Page 10 of Sightwitch
Finally, when it felt as if the room could grow no hotter, no hea-vier, it happened. An image formed in the scrying pool.
It was the Rook, sitting on his perch in Hilga’s office. He groomed and fluffed and occasionally clacked his beak.
That was it. Nothing more. For a minute, or perhaps longer, it was just that thrice-damned bird. There was truly nothing I could have cared less about. What did it matter if he hopped off his oak knob and flew out the open window?Where was Tanzi?
Yet despite my rage at the vision, I found myself unable to look away.
I couldn’t breathe either, and my heart boomed in my ears. The Rook flew ever higher. Now he winged over a pine forest. Now he dove low.
The creature himself swooped into the observatory, landing mere paces from me.
He surprised me so badly, I barely swallowed my yelp, and when I glanced back at the pool, the vision had shimmered away.
Cursed bird.
I hate him.
Y18 D161 — 9 days
MEMORIES
Fourteen Sightwitch Sisters were Summoned today.
This is impossible. Sightwitch Sisters reenter the mountain only for sleeping—and they aren’t called by the swifts then. They know from their dreams that it is time to reunite with the Sleeper.
Each Sister the spirit swifts approached today looked shocked. Frightened, even. Yet no one dared disobey the Goddess. If She Summons, we go.
Hilga is worried. Finally, her cool demeanor has cracked. She chews at her fingernails and snaps at anyone who crosses her.
At least this is what she does when I see her, which is rare. She shows her face only at mealtime, if even then. Every waking hour she spends in the Crypts, and each day she enlists more Sightwitch Sisters to help. But not me.
Never me, for I do not have the Sight and I am of no use to anyone.
I have tried to enter the Crypts. Four times now, but no one will go with me—and I cannot defy the Order of Two. Only the Rook will join me. He follows me everywhere I go lately.
Cursed bird.
Tanzi always loved him, but I find him a squawking nuisance.
Y18 D165 — 13 days
Seventeen more Sisters were Summoned.
I feel ill. I do not sleep. No one does.
The mountain shakes, a bare ripple most of the time, yet thrice now we have had full tremors that knocked books off shelves and branches from the trees. Storms have struck too, so I spend every day cleaning debris off the trails. I have never been so focused, so intent on my chores.
I am the model Serving Sister, adhering more strictly than ever to the Rules. I must! I’m the only one left unchosen, and all the Sightwitches are busy looking for answers. Someone must keep forty-four mouths fed and the Convent running.
Today, I cleaned the bridge at the Supplicant’s Sorrow, scraping off the algae and bird waste. It took only a few hours, though, so I then moved on to the dolmen in the Grove.
My knuckles are raw. My knees too, and my shoulders burn so sharply I can barely lift them over my head.
What does Sirmaya want from us?
Y18 D167 — 15 days
Twenty more sisters were Summoned.
