The next few weeks were a flurry of activity. Griselda seemed frantic to share her knowledge with Zenayda. She pulled out some musty books and showed her how to look up information in them. She showed her how to fly on a broom stick and we flew across the Glaxor River to some patches of herbs and mushrooms.

One day we made a special trip to the Dark Grief Heights forest where we all had to be very quiet and careful. I could sense some large predators lurking and when I felt we had been scented, I yowled softly and we all got back on the brooms and left before we could be discovered.

Zenayda was now in charge of making the stews and brewing elixirs. Griselda only watched and encouraged her through the process. Then, she showed her the divining spell. She went carefully over each component.

"This one will take a drop of your blood. I’ll use my blood, so it will be my future we will see,” she explained and I meowed at her to remind her of what we had agreed to. “You will be able to use Shadow’s blood as well.”

“Oh, no,” Zenayda complained. “I couldn’t hurt dear Shadow!”

“Shadow has volunteered. Blood willingly given is very powerful. It will mean added responsibility to you,” she said in a very stern voice. “You must insure Shadow is always well fed and cared for. If you can’t do that, then you should let him go.”

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I yowled in concern at the thought of leaving Zenayda and I could see concern in her face as well.

“Oh, I will always take care of you, dear Shadow! You don’t need to give your blood!” she insisted, but I butted my head against her chest to assure her that it was what I wanted.

“Shadow understands about the blood. As I said, it is a generous and powerful gift. Use it well, my dear,” Griselda admonished Zen. But I already knew she would never take advantage of me.

We continued with the divining ritual. We all watched the orb and it’s images. It seemed to fill quickly with scorching flames. Griselda dismissed it then, as usual.

“What what that?” asked Zenayda. Griselda sighed. “My future,” she said simply.

“When I use my blood, I’ll see my future?” she asked.

“That's right. Just a drop. Then let Shadow add some blood and you’ll see your future and the future of others you think about. If you want to see Darmen, just picture his face and the orb will show you some of his future too,” she explained.

“That was amazing! Can we do it again?” Zenayda asked.

“Not again tonight. The components should be fresh and I’ve used up some of them,” she admonished. “Besides, remember not to use magic lightly. There is a cost to knowing too much about the future.”

As I looked carefully at Griselda’s face, it occurred to me that she had more lines around her eyes and mouth and some white had mixed in with her black hair. I meowed at this realization a new worry filling me, but she only smiled and said nothing more.