Everyone followed, but just before the Oracle passed through she stopped. "No, only you." She pointed to Skylar.
"No," Mason snapped. "I go in with her."
"No, only her."
"Either I go too or she doesn't go at all. How do I know you won't hurt her?"
Skylar was extremely touched by his protectiveness.
"Child, I'm the Oracle."
"I've only heard stories about you. I've never seen you until today. My answer is no." Mason gently tugged Skylar behind him.
The Oracle stood still for a brief second. Just when they were about to walk away, she grabbed Mason by his shirt. "Very well. Just you two."
Everett looked irritated and Amanda held up her hands, giving Mason an annoyed expression. Mason gave them an apologetic look, protectively wrapping his arms around Skylar as they followed the Oracle.
Skylar was surprised to see an undersized sofa, a bed, and a table set for two. In the fireplace was a huge pot. It seemed she was cooking soup. A delicious aroma filled the air and tickled her nostrils. Having not eaten lunch, her stomach gurgled with hunger pangs. She had thought they were walking into a dark tunnel, but that was obviously not the case. It wasn't cold, but the fire crackling and the coziness of the dome-shaped room gave the warm feeling of home.
"Sit down." The Oracle patted the rug next to the fireplace. Then she picked up a long wooden stick and stirred the pot. "Would you like some soup?"
Skylar was about to say yes, but Mason spoke up first, "No, thanks. We're not here to socialize. Let's get this over with so we can get back home."
Skylar could sense Mason's uneasiness from his tone. She also noted the lack of trust he had for the Oracle. Must be his personality, she thought, recalling when he had told her he didn't know if he could trust her.
"Very well." She hobbled to her cabinet and pulled out a silver bowl. Into the bowl, she pinched clear droplets of liquid from the bottles she pulled off the shelves below. After she stirred, she placed the bowl by the side of the fire, watching it carefully, making sure it was warm but not too hot to touch.
"There. This part is ready. Now, let me look into your soul," she muttered, standing in front of Skylar.
"Look into my soul?" Skylar couldn't fathom how she would do such a thing. The Oracle couldn't even see. Well, at least she thought she couldn't, but she seemed to get around just fine.
"Come closer, my dear." She gripped Skylar's shirt, tugging her closer to her, meeting face to face.
Mason moved cautiously closer, looking like he was ready to pull Skylar away.
"Look into my eyes."
Look at what eyes? Is she for real?
Without warning, the old woman's eyes shot open. Had the Oracle not gripped Skylar's shirt tightly in her fist, Skylar would have fallen backward. Mason jerked back as well, almost stumbling. Her eyes were turquoise blue, but glassy and marble like. They looked fake and pulsated like a thumping heart, yet they were real. Staring back at her, Skylar was pulled into a trance and couldn't look away.
The Oracle gasped deeply like she had come up for air from being under the water too long. With a frightened expression on her face, she pulled back. "It's you." The Oracle raised her tone at Skylar, pointing at her. "You are the unknown factor the prophecy spoke of. You are the keeper of death."
Skylar looked bewildered, wanting to run. Her mouth dropped in shock from this astounding news and her eyes were wide as she shifted them from Mason to the Oracle. She couldn't be the unknown factor. She didn't even know what that was. "I'm nothing. I didn't do anything," she cried, wondering what Mason was thinking.
Mason didn't move a muscle. He stood there staring at Skylar, most likely stunned too. Breaking out of his state, he gripped Skylar's wrist and led her toward the door. "We're leaving."
"She has evil in her. You must kill her," the Oracle urged.
When Mason turned, the Oracle was already standing in front of Skylar. It happened so fast he didn't have time to react. The Oracle snatched Skylar's hand and sliced her palm diagonally, wounding her. The swathe had prevented the knife from penetrating deeper. Drops of scarlet liquid dripped into the silver bowl the Oracle was holding before Skylar could snatch her hand away.
To their surprise, the liquid inside the bowl sizzled. The bowl dropped from the Oracle's hand, seemingly too hot to touch. It rattled while spinning endlessly. Finally, it stopped and turned into stone. Then with a puff of black smoke, it turned into ashes. All eyes were glued to what was once a silver bowl.
"Now you see. I have proof," she exclaimed with certainty, backing away and looking horrified. "Her blood is evil," she shrieked. "Did Hades create you? What are you not telling us?"
With this newfound discovery, Skylar had no words. All she could think about at that moment was how similar this was to Remus's death. Had she truly killed Remus? She reflected back to Mason's room. Remus had slapped her so hard the impact cut her lip. In order to escape from Remus's hold, she had bit down on his lip, causing him to bleed too. He had swallowed her blood. This was the only explanation for the way he died.
The room started to spin as she focused on the small pool of blood in her palm. Being told she was evil tore at her heart and her chest tightened, feeling like the air was being sucked out of her. Turning pale, she fought frantically for breath. As if the earth had tilted at that very moment, her knees buckled under her weight. She was about to fall flat on her face, but instead she felt two strong arms, the arms she had felt many times before, protectively surrounding her.
"Stop it," Mason snapped. "She isn't evil."
The Oracle finally calmed down. "She may not be evil, but she will bring evil wherever she goes. There are more like her out there. You must kill every one of them before they destroy us all," the Oracle warned. "Get out. Don't come back. You will bring evil to Olympus. Olympus is all we have left to remind us of what we once were."
With Skylar still in his hold, Mason lightly shook her to get her attention. "Listen. Don't tell anyone what just happened. Do you understand? Everett will kill you, and I don't know what Amanda will do. You must keep a straight face when we get out."
When Skylar nodded to confirm, he turned to the Oracle. "The bridge is gone. How do we get out of here?"
The Oracle didn't respond. She kept staring at Skylar with piercing hatred in her eyes.
Mason gripped Skylar's wounded hand and extended her arm toward the Oracle. "Tell me now before I splash her blood on you."
"Don't touch me." She jerked back. "Go back to the waterfall and follow the stream, or you can go back to where the bridge was and find the path that leads to the same stream. It will lead you back to where you were before the bridge."
"Back to the campsite," Mason mumbled. "Hurry, open the door."
The door flew open. Holding on to Skylar, he led her out. The door shut behind them as the Oracle remained there.
Mason released Skylar from his hold and waited for her to stand steady. He ripped off a strip of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her wounded hand, trying not to touch the blood. "There. That should stop the bleeding for now. You owe me a T-shirt."
"Okay," she replied, losing her train of thought as she looked to where the tear revealed his muscular stomach. "Mason, I'm sorry. I'm not-" Skylar started, but there was nothing she could say. She wanted to cry. She wanted to apologize for killing Remus, even though it had been an accident, but she couldn't. There were no words. The fact remained-she was poison. Knowing she could kill Mason, she had to let him go. Whatever hope she'd had that they would be together disappeared when they walked out that door.
Somehow managing to hold back her tears, she opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she spotted Amanda and Everett. Her muscles tensed, and she couldn't control the rate of her rapidly beating heart.
"What happened to you?" Amanda asked Skylar.
Before Skylar could speak, Mason broke in, "She's fine. I accidentally slit her with a knife she was holding."
"Why was she holding a knife?" Amanda's gaze went to Mason's ripped T-shirt.
"Never mind. It'd take too long to explain. Everything is fine."
Amanda furrowed her brows, most likely not accepting his lack of an explanation, but she didn't ask any more questions. Skylar was more than happy Mason had taken over their conversation. She didn't know what she would've said anyway.
"What happened in there? What did the Oracle say?" Everett jumped in.
"Not much. I knew this was a waste of time." Mason huffed. "She looked into Skylar's eyes and-"
"She what? She can't see, can she?" Amanda looked confused.