Episode Eighty One

Part One

            Sitting in the grey office chair was a brown robed figure, the hood up and concealing its wearer's face. The robe was dark chocolate brown homespun material with simple detailing at the cuffs and hems.

            "You don't know what you want from life." Came a soft lilting alto voice from the hood.

            Gwen startled, backed into the door. She had been surprised to see someone in her office but not so much so that she was going to panic. With Graves creeping around it was sort of an expected thing.

            Yet when the soothing voice had sounded out of the dark sanctuary of the hood, she had been truly disoriented.

            "But it doesn't matter what you want. Your path has been marked out pretty clearly for you, even if you can't see it."

            "Who are you?" Gwen asked, regaining her voice.

            "Mage."

            "Just Mage?"

            "That's all you need to know." The hood was jerked back enough to reveal the face with a single quick nod. "I find it best if the fortune teller keeps it vague. The more you tell the more likely you are to A) alienate your client with too much info or B) botch up the reading."

            Gwen studied the young woman before her. She had an other worldly beauty. Her hair was shiny auburn, her eyes russet jewels set in lightly tanned skinned. Her nose pert, her mouth tiny, the small features were striking on her minute frame.

            "Is there something you want?" Gwen asked.

            "Just wanted to meet you. I know why he chose you, strong and fearless. But I wanted to see for myself."

            "He who?"

            Mage smiled elusively. "The other one knows quite a bit, but he won't tell you because he's protecting you."

            "That's nothing new. Someone's always protecting me."

            "Protecting you from the truth?"

            Gwen gazed into Mage's unreal eyes trying to gauge whether or not she was really hinting at something. She was.

            "I don't really know." She sighed finally. "I'm not even sure what truth is these days. With all the lies my mother told me it's amazing I can trust at all." She brushed a stray piece of ginger hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

            "The truth, Guenivere will set you free."

Part Two

            Soon after, Mage left Gwen to her thoughts, locked alone in her office. The strange woman had left her no comfort or anymore answers, only a burning feeling in the pit of her stomach.

            Whether by lies or simply not telling, someone was hiding the truth from her once more.

            Mage had mentioned two men. She thought immediately of Corwin and Harry, but she didn't think either of them capable of keeping deep secrets from her. But if not them then who?

            And of course there was the issue of who had chosen her. And chosen her for what? She just didn't understand.

            She wasn't going to waste her time dwelling on questions she couldn't answer. It would be a long time before she could learn the truth anyway.

            In the meantime she refocused herself on her work with the project and helping Professor Smith's students study for the DADA final. It was awhile off, but some of the students were in a real panic about it.

            Of course there was still the issue of a possible attack on the school. It had been months since Graves' first warning and weeks since his return.

            Gwen felt that something had to give.