Heather split's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Heather packed a bag for the children before dawn. She was folding a baby blue blanket when the air above the kitchen table went tight, the way it did before a vision. She braced for pictures. Instead a flat purple board dropped out of nothing and slapped down on the wood. A black marker rolled after it and stopped against her hand. The board was ruled like a calendar, with the word prophecy printed at the top in loose black letters. The marker lifted itself, uncapped, and began to write across the empty squares in a quick, scratching hand. It wrote while it worked. "I know the prophecy song, I can sing it all day long," it sang in a small tin voice. "I know the prophecy song, I can sing it all day long." Heather stared. Her magic had always come as loose pieces she had to guess at. This thing was doing the work for her. She leaned in and read as the marker moved. Two blond heads at a stone circle. A locked drawer. A camera above a door. A choice at Bella's house before the week ended. The marker filled three squares, capped itself, and dropped. The board went still. Heather touched the ink. It was dry. She could read every word. She laughed once, sharp, then covered her mouth so she wouldn't wake the children. For the first time her prophecy magic had given her a whole sentence instead of a shard. She rolled the board under her arm, pocketed the marker, and woke the children with a hand on each shoulder. In the car she set the board on the passenger seat. The marker hummed the song under its cap, quieter now, patient. Heather drove toward Bella's house with a full prophecy beside her and, for the first time in months, a plan she could actually follow.