As I tromped through the dirty London streets the world of the Renaissance came to life around me. Shopkeeps shouted out to passerby, women chatted around market stalls, and officials on horses occasionally came through the street. The smell of London was nothing like I imagined. History seems like it would smell dusty with undertones of Plague, but the streets smelled of baking bread, perfumes, and sunshine.

Passing by the blacksmith's, the cobbler's, and the alehouse, I came across one building that really caught my eye. A shabby run down shack off the main road with a little sign that read "See your Future." Below that on the building itself, people had graffitied "witch" multiple times. Witches were so taboo in this time period for making awful things happen, yet today we believe that these women couldn't have been more than an apothecary with a good placebo effect going for her. My curiosity pushed me past the creaking stoop of the shack and put my knuckles upon the door three times.

The door creaked open on my third knock as if she had been standing right there waiting for someone to come by. The woman stepped out from behind the door, and the smell of rose petals and death filled the air. Her hair fell in gray greasy strands around her face, and her clothes were odd mixtures of different garments from a fur-lined cape to a dirty red skirt. "Come to seek the future or tell it, dear?" she asked in a surprisingly young voice. "Tell," I replied, I mean heck, I came from the future, I bet she'd think I'm the real deal. "Come in, come in," she gestured me further into the house, and the door to the front closed behind me without a touch from her or me.

She led me through a dingy hallway that moaned as we crossed the floor. I swear I could hear the sound of rats chittering away in the rafters, and the smell of corpse grew stronger as we pushed further into the shack. We walked for an impossibly long time considering how small the shack looked from the exterior but finally, she turned left and ducked through rich blue curtains into a room covered in cushions. The smell of rose petals covered this room and saved me from the ever present smell of death. She gestured to a dark green cushion and sat across from me on a yellow one herself.

"So, what do you foresee?" she murmured to me gently. "Well, I um... I foresee death!" I proclaimed. "Ah, of course, but whose deaths do you see?" "How did you know it was more than one?" I asked hesitantly. "I too have foreseen the death of many of our royal house, and I think we may have the same message from the beyond," she replied soothingly. "Alright...George Bolyen...Henry Norris...Sir Francis Weston...William Brereton...and uh..."

"Anne Boleyn," she supplied. "Yes," I breathed. "I have seen ill omens about her for quite a few years now, but her safety is beyond repair," she said. "Why?" I asked. "Anne's ambition will destroy her because Henry only wants his wants put first, she is too progressive for our time," she explained. "There's nothing we can do to help her?" I pondered. "I think that is in your future, my dear. I believe you will be faced with the ultimate choice, do you witness her downfall, or do you save her." "Why me?" I questioned. "You're the one who fell through history, not I," she replied.

Abruptly she stood up and gestured once again for me to follow her across the hall. In the next room, slats of white light poured down from the ceiling and doused the room in shadows. Hanging out of drawers and covering the floor were clothes from every walks of life. "Choose a court gown, I think Henry could use a new soothsayer," she stated. "What? But I really can't see the future!" "You doubt your talents, dear - this is your chance to make your choice, now pick a gown," she insisted.

The room was a mess, let me just say that. It took several hours to collect all the courtly clothing from the room into a pile and by that time the sun was setting, and the room was only getting darker. In a small room off the cushion room, the woman set about making dinner over a small fire. "You'll sleep here tonight, and then we'll prepare you for your journey in the morning," she said. I couldn't resist the thought of a good night's sleep, and she led me back to the cushion room where I passed out within minutes.

The morning dawned bright and white, and I could smell fresh bread as I sat up. On the cushions next to me lay a gown of golden yellow with the characteristic square neckline and a crescent hood with pearls sat on top of the full skirts. It was stunning and seemed very out of place in the dingy shack. I quickly dressed and went into the room where the smells of breakfast pervaded the air.

The woman brought me bread and a cup of ale, and gestured for me to sit on a small wooden stool by the fire. She proceeded to comb my hair with a brush and braid it up into the back of my hood. She gave me a beautiful natural pearl choker with a moon shaped pearl hanging from the strand to put around my neck. Finally, she covered my face in white paste and added a bit of color to my cheeks and lips. She hobbled over to a shard of glass sitting on a ledge, and held it up for me. It was another person who stared back, it seemed.

She then returned with a trunk filled with the clothes and shoes I had sorted out yesterday and told me the royal guard was awaiting me on the main road. We heaved the trunk together down the mossy path and back out onto the road. Two men on horses trotted down the streets towards me, but as I turned around to thank the woman, she had completely vanished.

"Miss, are you seeking an escort to the palace?" a blond man asked from a top his chestnut horse. "Yes, I am to see King Henry himself, I have some things to warn him about," I replied.