A/N: I'm trying to finish this story out, it's just taking longer because my hard-drive died and I only got some of it back. Sorry it's not getting updated as often.

It took a few moments before it hit.

My book came out yesterday.

I'm doing a book signing today.

I rolled over, looking at the picture of my mom and I, then I got up and started getting ready. I kept it nice, but casual. I braided part of it, but kept it down. I didn't want to inhibit my habit of playing with my hair. It would've just led to your hair looking a mess.

Nico was trying to make breakfast, scolding Aaron.

Travis was actually making breakfast.

Jacob was staring at his phone.

I sat on one of the stools, watching the mild chaos.

Aaron looked thoroughly chastised, letting Nico apply some aloe to his fingers. "I just wanted to help."

"I told you the stove was on and the pan was hot."

"I know. I heard."

"But you still touched it."

"I…"

I rolled my eyes. "Nico, lay off him. Sometimes he can't control his impulses, right Aaron?"

He looked over with relief and nodded.

Nico had flinched and cursed in Greek. "How long have you been there?"

"Not long," I replied. "How long until breakfast is ready, Travis?"

"Yours will be done in about two seconds."

"Hey, I was making breakfast," Nico objected.

"No, you were dilly-dallying and scolding," Travis corrected, looking tired. He had gotten in late last night so that he could come today.

"Boys, remember what we talked about?" Jacob said, sounding entirely distracted. He was jotting some notes down.

Travis set my plate in front of me. "My lady."

"Thanks." I started scarfing down my food. I had a weird feeling about today.

After breakfast, we sort of rushed around and got ready to go, Nico and Aaron helping since they weren't coming.

Nico hugged me tightly. "Take lots of breaks and let Travis know if you're getting overwhelmed. I'll text you throughout the day. So will Johnny and the others. We're your support today."

"Thanks, Nico." I pressed a kiss to his cheek, then gave him a smile.

He smiled back.

"We should get going," Jacob said, steering me toward the door.

I glanced back, nerves getting to me again.

Nico gave me a thumbs up and Aaron was sort of smiling in his own nervous way, holding his hurt hand.

I drummed my fingers on the car door the whole ride, staring outside without actually seeing anything. I felt a little nauseous, but mostly I was tired. I wasn't expecting too much from today.

We arrived at the back of the building, and were led through to a room by the manager.

"Alright, this is the break room. When you're on break, this is where you go. You can get back here, but others can't so anything you want to keep back here you can. We'll have security guards all over the place, so you and your things will be safe. We even consulted with the police on the security. Now, we have a table set up out there and you have three bouquets that were delivered for you that are on your table as well as some extra books. One of the bouquets was...unusual so we put it behind the others. We have extra markers for signing in case the one you have dies, and we'll make sure that we stick as closely to the schedule as possible."

I nodded, glancing at Travis nervously.

The manager led the three of us through to the table where I would be signing books so I could familiarize myself with my surroundings.

I smiled at the bouquet of yellow roses, and the other mixed arrangement of lilies and others.

Then I saw the last bouquet. Weird was right.

At first glance, I recognized daffodils, lily of the valley, holly, rosemary, and rhododendron. It made a weird combination, especially with the plants I didn't quite recognize. Some of the flowers that looked like daffodils and might have been narcissus or jonquil but you weren't completely read up on your flowers.

"It came with a list of the species that were in the bouquet." The manager pointed to a paper tucked into the bouquet.

I frowned, grabbing the paper and reading through the list. So it was jonquil, along with begonia, astilbe, sage, and bitter root. I frowned over the list, then noticed a weird sort of shimmering to the paper.

Magic.

I tucked the paper in your pocket and then turned to smile at the manager. "It's from a friend, could you put it in the back room with my things?"

"Of course, miss. I'll take care of it."

Jacob adjusted the chairs that were with yours. "This okay? Any problems?"

"Um," I looked at how long the queue was set up to be. "How many people are they expecting?"

"You said you didn't want to know, and I scheduled breaks for you and lunch will be delivered as instructed. We'll be done by seven at the latest."

"Seven...ignore what I said, how many are we expecting?"

Travis and Jacob looked at each other.

I frowned. "Is it so few that they want me to stay long, or is it so many they don't think I'll get through everyone?"

Travis just guided me to where I could see outside.

Despite it being early (on a winter morning in Michigan—it was 22 degrees outside last I checked), there was a huge line forming. It was extremely organized, and some people were wearing costumes.

I went closer and could see that the crowd was huge. I could hear the hum of conversation from all the people waiting. Supposedly to see me.

"Don't panic, they'll come in in an orderly fashion. We'll have plenty of time for breaks, and it was made public knowledge that you might not get to everyone." Travis rubbed my shoulder. "Should we tell you how your book has done now?"

"They all bought my book?" I asked, pointing outside. That couldn't be true. That couldn't possibly be true. I was a first time author. This book was the first book I had ever published. Even if people had bought the book, I would have expected it to be because of my mother's short novel that accompanied my novel. I definitely wouldn't have expected it this many people to come to the book signing.

"Well, your book has been back-ordered for about a month now. We ended up printing twice as many as we thought and even with that we're having to print more. Most bookstores were sold out last night." Jacob helped Travis guide me to the seat behind the table.

"And tons of people traveled here for this book-signing, which meant the bookstores here were swamped. Super swamped. Thankfully, that was taken into consideration and they were sent extra books. There's been chatter for the past month or so about having reading parties and such for this book. Of getting here as early as possible. It's like Black Friday out there. There's already a couple news vans that Jacob has to go address."

Jacob muttered a curse. "Why did I become a publicist?"

"I know that you're still a publicist because you love me to some extent or other," I offered, processing all the new information. Surprises are inevitable. Maybe if I kept thinking that I would believe it. "Are they doing this because of my mother?"

"Maybe partially, but also because you're you. You speak and people listen, they want to listen. Your story is great. It's real. Captivating. Everyone knows that you had an amazing teacher in your mother, but she also talked about how she got her inspiration and help in you. You are an influential figure now, Cassie. Your work is paying off, and your words are impacting people. This is just a result of that." Travis squeezed my shoulder.

I nodded slowly. "When do the doors open?"

"Fifteen minutes. Go ahead and get yourself set up," Jacob said, straightening his tie.

I nodded again, opening my notebook to a blank page and setting it to the right side of the table with a pen in case I needed to make note of something or pass a message to Travis or Jacob. I hid my water bottle behind the flowers, along with lip balm, a pocket mirror, a container of mints, and my phone. I straightened the markers, sent up a little prayer that I didn't make a fool of myself, checked my appearance again, and then waited.

The doors were opened by two of the security guards, and the noise that came with the crowd was...significant.

I swallowed hard, glancing at Travis nervously.

"Smile," He said, holding up his phone.

I did, figuring he was going to send it to Nico so that he wouldn't worry too much.

"Hi," A girl said in front of me, making my gaze snap back.

I somehow managed to keep my smile, noticing that the queue was filling in rapidly behind her. "Hello," I said, sliding the book towards me and opening to the title page.

"I've already finished it and oh my God, I love it so much! The characters were amazing, I mean, I wish I had a Hank for myself!" She gushed.

I grinned. "Right? I love writing his dialog because it's so different from hers. Name?"

"Oh!" She told me her name and I quickly made it out to her, signing my name. Suddenly those hours I spent goofing off with my mom signing my name didn't seem like such a bad idea. My signature looked halfway decent.

Then she was gone and a guy was in front of me, giving me his name.

"I heard your speech back in November, saw the video online," He said.

"I'm so sorry," I deadpanned, closing the book and passing it back to him.

"Why? I started volunteering at a homeless shelter near my house. I figured out the logistics of putting in a vegetable garden on their roof and we're growing foods there to cut the kitchen costs so that we can help more people and I never would have thought about it if your speech hadn't gotten me off my ass. Thanks."

I couldn't even respond before he was gone. I was sort of in shock.

Dozens and dozens of people came by the table, getting my signature and sometimes sharing stories or gushing over my story. Talking about how I had inspired them, or how mom had inspired them.

The ones about mom stung a little, but it was actually really nice to hear other people talking about her. It was cool seeing people dressed as her characters and coming to get my book signed.

I got periodic texts of support from Nico, Johnny, and the others from the book club (who had all told me that they fully expected me to sign their copies of my book at the next meeting way back on Thursday). You even got a text from Malcolm. Then one from Eric and the others from Northpoint.

Travis checked on you periodically, sometimes just getting your attention by shifting in his seat (he was working on a term paper) and raising an eyebrow at you, and other times verbally asking if you were okay. He switched out your empty water bottle for a full one, wrote funny notes back to you when you passed him the notebook, and had instructed Nico to send pictures of Batman and Parker periodically.

"What's your name?" I asked the pre-teen in front of me, taking the book.

"Gretchen," She replied, seeming nervous. "Your mom saved me."

I froze, looking up at her. Then I looked down, unable to smile in surprise. "Really?"

"I sent her a fan letter. In it, I told her about my parents." She looked down. "I'd never even told my teachers. I'm with a really good family now. They're adopting me."

I looked up at her, finding the memory. "Gretchen Dearling from Chicago. You wrote to her two years ago on yellow construction paper and had a Hello Kitty stamp on the envelope. She kept that letter. I thought she had responded to it, I didn't know that she had done more than that."

Her eyes were huge. "You..."

"I have a really good memory, and mom had me help her go through the fan mail. I started reading it, but I handed it over to her. She left the room with it, came back two hours later and wouldn't let me go for the rest of the night." I finished signing her book. "She talked about how important it was that we use what abilities we're given to help those around us."

"She created a monster," Travis joked quietly.

Gretchen giggled, then took the book back and hugged it to her chest.

"Be careful reading that, if it starts to get in your head, put it down, forget about it, okay?" I reached out, not touching her, but making sure she heard me.

She nodded, then was gone.

The next few people go by in a flash, and suddenly Jacob was announcing a break so I could eat lunch quickly.

I looked around. "There's water and snacks for them, right?"

Jacob nodded. "We're getting them passed out now."

I nodded again, then hurried after Travis, nudging his arm so he would put it around me.

He complied easily, placing a kiss on my head. "You're doing well."

"How's your paper going?"

"Editing right now, should be done by tonight. We have good food waiting."

I nodded and ducked into the back room, greeted by some lovely smells of lunch. "This is so weird. There's been so many people, and there are still more."

"It's going to be a long day," He agreed, guiding me to a seat.

I let my gaze drop to the strange bouquet, fixated on the lily of the valley.

"What friend sent that?" Travis asked, sitting down, and turning the vase.

"I don't know, but it has to have been a friend..."

The vase.

The vase had petunias painted on it.

The strange combination of flowers and herbs, the list of the names, a petunia covered vase. It could only be one person.

He put some food in front of me. "Hey, you still with me?"

I flashed him a smile and nodded. "I'm still here. Looks amazing." I started eating, shoving the thoughts to the back of my mind until I could figure out what the message Petunia was sending me meant.

Travis frowned at his phone as it started vibrating, answering it. "Rachel?"

I froze, setting down my fork.

He listened for a minute. "Are you sure?" He nodded. "Okay." He held out the phone to me.

I took it hesitantly. "Hello?"

"Hey, I've just had this weird feeling that I needed to call you."

"Okay," I said, shrugging at Travis. "Was it about what I wrote?"

She started speaking, then went quiet. There was a strange noise on the other end of the phone, and when she started speaking, it was like she spoke with a thousand voices.

I kept the confused expression on my face as alarm spread throughout me. I listened to her words carefully, making note to write it down as soon as I could. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind, thanks." I hung up and handed the phone back to Travis. "She's crazy."

He laughed. "Yeah, she is. Was it about what you wrote?"

"No, she was just following a hunch and telling me something that came to mind." I kept eating.

He nodded and continued eating as well, reading something on his phone.

I made note of what she told me, and quickly flipped to a new page and then started jotting down a to-do list for once I got home. "Can we go to the bookstore before we go home?"

"Probably be closed. Want me to pick something up?"

I shook my head. "No, nevermind. I probably won't be able to find the book I want anyway. I'll order it." I pulled out my phone and quickly researched what I needed, then ordered it.

We enjoyed each other's company in silence, and I was surprised at how quiet it was compared to out there.

And hating that it made my thoughts about the prophecy she had given me that much louder.