Mira arrived early.
Seraphine was still arranging the table when she heard the knock, two precise raps, the same as every day, even though the door was open and had been open since sunrise.
She looked up.
Mira was standing in the doorway with two books under one arm and a small cloth bag in her other hand, her glasses already slightly askew from the walk over.
"You're early," Seraphine said.
"I know." Mira pushed her glasses up. "I couldn't sleep."
"Thinking about yesterday's session?"
"Thinking about the vision from yesterday's session." She came inside and set her books on the edge of the table, careful not to disturb Seraphine's arrangement of the ritual components. "The cold room with the stone walls. I keep trying to remember more of it and I can't. It's like trying to hold water."
"That's exactly what it is," Seraphine said. "Sit down."
