Thea Harrison - Oracle's Moon

Olivia’s eyebrows rose. “You have a Djinn hanging around?”

“Yeah.” Grace stiffened. “What of it?”

Olivia grinned. “Nothing, just cool. I’ve met exactly one Djinn in my life, and she was pretty freaking spectacular.”

Grace looked at her sidelong. She could feel the skin in her face start to burn. “We’re going on a date tonight.”

“You’re dating a Djinn? That’s even better.” The older woman laughed. “I’ve heard stories of—never mind.”

“I have to say, your attitude is refreshing,” Grace muttered. “Most of the people I’ve been talking to have been pretty negative.”

“You’ve been talking to the wrong people,” Olivia told her. “Pay no attention to what Brandon says or tries to imply. He’s one of the biggest bigots I know. You do know he was one of Jaydon’s strongest supporters, when Jaydon ran against Isalynn LeFevre in the demesne elections, don’t you?”

“No, I didn’t make the connection,” Grace said. She shrugged, somewhat impatiently. “I’m not really into politics.”

Olivia started walking again, and Grace did too. “Isalynn’s a conservative about some things,” Olivia said. “That’s part of her long-standing appeal. She’s an advocate for less government. But she’s a moderate when it comes to dealing with the Elder Races demesnes. Jaydon has argued for a stronger federal government and less sovereignty for the seven demesnes. He has a strong support base of people who are anti–Elder Races entirely. It doesn’t matter what race—Vampyre, Wyr, Djinn, Light or Dark Fae, whatever. The group wants the Elder Races out of Kentucky and out of the federal government.”

“But we’re part of the Elder Races,” Grace said.

“To some people we’re not,” Olivia replied. “Sure, we’re witches, but we’re human. A lot of them want the inhuman Elder Races to move their governments to an Other land and be treated as foreign countries.”

“That isn’t feasible,” Grace said, still frowning. “They’re as much a part of our society as the fifty states. None of the demesnes are going to uproot and change their locations.”

Olivia shrugged. “That isn’t stopping people from trying. Anyway, things got pretty heated in the last election, with lots of demonstrations and name-calling. Just something for you to think about when you’re dealing with Brandon.”

Grace shook her head. She still didn’t see how any of that applied to her. As the Oracle, she was supposed to remain neutral and treat all petitioners alike. Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have personal opinions. But she couldn’t imagine anyone would care about what she thought about politics. “Well, I know the witches’ grapevine is very active. If they all know each other, maybe Brandon’s attitude has influenced the others.”

“Maybe.” Olivia gave her a slight smile. “I’m not sure I’m the best resource for you to ask, since I don’t belong to a clique and I don’t gossip. Clearly I’m not part of the ‘in’ crowd today.”

Grace sighed. She said bluntly, “I like you.”

The other woman laughed. “I like you too. What’s more, I respect the hell out of you for what you’ve taken on with the kids. A lot of young women your age wouldn’t have done it.”

“I had to,” Grace said. “I love them.” She was also the only one who could pass on to the children what she had been taught about their family and heritage.

“Well, still, kudos to you. If you ever get away from the munchkins, stop by the library some time for coffee.”

Surprised pleasure bloomed. “I’d like that. Thanks.”

Grace and Olivia reached the back meadow. Four men had taken on the chore of mowing and had gotten roughly half of the meadow finished. Brandon was using Grace’s riding mower, and the other three had brought their own, hauled behind pickup trucks and SUVs on small flatbed trailers. At the moment all four mowers were quiet and abandoned, the engines turned off. The men were standing and talking in a cluster near the door to the cavern, which stood open.

Either Grace’s Power bristled again, or she did. She swiped the back of a hand across her warm, damp forehead as she and Olivia reached the men. “That door wasn’t un-locked and open when you found it, was it?” she asked tersely. She had been tired and preoccupied when Don and Margie had come, but she hadn’t been that careless, had she?

“No,” Brandon said as the men clustered around the two women for glasses of iced tea. “We unlocked it. I was going to wait and go down with you, but then I went ahead and checked the tunnel and cavern’s ceiling and walls, myself. It looks fine from the inside for now. Did you notice how much erosion has occurred on this side of the path? It’s developed a fissure down the side of the bluff. You need to keep an eye on this and check the tunnel and the cavern on this side after a strong storm.”

“I think you should put some stones or tree stumps along that,” said one of the other men. “Make the path safer in the dark. If you use the path much in the dark.”

“Well, no,” Grace said. “But occasionally it’s unavoidable, and an accident would not be good.”

She had been aware of the fissure erosion and had been keeping an eye on the path, although it had not occurred to her to watch the tunnel and the cavern from the inside. Brandon could have waited to talk about this until he got back to the house. It wasn’t urgent enough to warrant the effort it took her to make the trek. Probably the whole point behind asking her and Olivia to come out was to get cold drinks brought back while they stood around and talked for a half hour. She felt a surge of irritation, which was totally unreasonable, given how much time they were volunteering. When Brandon offered to haul a truckload of stones over next week to shore up the widening gap, she felt like even more of a bitch.

Olivia and Grace collected the glasses when the men had polished off the last of the gallon of tea. Grace took one last look at the open doorway.

“Don’t forget to lock that,” she told Brandon.

“We won’t,” Brandon said, his blue eyes watchful.

But he was always watchful.

She could still feel him watching as she turned to leave.

The group finished all their projects and called the work day to an end just after five thirty. Everything on Grace’s list had been accomplished and the hole in the backyard fence repaired. Despite whatever personal tensions might have existed throughout the day, she made a point of thanking each one individually when they left.

“Call me sometime next week?” she said to Brandon as he was leaving.

“What?” He looked blank.

“You were going to bring a truckload of stones over?” she prompted.

“Oh, right. Sure. I’ll call you.”

Well, that didn’t sound promising. She stifled another surge of irritation. Dammit, she hated it when people threw out offers but didn’t follow through.

The last to leave, Olivia gave her a quick hug. “Stop by for that coffee,” Olivia said. “Or give me a call sometime if you think you can get away for lunch. I just need a few hours’ notice.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, warming to the older woman all over again. “I will.”

Then Olivia was gone as well, and Grace was left alone with her thoughts.

She didn’t even have to clean up the kitchen. Somebody had already done it for her. The house was clean and silent, and the main issues on the property were taken care of, at least for now. As far as the roof went, she had a few months to try to figure something out. She looked out the kitchen door window. Most importantly, the backyard was trimmed, tidy and useable again.

She would stop at the toy store tomorrow morning before she went to pick up the kids and use the rest of the hundred dollars she had gotten from Don and Margie to buy a small plastic pool and some glow-in-the-dark stars for Chloe and Max’s bedroom.