A thunderstorm broke out shortly after an ambulance carried the boy to the closest hospital, twenty minutes from his village. Luckily for him, he had suffered relatively minor injuries and his condition was stable. He slept under the supervision of his friends: three boys, each around eleven years old, and a little girl.

His parents had momentarily stepped out to go buy food at the cafeteria. When they’d heard that their son would spend the night at the hospital, they had brought in a few items for him, such as a laptop and some clothes. He was also covered in an extra blanket that had a stars-and-planets pattern on it.

The little girl kept swinging her feet under her chair anxiously. “I’m sorry Victor, I wasn’t quick enough,” she whispered to her brother sitting beside her.

“Don’t be stupid, Anna,” he whispered back.

“The spirits told me he was in danger, but I didn’t understand fast enough.”

“Oh, shut up.”

A moment of silence passed after this piece of brother-and-sisterly dialogue. A flash of lightning filled the room, followed by a peal of thunder. Another one of the boys then said, “The doctors say he won’t be able to play for months.”

“He’s lucky just to be alive,” Victor retorted.

The door to the room opened. All four children looked over, expecting their friend’s parents to have returned from their trip to the cafeteria. However, a man in a white coat strode in instead. He was tall, with dark, curly hair and glasses perched on his nose. “Hello, I’d like to have a look at your friend. Could you leave a moment?”

The boys and the girl concerted each other silently and finally obeyed the doctor. Anna threw back a few cautious looks at the man until her brother became impatient and pulled her out of the room.

The little group waited just outside the door. Even though they wanted to stick around for their friend, they were starting to get restless. Anna especially had trouble staying still.

“Anna, stop moving,” Victor ordered.

“Who’s this man?” she asked.

“It’s the doctor.”

“But there were other doctors before.”

“Maybe they need to check on him again.”

The ringing of Victor’s phone prevented Anna from retorting. After a short conversation, he announced that his and Anna’s mother waited in the lobby and that she would give everybody a lift back home. “Let’s go,” he said.

Anna lagged behind the group as they headed downstairs. When her brother got in the elevator with the other boys, she remained in the hallway.

“Anna, get in here,” Victor ordered.

“But… Matt?”

“We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Anna had other projects in mind, however. She ran off back where they’d come from just as the elevator doors closed on the boys. Victor scrambled to open them again but it was too late to go after his sister.

Anna returned to Matt’s room. She barged in on the doctor peering over him. “Leave him!” she shouted.

Up to this point, the doctor had been absorbed in his observation of the patient. The blanket seemed of particular interest to him. He jumped back at the intrusion with a jolt that upset his glasses. “What? I’m just making sure he’s…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence because Victor rushed in after his sister. “Anna! That’s the doctor!”

“He’s not a doctor!” Anna retorted.

He grabbed her wrist, but she pulled back. The doctor approached the two children and kneeled down in front of the little girl. “Anna?” he asked to confirm her name.

She scowled at him. The doctor scowled back, but then seemed to remember he was the adult and adopted a gentler expression. “Why do you think I’m not a doctor?”

“Because you’re not!”

Victor let out an angry sigh. “Anna, stop saying weird things!”

He pulled harder on Anna’s arm. Then, the sound of hurried footsteps emerged from the corridor. The doctor stopped to listen. Concerned words reached the room, such as “biking in the storm” and “struck by lightning.”

The doctor rushed out. Once he was gone, Victor let out a few heartfelt reproaches, but Anna was too relieved too mind.

***

No one had ever blown my cover before. Had I become careless? Juggling too many tasks at once definitely wasn’t my strong point. And then, I remembered…

They will see right through you.

Anna… Was she the one? While I was investigating the injured boy, she’d figured out I wasn’t a real doctor.

It was the blanket with the stars-and-planets pattern that threw me off. When I saw it, I thought that this was what the clue referred to, that the blanket represented the sky. However, Anna had been right, her friend wasn’t the one.

Later on, I went through the emergencies and found some guy who had just been struck by lightning. He was in a critical state and everything clicked. The sky had, so to speak, fallen on him during the storm.

The fact that I had almost collected the wrong soul concerned me. I would have to be more careful in the future. That said, it had at least allowed me to find the Seer’s successor.

I hurried to the Moonstone Palace right after dropping off my last soul on the shore, praying that the Messenger wouldn’t let this one stay at my place as well.

I met the Snow Raven in her study, which was as ostentatious as the rest of the palace. Her desk stood in front of a huge window made of stained glass. Bookshelves filled with books were scattered around the place. I’m sure she hadn’t read even one percent of those books. They looked good, though.

Once I had reported my findings, she leaned slightly over her desk and asked, “Were you able to sense her power?”

“I couldn’t detect anything until I was very close to her. She’s clearly been using it, probably without realising.”

“She’s still very young, it’ll grow with time. Are those around her aware of this power?”

I remembered the comment from her brother. He’d asked her to stop saying “weird things.” I also remembered that she was the one sitting alone during recess. “Yes, to some extent. She seems isolated from other children.”

The Snow Raven exchanged a glance with Castor, who until now had done a good job of blending in with the wall. He walked toward me and handed me a small velvet pouch. Inside, I found a tiny silver bracelet.

The Snow Raven explained, “This is a concealer. Give it to her so that her powers remain undetectable until she is old enough to become the new Seer.”

“Why should we conceal her powers?”

“Seers are precious individuals. Don’t you think it would be an asset to have one on your side?”

I wasn’t sure what she was getting at. I agreed that having the Seer on your side would automatically give you a tremendous advantage over any sort of enemies or rivals. I mean, what with them seeing the future and revealing all sorts of truths you’d rather keep for yourself. However, the Seers have traditionally been impartial, regardless of whether they were born as humans, angels or demons. The current one lived in a floating tower between Heaven and the Underworld, secluded from the rest of the world.

I glanced at Castor to see if he understood what the Snow Raven meant, but he was useless as ever.

“Why would the Seer take a side?”

“At such a young age, it would be easy to influence her.”

There must have been some issue going on of which I wasn’t aware. I saw no point in asking any further questions. If the Snow Raven had wanted me to understand, she would have said it clearly.

I shrugged and put the velvet pouch in my coat pocket. “Sure. I’ll be going then.”

“Castor, show him out.”

Strange request. I knew the way out very well, especially since I liked it a lot better than the way in. Anyway, I let Castor lead me past the door of the study. As we were going down the big stairwell, I said, “What’s going on?”

He threw a few wary looks around us. Then, he said, “There has been some unrest in Heaven. It was the Light Stag who initially brought up the idea of replacing the Seer. He was quite insistent.”

That wasn’t surprising, coming from the Light Stag. I had no doubt he’d pressured the Snow Raven until she had no choice but to either agree or start a war with Heaven. “His plan is to have the new Seer under his control?”

“The Snow Raven didn’t say as much.” Castor tried hard to remain evasive, but there’s just so much someone can convey with meaningful glances and suggestive eyebrow choreography. He lowered his voice and added, “There have been signs that the Light Stag is trying to increase his control over the three worlds. Keeping the future Seer anonymous until they are old enough to work was a condition on which the Snow Raven insisted. However…”

“There’s no promise that the Light Stag won’t try to find her anyway.”

Castor observed a pause before adding, “Therefore, you understand the importance of preserving the anonymity of the future Seer. Make sure nothing happens to her.”

We’d reached the entrance of the palace. Castor didn’t say anything else, so I thought he’d fallen asleep or something.

I stepped away. “Alright, see you.”

“Soul Collector…”

He came closer again and whispered, “Are you aware that the Light Stag is suspicious of you? During his last conversation with the Snow Raven, he sounded worried that you are somehow plotting against him.”

Castor put it mildly. The Light Stag hated my guts. “He’s just a paranoid old fart.”

“You should be careful. Make sure you are above suspicion.”

I could try to be above suspicion as much as I wanted, those who hated me would always find ways to blame me for something. Meanwhile, I needed to get back to the human world to deliver the concealer. With a bit of luck, I might be able to catch some sleep afterward.