A Shade of Vampire 43: A House of Mysteries(45)

Vita still seemed flustered, and a pink glow appeared on both her cheeks.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked again, looking at her closely.

“Yeah,” she replied quickly. “Just some…weird dreams.”

“About the Oracle?”

She shook her head. “No. Erm, they were just weird. About boring stuff—you know, usual weird dream stuff.”

“Right,” I replied slowly. That girl was so odd sometimes. I didn’t imagine for a moment that Vita had ordinary dreams. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like up there in that head of hers.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she asserted, jumping up off the bed.

“Oh, my God, guys, can you keep it down?” Aida groaned, thumping her pillow.

“Sorry,” I replied, as Vita crept off to the bathroom. I came and sat down on the bed, leaning back against the headboard.

“What time is it anyway?” Aida asked, her tone sullen.

“I thought we could have dinner soon,” I replied, knowing that the mention of food would probably cheer her up.

“That would have worked if I didn’t know that dinner consists of the same food we had last night, and the night before,” she replied, reading my mind, but now grinning reluctantly.

“It’s still food,” I sighed.

“Did you find out anything more about the Daughters?” Aida asked.

I shook my head. “No. But Elissa’s diary is getting more interesting—I think I’m close to understanding what happened to her. The subject of sight restoration came up, but apparently, it was Almus, Draven’s father, who helped it happen.”

“Really?” she replied, sitting up. “That’s odd.”

“Yeah, I know. I just hope the magic hasn’t been lost…that Draven might be able to do the same.”

“So do I,” Aida replied. “It worries me, a lot. But do you think the Oracle would have passed on the gift in its true form? She must have known that blindness is a sucky deal—no matter if you can see the past, or future or whatever.”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “She might not have known any different. If she was blind from birth, maybe she didn’t know it was that bad?”

I felt guilty as the words left my mouth—it wasn’t exactly an encouraging sentiment—but I didn’t want to lie to Aida either. We needed to be prepared for the worst, and hopefully, find a way to stop it.

“And the reproductive organ bit.” Aida shuddered. “That would not be okay.”

I didn’t reply. As far as I was aware, from Elissa’s diary, she had remained unable to bear children. But surely that was something you had to be born with? Obviously, Aida and Vita both had their reproductive organs—how would that ever change?

“I don’t think you need to worry too much about that,” I replied, coming to a conclusion. “You have them, you can’t just lose them like you can your sight.”

“Yeah,” replied Aida quietly, “but they can stop working...”

Not knowing what to say, I took her hand and clasped it in mine instead. I wasn’t going to let that be my friend’s fate. I would move heaven and earth to make sure they didn’t have their future children robbed from them.





Aida





“We’re going to see the Daughters tomorrow,” the Druid announced as we all sat down to dinner. Serena and Vita turned to him in surprise. I was pleased he’d come to that decision, but considering what the girls had told me about his reluctance earlier, I’d have thought he was going to refuse. I also noticed that Bijarki looked less than pleased. He stared angrily down at his plate, avoiding making eye contact with Draven.

“I’ll take you through the process in the morning. You’ll need to be ready. It won’t be an easy journey, but it’s one I think we need to make,” Draven continued, his last comment aimed at the incubus. “You’ll all need to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Where are these Daughters?” Jovi asked before I could. “Will we be going through the jungle? The girls will need footwear.”

“No,” Draven replied. “It’s not like that. You’ll see tomorrow, but we won’t be going through the jungle. There’s little chance the Destroyers will be able to sense we’ve crossed over to their location, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.”

I wondered what he meant by ‘crossed over.’ Would we be traveling through a portal? I wanted to ask Draven, but I gathered from his expression that he considered the conversation over—we’d just have to wait and see what tomorrow would bring. I was apprehensive, but excited too. I would give anything to get out of the house and have a day of different scenery.