Chapter 56
Chapter
Fifty-Six
Milo
We told the others that night.
I'd been dreading this moment since Winter agreed to the plan this afternoon. Not because I doubted what I'd felt in those dreams. The Oracle's presence had been unmistakable, like a whisper from beyond the veil that only I could hear. But because I knew exactly how the others would react.
Especially Fenric.
We gathered in the living room after dinner, the overhead lights dimmed to something more comfortable.
Horace had claimed his usual spot on Winter's shoulder, his twelve eyes blinking in lazy sequence as he dozed.
My skeleton crew was having another elaborate tea party in their custom apartment, the soft clinking of tiny porcelain providing background music to our conversation.
"So," I then immediately lost my nerve. "Um. There's something I need to tell everyone."
Winter gave me an encouraging nod from where she sat between Zane and Rook on the massive couch we'd moved in last week. Fenric perched in his preferred armchair, tablet balanced on his knee, ready to document whatever fresh disaster I was about to propose.
"I've been having dreams," my voice gained strength. "About the Oracle."
The reaction was immediate. Rook's amber eyes sharpened, his body going rigid with alertness. Zane straightened, his mismatched gaze focusing on me with laser intensity. And Fenric… was, well, Fenric.
"Absolutely not." Fenric's voice was flat, final. "Whatever you're about to suggest, the answer is no."
I blinked at him. "You don't even know what I'm going to say yet."
"You're going to propose something involving direct contact with an imprisoned entity of cosmic proportions whose consciousness is fragmented across thousands of bone shards sealed in a vault that has been hidden beneath Bureau headquarters for centuries.
" Fenric's fingers flew across his tablet as he spoke.
"The security clearance alone would require… "
"Fenric," Winter interrupted gently. "Let him explain."
But Fenric was in full bureaucratic panic mode now, his usually perfect composure cracking around the edges. "The Vault Beneath isn't just classified, it's forbidden. There are protocols in place…"
"Protocols that don't account for an Oracle actively reaching out," I cut in, frustration bleeding into my voice. "These aren't random dreams, Fenric. It's communication. The Oracle is trying to tell us something important about the Harbingers, about Winter's choice."
"And you want to waltz down there and have a chat?" Rook's growl made the windows rattle. "With a being powerful enough to end entire timelines?"
"Not exactly waltz, no," I ran a hand through my curls, trying to organize my thoughts. "I think I can temporarily restore the Oracle to who they were before the corruption. Before they became the sterile arbiter of fate. If Winter anchors me through her mark…"
"No." Fenric stood abruptly, his tablet cluttering to the floor. "Absolutely not. I will not authorize an expedition to a maximum-security vault to perform unauthorized necromancy on a cosmic entity of unknown intentions!"
Silence fell over the room. I'd expected resistance, but the vehemence in Fenric's voice caught me off guard. This wasn't just bureaucratic caution, there was real fear there.
Zane was the one to break the quiet, his voice carefully neutral. "What aren't you telling us, Fenric?"
Fenric's jaw worked as he stared at his fallen tablet. When he finally looked up, his silver-blue eyes held something I'd never seen before. Vulnerability.
"The Vault Beneath isn't just a prison," his voice was so soft, so unlike him. "It's a containment system. The Oracle's bones aren't just locked away, they're actively suppressed. Every ward, every seal, every binding is designed to prevent exactly what Milo is suggesting."
"Why?" Winter leaned forward, Horace adjusted his grip on her shoulder to maintain his balance.
"Because the last person who attempted communication with the Oracle didn't survive," Fenric retrieved his tablet with shaking hands.
"Agent Miranda Thorne, forty-seven years ago.
She was found in the vault three days later, completely drained of life force.
The Oracle had attempted to possess her body as an escape vessel. "
My stomach dropped. "But that's different. I'm not trying to channel them completely."
"You're proposing to create a bridge between their consciousness and ours using Winter as an anchor," Fenric's voice rose with each word. "Do you have any idea how catastrophically that could backfire?"
I felt the weight of their gazes, saw the fear in their faces. But I also felt something else. The bone shard Winter carried pulsing with gentle warmth in response to the Oracle's mark on her forehead. They were connected now, had been since that day the mini-skeletons delivered their gift.
"The Oracle doesn't want to escape," I said with growing certainty. "They want to help. I feel it in the dreams, this overwhelming sadness. They never wanted to become what they were forced to be."
"That doesn't make them safe," Zane pointed out, though his tone had lost some of its edge.
To my surprise, it was Rook who spoke next, his voice thoughtful rather than dismissive.
"If the Harbingers are planning something big," he spoke slowly, "and they've gone quiet to prepare for it, we need every advantage we can get. Information about their weaknesses, their plans, their power source."
Zane nodded slowly. "And the Oracle would know. They created the system the Harbingers inherited."
"See?" I felt a surge of hope. "If we can reach the Oracle before they were corrupted, before they became the emotionless arbiter, we might learn how to stop the Harbingers entirely."
Fenric was shaking his head before I finished speaking. "The risks are astronomical. The protocols alone…"
"Fuck the protocols," Winter's quiet words cut through his protests like a blade. "We're not talking about following Bureau procedure here. We're talking about preventing the end of free will as we know it."
She stood, moving to the center of the room where we could all see her. The blue markings on her skin pulsed steadily, responding to her emotional state.
"The Oracle gave me this mark for a reason," she touched her forehead where the inverted spiral glowed faintly. "They said it was a choice the Harbingers don't want me to have. Maybe this is how I learn what that choice really means."
"Winter," Fenric's voice cracked slightly. "I can't protect you in the Vault. None of the standard containment protocols will work if something goes wrong."
"You don't have to protect me," she met his eyes steadily. "We protect each other. All of us. Together."
The silence stretched taut as Fenric weighed his fear against his love for Winter, for all of us. I could see the moment his resolve began to crack, bureaucratic training warring with the bonds we'd forged.
"Let's vote," Winter clapped suddenly. "All five of us. Majority rules."
"This isn't a democracy," Fenric protested weakly. "This is a Bureau operation with clearly defined authority structures…"
"This is family," Zane interrupted, his voice gentle but firm. "And family makes decisions together."
Winter nodded. "All in favor of attempting contact with the Oracle?"
My hand shot up immediately, followed by Winter's. After a moment's hesitation, Zane raised his hand as well.
That left Rook and Fenric.
Rook studied Winter's face for a long moment, reading something in her expression that the rest of us couldn't see. Then, with a resigned sigh, his hand joined ours.
"Four to one," Winter's gaze fixed on Fenric. "But we won't do this without you. If you vote no and mean it, really mean it, we'll find another way."
Fenric looked down at his tablet, then at each of us in turn. When his gaze finally settled on Winter, I saw the moment his careful control crumbled.
"If I vote yes," he whispered, "and something happens to any of you, I'll never forgive myself."
"And if you vote no," Winter replied gently, "and we lose the chance to stop the Harbingers, you'll never forgive yourself for that either."
Fenric closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and raised his hand.
"Five to zero," Winter smiled, though I caught the relief in her expression. "Unanimous."
"I'll need to file approximately thirty-seven forms," Fenric muttered, already pulling up documents on his tablet. "And we'll need specialized equipment. And a containment protocol. And probably a psychiatric evaluation for all of us."
"How do we get to the Vault?" Zane asked practically. "I assume it's not listed on the Bureau directory."
I grinned, feeling excitement build as the plan became real. "Actually, that's the easiest part. The mini-skeletons that brought Winter the bone shard, they came from the Vault. They can lead us back."
As if summoned by their mention, the six tiny skeletons marched out of their apartment in perfect formation. They arranged themselves in a line and began a complex dance that I'd learned to recognize as their way of saying "we're ready for adventure."
"They can navigate the Bureau's security systems?" Fenric looked skeptical, finger hovering over his tablet.
"They're fragments of the Oracle's will," I explained, watching as Jeffrey joined the formation, taking his place at the head of the group. "They exist partially outside normal space-time. Physical barriers don't really apply to them the way they do to us."
Horace trilled softly from Winter's shoulder, his colors shifting to determined oranges and reds. Even he seemed to understand the gravity of what we were planning.
"Two days," Fenric announced, his fingers flying over his tablet as he made notes. "I need two days to arrange the necessary authorizations and equipment. And I want backup protocols in place in case…"
"No backup," I interrupted. "The fewer people who know about this, the safer it'll be. The Harbingers have infiltrated the Bureau before."
Fenric's eye twitched, but he nodded reluctantly. "Fine. But I'm implementing every containment measure in the manual."
"Deal," Winter agreed. "Two days to prepare, then we go talk to a cosmic entity that's been locked in an impossible prison for thousands of years. What could go wrong?"
The collective look of horror on everyone's faces made her laugh, bright and defiant in the face of the enormity of what we were planning.
But as I watched my family, because that's what they were now, my family, rally around this insane plan, I felt the Oracle's presence stir in the back of my mind. Not demanding or threatening, just waiting.
Soon, the whisper seemed to say. Soon we'll have our answers.