“Probably wise.” Liora was already opening her laptop. “Unless you want to share your reading with a customer.”
I flipped theclosedsign and threw the lock. Tuesday mornings were rarely busy, and despite myself, I glanced across the street at the pub. Had Graham lain awake like I had last night? Wondering? Guilt gnawed at me. Maybe it was time I just told him what I knew, even if it meant he’d try to prove it wrong.
Nope, that way lay his destruction. I knew that in my very bones. Keeping this from him had been the right—theonly—choice I’d had.
Sometimes doing the right thing meant hurting thoseyou cared about. But I’d rather he walked around with a bruised ego than not have him around at all.
When I turned back, Liora had settled into one of the armchairs I kept in the reading nook, her laptop balanced on her knees. Bracken had relocated to the arm of the chair, grooming his tail with an air of studied nonchalance.
“Right,” Liora said, patting the chair across from her. “Let’s try this again.”
Last time, I received confirmation of everything I’d always thought to be true.But there was more.And the researcher in me needed more information. I sat, tucking my legs beneath me and reaching automatically for the moss agate bracelet at my wrist. The stones were cool and smooth, grounding me the way they always did.
“We did most of your chart before,” Liora said, fingers flying over the keyboard. “But we were interrupted before I could really dig into what evolved. And after what I saw at the loch, I think it’s just smart that we examine this further.”
She reached into the pouch and pulled out a clear quartz crystal, pressing it into my palm. “Hold this. It sometimes helps people tune into the frequency.”
“Wait. Will I be able to see the threads?” I asked, surprised.
The crystal was cool against my palm, and I curled my fingers around it, feeling faintly ridiculous. And yet, hope teased me at the corner of my mind.
“I don’t know. I’m still pretty new to this chartweaving stuff, but Sophie’s friend, Matthew, was able to see his briefly, so I’m hoping we can figure out how you can too. For now, use the stone, and focus. We’ll just see what comesof it.” Her tone was bright, and I couldn’t help but be emboldened by her optimism.
Liora closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, something had shifted in her gaze. She looked... farther away, somehow. Like part of her was seeing something beyond the walls of my little shop.
“Okay,” she murmured. “Here we go.”
She turned back to the laptop, and I watched as she traced her finger above the screen—not touching it, just hovering—as her lips moved silently.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the air between us began to shimmer.
I blinked, certain I was imagining it. But no, there it was, a faint silvery glow rising from the laptop screen, threads of light weaving themselves into a web that hung suspended in the air like a three-dimensional map.
“Oh,” I breathed.
“You can see it?”
“I... yes. I think so. Faintly.”
The threads pulsed gently, and I realized I could feel them too—a low vibration in my chest, as if I was standing too close to a bass speaker. The crystal in my palm grew warmer.
“That’s your chart,” Liora said softly. “Not just the symbols on a screen, but the actual energy of it. These are the patterns of fate that were written into you the moment you took your first breath.”
I stared at the web of light, mesmerized. Some threads glowed gold and others silver. They intersected and diverged, forming a pattern that was somehow both chaotic and perfectly ordered.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“It is.” Liora’s voice was gentle. “You are. Your chart, I mean. It’s one of the most complex I’ve ever seen. All that earth and water—you’re built for depth, Agnes. For holding things. Stories. It’s like, I don’t know, you’re a vessel, really.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but I didn’t interrupt.
“Now, watch this thread here.” She pointed to a strand that pulsed between two points on the web. “This is your Venus-Saturn conjunction. Partnership and restriction, bound together.”
The thread shimmered gold and charcoal by turns.
“That’s the soulmate energy I mentioned. The fated feeling. But see how it keeps shifting colors? That’s the obstacle. Something blocking the flow.”
