RULE 57: FORGET ABOUT WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ON THE OUTSIDE BACK BEFORE OUR HUMBLE BORDERLANDS WAS FORMED. 

✷ C H A P T E R      E I G H T E E N ✷

"Her visions are never accurate, Sage. Don't worry about it," Mina shouted while I high-tailed it out of the tent.

Many will die, and you will be the reason why, my dear.

I will be the reason why. Me.

Her words stuck to my skin, evaporating into my being. Did her vision carry any truth? She was a clairvoyant; I was somewhat familiar with the premise of what they did, but I was not sure about the accuracy of their predictions. She could be spewing nonsense, or she could be accurately predicting my future. Only time would tell.

An image of my burly, overprotective Pa laying dead was thrust into my mind. My hand curled into a fist while I gritted my teeth with determination. There was no way I was going to let that happen, not if I had anything to do with it.

I needed to find a witch. And fast. For a moment, an idea popped into my mind. I could scour the Pack's Fair for any little crumb of information that would lead me to procure a witch. But again, the clairvoyant's words were in my head: "Witches are an endangered species. You would not catch one of them here." While a witch might not be in the proximity, information about one could be.

However, it would be hard to get any groundwork done with Theo tagging along. Not to mention, Max would more than likely be lurking in the shadows, as well. On top of that, Mina had said we were not to separate; I did not think Theo would take kindly to me disappearing on my first outing since my escape about a month ago.

"You good?" Flynn asked cautiously, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded my head very slowly. Taking a shallow breath in, I knew why the vision weighed so heavily on me: deep down, I believed it could be true. It would be my worst nightmare, but there was a truth to the vision. The Border could fall, and I would be held responsible. Many Borderlanders would risk their lives to not be taken away from the Borderlands.

There was a protocol in place for such an event. Of course, we never anticipated such a day would occur when our hallowed Border would fail us, but there was a plan in place just in case. We would fight and defend our land — even if it cost us our lives. Many would die. That was a guarantee.

"There any truth to her vision?" Theo asked cooly, appearing not to be taken off guard by the prediction. Theo seemed to be highly calculative most of the time I was with him; he was always coming from an angle, trying to analyze something — anything.

I was about to respond when Mina spoke instead. "Don't be ridiculous, Theo. Miss Orville is senile. She lost her certification over five years ago. I only went in, because Shay said she was predicting lottery numbers. She's just spewing nonsense. Look, Sage, you have nothing to worry about."

Mina's words — while nice — did not provide comfort. I could not be for certain there was nothing to worry about until two months' time, maybe even earlier.

"Why would she say something so cruel?" I asked, still burdened with the weight of her words.

Despite the potential impact of the prediction, I couldn't quite shake the harsh and glaring nature of it. It cut into my skin like glass, and I felt defenseless. I was just an ordinary girl from the Borderlands.

"Because she charges—"

"—no, she scams—" Flynn cut into the conversation.

"—because she scams her customers. Word of mouth brings in more people, which means more money. She charged me fifty bucks for that prediction," Mina finished while Theo let out a grunt. "I think it's best if Theo tries to calm Sage. We'll meet you guys back at the entrance of the coliseum for the fight."

"You said we couldn't separate!" I called out to Mina, but she pretended not to hear me. Before I could say another word, Mina, Heath, and Flynn were off, leaving Theo and me by ourselves. Max lingered around. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"For the record, I don't need any help calming down. I am perfectly calm. Calm as calm can be," I huffed out, digging my heel into the dirt.

Theo looked at me with skepticism, not too amused with the situation we found ourselves in. He shaved the five-o'clock shadow that was present the last time I was him in the library, and his hair had been neatly styled.

"I have never been calmer in my life," I continued. "I am a pillar of unrelenting calm."

Theo tapped his foot impatiently. "Are you done?"

"Now that you say that — no. I could be a spokesperson for calmness even," I narrowed my eyes at Theo. "Okay, now I'm done. Note that I said that very calmly."

Max, who was usually silent, spoke up." I think this is one of those moments where someone says they're fine, but they're not actually fine, except instead of fine, it's calm."

I slowly, almost painstakingly, turned my head towards Max. "I have been trying to get you to say a coherent sentence to me for the past week, and this is the first thing you say? Now, I might not be so calm."

Blinking slowly, I walked away. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from Max. I didn't bother to look if Theo or Max were trailing behind, because my guess was they probably were. I continued walking for a while, looking over the different tents that surrounded me.

There was a tent filled with dead rabbits, shifted wolves all sitting around, gnawing on the bones. There was another tent filled with all different kinds of sweets, my mouth watering at the sight. Then, there was even a tent for a matchmaking service for those who did not want to wait on a mate.

"Do you know where you're going?" I heard Theo's voice behind me. "You've been running us in circles for the past five minutes."

"I need my exercise after being isolated for over two weeks," I whipped around, stopping in my tracks. Not expecting my lack of motion, a stranger brushed up against me, knocking me off my balance.

The stranger was chanting to themselves, their hands trembling. What they were saying was almost inaudible, but I caught snippets, and it sounded like they were repeating "they are not pleased." The stranger's head was cast down, but they looked up for a second, and I stumbled back.

It looked like Gunther — the man who was helping the Council. I shook my head to gain a grip on reality. In that time, the stranger had vanished, and I concluded I must have been hallucinating, the clairvoyant's prediction messing with my mind.

"There is a gym in the Alpha Wing," Theo responded matter-of-factly, jarring me from my thoughts. I shrugged, causing Theo to roll his eyes.

"Follow me," Theo's hand guided me to walk closer to him. Instinctively — not that I would admit it — my body relaxed as his hand touched my shoulder, almost as if the worry on my mind started to melt away.

We walked a short way, taking twists and turns through different footpaths I didn't know even existed. It was like he knew where we were going, even though he said the tents and their locations changed every day. We kept walking until we reached an unassuming tent. We were stopped in front of Midnight Munchies. Theo explained it was owned and operated by the same person who ran Midnight Mercury.

The tent was dark with low, purple lighting, illuminating the expanse in a colored glow. At the back of the tent, there was a counter for ordering food, a menu hung above. Tables and chairs were scattered throughout the rest of the area with no rhyme or reason to their placement. Many different people were dispersed throughout; most of them talking amongst themselves, idly chatter lingering.

Taking a closer look at the menu, I scrunched my face in confusion. The menu read:

Fried Rabbit Snow Cones 7.99

Oh-Deer-Beer 5.99

Cauldron of Bubbling Frogs 12.99

Full Moon Kabobs 7.99

Booberry Delight 4.99

Mystic Mash 12.99

To be frank, it all sounded disgusting — except maybe the Booberry Delight. Yet again, it could contain mashed-up bits and pieces of who knows what. I almost vomited at the thought of putting a fried rabbit in a snow cone. What an absolutely horrifying invention.

These strange foods made me sigh, as I reminisced about Gran's drool-worthy cooking. Gran never used a recipe, yet everything she cooked turned out so good. She had won Borderland's Cooking Competition every year she entered — except for the year she was pregnant with Pa. Gran liked to tease Pa he was the reason she lost that year, and that is why his cooking abilities are more than lacking.

While Gran was an excellent cook, she never liked to share the method to her madness, because, well, in her words: "there was no method." Instead, she went with her gut, and it had served her and, honestly, most of the Borderlands very well. I hoped the chef behind the menu here at Midnight Munchies had the same intuition when it came to food. One could only hope.

"Find us a seat. I'll order," I nodded, not wanting to have to make my own decision on what to pick from the menu.

Scanning over the tent, I found a table for two (Max was outside) near the far right corner. It was away from where most of the people were gathered, making it the perfect spot.

Not long after taking a seat, Theo made his way over with two ice creams in hand.

"Here," he handed me a blue ice cream cone to match my blue cast.

"Thanks," I reached out and took the ice cream, not knowing if it had anything odd mixed within.

"Booberry Delight," he explained, his eyebrows perked up in amusement."Blueberry ice cream."

He laughed as I let out a sigh of relief, feeling more comfortable. Still hesitant, I took a small taste and was pleasantly surprised. It was like licking an overly sweet blueberry. A small smile expanded over my lips, as I continued licking my ice cream.

I'd had ice cream before. However, it was not common in the Borderlands. It's not unheard of either, but the only time I came in contact with it was because of Memphis. He would rave about this little pop up shop for ice cream on the Outside. His family, for his birthday, would send him a pint of ice cream each year. Memphis was always willing to share his treat with Si, Gracie, Ember, and me. Somehow, the ice cream felt comforting, something I was familiar with.

As we continued eating the ice cream, Theo and I remained silent, both preoccupied with the melting food in our hands.

"I was calm, by the way," I spoke up once I had eaten through the top of the ice cream cone.

"If you say so," he had already finished his ice cream and was waiting on me. "You still seem on edge."

I sighed, not knowing if I should open up, "I just miss my family."

"First time away from them?" He asked, his eyes looking around the tent.

"First time away in twenty years. I know it shouldn't be this hard, but —"

"—I understand," he stopped me mid-sentence.

"You do?" I inquired, tilting my head. I knew Mina mentioned his father was Alpha Sr. I had just assumed that would mean his father was around here. Of course, even if his father was still in the pack, he could still be away from the rest of his family. I guess, I just didn't know much about Theo.

"Many Alphas and Lunas who pass down their titles don't stick around the pack long afterward. I haven't seen my parents since the day I became Alpha," he said with a straight face, still not letting his emotions come to the surface.

"How long ago was that?" I asked back.

"Six years ago."

"I'm sorry," I extended my apologies. I knew if I had spent six years away from my family, I would be a total and complete mess. "I couldn't imagine."

We resumed the comforting silence that hung over us as I finished up the last bits of my ice cream. Once I was done, Theo stated it was time to go attend the fight. Apparently, Mina was able to relay this information to Theo through a mental connection. Theo tried to explain what a mind link was, but he stopped shortly after my face warped in confusion.

The trek to the coliseum, the only non-tent in the area, was longer than I would have liked. My almost healed leg was starting to ache, and I could feel a headache starting to form. When we finally reached the coliseum, Mina, Flynn, and Heath were already there. Heath handed me a bag of freshly popped popcorn, and I thanked him.

"Ready to watch two Werewolves rip each other to shreds?"