Thea Harrison: Oracle's Moon

The Power of the Oracle was the Power of prophecy. Prophecy, as it related to the Oracle, was neither fortune-telling nor divine revelation, but involved a sense of clairvoyance, or the ability to see beyond the five senses. If the petitioner asked after those who had passed, occasionally it could involve channeling the dead. The Power always passed to a female in the Andreas family, but not every female was an eligible candidate. The abilities of those who had the potential to become an Oracle often manifested in either a strong second sight or a connection to things of spirit, and the veil of time could become thin in odd ways.

Both Grace and Petra had shown potential very early, so their grandmother had taught them both the skills and traditions they would need if the Power passed on to them. Grace had her own suspicions about Chloe. The challenge in identifying the ability was that every small child had an active imagination and often chattered to invisible friends. Usually a potential was identified by the time the candidate was around five years of age, because by then it was possible to have enough of a coherent conversation with a child to confirm the presence of the ability.

Whatever might happen to Grace, whether she lived a long life or died young, little baby Max would never become the Oracle. The Power never transferred to the Andreas males, and they never demonstrated the ability, although they could father daughters who were potentials, and some of the men in the family tree had become Powerful witches in their own right.

Grace envied Max for a lot of reasons today.

She put away the groceries that needed to go in the fridge then stood for a few minutes with the door open, relishing the frigid air. She poured herself a glass of cold water, swallowed prescription-strength ibuprofen and limped to the living room. After locking the screen door, she left the front door propped open in the hope of catching wayward breeze.

Next she checked on Max. The little man was still sawing logs, a chubby fist held over one closed eye. Now that was an intense nap. She gathered up his lumpy nine-month-old body. He seemed heavier when he was a dead weight. She took him into the children’s bedroom and eased him into his crib. He didn’t even stir to roll over.

All her immediate tasks were done. She made her slow, tired way back to the living room and sat on the couch with a grunt.

Her gaze fell on the textbooks she had left stacked on the coffee table.

She hadn’t felt ready to go to college directly out of high school. Instead, she had kicked around for a year, dated a few guys and driven across the country with her friend Jacqui so they could dip their big toes in the Pacific Ocean. Then they had driven home again, and Grace had worked in restaurants and saved a little money. She had started college a year late, and as a result, she still hadn’t finished.

This past spring was supposed to be her final semester. Petra, Niko and Grace had been happy when they had gone out to eat that rainy Friday night. Grace’s spring break had just begun, and Niko had found out he had gotten a raise at work.

All it had taken to smash their lives apart was one independent trucker who had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed over the median line into oncoming traffic. The accident killed Petra and Niko, and it had nearly killed Grace as well. If Chloe and Max had been in the car as originally planned, the last of the Andreas family could well have been wiped out in one freak crash, but Petra had decided she wanted dinner out without the children, so at the last minute she had arranged for a babysitter.

Grace didn’t remember the collision. She was glad. She didn’t want to remember.

When she had awakened in the hospital, she had been disoriented and groggy with painkillers. Even so, she had felt it immediately, that old Power nestling deep inside of her, and it was one of those things that you can’t unlearn once you know it. She knew her sister was dead and nothing would ever be the same again.

Now she had five incompletes from very understanding professors, no Bachelor’s degree and a load of student debt that would come crashing down on her shoulders at some point in the near future. She had accumulated a monstrous pile of bills from multiple surgeries on her knee, along with a hospital stay, a tangle of car and life insurance policies but no health insurance coverage, and she had received nothing at all from the dead trucker who had let his insurance coverage lapse. No matter how she wrangled the numbers, the assets she had were nowhere near enough to cover all the bills.

Somehow she had to create a life for herself and the kids. She had to try to finish those classes, get her degree and find a paying job that would cover both living and childcare expenses. And no matter how much she resisted the idea, it was becoming clear she was going to have to file for bankruptcy. Maybe she could qualify for a waiver for the court fees.

“Got everything you need, baby girl?” she mumbled to Chloe.

“Uh-huh,” Chloe said, her blue eyes glued to the television.

Sorry, Petra and Niko, she thought. I know you didn’t like using the TV as a babysitter, and I try, I really do. But my gods, I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.

She eased her sore body flat and fell into a black hole.

Grace dreamed she was running along a dark paved road. The night was full of shadows, the new moon hidden from the naked eye. The full moon at its zenith was a witch’s moon, a time for incantations and Power. The new moon at its darkest was the Oracle’s moon, a time when the veil between all the worlds and all the times thinned. A brilliant spray of stars like Djinns’ eyes pierced the dark purple sky, and the wind whispered secrets to the shadowed, swaying trees.

Her running shoes slapped the ground rhythmically. They struck a pagan tempo for the song in her coursing blood. She loved how her body felt, sleek and strong as it moved along the paved road. Perfect. She felt perfect.

A gigantic black panther ran along beside her. His broad shoulder was as high as hers, and his long, powerful body ate the distance with effortless, fluid grace. As soon as she became aware of him, the panther turned his head and looked at her with diamond eyes that were as piercing and shining as the stars. Shocked, she jerked and stumbled.…

And she slipped into another dream. This time she climbed the side of a steep rocky bluff. She had to use her hands, and the burn in her muscles felt good. The sun was perched high in the sky and beat down on her head, and she dripped with sweat.

An immense black dog climbed at her side. He was easily twice the size of a mastiff, all muscle and power, yet he climbed up the side of the bluff with impossible agility. As she stared, he turned to look at her with radiant diamond eyes that startled her so badly, she lost her grip on the rocks.

Gravity yanked. She fell, and the ground hurtled toward her.

She woke with a start, her heart hammering. Her clothes were clammy with sweat. The sun had shifted, and she was alone in the living room. The television was off. So many things were not right with the scene, but before she had a chance to panic, she heard Max and Chloe giggling in their bedroom.

“I want you to be a doggie now,” Chloe said.

A male voice said, “But at the moment I am a cat.”

Grace knew that voice. She had only heard it for a brief time, but she would never forget it. It was the voice of the Bane of Her Existence. It sounded deep and clear, with a kind of purity that somehow hurt the heart, and it held the power of a cyclone.

It belonged to a creature whose whirlwind arrival on her doorstep had heralded confrontation and violence.