Startled, I looked over my shoulder. A woman dressed in a white, flowing gown stood near a pile of boulders. She was beautiful with windswept golden hair and brilliant silver-blue eyes. A warm, welcoming smile spread over her features as I stared.
Another shiver ripped through me.
“Such a nice surprise,” she said. “It’s not every day I get such a lovely visitor. My name is Lucia. Can I offer you a drier place to sit and, perhaps, something to drink?”
I carefully stood and wiped off the seat of my pants. Sand and delicate fish bones fell away from my cold fingers.
“My name is Megan, and somewhere warm and dry sounds great.”
“Warm,” she said with a smile. “Yes. Warm is good.”
She motioned for me to follow and disappeared into a space between two giant boulders.
My shoes squished wetly as I walked up the sloped beach to the boulder strewn plateau. The crevice between the rocks was tight, but I could feel the warm air flowing out and saw the soft flicker of firelight.
With some wiggling, I pushed my way through. The dim passage I found myself in wasn’t much wider than the entrance.
“It helps keep the heat in,” Lucia said from somewhere ahead, as if reading my mind.
I took a step forward and something crunched under my shoe. I squinted down at my feet but couldn’t see anything in the icky darkness gathered around my legs.
“I apologize for the mess. It’s not easy to keep a cave clean.”
I continued forward, that feeling of disquiet growing. But, no anger.
The ground tilted down slightly for several yards before I came to a bend. The light flickered more strongly ahead. I stepped around the edge, thinking to see an end, but it was just more passage. I looked back, staring at the sliver of daylight I was leaving behind.
“We’re almost there, Megan. A warm fire and some wine. If you’re old enough, that is.”
I turned toward the firelight once more, my shoes crunching on something with each step.
“Old enough? I didn’t think those rules applied here.”
Her gentle laughter floated back to me.
“I do try to respect all rules. Without them, our world would be complete chaos. No one wants that.”
Something rolled under my foot when I placed my next step, throwing me off-balance. I spread my arms to keep myself from falling, and my palms connected with cold, slimy rock. A dank, damp smell heavy with bitter smoke filled my nose. Flinching away from both the smell and the rock, I removed my hand. The smell vanished.
The oracle’s home was disgusting.
“Why do you live in a cave?” I asked, carefully moving toward the flickering light.
“There’s nothing to build with on the Isle of Woe.”
I frowned. She was right. There’d been nothing but rock and bones. How, then, was there a fire?
Another bend reflected in the light. Warmth wrapped around me, making steam rise from the cold, wet jeans clinging to my legs. I knew I was getting close. Instead of hurrying, I slowed.
My gut was telling me something wasn’t right, but my fury temper was quiet. Not a whisper of anger. Sure, I was annoyed as hell that I was cold and wet and smelled like fish, but that had nothing to do with Lucia. Why, then, did I feel like continuing was the wrong thing to do?
“Are you coming, Megan? I just poured you some warmed wine.”
Unsure why I was feeling weird about the place, I soldiered on and rounded the bend. Relief rushed through me that the space before me wasn’t more narrow passage.
A fire burned in an open pit to one side of the large cavern. Thick smoke curled up toward the tiny hole in the ceiling. My eyes barely noted the flames that I’d followed there. Instead, my gaze was drawn to a large, wooden table that took up the center of the space. Its grain gleamed so palely in the firelight that it appeared almost white. Dark engravings decorated the surface, epic battle scenes showing men in loincloths and armor fighting on mountains and in valleys.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it?”
Lucia’s voice drew me from the mesmerizing images. She stood beside the table and pulled out the single, cushioned dining chair.
“Come. Sit. Rest yourself, and tell me why you’re here.”
I walked toward the table and the old-fashioned goblet blocking part of a scene that kept drawing my eye.
“I came to talk to you.”
“Me? Why?”
I managed to look up at her.
“You’re an oracle, right?”
She smiled softly and gestured to the table.
I sat with a heavy exhale. Until the moment when I eased the weight off my legs, I hadn’t realized just how tired I was. It felt weird being so exhausted. I would need to remember swimming in hypothermic lakes the next time I felt angry.
“I am an oracle. The only one in Uttira at present,” she said, motioning to the heavy goblet. I picked it up and felt her hand brush over my wet hair.
“You’re so cold. I have another gown if you’d like to change.”
I shook my head and brought the goblet to my lips. The metallic taste of the cup made me hesitate. A heavy feeling gripped my stomach, and I glanced at the fireplace just above the rim of the cup. The flames danced prettily from their source. Bones.
I set the cup down quickly but couldn’t seem to focus on the source of the flames again.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like wine? I can fetch you some water.”
“No. It’s okay.” I blinked, trying to focus on what was feeding the fire. Had I really seen bones?
A jab of anger hit me right between my eyes. Before I could react, it was gone. I frowned and rubbed my eyes, having a hard time focusing on anything but the flames, themselves, and the table and the feel of her hand on my head.
This wasn’t right. I looked at the walls but could only see a hazy darkness. Something was very wrong.
“Why are you living in the middle of the lake?” I asked.
“We are all meant to be somewhere, Megan. Where would you have me be?”
“In town. In a normal house.”
“Easily accessible? No, my sweet treat. That’s how wars start.”
Sweet treat? I wanted to shiver at the words and decided it was time to start listening to my gut even if my fury temper was quiet. My gut yelled at me not to relax or rest, that I needed to hurry up. That I was taking too much time even though I’d just gotten there.
“So how does this work?” I asked. “My friend told me there’s a price for everything. What’s your price to answer my questions?”
Lucia laughed lightly.
“Your friend sounds very wise. Most people who come here think answering questions is my purpose.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes and no. Although I can see glimpses of the future, that’s not the sum of my existence. We should be more than just our purpose, don’t you agree, Megan?”
“I guess.”
“Don’t guess. Know.”
“That’s why I’m here. Because I don’t know.”
“Oh?” she said, her hand stroking over my hair again.
“I need answers. My mom left me, and I need to know why.”
“Let the past stay in the past. Why she left doesn’t matter. Your future is what you seek, is it not?”
“Fine. What do you see in my future?”
“I see you drinking your wine.”
A tingle of frustration raced through me, and I knocked the goblet aside. A hiss resounded near my ear. I turned back to look at Lucia and caught a glimpse of something that wasn’t Lucia. A wide mouth and scaled skin. Her face came back into focus, smiling kindly with golden hair falling prettily around her shoulders.
She touched my hair again, stroking the dried strands.
“What’s your true form, Lucia?”
She jerked slightly.
“True form? What do you mean?”
“We all have true forms, don’t we? That’s why I’m here. I need to know mine. I need to know what I’ll become.”
“Become. You’ll become nothing more than what you are, cod fish,” she said. Her hand left my hair, and she moved toward the fire. “I have some bread warmed, if you’d like.”
She reached for something from the darkness near the pot. As she walked toward me again, her eyes reflected silver, like they’d caught light. But, she had her back to the fire.
Rage ripped through me, so harsh it felt as if I was going to be torn in half. I stood suddenly, knocking over the chair and slammed my hands down on the table before me. The scent of fresh wood smoke teased my nose.
The oracle stopped walking, the form of her face flickering ever so briefly between snake and woman at the same time my rage vanished. We stared at each other for a long moment.
“You are not what you seem,” I said. “And, this place isn’t what it seems.” As I spoke, I looked around the room again. This time, I saw more than I wanted to.
A waist high ledge made of bones ran the circumference of the room. The floor was covered with them as well. They weren’t human, but they weren’t fish either.
“Are you eating mermaids?” I asked, dragging my gaze back to her.
She smiled slightly.
“You’ve already noted that there’s nothing on this island. What did you think I ate?”
“I don’t understand,” I said, frowning.
She laughed.
“Of course you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be here.”
Another jolt of anger poked at me only to vanish again.
“What I don’t understand is why I’m not hurting you. Killing is wrong.”
“My sweet fledgling fury, what defines wrong but the rules we are taught?”
My skin warmed with my growing irritation. She was responding to my questions with half answers and vague counter-questions. Although the swim in the lake had worn me down for a bit, my general pissiness was more than ready to bounce back.
The scent of fresh wood smoke grew stronger, and her gaze dipped to her table.
“Stop,” she commanded, rushing forward. “You’ll destroy it.”
Smoke curled up from the table. My hair tickled my cheek as I lifted my hands from the wood and looked down at the scorch marks. The carvings that had been under my palm were gone.
“Hateful, hell bird,” she hissed.
“Lying snake,” I said, looking up at her.
Her gaze narrowed on me.
“I don’t lie.”
“How do you explain these bones?” I asked. “You’re killing people, and I think I even see a few human bones over there.”
“I’ve already answered that. I must eat.”
“And, why am I not angry? Consuming flesh is against the rules. Wicked.”
“Because the past does not exist here. Nor the future. Only the present. And, in the present, I haven’t killed anyone or consumed anything.”
Her words worried me. Not the killing, but about the time. Something was wrong with what had been happening since I’d arrived. My hair had dried while she’d touched it. Only minutes had passed yet my hair, which took a good hour to air dry, was no longer wet. My gut told me again that I needed to hurry up and get my answers then leave.
“What is my true form, and how do I control my rage?” I asked.
She smiled and reached out to touch my hair. I batted her hand away. Now, the touch of her skin against mine sent a shudder of revulsion through me. She felt cold and damp, like the stones.
Impatience stoked the fire growing inside of me.
“Lucia, you have about ten seconds to start giving me some real answers before I get really mad.”
She laughed.
“I’ve done nothing for you to label me wicked, my tidbit.”
I shivered at the words. If she wasn’t doing something wrong, now, she definitely had something wicked planned for me in the future. Since getting angry at her wasn’t working well, I went another route.
I focused on the flames licking me from the inside and thought of Eliana waiting for me and her worry. Then, I thought of Oanen. Of all the times I’d burned him because I didn’t know what I was doing. Finally, I thought of my mom and all the answers she hadn’t shared.
My anger climbed higher, and I knew the moment the oracle understood the situation. Her silver eyes reflected the orange light glowing from mine.
“If you leave now,” she said, “I’ll give you the answers you seek.”
“No.” I set one of my hands on the table and smiled. “Smells like toasting marshmallows, don’t you think?”
“Hateful hell brat. I’ll answer one now and one when you’re in the boat, rowing away.”
“Fair enough. But, I will turn around and destroy everything on this desolate rock you call home if you go back on your word.”
She nodded and looked pointedly at my hand. I lifted it from the table and arched a brow.
“Come.” She turned and started toward the crack in the rocks. “Your true form is born of—”
She disappeared from view, and I rushed forward, slipping into the passage.
“Born of what?” I asked.
“Born of fire. Keep up. I won’t repeat myself. That is not part of our bargain.”
I hurried, slipping and sliding over the bone littered floor.
“Vague answers aren’t part of the bargain, either. I already know I have fire. I want to know my true form. What will I look like? Am I going to be a snake woman like you? I want specifics.”
She laughed from somewhere ahead, the howl of the wind almost carrying the sound away.
“You are nothing like me. That you are born of fire means you are made from the flames of hell. You are hell’s messenger. You bring the souls of the damned to their final place of unrest.”
“But what will I look like?”
I turned the second bend and could see a dim sliver of light ahead but no Lucia. Another shiver ripped through me as the first gust of cold air rushed into the passage and hit my slightly damp jeans. It wasn’t until I stepped out of the opening, into a wind lashed early twilight, that I understood what had happened.
Time had passed while I’d been in the cave. More time than I’d anticipated. A storm had rolled in, blotting out the light of day and turning the lake into a sea of crashing waves.
Ahead, on the shore, Lucia stood near a boat. I stumbled forward, the wind battering me and whipping the strands of my hair into my face. It hadn’t yet started to rain, but I could feel moisture in the heavy air.
“What will I look like?” I repeated as I neared.
Her gown billowed in the gale winds but her golden hair barely moved.
“You will look much like you do now. Hair flying and eyes burning bright. Only, you will be covered with giant flames.”
That didn’t sound so bad.
“And the rest?”
“In the boat.” She motioned to the vessel the waves were trying their hardest to pull back out into open waters.
I stared at the boat that had carried me most of the way to the isle. The plug was once again in place, and both oars waited for me. My bag, which had held my change of clothes, lay ripped and empty in the bottom of the boat. There was no salt. No weapons. And, the oracle wanted me to head out into storm-tossed waters just before sunset.
Our eyes met, and she smiled slowly.
“In you go, Megan. Once you’re in the water, we’ll both get what we want.”
“You want me dead.” I said it without thinking, but I knew I was right when she smiled wider.
“Stay here with me and never learn the truth, or get in the boat and take your chances with the open waters.”
“Not much of a choice,” I said.
“But it’s still a choice. And one only you can decide.”
Pushing back my hair, I stepped into the boat. It rocked under me then jerked forward. I looked back at Lucia, who was pushing me into the crashing waves.
“The answer,” I yelled over the noise.
“Row, Megan. And, I will keep my word.”
I started rowing, getting drenched quickly with the first wave that hit the bow.
Lucia’s voice carried to me as I put distance between the shore and the boat.
“Controlling your temper is like asking a fish not to swim. You were born to be angry. There is no controlling it. Those who’ve told you otherwise have been lying to you.”
Adira. The Quills. The Council. They’d all lied to me. Everything I’d been told to do. All the tests. Lies. Why? They were keeping my mark from me based on my inability to control my rage. Did that mean I would never get my mark? That I would be forever trapped in Uttira?
I saw red. And through that color-stamped haze of emotion, I also saw Lucia change. Her beautiful face melted away to reveal the sleek flat head of a snake. Her body elongated, and her arms and legs disappeared.
Suddenly, I understood what she really meant when she said we’d both get what we wanted once I was in the water. She had given me my answer, and now she was going to get what she’d wanted all along. A meal.
I pulled hard on the oars and ignored the icy water hitting my back. Nothing mattered but rowing as fast as I could. My life depended on it.
