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

Taking only a little, trying to keep track of what he could spare, I felt the warmth coming back into my body and the hunger starting to feel sated. I sighed when I took the last curl of energy, and retracted my mind from Jovi’s.

“Better?” he asked with a grin.

“Much better.”

I looked up to see the Druid eyeing us curiously.

“You let her take your energy?” he asked Jovi, his expression indicating that he found that extremely strange.

“Of course I do,” Jovi said. “We all do.”

The Druid nodded slowly, turning back to the fire to gaze into its embers. Jovi continued to glare at him.

“I understand if you don’t want to go upstairs alone”—Field interrupted the tense silence that had descended—“but you still need to get some rest. I can stay in the room, if you’d like?”

“Thanks, Field,” I replied, “that would actually be good, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“It’s not a problem,” he replied. “Can you stand?”

“Wait,” the Druid interrupted, holding up his hand for silence. “I think your friends are waking up.”





Serena





[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]




I jumped out of the chair, the last few hours suddenly forgotten as we followed the Druid through to the next room and down to the basement. He hastily lit the lamp on the wall, and we ran down the stone steps. I could feel all of us were anxious to see them. Before we even entered the room, I could hear their breathless panting—faster than earlier, and much louder. Almost as if they were runners coming to the last stretch before the finish line.

Physically they remained unchanged. Their eyes were still closed and they lay still, but their chests rose and fell rapidly. I started to panic when it got louder still… I could practically hear the thuds of their hearts, all galloping in unison.

“Are you sure they’re okay?” I asked the Druid. “It doesn’t sound good.”

The Druid didn’t answer me. He marched over to the bed nearest to him—Aida’s—and felt her forehead. He muttered something that I couldn’t hear, and I glanced over at Jovi and Field. Neither of them seemed aware of the Druid’s actions. Their focus was on the bodies; Jovi’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, and Field’s arms crossed tightly around himself.

The panting stopped. The room immediately fell silent. I took a step forward, moving in the direction of my brother’s bed, but jumped back in fright as all three of them sat bolt upright on their beds.

Their eyes were open, fixed on the blank wall opposite.

“Phoenix?” I gasped, wanting him to snap out of it, to wake up from his strange state that was making me more and more petrified by the second.

“Don’t touch him!” the Druid commanded me as I took another step toward my brother. Without warning, all three heads suddenly jerked upward. Their eyes rolled into the backs of their heads, showing only the whites of their eyes.

In perfect unison they spoke, their voices raspy and strange:

“We are the Oracles.

We see the past, the present, the future.

We see what is to come, and what has been before.

We see all. Time has no meaning.

In every moment, we are present in all.”

The moment they had finished the last syllable, each of them collapsed backward onto the beds.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I just stared, dumbfounded, at my brother and friends, trying to believe that these were still the people I knew and loved better than myself, but a ringing hysteria in my mind told me that it just wasn’t possible that they were.

“Phoenix?” I whispered again.

He groaned, shifting on the bed as if he was fast asleep. This time I didn’t let the Druid stop me. I took his hand in mine, relieved to find that it had returned to a normal temperature. I squeezed, trying to wake him gently.

His eyes flickered open, and after a moment they settled on mine. He frowned.

“Serena?” he asked, sounding confused.

“Oh my God, you’re awake,” I breathed, trying to smile, to appear reassuring. I could hear the others groaning, shifting in their beds as they awoke.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

Phoenix released my hand, moving to scratch the top of his head. The gesture was so familiar I wanted to cry with relief—whatever transformation he had just undergone, he was still my brother.

“Where am I?” he asked instead, looking around at the unfamiliar brick room and the dim lighting. He caught sight of Vita and Aida, instantly looking worried as he took in the strange hospital beds and the white sheets. He looked down at where he was sitting, blinking rapidly in surprise.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his voice stronger this time.

I looked over at the Druid, but felt it was better if I explained.

“Let’s wait for the others,” I replied softly. “Give me a second.”

I moved over to Vita. Her turquoise eyes gazed up at me in confusion, and she gripped my hand tightly.

“Serena, what’s going on? All I remember is feeling sick at the party… Where are we now? Are my parents here?” she asked, looking around wildly. She caught sight of the Druid, and shrank back a little on seeing a face she didn’t recognize. “Serena?” she questioned me, her gaze wary.