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med to shine, but it was probably just the water.
Phuong looked at herself in the mirror. On another day, she would’ve thrown a fit about just how much money they’d had to spend on the makeup kit, but it was necessary. She needed to fit in at the auction house. She couldn’t afford the tiniest slip that would get them caught.
Oh, she could mesmerize a single person, sure, no problem. But she couldn’t do a crowd, particularly not with her implant.
She didn’t know what she could do, since she couldn’t remember a time that she didn’t have it. But she had a feeling that she could blast a larger number of people if only she didn’t have the implant.
She heard the thunk of a drawer closing behind her. Xuan was dressed to the nines.
“Are you ready? Hurry up!”
Phuong used makeup fixing spray to make sure that everything stayed where it was supposed to be. She picked up another canister of hairspray to make sure that her hair stayed in its elaborate hairdo.
The silvery spirals of her hair were adorned with stop-motion blooming and budding flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. They were kept in place with pins. She’d undergone a lifetime of torture at the hands of a hairdresser that afternoon.
This job better be worth it. Phuong wasn’t into girly-girl stuff, partially because she’d never had the money and partially because it was just impractical.
“Done.”
Xuan opened the hatch of their den.
“The future is ours to write. Come on! Time to ride the affirmation train.”
“Tonight will change our lives for the better.”
Phuong looked at herself in the mirror, so dressed up that she was basically a stranger. She didn’t know the person in the mirror, but that person was about to steal from one of the most dangerous Draka in the city.
10
Tea Leaves
Hoa
No matter how many times she brewed the tea leaves, they always told her the same thing.
The time of the Yore resurgence had come, but it was a crossroads. The Yore would inevitably rise, and she knew that it’s what they’d hoped for since the day that the Draka had taken over the planet.
But there was a shadow over their savior. She could land in the wrong house. If the savior’s powers were turned in the wrong direction, it could corrupt the Yore resurgence. Even as they rose from under the Drakan heel, they would rebuild in a way that would fall apart.
“Mother, you shouldn’t have run out to the princes.”
“Child, it’s my sacred duty to…”
“Not get killed.” Vien put down his satchel on the table. “You could’ve been arrested if the princes wanted you to die in a prison.”
“There are worse things.” She loved her son, but he didn’t have the Sight. He didn’t understand the compulsion to warn people of their futures.
“There are dark circles underneath your eyes. You need to sleep more.”
“I’ve seen the future.”
“You have precognition. You always see the future.”
“There’s never been a more dangerous time.”
“Especially for you, if you refuse to stay away from Drakan royalty.”
“What are you talking about?” Hoa’s brother, Trai, came in. “Can you see the Drakan royals’ future? Anything that would help us slaughter them?”
