That lodge became the start of something no prophecy had ever hinted at. Not that your gift failed—it just had its blind spots when it came to the heart.

You stood there, chest rising and falling under the weight of your bear-fur coat, your research bag clutched like it was part of your soul. The group was tense. Guns, narrowed eyes, ready hands.

The older man—Jerry—his presence softened the air. He studied you like a physician studies a patient, calm and curious, not hostile. “She’s just a kid,” he’d said, even though you weren’t. Not really. Not with what you carried in your mind.

Abby had hesitated. Her arms were corded with muscle, her stance that of a soldier—but her eyes, when they landed on yours, flickered with something else. Not pity. Not suspicion. Something more careful. Measured. Almost protective.

You gave only your name. Not your title. Not your lineage. Not your mind. You said you were from a village nearby. That you got separated in the chaos. You didn’t lie—not fully. You just didn’t tell the whole truth.

They let you stay that night. You kept to the corner, wrapped in your coat like a child hiding from monsters, listening while they spoke softly around the fire. Manny cracked jokes. Owen cleaned his rifle. Abby paced like a caged animal. Jerry offered you some food and didn’t press when you barely touched it.

But your dreams that night were vivid. Red skies. Screams swallowed in snow. Abby’s face splattered with blood—not yours, but someone else’s. You saw Jackson, smoke curling above it. You saw a choice—two roads, neither safe.

And in the middle of it all was her.

Abby.

When you woke, Abby was the one keeping watch. She glanced over, saw your wide eyes, the way your hands trembled around your bag.

“You’re not just some scared kid, are you?” she asked.

You didn’t answer. But something passed between you in that silence. An understanding. A seed, just planted.

It wasn’t part of the plan. It wasn’t foretold in any star or sign. But Abby would become your storm. And you, unknowingly, had already started to become her calm.