The Oracle Series: Vols. 4, 5, & Grave Endowments

by Cynthia D. Witherspoon

  “Good day, Mr. Percy. I will see you tomorrow at the funeral services. I'm sure the entire town will be there.”

  I turned on my heel to march out of the office, but stopped when I caught sight of a line of cameras just outside the front windows. Cyrus spoke up behind me.

  “Sir, is there another exit we can use?”

  “Of course.” The lawyer nodded. “This way.”

  He led us through a maze of small hallways until we reached another door. Percy shook my hand with a tight smile. I could tell he wanted to say something more, but I didn’t give him the chance. I stepped out into the sun more resolved than ever to put the past behind me.

  I had to. There was no other choice. If Elliot and Hera believed my family could be used against me then I had to prove them wrong.

  No matter how much it killed me to do so.

  Chapter Nine

  It took exactly thirty minutes to get through the traffic from Percy's office to the house my folks had inherited from my grandmother. Aside from the bright yellow tape that marked this place as a crime scene, everything was the same as it had always been. The house wasn't as large as the neighboring estates, but it held a charm all of its own.

  Joey whistled when Cyrus pulled into the drive. He was the first to jump out as he began to survey the property. In fact, he had already bounded up the front porch steps when I finally climbed out myself.

  I couldn't explain how heavy the air felt around me when I joined him. Nor could I shake the sudden sadness that overwhelmed me as I took in the wrap around porch where I had spent so many summer days.

  "You really grew up here? This place is amazing, Evie." Joey whistled again. "What was it like?"

  I ignored him as I fiddled for the key in my bag. This was hard enough without my friend wanting to bring my past into it. I refused to let my mind go down the path it wanted to take.

  Memories. Happiness. Running inside to shake the sand out of my hair while my mom announced what we were going to have for dinner that night.

  I resisted the urge to drop my bag on the table by the front door as I had done for so many years and call out to my folks that I was home. This wasn't home. Not anymore.

  It was just a house. No matter how familiar I was with it.

  "Joey, can you do something for me?" I closed my eyes at the faint whispers that had begun to fill my ears. "My mom loved mirrors. There is one in every room. Can you cover them? I can't be here if you don't."

  "Yeah, Evie. What do you want me to use?"

  "There is a linen closet down that hall. Use anything you can find."

  Joey took off like a shot and left me alone with Cyrus in the foyer. My keeper wrapped his arm around me and broke through the whispers of the dead with a single question.

  "What can I do, Little One?"

  I grasped his hand tight against my shoulder. "Just be here. I need you now more than ever."

  I walked through each room when Joey came back to announce it was safe for me to do so. I was surprised. The house was in pristine condition despite the horrible event that had occurred here only two nights ago. I kept telling myself that I had no ties to this place. I ignored Joey when I caught him studying the wall of pictures my mom had collected of us over the years. They meant nothing. Just snapshots of a time best left forgotten.

  What I didn't want to admit to myself was how it felt to be back in my parents' house. Two years had passed since I last crossed the threshold. I stopped in front of the large mirror in the living room Joey had managed to cover with a white table cloth. I brushed my hand over the thin cover to smooth out a wrinkle as I considered how much had changed since my college graduation.

  I had discovered fame. Fortune. Monsters more horrifying in person than in any depiction found in the movies. I lost Elliot. Gained Cyrus and Joey. Lost the two people I was sure would always be here waiting for me to return.

  Don't get me wrong. Its not that I hadn't wanted to see my folks. In fact, I had planned on coming back over the holidays before I met up with Kathy Carter. I talked to my Mom on a daily basis. Shrugged off my father's argument that my life in L.A. was ridiculous. It hadn't been so bad. Nothing I couldn't handle.

  Yet, as I got wrapped up into my role as the Sibyl, I began to make excuses to them. I couldn't come home because I had to catch a flight to some no-name town to film the show. I had an appearance. A red carpet premiere. I told them the exact same lies I told myself.

  I was too busy to see them. To Cyrus, I had emphasized how they drove me crazy. How I couldn't stand to be paraded around in front of my mom's friends as the Hollywood star. But the truth was so much simpler.

  I didn't want them to see me for what I had become. I felt the tears threatening to spill over and I closed my eyes to keep them contained. In one single, solitary moment, Kathy Carter had turned me into a monster. Yes, I defended my loved ones. And yes, I prided myself on saving others. But none of it matter.

  I was a monster just the same. Much like what Elliot had become. Only, I had been forced into my transformation. He had chosen his fate.

  I jerked my hand away from the mirror as if it had burned me. I couldn't think like that. I couldn't think about all the times I had avoided my parents for the fear that they would see me for what I truly was. It hurt too damn much. I had to get in and get out before I began to remember all the things I was trying so hard to forget.

  I marched up the stairs to the bedroom my parents had shared. Although I told Percy to sell everything, there was one object in the entire house I wanted to keep and another I desperately needed to see for myself. I threw open their closet doors to see a tall jewelry box hidden in the corner. I started forward until I noticed a dark smudge against the white door frame.

  Blood.

  I stared at the stain as the images I had tried so hard to forget rushed forward in my mind. The lazy days on the beach. Day trips into town. Renting sailboats so my dad could act out his fantasy of being a pirate. I pressed my hand against the smudge as I realized the one thing I should have known all along.

  Daddy was right. This was all my fault. If I hadn't been so set on being with Elliot, then I would have refused to do the television show. I could have stayed in Charleston after I'd graduated. Built a life here as they had done. I wouldn't have become the Sibyl. I wouldn't have distanced myself from them.

  And they wouldn't have died. Not like this.

  "I'm so sorry." I slid down the doorframe and pulled my knees up against my chest. "If I had known, then I would have been here. I wouldn't have pushed you away."

  I buried my face in the crook of my arm as the shield I had built up around my heart shattered. I prided myself on being strong. On being a protector. But I was nothing. After all, what good was there to knowing how to fight when you couldn't protect the people who needed it the most?

  I could feel my tears soaking through my slacks, but I didn't move as it dawned on me that I would never run into this house again, relieved to be home. I would never spend the day walking along the beach in the backyard, daydreaming about what my future might hold. And now, the only time I could see my parents would be through a piece of cold glass.

  I snapped my head up and caught sight of the dressing mirror by the window. Joey had covered it just as he had the others. I jumped to my feet and shoved the chair out of the way so that I could stand in front of it. I pulled the cloth free then pressed my hands against its smooth surface. The whispers began the second I dropped the cover to the floor, but I focused on the people I wanted to see.

  "Janet and Martin McRayne." I choked back a new round of tears when I said their names. "By the power of the Golden One, I call you to me."

  Faces flickered in a blur behind the glass. I didn't move. I didn't say another word until a single image formed in the mirror. It wasn't my parents. It was me. My reflection may not have been anything spectacular but the man behind me was.

  No, not a man. A god.

  Apollo.

  "What do y
ou think you are doing?" My patron god crossed his arms over his broad chest. "And just where is your Keeper? Why is he not here to stop you from your foolish endeavors?"

  "What does it look like I'm doing?" I snapped as I whirled around. "Let me see them!"

  "No." Apollo gestured at the mirror with an open palm. The surface that had been so active a few moments ago went black. The whispers? Silent. "Are you such a novice, Eva? Are you so ignorant that you don't understand the dangers you are putting yourself in?"

  Ok. That hurt. But I wasn't going to back down from him. Not this time. I mirrored his previous stance and stared at him until the Golden One spoke again.

  "Sibyl, you do not realize the dangers you are bringing onto yourself. And I will not tolerate such foolishness again. You will not be allowed to call their spirits forth. You are banned from attempting to contact them."

  "I need to see my parents." I gritted my teeth as my temper flared. "You have no right to keep me from them."

  "I have every right." Apollo shot back. "I will do everything within my power to keep you on this plane, Eva. Especially now since you have become the sole catalyst for the resurgence in my power."

  "You don't understand." I felt my anger drain away. I knew how valuable I was to the Golden One. I knew he wouldn't allow any harm to come to me. "I have to tell them I'm sorry. I have to see them one last time."

  "For what? The actions of another? For things that were beyond your control?"

  "I should have known." I heard my own voice waver with emotion. "I should have been able to stop Elliot."

  "Eva," Apollo studied me with a pity I was becoming all too familiar with. "Your heart has suffered a grievous injury. I shouldn't have to tell you how clouded your judgment has become. If you do see the ones you seek, what then? What will stop you from attempting to join them?"

  "Nothing." I answered before I could stop myself. "Not a damn thing."

  Apollo was silent for a minute before he closed the distance between us. He didn't touch me, but he stared at me with his strange golden eyes.

  "Let the Skinwalker be your focus, not your emotions. I would strike him down if I could..."

  "Why don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why haven't you? If you're so strong, why didn't you stop him?"

  "Politics." Apollo shrugged. "Dear girl, if I were to smite everyone taken under Hera's wing simply because they harmed me and mine, then I would have been thrown out of Olympus ages ago."

  I threw up my arm behind me to dismiss him. I headed back to the door when he called out from where I had left him.

  "Hera allowed Elliot to become a Skinwalker to destroy you, Sibyl. She is afraid of what you know. What you have become."

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Apollo disappear into the sunlight and the voices of the dead resumed. I could hear them calling out to me. I could hear their fingernails scraping against their side of the glass. So it was true then. Hera was the mastermind behind the murders. She wanted to weaken me. Force my mind to focus on anything other than defeating her. The goddess of the home had used my own blood against me by destroying what little family I had left.

  I felt my heart harden as I turned in circles to examine the room. Within moments, I found what I was looking for.

  I started in the bedroom and gathered up every photograph my parents had saved of their lives together. Baby pictures. Wedding pictures. Every birthday celebrated in my twenty-five years of life with them. I swept them all into the empty clothes hamper that had been left in my old bathroom. When I carried it downstairs, I saw that Cyrus and Joey were standing out on the back porch that overlooked the sea.

  Good. That would keep them from getting in my way.

  Every picture that cluttered the downstairs joined the pile I had made, but I didn't stop until I dumped them all into the fireplace. I flipped the switch to turn the gas on when I heard Cyrus behind me.

  "Little One, what are you doing?"

  "Leave me alone." I struggled against his grasp when my keeper grabbed me by the waist. "I have to do this, Cyrus. I have to."

  I slammed my hand against the small red button hidden beneath the mantle just before he pulled me to my feet. The resulting fire flared and the frames which held my most treasured moments began to melt.

  "Dammit, Eva." Cyrus barked when he whirled me around to face him. "Stop this. You will gain nothing from..."

  "I have to!" I shouted back at him. "Don't you see? Don't you get it? This is my fault. All of it. My parents are dead because of me. Because of what I am. Hera and Elliot used my family against me. They weakened me. It won't happen again."

  "Little One..."

  "It won't!" I heard the fire pop behind me as I hit my hand against his chest. I felt the tears began to fall once more and my words of anger turned into ragged sobs. "I'll forget everything. Every memory. I won't let him hurt anyone else."

  "Breathe, baby. Breathe." My beloved caught my hand to pull me into his arms. "I swear it, Eva, on everything I hold dear, we will get through this. You'll see."

  Cyrus pressed my body against him until we were both lowered down on the floor. He pulled me into his lap to stroke my hair as I grieved for the people I'd lost. He nestled my head beneath his chin when I began to shake.

  "He said he loved me. How could he do this if he loved me?" I sobbed harder with my face in my hands. "I trusted him. Loved him. How could he do such a horrible, horrible thing?"

  My beloved stayed silent until I was finally able to control myself once more. I kept my nose buried into his chest and counted to five. Then again to stave off the tears threatening once more. When I was able to control myself, I pulled away.

  "I'm sorry." I wiped the back of my hand beneath both eyes. "I shouldn't have hit you."

  "Eva, I want you to listen to me." Cyrus tightened his grip around my waist to keep me from leaving his lap. "Don't roll your eyes. Don't come back with a smart remark. Just listen."

  I nodded as I focused on breathing. I didn't have it in me to argue with him. I had used up all of my strength during my breakdown. So I kept my mouth shut for a few minutes and my keeper started talking.

  "Some say that we are shaped by the events in our lives. I don't believe that. Instead, we become who we are by the adversity we face. Some choose to wilt away. Hide in the shadows and pray to their god to save them. Others are hardened. They take their anger out on the world around them. But then there are those who grow stronger. They learn to hold their loved ones dear, even after they lose them. They fight not to cause pain, but to protect others from it."

  Cyrus tugged a soaked strand of hair free from my cheek. He then brushed his fingers beneath my chin until I met his eyes.

  "No one can decide who you will become now, Eva. That decision will be left solely to you. But don't lose sight of those who love you. That would be the greatest tragedy you would ever experience."

  "I can't protect anyone, Cyrus. And my life is so dangerous."

  "You have put that responsibility onto yourself. No one - not me, not Joey, not even your parents - expect you to jump in each time we are threatened. And don't ever apologize for the decisions you make in this life, Little One. It is not an easy one to live."

  I shuddered as my beloved Keeper clutched me tighter against him. After a moment, I whispered. "How can you be so put together right now? Here I am soaking your shirt and you are being philosophical."

  "Philosophical?" Cyrus brushed his nose against the top of my head. "Perhaps. But it is only to help you, Eva. The truth is I want to find Lancaster and rip his damn throat out for putting you through this. One day soon, we will be the first ones to spit on his grave. We will get through this. Together. I vow it."

  Chapter Ten

  I didn't respond for a long time. I didn't have anything more to say so I thought about Cyrus' words and watched the flames dance in the fireplace. For his part, Cyrus did the best thing he could have done. He held me. He told me how much he admired my strength. How much he loved me. O
ccasionally, my beloved would try to kiss away the tears that had dried on my face. When the fire died down, I sighed.

  "I suppose you wouldn't have your flask on you right now. I could use something stronger than wine at the moment."

  "You know better than that." Cyrus reached into his pocket to produce the silver container. "Here."

  I took a swig that burned the back of my throat. Then chased away my desire to choke on the stuff with another drink. I handed it back to him with a grimace.

  "I don't see how you can stand whiskey. It's horrible."

  "The very ambrosia of the gods." Cyrus teased as I stood up. He joined me within seconds. "Eva, in all seriousness, I want you to think about what I said."

  "I will. No, I am." I took his hand. "I am grateful for you. Please know that."

  I didn't give him a chance to respond. Instead, I walked to the doorway and leaned out.

  "What happened to Joey? He was out back with you, wasn't he?"

  "I'm still out here." Joey opened the porch door to lean inside. "I just thought you could use a minute."

  "Thanks, Joey." I went to the door and threw my arms around his neck. "For everything. Even putting up with me."

  "Putting up with you is a pretty tall order, you know." He hugged me back with one arm since the other one was still holding the door open. "You gonna be ok?"

  "No. I'm not sure if I ever will be." I released him and looked past him to the sea. It was calm today but the air above it had turned hazy. "But I'll try. That's all I can promise."

  "Anything I can do? Aside from being my fabulous self?"

  "Go and buy a nice suit." I leaned against the doorframe. "You're going to need one tomorrow."

  "Consider it done. As soon as you tell me where to go." My friend took a step back. "You sure you want to sell this place, Evie? It's beautiful."

  "Yes." I nodded. "There is no peace for me here. Not anymore."

  We stood in silence for awhile until I left him to the scenery. I checked the time on my phone. It was almost two. I went to the family room, found the TV remote in the drawer next to the couch, and flipped on the television. It was still on the house renovation network my mom loved to watch so much. I closed my eyes, listened to a woman squeal over the changes done to her kid's playroom then switched to the local news channel.