A Gift of Three (A Shade of Vampire #42)(37)

The Druid glanced at us all in turn. He seemed reluctant to continue his story, and anxiety knotted in my stomach.

“Please go on,” I murmured, unable to stand the silence a second longer.

“She told us that she had passed on the gift of her abilities, meaning for it to be an act of kindness to the children of The Shade, so that King Derek might be able to protect your home for centuries to come. At that point, she had not been able to see what was coming—her mother, an Ancient, had kept certain visions from her, essentially blinding her to the existence of Eritopia so she did not go seeking answers or move from her safe haven in Nevertide. Her last wish was that the children of The Shade she had imparted her gifts to were to be brought here—away from Azazel’s reach, able to live safely, even if it was not happily.”

A stunned silence settled over us all. My mind reeled as I tried to understand what this meant for my brother and friends.

“Let me get this straight.” I spoke slowly, trying to focus against the rush of white noise that was running through my head. “Phoenix, Vita, Aida—they’re all going through a transformation that will result in them becoming Oracles?”

The Druid nodded. I looked over at Field and Jovi. Jovi was staring at the Druid like he wanted to physically harm him, his fork gripped in his hand like a weapon. Field had paled, staring at some point in the distance in disbelief.

“Sorry, how is that even possible?” I asked. Oracles were only born when a jinni and a witch bred together—there was no other way one of them could be created, as far as I understood. They were almost an accident, a biological supernatural twist that occurred so rarely that I had thought only one existed after the twins, Hortencia and Pythia, killed themselves by jumping into a volcano, way before I was born.

“It wouldn’t be possible under normal circumstances.” The Druid smirked dryly at his use of ‘normal’ and continued, “But your Oracle was a daughter of an Ancient, far more powerful than any that have gone before her, and any that will come after. She was able to pass on her gift somehow, and have it awaken when she willed it.”

“What? You mean she made this happen? Why couldn’t she let it stay dormant, so they’d be safe?” I was on the verge of screaming, willing to forgive the Oracle for passing on a gift she didn’t know was dangerous, but certainly not for activating it!

The Druid sighed, leaning forward in his chair and looking directly at me.

“We have to trust that it was done at the right time, and for the right reasons. Perhaps it had to happen—maybe the gift couldn’t stay dormant forever, I don’t know. And we will never know… not while Azazel keeps her.”

“This is ridiculous!” Jovi slammed his fists down against the table and glared at the Druid. “The twin Oracle sisters never faced a threat from whatever this man is, this Azazel, when they inhabited Earth—my sister and our friends would be just as fine in The Shade. If the threat is real, which, by the way, I’m still not fully convinced of, GASP could keep them far safer than you could.”

“The two women you speak of committed suicide,” the Druid replied calmly, unruffled by Jovi’s outburst. “They saw that he was coming. They knew their time was up, and so rather than be taken by him, they did what they believed was best.”

“And you know that how?” I asked. That wasn’t the story Benjamin had told us of how those twins had died… unless those twins had kept the real reason of their suicide from him.

“It was seen by another,” the Druid replied vaguely.

“Another Oracle?”

“Yes.”

His face darkened suddenly, almost as if a shadow had crossed it. I wondered if it was sorrow—had another Oracle been taken from here, or been lost to him and his father, before the Nevertide Oracle’s arrival in the In-Between? Before I could ask, Field interrupted.

“I want to know why you care,” he said, his voice matching the calm of the Druid. “What are our friends to you? Why are you so intent on helping the Nevertide Oracle, so much so that your father apparently lost his life trying to save her?”

“My kind once ruled Eritopia—happily and fairly. If Azazel no longer holds the power of the Oracles, we may find a way to end his rule,” the Druid replied. He rocked in his chair, turning his attention back to me. “That is enough questions for tonight. You can ask more tomorrow, but for now I need to return to your friends.”

“Do you know any more about when they might wake?” I asked quickly, ignoring his statement.

“No.”

He rose from the table, and without another word he left the room.

“I’m not sure I believe any of this,” Jovi announced the moment he had gone.

“I’m not convinced either—or at least, I’m struggling to fully understand it. But I don’t think we have much choice right now but to wait until they come out of the transformation,” Field replied. “Serena… what do you think?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “He has a lot of information about us—about the Oracle twins, about the Nevertide Oracle. She did bless the trio, or do something, that much we know. What if it is all true?”

The consequences of that, if everything the Druid had said was true, were mind-blowing. Not only would my brother and friends become Oracles once they woke—with powers that were completely life-altering, and potentially damaging—but they would also be in grave danger… We all would.