by D. N. Hoxa
I had completely forgotten about the Oracle. Or maybe I just didn't want to remember. Not that I would tell anyone, but the thought of hearing the prophecy, the one that everybody was so sure was about me, scared the shit out of me. I didn't know what to expect and that freaked me out. That didn’t mean I could put off not knowing any longer, though. I couldn't shake the shivers off as I reluctantly followed Kate to the other part of the Base and deep into the third hallway.
My hands were shaking by the time Kate knocked on one of the doors on the left. The room was identical to mine, if mine smelled like Chanel No 5. Kate’s sister, Karly with a K, was sitting on her bed, her eyes glued to the screen of her iPad. She looked just like the first and only time I’d seen her.
Back then, she had made me blush more than three times in fifteen minutes. She’d always had some sort of authority hanging around her, but I’d thought it was her self-confidence the day I met her. Never in a million years would I have thought that she was the Oracle, the one that had received the prophecy that had changed my life forever. In a way, it all had started with her.
When she finally bothered to look up, she scanned me from head to toe in less than a second. She already knew about me—the surprise she faked made it all too obvious. She was as beautiful as I remembered. Looked like recent events hadn’t affected her the same way as they had Kate. She reluctantly stood up when Kate closed the door behind us and put on a plastic smile.
“Star! So good to see you again. Finally,” Karly said, her voice high-pitched, as fake as the smile on her face.
“Yeah…” I didn’t want to be an asshole, but I didn’t want to be a liar and tell her it was good to see her, either. But Karly pretended not to notice.
“Who would’ve thought that we’d see this day. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I told Kate the day I met you that you’d never be good for more than blushing. I still remember the way you looked! Ah-dorable!” Yeah, she was still a bitch.
“And I was a hundred percent sure that the best you’d be able to do with your life was become a trophy wife, but, hey, you’re an Oracle now.”
Silence for a couple of seconds. Kate kept her head down the whole time as if she didn’t dare look up at Karly. Even in high school, her sister always intimidated her. This one time, she even told me she hated Karly because she was just as bad as her mother.
But now, I finally saw why her whole family had been so hard on Kate. Why they insisted she always looked perfect and that she was on top of everything, at all times. Kate was weak for a half fey. And her family was probably trying to make up for it by pushing her to do things she didn't want to do. I felt sorry for my former best friend. Back then, I wouldn't have been able to even begin to imagine what it was like for her. But now I knew and I felt sympathy for her.
“Grandmother told me the prophecy about me brought you to your powers. Pretty cool, right?” I added when nobody spoke for a couple of seconds. Seers could go their whole lives without ever developing their powers. The way it used to be was that one in each generation became an Oracle by receiving their first prophecy, but Karly had been the first to become an Oracle in the last hundred years and nobody knew why.
“Yes, Star. It’s pretty cool,” she said, her fake smile wiped off her pretty face. She folded her arms in front of her chest—a sign that she was mad. See if I care.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I actually have important stuff to do, so I’d rather just get on with it.” I looked at Kate to see if she had anything to say, but her head was still low, her eyes on her feet. I hated seeing her like that, though I couldn’t even call her a friend anymore. Nobody should have to feel that way about themselves.
It took Karly another few seconds to come around and realize that I’d just made fun of her.
“You don’t have to be rude,” she said, and she, too, looked at Kate as if Kate was to blame for what I said.
“You’re right, I don’t.” My evil smile played on my lips as I leaned my head to the side, and Karly flinched. God, how she hated me in those seconds. So much that I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
“Right. Let’s get this over with,” Karly said, and without wasting another second, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
The next second, the air in the room started to change. Even Kate felt it because I saw her flinch. The air grew heavy with tension, and my nerves caught up with me.
What will she say? What will happen after? I really don't want to know...
Karly slowly raised her head like a zombie with her eyes still closed. Her chest didn’t move. She wasn’t breathing at all!
I was a second away from nudging her awake when her lids opened and her eyes—as white as snow, zeroed in on me. Chills washed over my body. I really wanted to get the fuck out of there.
But Karly began to speak.
I will come with midnight; May’s first star shall mark my step.
My beating heart shall warn of harm, my eyes shall see all energy.
I am the Daughter of the Night.
I will fight for what is right.
I shall bring victory and strength to those who stand by my side.
I still wasn't breathing. Was that it? Why hadn’t Karly’s eyes gone back to normal? Because they were still completely white.
A sense of relief washed over me. Now I knew how the Council and the Elders knew about me. I was born at midnight sharp on the first of May, and I did have the star shaped mark on my ankle. But it really wasn't that bad, was it? It was not bad at all!
A smile tugged at my lips, but the feeling was very short-lived. Karly started to speak again.
I will come with midnight; May’s first star shall mark my step.
My beating heart shall warn of harm, my eyes shall see all energy.
I am the Daughter of the Night.
I will fight for what is right.
I shall bring chaos and destruction to those who stand by my side.
Another second.
Another minute.
Nothing was relieving anymore. My heart beat in my ears.
What the hell was that? Did she say chaos and destruction? Why did she say it twice? Did she get the second one wrong? I hoped she did...
Karly’s eyes turned to their normal light brown self again. The energy and the tension disappeared, and air was just air again. The Oracle looked like she had just woken up from a long sleep. She inhaled deeply and exhaled with a sigh.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked when she didn’t start explaining right away. My brain couldn't grasp her words yet.
“The prophecy,” Karly said, rolling her eyes.
“I know it was the prophecy!” I hissed. “What I want to know is, what the hell does it mean and why you said it differently the second time!” There wasn't enough air in the room for my lungs to fill as I remembered her last words.
“That’s because there are two versions of it, like there are two versions to every prophecy,” Karly said, like that was something I was supposed to know. “Nothing is permanently written in stone, and decisions can change in any given second.”
“Yeah, but what does it mean?” I repeated, this time desperate. I didn't get anything she said, and my brain’s system was overloaded to think about it clearly.
But Karly shook her head. “I can't tell you what the prophecy means. An Oracle is only a transmitter—not an interpreter.” My mouth opened to object again, but she beat me to it. “But what I can tell you is that people interpret prophecy in different ways. For example, the Council thought that by claiming you as one of theirs, they’d be by your side with the promise of glory and victory and everything else the prophecy says. On the other hand, the Elders are sure that while you’re part of the Red Rebels, you are becoming the prophecy, because they believe you are fighting for the right side—again, just like the prophecy says. Now, where you stand, that’s something you have to figure out on your own and interpret it in your own way. Soon enough you will make th
e decision that will determine the final version of the prophecy.”
My mouth dropped open. I suddenly felt bad for mocking her. Never did I think she’d be capable of saying something so…smart.
I clamped my mouth shut and took a second to get my shit back together. I regretted coming to see Karly at that time of the day. I should’ve gone to her before bed to give myself a chance to stretch my thoughts wide enough and see each one clearly. But what was done was done.
The words of the prophecy were burnt forever in my mind and flesh. I thought about the positive version, according to which I would bring victory to those who were by my side.
But who was to say that victory was a good thing? Or that chaos and destruction were bad things? They could be good if I were to stand with, say, the Council.
An exhausted sigh later, I understood what Karly meant when she said every word could be perceived in a different way by different people. There seemed to be so many angles from which I could look at what was supposed to be my destiny. I had to figure all of them out, one angle at a time, because in order to get to the outcome I wanted, I had to know how people around me perceived that prophecy. And in order to do that, I needed time to think. Time I didn't have.
“Thanks, Karly. I’ll see you around,” I said and caught the surprise in her face before I turned for the door. I’d been a bitch to her, and she didn’t have reason to expect anything better.
I was gone before she could reply, if she even wanted to. Kate was right behind me in the hallway, but I couldn't even look at her. The words of the prophecy stayed right in front of my eyes, and I seriously needed to stop thinking about it for now. I would have to find time for that later. Maybe in a day, or two. Maybe a week or even a month.
Maybe never.
Trying to find something else to focus on was exhausting, and the day still had a long way to go before it ended.
The fairy. I was going to meet with the fairy later that night. I concentrated on that as I headed to the kitchen to get some food in my system before going back to training. I hoped the meeting would go as well as it had with head shifter, Edison, and this time, I promised myself I’d make sure that no guards were around.
15
——————————
My favorite dagger—Bob—was in my hand as I fought against Aaron. In training, of course, but it felt real because I had a lot of steam to blow. As with everything else, he seemed to know that about me, too, and so he gave me his two hundred percent. I hated it as much as I respected him for it.
Two things had taken my mind almost completely off the Oracle and the prophecy. The first was that Ella admitted to me during lunch that she’d watched me train the others every single day. How? She’d found a spot to hide in, in what used to be the janitor room. She had a perfect view of the old training room from there.
But now, she was right behind me, sitting on my chair, watching my every move, because for some reason, I told her she could. It was better I knew where she was at all times than that she hid from me.
The second thing was Kate. She claimed Grandmother had told her to get me ready for the Winter Ball. And she’d prepared a red dress for me. No, I said. I don’t wear red. I wear black.
“I don’t own anything black, Star,” she said, flinching like I’d slapped her. “This is what you’re going to wear.”
It wasn’t going to fit. The dress was a bright red piece of satin, way too small for me. She was going to see for herself. After training.
Someone shouted from the middle of the room and brought me back to the present. When I turned to look, Naomi was standing with a huge grin on her face, looking down at a bleeding Joshua. I walked over to see what had happened.
“She fucking stabbed me for real!” Joshua cried, holding his stomach with both hands as blood poured out of it. I looked at Naomi with the wrong words on the tip of my tongue but held myself back in the last second.
“So that’s what you’ll do when a Royal Guard stabs you? You’ll drop to the floor and start crying?” I said with a frown. I wished I didn’t have to mock him but I did. It was for his own good. Joshua couldn’t allow something like this to ever happen again.
“But—” he started, but I cut him off.
“No buts, Joshua. You are a soldier, and soldiers do not fall down when they’re wounded. And you’re half fairy—a damn strong one at that. So quit whining, and get on your feet. Unless you want Naomi to get away with it.”
“Hell, yeah!” Mike called from behind me, as expected. But most importantly, Joshua’s eyes were filled with determination as he stood up, and with both hands on his wounds, he produced a thick layer of ice on top of it to stop the bleeding. That was more like it.
The next heartbeat, he jumped Naomi with everything he had.
In the beginning, none of them were supposed to do actual damage to their partners. Now, as they got better and stronger, it was going to happen whether I liked it or not, and I was going to let it because that was how I was taught. That was how I’d become who I was.
In Lyndor, they didn’t let me let go and cry. They’d have killed me right then and there if I so much as let myself drop to my knees during training. The things I’d had to endure were cruel to say the least, but that was the only way to become strong and fearless. Emotions were not tolerated in war.
And that was something I needed to remember myself as I jumped Aaron again, knowing that Ella was right behind me.
I met his dagger with my Bob and dodged away from his fist. I went down and aimed for the back of his knee, but he moved out of the way and at the same time tried to stab me in the arm. I blocked, once, twice, again, until his dagger fell from his hand, and he caught both my wrists.
Before I realized it, our hands were stuck between our bodies.
“So you’re just going to ignore me for the rest of your life?” Aaron asked.
My mouth was already dry, and he caught me off guard. I was definitely not expecting him to bring this up again. Ever.
I pushed him back a couple of steps and prepared again. “That’s the plan,” I said and jumped him.
We went at each other for another five minutes until he jumped behind me and put his arms around my waist, pinning my arms to my sides. And I let him, just to see what he wanted to do. Was I mad?
“You know you can't do that,” he whispered in my ear.
I pulled my foot up and stepped on his toes with my heel as hard as I could. He gasped from the pain and let me go. I turned around, swinging my leg on the way and catching him off guard on his left. Before he could recover, I jumped again and pushed Bob’s hilt on his chest, right above his heart.
Aaron looked down at my hand, surprise registering on his face.
“Watch me.”
Before he could say anything, I turned around and walked over to Ella. He would have been dead if I were a Royal Guard and if I'd used Bob’s sharp tip instead of its hilt. He wasn't paying enough attention. Even my plan to get him to spar with Mike hadn't worked because of the same reason: how could I tell him when I insisted on not speaking to him?
I took the bottle of water close to Ella’s chair and drank it to the last drop.
“Excited?” my sister asked. She’d heard about the Ball from Kate. She’d also heard about the red dress, and to my horror, she agreed that I should wear it.
“I’ll be more excited after a shower.” I smelled awful. I walked back to the others and asked for their attention. “I have business to attend to, but you guys continue for another hour. And you need to train during that hour, not just hang around in the training room.”
I wouldn’t put it past them to make that a happy hour and even order drinks. Nobody said anything but they all tried to stifle their smiles.
“So, you’re leaving after tomorrow?” Ella asked me on our way back to my room.
“I am, but you’ll be safe. Don't worry,” I reassured her though my stomach dropped. I knew I was leaving her in safe hands, but that
still didn't ease the guilt, although I was sure that this time I'd come back.
“I'm not worried,” she said. “Just bored. I just wish I could come tonight.”
I smiled at the thought that my company entertained her. I should’ve really gotten used to it by then, but every time she said something like that, my heart filled with joy.
“We'll go together next time. Maybe not to a fairy Ball, but something else,” I said. “Hey, why don't you hang out with the other sups your age? There’s a lot of them around here. Don’t you like them?”
She shrugged, looking down at her feet. “They’re all right. I just...like to keep to myself.” She’d always liked to keep to herself, even as a kid. And I didn’t want to push her. I had never gone along with other supernaturals my age, either.
We agreed to meet in fifteen minutes, and I practically ran to the shower. As soon as the water touched my skin, I immediately relaxed. I was exhausted, and not even half the day was over yet.
The prophecy was there, poking me and demanding my attention, but I was not ready to think of it yet. At least not before Kyahen.
With my hair still dripping wet as per Kate’s request, I made my way to her room. She was going to fix me, she claimed. As if I needed fixing. I could’ve just tied my hair up and wore a shirt and some jeans. I’d make up for that with some nice shoes, but no. Neither Kate nor Ella wanted to hear it.
A picture-perfect Kate opened the door when I knocked. I’d almost forgotten that she was fey, and she was invited to the Ball, too. She was wearing a gorgeous yellow dress that made my mouth drop open. It was strapless and it hung perfectly around her breasts. It was tight all the way down to her knees, from where it hung loosely all around her feet. She looked like a freaking mermaid. Her hair was up in a classic bun, and her makeup was perfect.
For a second, I was turned back in time. She looked beautiful, and Ella who was already there, said so since I could find my voice from nostalgia.
“Thanks," Kate said as a light red touched her cheeks. “I spent some time on your dress, too, and I think it’s going to fit you perfectly."