It wasn’t the most thought-out plan—even I could admit that as I snuck through the floors of the Temple of Cato, checking any easily visible space for my sister, just praying that she would appear. I had no weapons for protection, save for a small throwing blade, and absolutely no idea where my sister may have been forced to stay. Not to mention, I was avoiding all main doorways and entry points, as well as any elevators, so that I, hopefully, wouldn’t encounter any guards.
Still, I kept searching, wandering the corridors in hopes of catching sight of her before someone caught sight of me.
A hand shotout of the last door in the hallway, latching onto my arm and yanking me into the darkness before I could even let out a scream of panic.
“You shouldn’t be here,” an angry voice hissed in the dark, and my frantic heartbeat began to calm as I recognized my sister’s voice talking to me.
“Orela.” I breathed a sigh of relief as she flipped a switch, and a small light flickered before turning on, making it so that I could make out my sister’s face. I launched myself at her, folding her into a hug as I clung to my sister.
“You’re alive.” Her arms wrapped tightly around me, hugging me in return.
“Of course I’m alive,” she bit out as she pulled back from meto meet my eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be? We literally still text every day.”
“We didn’t know what to think,” I admitted.
“Once again, Rae, we’ve all been texting in the group chat.”
I scoffed slightly. “Texting doesn’t guarantee to us that you are unharmed. For all we knew, someone could have been monitoring your messages, or your phone could have been confiscated. We had no idea what would happen to you here. Are you okay?”
“Well,” she stated in a low tone, “I was ambushed by RSG in our home, taken against my will to the temples, and forced to use my seeing powers for Lucanus’s agenda . . . So,okayisn’t really the word I would use. But Iamalive.”
I tugged her into another hug, holding her close. “I’m going to get you out of here,” I confirmed once I finally released her.
“Rae,” she replied, a sad smile on her lips. “You shouldn’t have come today.”
“I had to,” I said as I scanned Orela, taking in the large gray robe she was clothed in, the material seeming out of sorts on her thin frame. “You shouldn’t be here, and it’s my fault you are. But we need to get going before the guards do another round.”
Orela shook her head at me, a sorrowful smile on her lips. “No, you don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand what?” I questioned, confusion laced in my words as I studied my sister more closely. “What’s going on, Ore?”
She ran a hand through her hair, nearly tugging at the brown waves, before she looked back at me. “I saw so many visions of the future. So many paths—so many options. So much death. Youshouldn’thave come.”
My heart stuttered in my chest, the air escaping from my lungs as I watched my sister closely. “Whatexactlydid you see, Orela?”
Her hair bobbed as she shook her head, her eyes losingfocus. “The visions—the prophecies. I know it . . .” Her eyes darted from side to side as she continued rambling. “They’re from him—not the king, the Eternal one—prophesying the future. But it’s all . . . it’s all based on choice—free will. It’s up to you, to me, to choose. I’ve seen paths and futures. Futures and paths. But I can’t—can’t tell you. You have to choose. We each have to choose.”
“Choose what? Tell me what, Ore?” I inquired, never having seen my sister this disconnected as she spoke.
She shook her head, hazel eyes filled with sorrow. “I-I can’t.” She shook her head more fiercely this time, as though she were debating internally with herself. “I can’t tell you.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “If I tell you what I saw, it could alter the future—again and again. So many options. So many paths.”
“Orela.” I grabbed my sister’s hands, forcing her to look at me. “It’s going to be okay.” I repeated the words, waiting for her to focus on me. “I’m going to get you out of here, and it’s all going to be all right.”
Orela’s brown waves bobbed in a side-to-side motion as she once again shook her head. “No. Rae, you have to listen to me. I can’t leave. Not today—not if you want any chance of making it out of this temple alive today.”
“What do you—” I didn’t finish the sentence as a wave of nausea rolled through me, a sharp pain stabbing in my temples, and I cried out, grabbing at my head in pain.
Now was really not the time.
I felt the nausea roll through me in an even stronger wave, pressure building in my head as I briefly squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make the episode subside.
“No, no, no, no—” Orela’s voice sounded in the distance. “Not yet. Not yet. We need more time. Just a little more time.”
I could hardly register what she was saying as my head spun, the pressure building through my very being. In the distance, I heard a rap on the walls, before a small door opened. Two robedfigures peeked through, conversing with Orela in frantic, rushed tones, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
My head felt as though it were under water, a heavy fog surrounding me as nausea rolled through my body more fiercely than before. I lurched forward, nearly folding in half as I tried to make it go away.
“Raelyna.” Orela’s voice sounded from in front of me. “I need you to hold it together. Just for a few more minutes. If you can’t do that for me, then we may all get caught.”
