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

by Cynthia D. Witherspoon

  Cyrus frowned. It was the first expression he’d made in a little while. “You know of Delphine, Jonathan?”

  “Yes I do,” admitted Jonathan. “Delphine was one of the spirits who assisted me with my transition into spectral life after I was killed in the Decimation.”

  “Wait,” said Cyrus, who returned his focus to Delphine, “wait. You never went to the Other Side?”

  “No, Beloved,” said Delphine. “I could not do so. I missed you far too much. I knew that if I was patient, the gods would allow me another chance to have you.” “You say the ‘gods’ would grant you another chance, Delphine, but the only one you seem to be aligned with is Hera,” noted Jonah.

  “Of course I am,” said Delphine, whose eyes were still on Cyrus. “Hera is the staunchest ally to have when it comes to matters of family and romantic unions. Those are the things that she holds dear. Particularly ones that are built on fidelity. You should have seen her rage when she discovered that the mortal magazines accused her of an affair with Elliott Lancaster. The goddess of marriage as someone’s mistress?” “Hold up,” said Jonah. “Hera is Juno Helakos? She is the billionaire heiress?” “Yes, of course,” said Delphine.

  “Great day in the morning.” Jonah clamped his head. “I need a minute here.” Focus, something told him. He gave himself a mental shake.

  “Cyrus, do you hear this shit?” he asked the keeper. “Delphine has aligned herself with a goddess who has plotted, manipulated, and had people killed. She was juggling the false identities of a billionaire heiress and a Protector Guide! Delphine knew all of that, and she chose to deal with her regardless. I get that she is your first love, and the mother of your boys. But are you willing to betray Eva for her?”

  “You think that you can lecture me on that struggle, Jonah, when you yourself considered a similar opportunity?” asked Cyrus in a troubled yet shrewd voice.

  Jonah would have been stopped cold right then and there if he hadn’t expected

  Cyrus to say that at some point. But he was ready. “Yes, I considered it,” he confessed.

  “Everyone knows that now. But I have an explanation.”

  He turned to include Eva in the conversation. “Eva, I want you to hear this, too,” he said. “I considered Hera’s offer for all of two minutes, and the reason is—” “The reason is obvious.” Eva lifted her chin as she stared at Delphine. “You considered it for that woman who tethered you to your identity during your Sirens struggle.”

  “You’re wrong,” said Jonah. “Hera claimed to have the key to the Other Side. I thought about a chance to see Nana again.”

  Eva looked at him. Jonah had her full attention now.

  “I don’t like to speak about my family much, but you’ll get the nutshell,” Jonah continued. “My dad was married, and he cheated on his wife with my mother, who was almost twenty years younger than him. I was the result. My dad went back to his family before I was born, and once my mom had me, she dumped me on my Nana and took off, too. I never knew them, and just discovered a couple weeks ago that my dad is in Spirit. I don’t know anything about my mom. Nana was all I had. She was my best friend, and taught me everything she could about being a man. Then she passed into Spirit when I was eighteen. My life hasn’t been quite right since. So yes, I considered Hera’s offer if it meant I could see Nana again. Is she proud of the man I’ve become in the six and a half years since I last saw her? Would she approve of the choices I’ve made? Those are only two questions that I would ask her. But I decided that the chance to see Nana again, as much as I’d love to, was not worth violating the natural laws of life. I don’t even know if Hera had a way to access the Other Side. But it doesn’t matter. Nana is gone. I’d like to see her again, and I hope it happens one day, but she’s in my past. I love her and miss her every day, but I had to move on. It is what it is.”

  He turned to Cyrus. “That’s my point, man. You had your time with Delphine. I imagine it was great, and full of ‘delights,’ as she put it. But it’s the past, Cyrus. Taking Hera’s offer and returning to Delphine means ditching Eva, and that just isn’t right. You’re not the man you were with Delphine. You can’t be. And she certainly has changed, considering the fact that she is willing to align herself with someone like Hera to get what she wants. What you guys had was a blessing back then, but it’s past now.

  And living in the past ain’t living.”

  Eva looked as though she had newfound respect for him. Jonathan gave him the smile of a proud father. But it was Cyrus whom Jonah focused on. By ignoring the false image that Hera hoped to disarm him with, he had the strength to appeal to Cyrus. But did he get through?

  Delphine scoffed. “Beloved, surely you aren’t considering the counsel of a boy whose life is a mere blip in comparison to your own. Return to me. Return to your family.

  You’ve no need for immortality. Life never ends.”

  Cyrus bowed his head. Jonah could only imagine how difficult this must be for him. But he could say no more. It was out of his hands. So he waited.

  Cyrus broke his silence at last. “The boy is right.”

  Delphine blanched. “This boy is a baby!” she protested. “He knows nothing!”

  “He doesn’t need to know everything to know what he’s talking about,” said Cyrus. “And he speaks the truth. My time with you was divine, Delphine. I’d be a fool not to admit that. But you are my past. I don’t know what the future holds for me, and that’s even after all these millennia. But I can’t look back. It’s a step in the wrong direction.”

  Delphine looked heartbroken. “Beloved—”

  “What I feel for Eva is not simple propinquity.” Cyrus shook his head. Jonah even saw a tear slide down his face. “It is love. Farewell, Delphine.”

  Delphine vanished, along with Cyrus’s sons. The vision involving Terrence and Vera vanished as well. Jonah, Eva, Cyrus, and Jonathan were alone.

  “Well done, Jonah,” said Jonathan. “You truly are wise beyond your years.”

  “Well I wouldn’t say all that—”

  “You needn’t be modest.” Cyrus extended his hand through the bars toward Jonah. “I am in your debt. You have my gratitude for aiding me to realign my thoughts.” “I never knew those things about you, Jonah,” said Eva.

  Jonah shrugged. “It doesn’t make much difference,” he replied. “My parents might have been sacks of shit, but Nana was awesome. Jonathan, I just thought about it. You’re a spirit. Can’t you walk through these bars?” “Hera thought of that, and put checks against it,” said Jonathan. “She thought of everything. Well, except one thing. Any second now.”

  Suddenly, the doors to the jail cells exploded. They literally blew clean off.

  Jonah started. “What the hell?”

  Jonathan regarded the empty holes with savage pleasure. “The Astral Plane deals with freedom just as much as mystery,” he explained. “If you are free in your mind, so, too, are you free on the Plane. Hera’s feeble Astral cells couldn’t hold us once you,

  Cyrus, and Eva were free of the prisons of your minds.”

  “Great, Jonathan!” said Eva. “Deep, even! So what do we do now?”

  “The Golden Hour is approaching, Eva,” said Jonathan. “Having said that, would you rather have this discussion here where Hera can find you, or elsewhere? Let’s go.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eva McRayne

  He chose me. Cyrus actually chose me.

  As Jonathan and Jonah headed to the door, I threw myself into Cyrus’ embrace and wrapped my arms around his neck. He held me tight for a moment then whispered in my ear.

  “Later, Little One. We still have to get out of here.” He was right, of course. But what he didn’t know was what Apollo had shown me. There was only one way out of the hell Hera had created.

  And I was the key to it. Jonah, too.

  I let Cyrus take my hand so that we could follow the others, but as we reached the threshold, I heard a voice call me back.

  “How easily
you forget your own, Sibyl.”

  I turned around to see Hera standing next to my mother with a grip on her arm. Janet McRayne reached for me as Cyrus tightened his hold on my hand.

  “Eva, please.” My mom whispered. “Please. Do as she says.”

  “Yes.” Hera nodded. “Tis for the best. After all, I would hate to release her spirit to Elliot. She is abhorrent to me, what with her indiscretions and all. He would so enjoy finishing what he started.”

  “Mom.” I closed my eyes until I found the strength to do as Apollo had demanded.

  “Mom, what’s my middle name?”

  “What?” The spirit before me faltered. “Eva, what a ridiculous question.”

  “Just answer it.” I freed myself from Cyrus to close the distance between me and the women standing across the room. “Surely you would remember.”

  “I—” My mother turned to Hera then back to me. “Of course I do. It’s Claire.”

  I studied her with a look of pity. “No. I’m sorry, Nephele. You are incorrect.”

  The vision of my mother faded into a mirror image of Hera. Yet, this goddess was so very different. She wilted to her knees, burying her face into her hands as she began to weep.

  “Who the hell is Nephele?” Jonah piped up behind me. He and Jonathan must have returned when we failed to join them.

  I knelt down before the goddess, but I didn’t touch her.

  “A tragic figure, really. She was created by Zeus in Hera’s image when he got wind that a guest was going to rape his wife. She has suffered greatly since her creation.”

  I glanced up at Hera. “The fact that you would use her in such a way is despicable.

  Elliot never had my parents. It was a bluff to get me here in the first place.”

  Hera screamed. She actually screamed with frustration as she threw her hand out to strike me down. I grunted as she latched onto me when I fell flat on my back.

  “You are too late, girl. Far, far too late. The Golden Hour has begun and so too, has your death. I must complete my task. I must!”

  The next few minutes happened so quickly, I couldn’t grasp everything that happened. The room grew dark as the Shades surrounded us. I could hear Elliot’s strangled growl as he reappeared before my protectors. I tore my eyes away from Hera’s just long enough to see Jonah going crazy with his glow sticks. Cyrus and Jonathan ripped through Shades in an attempt to get to me. But it didn't matter.

  This was my fight. And I would be damned if I didn't win it.

  I put my focus on Hera, who lifted up as she straddled me. I watched her hand shimmer until a golden dagger appeared. She began to slash it downwards in a manic attempt to stab me with the blade. I struggled to capture her arm as my free hand went into my pocket. I had seconds to do as Apollo instructed.

  Be with me.

  I felt my hand circle around the object I was trying so hard to find. When I pulled it free, Hera laughed as she leaned down to snarl in my face.

  “Poor little Sibyl. Still alone. Still grasping for hope despite losing everything.”

  “Not everything.” I fished out the metal I’d found at Covington House, and held it in Jonah’s direction while I whispered an apology. One of his batons flew from his hands and into my grasp.

  “What the hell?” demanded Jonah, but I took my focus off of him, returned it to Hera, and pressed both his baton and the slab of metal to her flesh.

  “Tools of the Ethereal,” I chanted, just like Apollo coached me, “return us to

  Earthplane.”

  The white light that filled the room was blinding. When it cleared, we were back in the basement of the Covington House. I shoved Hera off of me as I dropped the ethereal instruments and rolled away, willing my sword to appear all the while. I’d never been more grateful to see it.

  “Jonah!” I called out to him. “Use the fire! Make sure Elliot burns!”

  Jonah momentarily forgot his displaced baton. “With pleasure.”

  I heard his response, but I didn’t dare turn to look at him. Hera circled me, snarling as she balanced the dagger in her hand.

  “Stupid, stupid half-breed bitch. You do not know the wrath you have brought unto your own.”

  “Yeah, I get it. Darkness. Death. Destruction. Can’t you come up with anything better than that?”

  “Those things are the very threats you are!” roared Hera. “Now die!”

  I dodged the blade and caught sight of a wolf surrounded by three men. Jonah had abandoned his other baton and lit his hands with Apollo’s fire. Cyrus and Jonathan attempted to pull Elliot’s attention away from Jonah. Elliot must have felt my eyes on him because he snapped at Jonah before he broke free from their barrier to head straight towards me.

  He never got the chance to go any further than a few feet. As he passed Cyrus thrust his blade deep into my enemy’s side. Jonah grabbed Elliot’s snout as his hands began to glow even brighter.

  “GO TO HELL, WHITE FANG!” he bellowed.

  His blast knocked us all to our knees. The heat was so intense that it dried the sweat from my brow.

  We were all disoriented for several moments, even Jonathan. For her part, Hera attempted to lift herself up, but collapsed back down as I held the tip of my blade to her throat.

  “You can’t do this,” she spat. “I’ll have your head within seconds.”

  “No, you won’t.” I pressed down. “Do you not realize where you are? Has your hatred blinded you so much that you have no idea that you are back on Earthplane? Back in Rome?”

  “What—?” Hera’s bright green eyes widened. “No.”

  “You have no power here. Especially now. I can take your head within seconds and end this for good.”

  I felt my companions approach us. Hera hissed as she tried to push herself back. But I wasn’t finished. Not yet.

  “See, you brought me here to use the ethereal world against me,” I told her. “But what you didn’t realize is that those same things can be used against you, too. For me, it was the magnetic lines that brought about vulnerability. For you, it’s ethereal steel. All it took was a touch of one of Jonah’s batons, combined with spare contraband I found here

  in Covington, and you are in a zone where you can do nothing against us.”

  Hera took a breath through her nostrils. “You bitch…”

  “Yeah,” I said, bored. “We’ve established that. Now, you like to make offers. Deals in exchange for getting what you want. I’m willing to do the same. Not that I’m giving you much of a choice. I’ll keep my knowledge secret. I won’t utter a single word about what I have learned. In exchange, you will leave me and mine alone. And I do include the Eleventh Percenters into that equation. No threats. No Shades. No wild dogs with a preference for psychological torture.”

  “Elliot,” she breathed as she glanced around the room, “what did you do to him?”

  “Put him out of his misery,” I replied. “Jonah here did what I didn’t have the strength to do in Great Falls.”

  Hera’s eyes lingered on Elliot’s body for a few seconds, so I tapped the blade against her jaw to pull her attention back to where it belonged.

  “Eyes on me,” I murmured. “You really have no choice in this, Hera. So if you’ll agree, we can all go home.”

  “You dare threaten me,” rasped Hera. “What makes you think you have the right?

  Apollo?”

  I grinned. I couldn’t help it. “Not this time. I’ve had contact with someone over his head. Somebody is really pissed off at you, sweet Hera.”

  For the first time since I’d known her, I saw concern on Hera’s face. She struggled beneath me as the others surrounded us. Jonah with his batons of fire. Cyrus and his golden sword. Jonathan, whose hands glowed in the strangest fashion. But then, her game face was back on.

  “You expect me to believe that you’ve had an audience with Zeus?” She rolled her eyes.

  “Yep,” I answered, “and you might want to pay attention, because I’ve got a message for
you from him.”

  Hera spat on the ground. “I can speak to my husband myself, should I wish to,” she grumbled. “I will speak to him about this once I return to Olympus—” “See, that’s the thing.” I loved this, but I couldn’t show it. Too much, anyway. “Zeus was not pleased when I told him about your activities out here in Rome. You were so ready to destroy me after the Council named me the representative of Olympus. As Zeus is the head of the Council, your deeds were looked upon as transgressions against the throne. Your husband has seen fit to punish you.”

  Hera’s expression turned to fear. She actually looked afraid for the first time since I’d known her. “What are you saying?”

  “I hope you like that mansion in Beverly Hills,” I told her, “because you’re going to be Juno Helakos for a little while. Zeus has sentenced you to remain on Earthplane indefinitely, bound in this form you’ve taken. Your powers will be blunted, because there will be no one to attend to your shrines. You will pose no threat to me and mine. He told me to tell you these things because he was so angry, he couldn’t bear the sight of you at the moment. Don’t shoot the messenger. Anyway, you’d better leave all my friends alone, because if you so much as look sideways at any of us, I will personally see to it that Zeus finds out.”

  I lifted the sword, and Hera rose to her feet. She was so angry that she looked like she was about to explode. Zeus punished her in the worst way imaginable, binding her to human form with diminished powers and a short leash. She could hate me all she liked, but she wasn’t willing to screw with her husband’s orders.

  “You’ve turned my husband against me, half-breed,” whispered Hera. “Already, your cancerous influence eats away at my family. This only reaffirms the fact that you must be wiped away. I will deign to follow my husband’s orders. I will wait. But you are not long for this world, Sybil. I do not know how. I do not know when. But I will kill

  you, and prevent your decimation of Olympus.”

  The Queen of the Heavens disappeared into the shadows. I stayed still and waited, wondering what she meant. Decimation of Olympus? Like I was the one that was a threat to the realm of the gods.