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

by Cynthia D. Witherspoon

  “Jonah? You care to tell me what the hell just happened?”

  “It’s the Astral Plane,” Jonah told her. “I don’t know how Hera got us here without the Astralimes—”

  “I don’t need to quiver with such trivialities.” Hera tossed Jonah’s batons one way, and Eva’s sword another. “The fact that you didn’t know that Akraia was one of my designations shows that you are ignorant of vital literature.”

  “I know my mythology just fine,” snarled Jonah. “I just never heard that name.”

  “Well.” Hera gave a minimal shrug. “Disregarding your teachings does have its consequences.”

  “Why did you bring us here?” demanded Eva. “You're a little early for the whole 'you will meet your doom at the Golden Hour' thing.”

  Hera laughed. “I know that you’ve been in contact with Apollo, Sybil. I am aware of what he shared with you. Let’s see how you perform your tasks while bound to this stupid boy. And concerning Sunday? You’ve already experienced how Astral time and Earthplane time are different. It could be five minutes after I snatched you from

  Covington. It could be the next morning—or it could be Sunday, nine hours from the

  Golden Hour.”

  Jonah felt an icy chill. Eva posed the question.

  “Alright, fine,” she snapped. “Go ahead and tell us what happens then. I can tell you're just dying to rub it in."

  Hera’s smile faded, replaced by a hatred so pronounced that Jonah could barely look at her. “The Golden Hour is the time that the crossed lines will have contradicted each other’s purposes and affects so completely that you will be rendered mortal once more, half-breed. At which time, you will be treated to your long overdue death. Think of it as a

  Grave Endowment.”

  “So you wanna explain to me how you're managing to be here?" Eva was trying to work on the bindings behind her back, smarting Jonah with each movement. “How are you doing this? Apollo said the gods couldn't reach the Astral Plane!”

  “But I am not a goddess, Sybil,” said Hera, and she shape-shifted into her previous form. “I am the Protector Guide Akraia! See you very soon!”

  She turned to mist and faded, leaving Jonah and Eva bound on the Astral Plane.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Eva McRayne

  This was great. Just great. I struggled against the bindings for a minute before I realized that with each movement, they grew tighter. I finally gave up when Jonah hissed as the binds cut into our chest.

  “Jesus, Eva. Stop. That’s not going to work.”

  “You know, as much as I enjoy being pressed against your back, Jonah. I would prefer it if we were freed.” I shifted in attempt to put more space between us. “I mean,

  I’m all for bonding, but this is too much.”

  Jonah was quiet for a second. After a moment, he broke the silence around us.

  “What do you know about my abilities?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “How I burned Elliot. Spill it, Superstar.”

  “Fine. When I was out, Apollo stopped by for a visit.”

  “A visit?” His words were laced with sarcasm. “So you had a little father-daughter day while we were all worried sick over you?”

  I knew Jonah knew nothing about it, but the pang went through me at his words anyway. I did the only thing I could and matched his sarcasm.“Oh yeah. It was great. He took me out for ice cream. Next week, he swears he’ll take me to the movies and the park.”

  “Eva…”

  “Look, he told me we were going to get snatched, alright? And he told me that you were going to be my guard in this place. But don’t you dare get the wrong idea. I’m no damsel, Blueberry. And I sure as hell don’t need you to protect me.”

  I turned my head as far as I could and he mirrored my movements. I could see the beginnings of a small smile on his face at the use of my nickname for him.

  “You don’t need a guard. You need a babysitter.”

  “I hate you so much right now.”

  I would have smacked him if I could, but the shadows around us started to shift as Elliot came into view. He had returned to his human appearance and even in the darkness of this place, I could see burns across his mouth. The vitriol in his expression was so pronounced that I shuddered despite myself.

  “You are being transported.” He snapped his fingers as a group of black masses appeared around him. “You will come with us.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Jonah started, but he was cut off when Elliot came over to him and punched him hard enough to knock his head into mine. I winced as Jonah shook off the hit and spat blood out of his mouth. “You’re going to pay for that, Fido,” he seethed.

  Elliott didn’t even dignify Jonah’s words with a response. “I will undo the bounds and you will follow me.”

  He touched the binds with a single finger and they fell away. I lunged upwards the moment I was free, grabbing for Elliot as the Shades encircled us. He gave me a blistered grin as he caught me against him.

  “It’s been awhile since you were throwing yourself at me, Evie.” He leaned in as if to kiss me. “We have time enough before the Golden Hour. Perhaps we can have a small reunion before it is over for you.”

  “You’re disgusting,” I grumbled.

  Elliott grunted. “Says the home wrecker that has the power to destabilize Olympus.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. What did that mean? Seemed a little dramatic, even for Elliott. But I couldn’t think much about it now. Despite being freed from each other, I had my orders from Apollo to follow, which sadly, did not include bashing Elliot's face in. So I let my enemy turn me around as we followed Jonah down a ragged path that faded into view as we walked on it.

  “We have quite the show lined up for you two.” Elliot broke the thick silence around us as we came upon a large door. As it was so dark, I couldn’t see much else than the door itself. “I’m certain you will both learn a thing or two from it. I know I did.”

  Neither of us answered as we entered a room lined with two large jail cells. I watched as the Shades shoved Jonah into one of them then Elliot grabbed my arm to throw me into the other. I landed with a grunt against a frozen stone floor.

  “Enjoy your limited freedom, Evie.” Elliot slammed the door behind me. “I am sure it will be the last you will ever know.”

  I waited until they were gone before I took in our surroundings. I didn’t know much about the Astral Plane. Ok, scratch that. I knew nothing about the Astral Plane, but it seemed as if Hera could adapt it to her will. Could we do the same?

  “You alright?” asked Jonah as he peered at me through the bars which separated us. “Yeah,” I nodded as I took in the dark mark across his right cheek. “You?”

  “Apart from being pissed that I can’t wring Wolf Man’s neck, I’m wonderful.” He winced as he slung his hands over the bars. “You said that Apollo told you about being captured. He didn’t happen to mention how we were going to be freed, did he?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “But I can’t tell you. He made me promise.”

  “Ok.” Jonah breathed out the word. “Then what did he do to me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look, I know I don’t understand all of my abilities yet. But fire? Not one of them.

  And if I can use it to get us out of here, then I need to know that.”

  “You can’t. He blessed you with the ability of fire, Jonah. If you stopped jawjacking long enough to look at your aura, you can see how he changed it.”

  Jonah dropped his head to stare at his feet then whistled when he noticed the gold glistening against the blue.

  “How long will it last?”

  “I have no idea. Could be permanent.” I shrugged as I slid down the bars to rest my arms against my knees. “Apollo said you needed it. Turns out, he was right.”

  “Why?”

  “Why did he give it to you? I have no idea.”

  “No.” Jonah slum
ped down to his knees beside me to tap my arm with his hand.

  “Why you? Surely you aren’t the first Sibyl. Has Hera gone after any of them before?”

  I went silent as I tried to put my thoughts together then shook my head. “No, she didn’t have a reason to before. With me, she does.”

  “You gonna share what that is? Or am I going to have to play twenty questions with you to get it out?”

  “I figured out something I wasn’t supposed to.” I shifted around to face him. “Did you know that a person can absorb the knowledge of a god?”

  That gave him pause. He stared at me as if I’d grown a mustache until he started laughing.“I think you hit your head, Superstar. That’s the most ridiculous—”

  “You saw me fight, Jonah.” I spoke in a whisper, afraid that our guards would return. “You think I learned all that from Cyrus? He’s good, but no. It wasn’t because of his training. It was because I absorbed Athena’s knowledge.”

  “Athena.” Jonah stopped laughing. I assumed he was trying to process what I was telling him. “The Athena. Goddess of War, Wisdom, and Battle Strategy.” I raised an eyebrow, which made Jonah scoff.

  “Okay, so I read more mythology than just the bits I did on book reports,” he admitted. “But that’s who you mean, right?” “Yes,” I answered, “and Hera herself. Where do you think I got my charisma from?

  Why do you think people flock to me in droves? I mean, I’m fantastic, I know. But with

  Hera’s knowledge, I skyrocketed.”

  “And because you know this—”

  “—I am a threat. I’ve become more than just the Sibyl, Blueberry. I’ve got attributes of two of the most powerful goddesses in existence.”

  “How?” Jonah demanded. “How is it even possible?”

  I started to respond, truly I did. I had nothing to hide from this man, at least, in this. But before I had the chance to open my mouth, I was slammed against the other side of my cell.

  “Do not.” Hera stepped forward. I shook my head with a groan as my vision began to clear. “You will not divulge that secret to anyone, Sibyl. But I must admit, if stumbling across that secret was the worst threat you posed, I may very well have written you off as not worth my time.”

  My head cleared enough to focus my glare on her. “What are you talking about? I’m not here because of absorbing divine powers?”

  “It is a piece of it, half-breed.” Hera ran her index finger across her lip. “But it is only a piece. A small one at that. You pose a much larger threat to my way of life.”

  “Can you drop the riddles?” I demanded. They truly did wear on my patience. “I want a straight answer!”

  Hera grinned. “Very well, half-breed.”

  She punched me across the face with the force of a man twice her size. It sent me to the back of the cell, where I slid down its wall. Jonah banged against the cell in rage.

  “Leave her alone, Hera!” he snapped. “I swear on my spirit, bitch—”

  “Keep it to yourself, mortal.” Hera waved her hand in his direction and he slammed against the cell wall himself. “Now, it is time for my fun to begin.”

  “Yay,” I muttered as we both rose. “Jonah, promise me something.”

  “You sure are demanding a lot from me today, Superstar.” He cracked his neck.

  “What now?”

  “Promise that whatever she does, it won’t break your spirit.”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “Trust me.” I watched as Hera began to twirl her arms into the air. “This is not going to be pretty.”

  “Fine,” he hissed, but it was me who groaned as I saw the image Hera was creating out of thin air. It was Cyrus and Delphine. The woman who could have been my twin was walking with him through a forest.

  “Eva!”

  I heard Cyrus call out my name as I tore my eyes away from the image in front of me. The door wrenched open to allow both him and Jonathan entry. The two took in our current predicament as Hera laughed.

  “Wonderful! I couldn’t have planned this any better. Please. Have a seat!”

  She raised a single arm and our respective mentors hit the wall just as I had done moments before. This time, they weren’t bound. They seemed frozen into place. I hit my forearms against the bars with frustration until I heard Cyrus speak up. He must have noticed the little movie playing behind Hera.

  “Delphine.”

  “Yes, dear slave. Your beloved Delphine. And look! She is not alone.”

  The scene shifted to show three men flanking both Cyrus and Delphine. They looked so much like Cyrus it hurt. But not as much as the next words she spoke of.

  “Your sons, I believe. Strong men. Mortal men.”

  Hera clicked her tongue against her cheek as the scenes flickered. The young men became older. “You see, dear Sybil, the first of your kind was strong. But even she prayed to me with Apollo’s blessings to keep her beloved sons safe. Delphine and Cyrus both pleaded to the leech to grant their children the same immortality he had cursed them with. But the sons were no use to the patron god. He allowed them to remain mortal, and thus, each of them died of old age.”

  “Stop,” Cyrus managed, though I could hear him choking back his emotion. “You have no right—” “I have every right.” Hera glared at him. “This is how the first Sibyl met her end. When her last son passed away after eighty-five years, she gave the mirror to one of her servant girls. There were no goodbyes. There was no final embrace. She had the girl speak the oath and she passed on. But Cyrus—oh, dear Cyrus. You were not so lucky.”

  I felt my heart shatter as I took in Hera’s story. I wanted to look at Cyrus, but I didn’t dare face him. They were practically married. They had children. I struggled against the tears threatening to overwhelm me as I sank back down to the floor.

  “It doesn’t have to be that way.” Hera walked over to Cyrus to stroke her fingers against his cheek. “I am a forgiving mistress. I believe in happy endings, after all. I will allow you the opportunity to be rejoined with your true love once the threat has been exterminated.”

  Cyrus didn’t speak. He didn’t flinch as Hera turned away from him.

  “As for you, Jonah Rowe. I am stunned by your idiocy. How could you deny yourself everything you’ve ever wanted?” The goddess sighed. “Yet, it is for naught. I have instructed Eros to give your prize to another.”

  The scene with Cyrus and Delphine shifted into one of a woman with hazel eyes covered with brownish-blonde strands. She glanced around as if waiting for someone. She must have spotted them because her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “You came!” She squealed and threw herself into a man’s arms. “Terrence, darling, you made it!”

  “Your dearest friend.” Hera smirked. “I thought it fitting. One betrayal for another, if you will.”

  “Jonah.” I managed to get his name out as I tried to reach for him. Despite my own pain, I felt nothing but pity for the man next to me. “Remember what I said. Don’t let her get to you. It will be your undoing.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jonah Rowe

  Jonah heard Eva’s warnings. He even remembered when she warned him the first time. But being warned of danger and experiencing that danger was two different monsters. When he saw that vision of Vera and Terrence, as vivid as the one he’d seen in the mirror in the Covington House, it burned. It burned like a chemical fire.

  “Jonah, stay with me!” shouted Eva. “It’s not real. Remember the truth! Terrence is your best friend—”

  “And when did you become anyone’s voice of reason, Sybil?” said Hera with a laugh. “Delphine, what do you think of this abomination that has burrowed her way into

  Cyrus’s heart? Do tell me.”

  With painstaking effort, Jonah yanked his eyes from the sight that ensnared his focus. He saw Delphine throw scrutinizing eyes over Eva.

  “Beloved,” she said quietly, “surely this boor’s embrace cannot compare to mine. She cann
ot match the delights of our union. Tell me, is this connection genuine affection, or propinquity?”

  “Delphine!” Cyrus spat. “Do not speak of her that way! You do not know her!” “I do not,” concurred Delphine, “but I know you. I know more about what pleasures you than this girl will ever fathom.”

  Jonah heard a pleasurable squeal, and refocused on the vision that involved

  Terrence. It tore him up all over again. It was almost like each time he saw it, the vision was accompanied by a fresh lash of emotion.

  “Jonah,” said Jonathan quietly, “sometimes the greatest internal victories occur when you assist others.”

  Jonah looked at the vision that plagued him. It made him sick to his stomach. But he’d also learned in the past few months that the things you fought only strengthened. That made him think about what Jonathan just said. If he kept focusing and refocusing on the vision that Hera sprung on him, he’d weaken himself because he’d keep trying to convince himself that it wasn’t real. It was a battle that he’d lose from the start. But maybe his victory lay in assisting someone else.

  Hera was nowhere in sight. The bitch left them to these torments. Like Elliott, Hera was simply another bully. That information cleared his mind somewhat. He steeled himself, and regarded Eva, who was clearly losing it. He should have known that something wasn’t right when the retorts and witty comebacks ceased. Eva had been through a great deal, with her powers and immortality fading out at random times. Now she had to deal with this Delphine woman telling her things that just tore her up. She had lowered to her knees and had tears in her eyes. She was holding it together by a thread, maybe less. But Jonah’s victory wasn’t about helping her just yet.

  He took his focus off of that damned vision, and off of Eva as well, to turn his attention onto Cyrus.

  “Cyrus, don’t let Delphine spin you around like this.”

  Delphine glared at Jonah. “Oh, now this boy knows you too, Beloved?” she queried. “Jonathan, I’ve helped you in the past. Now return the aid and rein in your charge.”