hadn’t seen a single thing.
Elise opened her eyes and blinked dazedly, and a moment later Miss Brokenfang came back to consciousness. Elise looked at me and said, “I saw something.”
“A fortune?” Miss Brokenfang asked eagerly. “Oh, my meditations have paid off. Please tell me it was good news.”
I scooted next to Elise and scanned the patterns of dots on the divination paper.
“A… a man with red hair,” Elise said. “And a chipped tooth. After… three moons appear and vanish in the sky, he’s going to bring you sea. That’s what I saw.”
I was shocked. What she’d just described, I could see encoded in the constellation written on the page. She’d not only written a fortune, but had seen an actual vision of it—this was a way more advanced ability than I’d expected.
Miss Brokenfang gasped and threw her hands over her mouth. “Arnie! You must be talking about Arnie! He’s an alpha from my clan circle. He matches the description perfectly. He just bought a new boat… Oh, it’d be wonderful if he was the one. Thank you, Elise. Thank you, Kole. I knew we’d discover something if we tried hard enough. Thank you.”
I guided Elise through the process of finishing the reading service. We served Miss Brokenfang tea and listened to any other questions she had about her fortunes before finally sending her on her way. I opened my appointment book and crossed off her name. I didn’t know what to make of it. I was still stunned. Elise had just completed a reading that I’d written off as never happening.
When I came back to the divination chamber, she was cleaning up the incense and candles. She turned and looked at me and said, “Kole, you said that she didn’t have anything in her fortunes.”
“She didn’t,” I said. “I hadn’t seen a thing during my readings.”
“So, something changed?”
“Yes.” I adjusted my glasses. “You did the reading. I…”
Maybe I knew less about the spectral realm than I’d led myself to believe. Maybe I’d gotten too sure of my abilities.
“…I think you saw something that I wasn’t able to.” I smiled proudly and put my hand on her shoulder. “I’m very glad to have you as a student. They say the mark of a good pupil is when the teacher can learn something from them.”
I expected her to be bouncing off the walls with excitement, but she only nodded and looked contemplative.
“Kole, I can’t do it. I can’t give up love for divination. I still want to learn how to become an agent, but I can’t make the same promise you did. Isn’t Miss Brokenfang proof that anyone can find love, even if it seems like isn’t gonna happen? I don’t know a lot… but I know for sure that life isn’t worth living without love. Everyone should be able to love someone.”
I knew there was nothing I could say to change her mind—nor did I want to. There was no way I could try to force something on her that had caused me so much pain. Truly, nothing made sense to me anymore.
The heat of the bathwater penetrated right to my core. I liked it hot, so hot that my skin turned bright red after just a few minutes of marinating in the tub. I tipped my head back and stared up at the stars.
Divination had been the only life I’d known, from childhood until now. I’d never conceived that I could ever want anything other than to read people’s fortunes and be the very best at it. But now, I didn’t know what my life was about. I’d walked my path without deviation, without even looking at the other routes that had come up along the way. Suddenly, I felt like I was lost. I’d spent too much time focused on one thing and had never even questioned what would happen if my feelings started to change.
What was the Moonstar Dating Agency worth to me? What was being the best agent worth?
I was still trying to understand the reason why Professor Lightpaw had given me the vow. I’d concluded it had to do with spectral energies being tied to forces of love, but now I realized there had to be another side to it. Why couldn’t an agent do both? Maybe the professor knew that if I fell in love, there would be no way to go back. The energy would always be unequally split, and always to the favor of love.
I dunked my head under the water and closed