“Elissa,” he replied softly, his gaze miles away. His features softened for a moment, and then he cleared his throat. “Yes. She was the Oracle who lived here with my father and me, long before the Nevertide Oracle ventured into the In-Between. Interesting that you should see her…”
“Your name is Draven, isn’t it?” Phoenix prompted.
The Druid’s face went still, holding Phoenix’s gaze, then he nodded. “That is my name, but that’s beside the point... Did you see anything else?”
“A tree,” Phoenix replied, frowning. “But nothing happened—it was just a magnolia tree, outside the house.”
Draven – thank God we finally had a name for him—nodded slowly.
“I think what’s happening here is that your visions have somehow divided,” Draven replied, completely ignoring the matter of the tree. “Vita’s visions took place in the future, Phoenix’s in the past—which makes me assume that Aida’s visions, especially as she saw Vita emerging from the bath, are of the present.”
“Has that ever happened before?” I asked, stunned.
“Not that I know of,” Draven replied. “But then no other Oracle has passed her gift on to another—nor has there ever been an Oracle who was descended from an Ancient.”
“But the future can change, can’t it?” Vita burst out, pallor returning to her features.
“Yes, it can change,” Draven reassured her. “Depending on decisions and actions changing in the present. It is perhaps fortunate that the visions have been divided between you this way—it means we will be better able to isolate what is happening now, what happened in the past, and what may be to come. In most Oracles, it is very difficult to separate the three.”
Vita sank back down into the armchair, gathering up her knees and clutching them to her chest. She had definitely omitted something from her visions—her panic was obvious, and I wondered if she had also left out details of the Destroyer attack she saw. She had claimed she only saw them appear, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“I think that’s enough for today.” I turned to Draven, who looked like he was about to disagree with me, until he saw the warning flash in my eyes. My friends had been through enough. Anything else could wait until tonight or tomorrow. All three of them looked completely exhausted.
“Fine,” Draven replied. “Get some rest. We will resume training tomorrow.” He walked toward the door and then waited, turning to Bijarki with an arched brow when the incubus failed to follow him.
“Right,” Bijarki muttered, taking one last look in Vita’s direction before following Draven from the room.
Vita
[Grace and Lawrence’s daughter]
I should have said something.
Should I?
I just didn’t know. I hoped I’d given the Druid enough information to know what lay ahead, without having to go into the specifics. And if my visions were open to change, then wouldn’t telling everyone about Jovi just worry them needlessly? On the other hand, maybe it was important to be fully aware of the dangers…what might potentially lie ahead. But perhaps now wasn’t the right time—maybe I could tell them later. The visions didn’t take place here, so there was no need to say anything until we left the house…maybe that was the best solution.
Keeping quiet about Bijarki had been more of a self-preservation tactic. I was so embarrassed to have had a vision about him—how would I explain what he was doing there? Why it had felt so intimate, as if we were far closer than I ever wanted to be to the incubus?
Serena was the only one who had noticed something was wrong. I’d seen the way that she looked at me—she’d known I was leaving something out.
“Do you want to get some air?” I asked Aida after Draven left the room.
“Yeah, good idea.” Aida got up off the chair. Serena looked like she wanted to follow us, but Phoenix took her aside instead. We were followed out of the room by Jovi and Field. Together we all made our way to the greenhouse, and then out into the garden.
It felt good to be outside—the living room had started to grow stuffy, but at least my body temperature had returned to normal. I sat down on the grass, and Aida followed me. My pajamas were still damp, but the sunshine would dry them out in a matter of moments. I lay back on the grass, suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion.
“I guess we can’t argue anymore about whether or not we’re Oracles.” Aida sighed. “But what’s that going to mean? Are we going to go blind? Have shadows running across our skin?” She hesitated, thinking of something else.