Raintree: Oracle

by Linda Winstead Jones

  But the future was not yet set. It was fluid, ever shifting. She could see so many possibilities, dark and light, swirling together. In one future she was successful in casting out the darkness of the curse. Ryder, her Ryder, was saved. The intruders were defeated and Cloughban was once more a safe haven for those like her. Like Ryder and Cassidy and all the rest.

  In another possible future she saved Ryder too soon. He faced the invaders weakened, lost. Those who called themselves Ansara but were not won and they both died ugly. She couldn’t help but think of the tombstones in her dream.

  In another possible future she made her move too late. She could not save her Ryder no matter how she tried. The darkness won, and while a battle raged around them he drove a knife through her heart with a smile on his face and left town while Cloughban burned.

  One chance out of three. Not exactly as discouraging as the odds of winning the lottery, but she did wish they were more in her favor. She’d never been able to see her own future; that wasn’t the way it worked. Was that why she had no clearer picture? Or was it simply that what was to come would not be set until they made the decisions that led to it? Either way, she was all but blinded to what might happen.

  She wanted to tell someone, anyone, what Brigid had helped her to discern not long ago. Those who were coming were not Ansara; they had simply taken the name as their own. Maybe they’d chosen it because in the past the Ansara clan had had such a savage reputation. Did it matter? Would being called by a different name make them any less fearsome?

  The people of this village needed to be afraid. They needed to be prepared for fearsome.

  Echo knew she could go, as Ryder had suggested often in the past few hours. Without her here odds were Ryder would be happy to leave Cloughban to the invaders, take his daughter and start his own new life elsewhere. A life of dark magic, of decadence and excess. He would use his own dark powers as well as his gifted child to get what he wanted.

  It was more than worry about Cassidy that made Echo accept that she could not leave.

  Without Ryder, her Ryder, she didn’t have a life worth going back to.

  “Run,” he whispered in her ear. Was that her Ryder talking, or was it the other? Both. An order or a plea? Had he managed a glimpse into the mind she was working so hard to shield from him?

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the side of his neck. He was so cold, so hard. So lost. She whispered back, her lips near his ear.

  “No.”

  Chapter 22

  It was the clap of thunder that woke Rye from a deep sleep. He sat up in bed, and for a moment, a few precious seconds, he forgot where he was. He forgot who he was. All he remembered was Echo.

  Everything that had happened in the past two days came rushing back, filling his head and his heart with pain.

  Then the darkness he’d unleashed came rushing back, as well.

  For the moment they shared the same mind, the same body. Two separate beings, two personalities, two distinct souls. Eventually one of them would have to go. He wasn’t yet sure which one it would be.

  Echo was curled up against his side. She should’ve run yesterday, when she’d had the chance. Now it was too late.

  Again, a clap of thunder. Lightning flashed. The storm outside his window was not at all natural. He felt it deep down.

  Had it begun? Echo had seen the Ansara attack happening by the light of day, and it was not yet dawn. Her visions were sometimes late, but she was—as far as he knew—never wrong.

  She stirred with the third clap, and as he had she jumped up.

  “He’s here.”

  “Who’s here?” It was annoying to have to ask. She’d done a good job of hiding her thoughts from him, protecting them in a way no one else had ever been able to do.

  She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. “Which one are you?”

  He began to answer truthfully. Both. But she didn’t wait for his response.

  “Never mind,” she said as she hopped from the bed and grabbed her clothes. She looked at him as she dressed quickly. “Even if you’re mostly my Ryder at the moment, the other will also hear and know, and...not yet. Sorry.” She threw open the door. “Soon, I promise!”

  Echo ran out of the room and down the stairs. Rye dressed more slowly than she had before following her. He didn’t know what she’d planned, but the energy of his surroundings had changed somehow. He felt a current flowing through him. Power. Electricity.

  He found Echo standing in the middle of the street, in front of the pub. The sun had not yet risen, but he could not say the skies were dark. There was a blue cast to everything, and it spread as far as the eye could see. The storm, which was unusual for the area, had drawn out others, as well. Those who lived along this main road were coming out of their homes to look to the east.

  Blue lightning started near the ground and traveled up in powerful streams of electricity that lit the sky. Thunder followed, rumbling with unnatural power. It was beautiful and frightening and unnatural.

  And Echo smiled.

  A man was walking along the road, cursing and shooting sparks as he went. Rye would’ve known this man anywhere, even if Echo hadn’t started running toward him with a joyfully shouted, “Gideon!”

  * * *

  “What the hell?” Gideon shouted as she drew closer to him. Electricity danced along his arms. He must’ve come straight from work. He’d left his suit jacket and tie behind somewhere, but wore black trousers and a white dress shirt, as well as his badge and gun. Her cousin was a homicide detective. A homicide detective who could talk to the ghosts of victims. That gave him a decided advantage.

  He lit the early morning in an unnatural way, and she soon saw his wife, Hope, well behind him. She was no longer a detective—she stayed home with their two girls these days—but she wore a gun, too.

  They must have come over on Dante’s private jet and landed at a private airfield. That would explain their early arrival and the firearms. They had not come through customs...

  Gideon snapped, “My rental car died two miles back. What the hell is going on here? I haven’t been out of control like this since I was fourteen!”

  She ignored the electrical sparks and threw herself at him. The air around him buzzed. It tickled her all over, but she knew Gideon’s powers would not hurt her. He would never allow it. She had never been so glad to see him! He was her best, last, only hope.

  “There’s a very strong stone circle in the area,” she explained as she let him go and stepped back. “Like Stonehenge but...not Stonehenge.”

  Echo released her cousin and smiled at Hope.

  Gideon’s wife was not a member of any magical clan and she was not a stray. Unlike the rest of the family, she had no abilities at all. Well, she had abilities, just not supernatural ones. She was a whiz at keeping her husband and two magically gifted daughters on the straight and narrow.

  Knowing what was causing the influx of energy helped Gideon to control the excess electricity that flowed through his body. Thunder and lightning ceased, but he retained an unnatural blue glow. She resisted telling him that he looked as if he’d eaten a neon sign for breakfast.

  “We have an audience,” he said, nodding his chin to indicate the growing crowd behind her.

  Echo glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, twenty or more villagers stood behind her. At least none of them carried pitchforks and torches.

  “It’s all right,” she said, raising her voice so all could hear. “This is my cousin Gideon.”

  The murmur that followed was not one of relief. Like her, Gideon was Raintree. Until she’d come here, she’d had no idea her family was so intensely disliked by some strays. No, disliked was the wrong word. They were distrusted. That was going to have to change, and fast.

  “Come on inside,” she said
, taking Gideon’s arm as Hope drew up beside him. “We have some serious catching up to do.”

  * * *

  Cassidy stood at her bedroom window and watched the lightning. Twice she had tried to leave the cottage, but her da’s magic still kept her trapped here. She didn’t like it. It was not good magic, not at all! Neither did Mr. McManus, who had complained for hours before finally falling asleep on the sofa.

  Granny, on the other hand, was perfectly content to wait out whatever was happening. They were safe here. Nothing could touch them; they were invisible to the outside world. Cassidy could not relax, no matter how often her granny advised her to do just that. Too much was undecided. Maybe they were safe at the moment, but would they remain safe?

  What if something happened to her da and they were trapped here forever? What would become of them? Would they starve? Go crazy? Would they simply fade away?

  The lightning ceased, though in the distance where Cloughban stood a strange blue glow continued, as if a huge and unnatural light shone there. Eventually that faded, too.

  She knew something bad was coming, and she wanted to help. She could help! If only her da would let her.

  Her da but not her da.

  The sky changed again, but this time it was the rising sun that lit the sky.

  This was the day. Cloughban was about to be under siege.

  And she’d never had the chance to warn her da or Echo that Maisy had not been the only spy in Cloughban.

  * * *

  Gideon shook his head. Again. “I don’t call spirits back to earth. It’s dangerous, for them and for us. When ghosts come to me it is their choice, not mine.”

  Echo tried to argue. “I know, but...”

  “Once a spirit has moved on, it’s extremely difficult for them to travel to us. And then, getting back where they’re supposed to be is even harder. I will not trap a spirit here, not even to save your friend.”

  Friend. Ryder was so much more than a friend, but that argument wasn’t going to sway Gideon.

  After being introduced, Gideon and Ryder had parted as if they could not stand to be in the same room. Maybe they couldn’t. She was more sensitive to energy than she’d ever been, and her cousin and the man she loved mixed like oil and water. Did Dark Ryder realize what a danger Gideon was to his existence?

  Hope had gladly taken up Echo’s offer of her bed in the boardinghouse. She and Gideon had had a long night, after an already long day. The girls were with their grandmother—Hope’s mother—probably being spoiled horribly. Every little girl deserved to be spoiled now and then.

  Echo lowered her voice as she made her argument. “Ryder’s mother cast this...this curse on him, trying to make him more powerful. Maybe her intentions were good, maybe she was trying to help, but her spell almost killed him.” It very well could kill the man she loved. Today, tomorrow...he could not bear this for much longer.

  Gideon attempted to be reasonable. “Why not just let me make another talisman to hold the powers in check?”

  Echo shook her head. “We’re beyond that.” Well beyond. Dark Ryder would sleep no more. He would live and rule the body he possessed, or he would die. If he lived, the man she loved would disappear. The body would survive but the soul, the essence of him...that would be gone for good. “There’s going to be an attack...” She’d explained this already.

  Again, Gideon shook his head. “There can’t possibly be enough of the Ansara left to mount an attack.”

  She explained what she’d discovered, that those who were coming were not true Ansara, but independents who had taken on that name. Like her, he didn’t think that distinction made much of a difference.

  “How many do you think it would take to run over this village?” This wasn’t a mecca for the most powerful of strays. Most of the people here had just enough magic in their blood to make them different. Enough to make them long for others of their kind and the comfort of the stones.

  His expression went dark. “Not many, if the people here are not prepared. But you’re here and you have prepared them.”

  It was the change in Gideon’s posture that told Echo Ryder had entered the room, coming through the door behind her. Her cousin was angry and suspicious. She could tell by the way his fingers curled that if Ryder made one wrong move he’d be on the receiving end of a powerful bolt of lightning.

  That hand soon dropped.

  “She’s here,” Gideon whispered.

  Echo stood. “Ryder’s mother? She came without being called?”

  “Not exactly. She’s been here all along. She’s attached herself to her son.” He frowned. “And she won’t leave until I fix her mistakes. Great. Just great.”

  * * *

  Rye had found himself in control long enough to allow Echo to duct tape him to a chair. Without his help an entire roll of duct tape wouldn’t be enough to restrain his other half, but if he could hang on for a while longer it would suffice. He thought of his daughter; he thought of Echo sleeping in his bed. He fought for his very life, for Cassidy and for Echo.

  Gideon Raintree looked like an insane man, pacing the room and talking to himself. More than once he ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end at one point. He continued to occasionally glow blue and...hell, there was no other word for it. Sparkle. But he wasn’t insane, and he wasn’t talking to himself. He was carrying on a conversation with Rye’s mother. The Gypsy who had cursed him before she died.

  “Sorry is not good enough!” Gideon shouted to an empty space behind Rye. After a short pause he continued in a slightly lower voice. “Well, it was a curse, not a gift, and now see where we are.”

  Another pause, then, “Tell him yourself.”

  Echo had been watching, silent and pensive, as her cousin did his thing. Now she spoke up.

  “Does she know how to remove it?”

  Gideon looked at her. “Yes.”

  She took a deep breath. “Can it wait until after we take care of the attackers who are coming?”

  Gideon threw his hands into the air, frustrated and angry. “Really?”

  It was Rye who answered. “This town needs me. It needs the power this curse has given me if we’re to win.”

  “What happens when the cursed part of you decides it might like being aligned with the invaders? What happens when you switch sides in the middle of the battle?”

  Rye wanted to argue that wouldn’t happen, but he couldn’t. Not if he were being entirely honest. He didn’t know what his dark side might do.

  If Gideon removed the curse, and with it Rye’s enhanced abilities, could they still win the battle?

  Did he want to take the chance that he might turn on his friends and neighbors, or worse, his family?

  “Can you ask her if she also cursed my daughter?” From beyond the grave, or through him, somehow, but...anything was possible.

  Gideon shook his head. “No. Your mother saw a gifted child of her blood, and she thought it was you. She wanted to help you along, that’s why she did what she did. But that child she saw wasn’t you, it was her granddaughter.” His head snapped to the side. “All these sorries are not making things any better!”

  He waved a hand at Rye. “So, without the curse what are your abilities? What would you bring to the party?”

  Rye answered honestly. “I don’t know. I was so young when my mother started working with me...I don’t know.”

  Again, Gideon looked into an empty space and listened for a moment, and then he mumbled, “Great. That’s just great.” He turned eyes a brilliant green, so much like Echo’s, to Rye and said, “Nothing. According to your mother, without the curse you have no special abilities at all.”

  Chapter 23

  “Do we dare to wait?” Echo asked. The word still echoed in her head. Nothing. All the talismans had done,
for the past eleven years, was keep the curse in check. She’d been so sure she’d sensed his own... But no, not if the ghost was telling the truth. The abilities Ryder had called upon since Cassidy’s birth were bits and pieces of his mother’s curse seeping through.

  Gideon shook his head. “I don’t think we can afford to wait. How long do we have?”

  “An hour, maybe two.” The invaders were coming. They were moving closer and closer. She felt them coming, in a strange rush in her blood, in the small hairs on her arms standing up. She felt the shifting energies, and still she could not predict the outcome.

  “If I don’t do it now,” Gideon said, “I might not get another chance.”

  Winning was almost a given, with Ryder at top form. If he were mortal? Without any power at all? Not so much. Echo said as much, mumbling under her breath as she weighed the pros and cons.

  “Hey,” Hope snapped. “Not having a woowoo power doesn’t make a person helpless, you know. Jeez.” Well rested after a nice, long nap in Echo’s bed, she looked pumped and ready to fight. “I’ll give him one of my guns.”

  Echo looked at Hope. “You brought more than one?”

  “You said the A-word. Ansara. I would have brought an arsenal if I’d thought I could get away with it.”

  “I’ve never handled a firearm,” Ryder said. “I don’t think I have time to learn...”

  His head was thrown back, his entire body tensed. Dark Ryder was fighting to the surface. The duct tape would not contain him much longer.

  No matter what, her Ryder had to survive. To allow the dark into the world, to let the curse kill the man she loved and free the other...

  Echo looked at Gideon. “Do it,” she whispered. “Do it now. We won’t have another chance.”

  Her track record as a prophet was less than stellar, but Gideon trusted her. He trusted her now.

  Hope stood behind her husband, her gun drawn as he placed a glowing hand on Ryder’s forehead. Echo wondered if it hurt, if there was heat in that hand, but Ryder didn’t pull back or even flinch.