The Psychic

Chapter 6

The sky hadn't yet lightened, but there was a softness to the dark outside, a sleepy, pale-grey veil over the trees that made everything feel still, like the world was holding its breath. I was lying beside Jace, wrapped in the fading warmth of what had almost been a nightmare. Only now, the nightmare was real and he was alive. Jace was asleep. His face was still pale, but the deep strain that had gripped it last night had softened. The glow from the healing had faded from his chest, leaving behind only his rising breath. I watched him for a moment, unsure whether to wake him, or just stay close, memorizing the lines of his face in peace, the faintest movement of his chest with each slow breath. His jaw, always tense and guarded, had finally slackened. He looked younger like this. Softer. Not like the boy always ready for battle.

I brushed a strand of hair off his forehead and let my fingers linger there for a second longer than I needed to. Then I quietly pulled away, slipping outside the cave with the kind of silence only guilt or love could teach you.

The ground thudded under my bare feet, but it wasn't long before I heard the gentle rustle of someone walking towards me. Of course it was Sarah. She never slept deeply, not when things were uncertain. Blessing approached us shortly after, bleary-eyed. Without a word, the three of us ended up back inside the cave, sitting cross-legged in front of the cold firepit. The rusted pot that hung over it steamed gently from a flame Blessing had coaxed out with her lighter and a bit of dry twig.

She passed around the last of the cooked mushrooms they had foraged near the glowing vines. Small, slightly tough fungi that tasted faintly of forest moss and the metallic air. None of us complained.

For a few minutes, we just sat in that silence. Our knees touched. The warmth from the pot was barely anything, but it felt sacred somehow. Maybe it was just the act of being together that mattered. We'd survived the portal. We'd survived whatever the hell that sky attack was. And here we were. Bruised, unsure, but breathing.

Then Sarah turned to me, a soft smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "You know," she said, cradling the mug in both hands, "I keep thinking about that time we dared you to dance to no music on the cafeteria table for 10 minutes straight."

A grin tugged at my lips. "And I actually did it."

"Yeah, dancing that stupid macarena dance you always do," Blessing added, giggling. "Then you tripped on the way down and nearly broke your ankle."

"Then you guys had to carry me to the nurse office trying to hold your laugh as I was in pain. Don't think I didn't see you guys laughing that day," I giggled, pointing my finger accusingly at them.

"You can't lie though, it was pretty funny. Like who twists their ankle coming down a table?" Sarah joked. We all laughed, the kind where you have to muffle it against the sleeve of your hoodie because everything's too quiet and too raw for loud joy, but it still bubbles up anyway. The sound felt like balm on a burn.

"I miss that version of us," Sarah said quietly after a moment, her fingers tracing on the hem of her sweater "Before... all this. Before prophecies and bombs falling from pink stars."

"I don't think we've changed that much," I said, though the words felt like a lie halfway out of my mouth.

"No," Blessing said. "We've grown. That's different. You're still the girl who cried watching during sad movies and watched edits just to cry more. But now you're also..." She looked at me more carefully. "You're a psychic, Ruby. You're connected to something bigger."

I lowered my eyes. "I don't know how to feel about it."

"We do," Sarah said softly. "We trust you. Even if you don't understand it yet."

Their quiet, confident belief in me made something behind my ribs ache. I looked between them, two girls who knew all my worst moments and had stayed anyway, and I reached out, clutching their hands in mine. "I'm scared," I admitted. "There's just so much responsibility that I don't think I'm ready for. Now I find out I can blast people away and heal people. When is it going to end?" I sighed as I thought back to a time where the only thing I worried about was my functions test. Now I'm worrying about saving a whole country. Oh, how time flies.

Blessing tilted her head, squeezing my hand a little tighter. "Maybe it doesn't end," she said honestly. "Maybe that's the point. Maybe you're not meant to wait for it to be over. You're meant to keep showing up, no matter how much it asks from you."

"That's easy for you to say," I muttered, though my voice held no real bite. "You're not the one who's supposed to be some... walking prophecy."

"Yeah, but we're here in it with you," Sarah said firmly. "We've been in it with you since before there even was a prophecy. You think we're going to tap out now?"

I felt my throat tighten, and I stared down at our linked hands. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't want to lose either of you," I said quietly.

"Especially Jace, huh?" Sarah giggled to herself as she said it, her eyes narrowing like she'd just tossed a live grenade into the room.

Blessing raised a brow in mock seriousness. "Yeah. Like how our resident psychic can see bombs before they drop but somehow can't see the way she stares at Jace when she thinks no one's looking."

I groaned, dragging my hands down my face. "Oh my god, please don't start."

Sarah's smirk widened. "Too late. We've been holding this in all day. It's called emotional survival. If I can't laugh at your hopeless crush, I'll cry about the fact we might not live to see next week."

Blessing nodded in exaggerated sympathy. "Remember in tenth grade when Jace asked you for a pen and you went completely silent for like... twenty seconds? I thought you were buffering."

I laughed despite myself, the sound surprising me. "I was thinking. I was deciding whether to give him my good pen or the crappy one I got from the dollar store."

"And you still gave him the good pen," Sarah pointed out, eyes glinting. "That's love."

"It was not love," I protested, though my cheeks felt hot. "It was basic human decency."

Blessing leaned in conspiratorially. "You mean like the basic human decency of letting him be the one to walk next to you every time we're moving through dangerous territory?"

"That's called strategy," I said, rolling my eyes. "If we get attacked, he's the one with a weapon."

Sarah grinned. "Uh-huh. And here I thought it was because you liked the view."

I threw a stick at her, but she caught it, laughing so hard her shoulders shook. For a moment, it felt like we were back in my bedroom during a storm, pretending the thunder wasn't rattling the windows. Safe.

Blessing leaned in like she was sharing classified intel. "And it's not just you. We've both seen the way he looks at you."

That made my head snap up. "What? He doesn't-"

Sarah cut me off, wagging a finger. "Oh, he does. It's that look guys get when they're trying to act like they're not completely gone for someone. You know, eyebrows slightly pulled, mouth doing that tiny twitch like he's fighting a smile? Yeah. That's him, every time you talk."

Heat prickled at my neck. "You guys are imagining things."

Blessing shook her head with a knowing smile. "Nope. I've seen it. He doesn't look at anyone else like that. Even when he's all grumpy and stoic, you walk into the room and it's like someone just lit a match."

Sarah took a long, exaggerated sip of her tea. "So... what are you two, exactly? Friends? Partners-in-survival? Star-crossed friends-to-lovers?"

I scoffed, but my voice wavered. "We're... nothing. I mean, we've been through a lot together, but we've never actually talked about it."

"That's because you're both emotionally constipated," Sarah said bluntly.

Blessing laughed. "Yeah, seriously. You're acting like you've got all the time in the world. You don't. So... what's the plan?"

"The plan is... there is no plan," I muttered, fiddling with my watch. "We focus on the prophecy, and that's it. No distractions."

Sarah leaned forward, her smirk turning softer. "You know that's not how it works, right? Sometimes the 'distraction' is the only thing keeping you together."

I wanted to argue, but my chest felt too tight, like they'd just pulled a thread I wasn't ready to unravel.

Sarah leaned back against a broken bench, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Okay, but for real though. If you two end up together, I'm gonna need front-row seats to the wedding. Blessing, you with me?"

Blessing smirked. "Obviously. I'm already planning the playlist. First dance song? Totally something cheesy from the early 2000s."

I groaned, covering my face. "You guys are impossible."

"Impossible and correct," Sarah said, tossing a pillow at me. "You've been into him forever, Ruby. Don't act like we didn't notice how you light up when he talks to you."

Blessing laughed, leaning forward. "Or how your voice changes when you say his name. Jace this, Jace that. Like... girl, you're not subtle."

Heat rushed to my cheeks. "It's not that obvious."

They exchanged a knowing look that told me I'd lost this argument before it even started.

"Fine," I muttered, trying not to smile. "Maybe I like him. But this is hardly the time for..." I waved my hands around vaguely, "...romance."

Blessing shrugged. "Sometimes it happens at the worst possible time. Maybe that's the point."

Sarah nodded, suddenly more thoughtful. "Honestly, though, he does look at you like you're the only person in the room. That's rare, Ruby. And... after everything we've been through already, I think you deserve something good, even in all this chaos."

I looked down at my hands, turning their words over in my head. The teasing was easier to deflect, but the sincerity hit differently. For a second, the thought of Jace and the way his gaze softens when it lands on me, the way he instinctively positions himself between me and danger felt like both a comfort and a terrifying possibility.

"Hey... all jokes aside, You won't lose us," Blessing replied without hesitation. "We're like... unbreakable thread. You can pull us as far apart as you want, but we'll snap right back."

Sarah smirked a little, her eyes glinting in the firelight. "Also, if you try to be a martyr and run off to find this Dark Prince and fight off these scary guys alone, I will personally drag you back by your hoodie."

That made me laugh. Not a big laugh, but enough to cut through the heavy air for a moment. "You'd have to catch me first."

"Oh, I'd catch you," Sarah promised, narrowing her eyes. "Don't doubt me."

"You wish-" I started, but before I could finish, a loud beeping noise cut through the room.

Sarah and Blessing exchanged a glance, the kind that said "we've got you" and stood up quietly. "We'll check on Jace," Sarah murmured, already heading toward the door. Blessing gave my hand one last squeeze. "Take your time." Then they were gone, leaving me the silence I hadn't known I needed.

"Ruby, it's coming from your watch. Click on it," Blessing's voice echoed softly as she kept moving further away.

The Gizmo. I had almost forgotten it was still there. I flipped it open and tapped the small sigil on its base.

It flickered to life.

A grainy image shimmered into place. My mother's face blinked into view, tired and wide-eyed, lines of worry etched deep into her skin. My father appeared beside her, his hand resting on her shoulder, his eyes hollow but fierce.

"Ruby?" my mother gasped, voice trembling. "Oh thank God, we didn't think it would connect again."

"Hi, Mum," I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper. "Hi, Dad."

They looked like they hadn't slept in days, but worse- like they'd carried a storm inside them since the last time we spoke.

Tears spilled over before I could stop them. I tried to speak again, but my throat closed up, and I just stared, swallowing a sob.

"Oh, baby," Dad said, his voice thick. "You're alive."

"Barely," I said, laughing weakly through the tears. "We're okay. Jace was hurt, but he's healing. I... I needed to hear you. Just once."

Mom reached toward the screen like she could hold me through it. "Ruby, we should've told you everything sooner. You were never meant to carry this alone. There's so much happening here, more than you know. We've been fighting, hiding, trying to keep everyone safe. But the fear... it never goes away."

Her words hung between us, raw and real. I swallowed again, the enormity of it pressing down.

"I'm not alone," I said, looking over my shoulder toward the empty doorway where Sarah and Blessing had left. "I have them. I have all of them. And I... I have you. That's all I need."

Dad leaned in, eyes steady and fierce. "You're doing what we couldn't. You're finishing what we were too afraid to begin. That's why you were chosen. Because you're stronger than you realize, even when you don't feel it."

I whispered, "I don't feel brave. I feel like I'm falling apart."

"Good," Mom said fiercely, tears shining in her eyes. "It means you're still human. That's what makes you unstoppable."

"We only have three days left, and we haven't even found him yet," I sighed, looking away from my parents, feeling disappointed and embarrassed.

"That doesn't matter, Ruby. We all trust you and know you can do this. You can do anything. You wouldn't have been chosen to be the Seer if they didn't think you could. Always remember that and let that keep you going. And prove those fools that don't want the prophecy to happen wrong. Okay?" my mum encouraged, and it actually helped. Sometimes all it needs to calm you down and regulate you is a talk with your mum.

I let out a shaky breath, nodding slowly. "Can you put Liam on?"

They moved aside. The screen shifted, and there he was. Liam, pale-eyed, jaw tight, the faint crease between his brows betraying exhaustion that no amount of sleep could fix.

"Hey, Rubes." His voice was softer than I remembered, cracked just enough to remind me how much this was all taking from him.

I swallowed hard. "Liam..."

"How's it back there?" he asked, his gaze searching mine through the flickering screen. "Every day, I'm proud of you. Proud doesn't even begin to cover it."

His words cracked something open inside me, a mix of relief and ache. "I miss you," I said quietly, the weight of it settling in my chest like a stone. "We need you here. It just... doesn't feel right without you."

He gave me a small, sad smile. "I miss you too. More than you know. Keep going, okay? For all of us."

The silence stretched, heavy and full of things neither of us dared say out loud.

"We're trying," I whispered. "We're still looking for him. The dark prince."

"You'll find him, Ruby." His voice was steady, but I caught the tremble beneath it. "I believe in you. We all do."

My throat tightened, and for a moment, I thought I might break. Then the connection flickered once... and just like that, it cut.

I stared into nothing, feeling the sudden emptiness where his presence had been.

Slowly, I retreated my hand from the Gizmo, the quiet weight of the moment sinking deep.

I closed my eyes for a breath, letting the ache settle, and then slowly opened them, the weight of the prophecy pressing down, but so was the steady fire inside me. I would keep going. I had to.