Thea Harrison - Oracle's Moon

As it had before, the dark sea welled up readily at her command, still immense, still dangerous, but no longer bucking against her control.

Okay. She relaxed slowly, and the Power settled back into place again. Another hurdle accomplished. She turned her attention to the children and breakfast.

She had expected an e-mail reply from one of LeFevre’s aides, but when the phone rang at twenty after eight, the caller turned out to be Isalynn herself. “Hello, Grace.” The senator had a strong, warm, confident voice. “I hope I’m not calling too early.”

“Good morning, ma’am,” Grace said. The Head of the witches’ demesne did not have any other honorific. “Or should I say Senator?”

“Please call me Isalynn,” said the senator. “I was concerned when I read your e-mail. How are you and the children doing?”

Grace took a deep breath. She had no idea how she was supposed to answer. She said, cautiously, “It’s been challenging.”

“I can imagine,” said Isalynn. “You have had a lot on your plate. My office will put out a public notice for you later today.”

“Thank you.”

“In the meantime, is there a problem with the roster? It was my understanding that all the names you were given had already been cleared.”

“Yes, there has been a problem,” Grace told her bluntly. “The last babysitter looked through my papers and got on my computer without my permission. Maybe there’s some kind of innocent explanation for that, but I’m not comfortable with what happened, and I don’t want her back in my house. Without any better information, I also don’t feel good about calling anybody else right now.”

“I see,” said Isalynn. The warmth in her voice dropped to an icy, clipped anger. “What an unfortunate thing to have happen. I apologize, Grace, and I promise you, I will look into this issue personally. Who was it that behaved so inappropriately?”

I am a vindictive bitch, Grace thought, and I’m going to hell for enjoying this. “Therese Stannard.”

“Thank you,” said the senator. “I will follow up with you soon. Is this why you feel unable to take petitions?”

“It’s one of the main reasons,” Grace confessed. “I’ve also experienced some shifts in the Oracle’s Power itself. I think I’d better take some more time to work with it before I expose other people to it.”

“Shifts in Power,” Isalynn said slowly. “Interesting. Did you know that I’ve consulted with the Oracle several times through the years? I petitioned your grandmother when I first thought of running for senator, and then again when I became Head of the witches’ demesne. I also petitioned your sister when she became Oracle five years ago.”

“I had no idea,” Grace said. Max had climbed to his feet while holding on to her leg, and she ran her fingers gently through the soft tuft of baby-fine hair at the top of his head. “But then you know we’re supposed to keep petitions confidential.”

“Yes.” The anger in Isalynn’s voice had been replaced with warmth again. “Your sister had quite a different voice from your grandmother. I think each Oracle acts as a different lens for the Power. You will bring your own strengths and abilities to the experience.”

“Seems like it, anyway,” she muttered, scratching the back of her head. Grace hadn’t interacted much with Isalynn. Not only was Isalynn much older, but she was a true Power broker on the world stage, and they didn’t move in the same social circles. But Grace really liked her.

“I intend to petition you too, as soon as you are able,” Isalynn said. “In fact, since your three months were up, I was going to petition you next week.”

“I see,” she said, biting her lip. What if she didn’t take any more petitions? What if she could quit and still hold on to the Power? What would she do with her life then? She had the impulse to confide in the other woman but held back for now. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” Isalynn told her. “Just keep in touch and let me know when you’re ready for consultations again. Since you’ve had Power shifts, it might be good for your next consultation to be with an experienced witch, anyway. I can provide that for you or get someone else to do it, if you’d like.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, startled at the thought. “I think that might be a really good idea.”

“In the meantime, I’ll look into the issue with the roster and get back to you.”

Grace hung up thoughtfully after the call ended. She and Max looked at each other. She said to him, “That conversation didn’t suck.”

“Fffft,” he said.

“I agree,” she told the baby as she picked him up. “You are a wise young man.”

He put his head on her shoulder and patted her.

Later that morning, she finally turned her attention to washing a load of her own clothes, which was when she rediscovered the envelope in her pocket from Don and Margie. With Khalil’s arrival and her unexpected clash with Therese, she had forgotten all about it. When she opened the envelope, she found five twenty dollar bills inside. She bit her lip as she considered the cash. Whatever else happened, whether she continued to act as the Oracle or stopped altogether, she would have to honor her promise to them.

That afternoon, she had another surprise phone call. The kids were down for their nap when the phone rang. She lunged to answer before it could wake them up. It was Jaydon Guthrie. He wanted to discuss the details for the Saturday work day. She had met Jaydon a few times, although she did not move in the same social circle as the Guthries either. Both Jaydon and his wife—Melinda or Melissa—had at-tended Petra and Niko’s memorial service, along with virtually all the dignitaries in the witches’ demesne and many from the other Elder demesnes as well. Most of what she knew about Jaydon, she had learned from Petra, who’d had more of an acquaintance with him through attending de-mesne functions. (Grace really wasn’t looking forward to those. She wore cutoffs, not cocktail suits or dresses.)

A tall, dark-haired, lean man in his late thirties or early forties, Jaydon was a criminal prosecution lawyer, with an inherited multimillion-dollar house in affluent Mockingbird Valley and a model-gorgeous blonde wife. He was also head of one of the oldest, most established covens in the demesne. He had run a few times unsuccessfully against Isalynn LeFevre for Head of the witches’ demesne, but Isalynn proved to be an impossible candidate to beat.

Jaydon came from a moneyed family and was Harvard educated, while Isalynn attended the University of Kentucky College of Law. A Powerful witch in her own right, Isalynn had learned her craft growing up in a poor small town in southern Kentucky. She had a strong grassroots appeal coupled with a sophisticated legal mind, and she balanced all the layers of her dual legislative roles with seeming effortlessness.

The last rumors Grace had heard from Petra were that Jaydon had given up for the time being on trying to beat Isalynn in the witches’ demesne elections, and he might be running for District Attorney in Jefferson County during the next election, while Isalynn’s supporters were urging her to consider the next gubernatorial race.

A few weeks after Isalynn had set up the babysitting roster for Grace, Jaydon initiated the quarterly work-day volunteer effort on her behalf. When Grace heard of it, she first thought Jaydon’s long-standing rivalry with Isalynn was still going strong. Then she felt embarrassed, because it seemed mean-spirited of her, especially when both plans were meant for her benefit. And the Guthries were well-known for championing community service. Jaydon’s wife worked actively to fund-raise for the local Humane Society and sat on the Board of Trustees for the Jefferson County Library System.