future. Or both.”
“Involved how? You’re helping him kidnap me?”
“No, of course not! I wouldn’t,” Mariella told him. “All I know is that you become his prisoner.”
“Is that all you see?” Jenny asked.
“Maybe I’ll see more later. The sooner something will happen, the clearer I see it. So we must have some time.”
“How much time?” Seth asked. “Should I barricade the apartment or what?”
“A few weeks, a couple of months, maybe.” Mariella bit her lip. “I’m sorry! I’m usually much better at this. Most people, I get more information than I ever wanted...and most people don’t listen, either, even when I tell them they’re moving toward disaster. And they never come back and admit I was right, either.”
“No one believes you?” Jenny asked.
“Usually not. A few times, people have listened to me and changed their futures...but then they tell me I was worried about nothing, because they avoided whatever danger I saw.” Mariella looked at Jenny’s hands. “It must have been difficult for you, growing up. Avoiding the touch of everyone. It makes my problems look silly, people ignoring me and not believing me.”
“I managed,” Jenny said. “You try not to kill anyone, but sometimes you can’t help it.”
Mariella laughed, but there was a glint of fear in her eyes.
“I’m starting to think I might know who this man is, from the way you described him,” Jenny told her. “I think I’m starting to figure out who you are, too.”
“I’ve been honest with you,” Mariella said, and then laughed a little. “Too honest, maybe.”
“I don’t mean in this life, but in our last one. You and him were both there...the oracle and the seer.”
“Who?” Seth asked.
“That’s what we’ve called them in the past,” Jenny said. “She’s the oracle. Her opposite is the seer, a very nasty soul.”
“Are you