Chapter 17 - Emma
The elders sat around the table, all staring at me.
On the other side of the table, the Oracle watched, her fingers laced as she waited to discover why Elias and I had brought them here.
Patience lurked in her eyes, as if she knew all would be revealed in due course.
The rest of the elders shifted in their seats.
“Do you mind telling us why you summoned us here?” Romulus asked Elias.
A crease formed between Elias’s brows as a warning frown spread across his mouth. His hand went to my shoulder. “As I told you, Romulus. Emma called this meeting. Not me.”
The elders muttered to one another, barely looking at me, dismissing me as if I were little more than an inconvenience to them. I had fulfilled my part of the Oracle’s prophecy. I should just retreat into my corner and make as little noise as possible.
Elias’s grip on my shoulder tightened. I reached up to cover his hand with mine.
“This is most unprecedented,” Dorian said, still speaking to Elias. “I don’t think it is right for a luna to call a meeting of the elders.”
Elias’s eyes flashed. “If you have an issue with your luna calling a meeting, I suggest you take it up with her and ask her the purpose of the meeting instead of pretending she isn’t capable of speaking for herself.
” His eyes swept across the elders, narrowing as he let out a low growl. “And that goes for all of you.”
Some squirmed, reluctance evident on their faces. Others displayed their contempt more openly, even if they kept their mouths shut. Only one of them looked remotely chastised.
“If that is your wish.” Dorian gave a polite nod to Elias before finally talking directly to me. “Although it is unorthodox for a luna to summon a meeting of the elders, it appears that the alpha finds it important enough for us to sidestep tradition.”
“I do,” Elias growled. He marched across the room until he towered over Dorian. “And if you make one more sly comment that remotely disrespects your luna, I will personally cast you out of the pack.”
Dorian’s jaw twitched. When he turned back to me, his eyes were unreadable, though he gave me his own polite bow of the head. “My apologies, Luna. Please, could you tell us why you wished to speak with all of us?”
This was it, then. I tried to keep the anxiety off my face, wanting to remain calm under their disapproving stares. Still, I couldn’t help but glance over at Elias, who gave an encouraging, reassuring nod.
I stared at the water in the glass in front of me. At first, nothing happened. The elders stared, bemused. Then, the water rippled. Then, it began to float.
As the water rose from the glass, all the elders stumbled backward out of their chairs, mouths open in shock and unease. Only the Oracle watched impassively, head tilted as she studied the water floating through the air.
I let the water spiral around the silent room once before placing every single drop back in the glass. The instant the water had stilled once more, pandemonium ensued.
“Witch,” one of the elders hissed.
At the accusatory, distrustful tone, Elias snarled, almost stepping in front of me until I grabbed his arm. He looked back at me, irritation plain on his face, but nodded reluctantly, stepping back.
“Part witch,” I said. “Somewhere around one-eighth, I believe.”
“This is unacceptable,” Dorian declared. “We cannot have a witch as a luna.”
“It wasn’t as though being part witch or becoming luna was my choice,” I said dryly.
All the elders turned to the Oracle, who still hadn’t moved from her chair. She studied me, her head resting on laced fingers, those gray eyes seeming to search deep into me.
“You picked a part witch for our luna?” one of them, Romulus, snarled at her. “A luna who couldn’t shift was bad enough, but this is too far.”
“Watch your tongue,” Elias growled.
Romulus’s jaw twitched at Elias’s response, but he remained firm.
The Oracle didn’t blink, not acknowledging Elias’s response as she turned to face Romulus.
“I did not ‘pick’ our luna, Romulus, as you very well know. I can only relay what I am told. This woman was destined to be our luna.” She stared Romulus down, her eyes seeming to darken as she scrutinized him. “Or do you doubt my abilities?”
Romulus paled. Even the elders deferred to the Oracle. He gave a short bow.
“Of course not, Oracle. My sincere apologies. I was just…surprised, is all.”
“We all are,” Thaddeus said, eyeing me with unease. “We all know how dangerous magic and witches are. This is a shock, to say the least.”
“They have threatened our town and the pack more than once,” Dorian agreed.
Elias growled. “Do you consider your own luna a threat to the pack?” he demanded.
Thaddeus hesitated, but only for a moment before he jutted out his chin and stared Elias down in pure stubbornness. “She is a witch,” he said, enunciating every word, as if that would get through to Elias. “There is precedent. It doesn’t matter what—”
Elias’s primal snarl cut him off, and Thaddeus clamped his mouth shut as Elias barged forward, staring down the elder. The older shifter only made eye contact for a brief moment before glancing away, backing down from his alpha’s challenge.
“I won’t hear a word against her. If she wanted to harm the town, she easily could have by leaving me to die by the oasis,” Elias growled. “Instead, she was the one who managed to save my life.”
None of the elders responded, all too chastened, or too afraid, to argue with Elias when he was in this state.
“If I hear another bad word about my mate, about your luna, then I won’t be as generous as I am now,” he warned. “Us setting up this meeting was a courtesy, so we could let you know what we’ve learned. There is no debate about Emma’s status or anything about her. Are. We. Clear?”
Again, silence met the challenge, several of the shifters staring at the floor or table or ceiling, anything but Elias.
I watched as a couple of faces regarded the Oracle, who had barely reacted since all of this began, beyond her disgruntled irritation at her skills being questioned.
They waited for her response. I felt Elias tense beside me, moving to stand a little in front of me.
They wouldn’t defy their alpha. Not unless the Oracle deemed it acceptable.
The Oracle turned to look at me, her eyes crinkling with amusement as she asked, “Are you planning on destroying your pack with your abilities, Luna?”
“Of course not,” I answered.
“There you have it, Thaddeus,” the Oracle said, leaning back. “If fate has decided for our luna to have magic, then there is a reason for it. We cannot fathom what it might be at the moment, but these things tend to make themselves apparent when it’s time.”
I swallowed, hesitating for a moment. “If I may…” I paused again, then glanced over at Elias. His hand gave mine a reassuring squeeze as he prompted me to go on with a nod. “I think I might know what that reason might be.”
The elders exchanged glances that bordered on unhappy, as if still reluctant to defer to a woman, let alone one who could barely shift.
After a moment under Elias’s withering glare, they all settled down.
Dorian gave a terse nod and a brief gesture for me to continue, though we all knew it was perfunctory.
If Elias wanted me to speak, then I was going to speak.
If the elders wanted to pretend they still had a say, go ahead and let them.
In the end, it didn’t matter to me. I didn’t need their approval, and if they wanted any chance of helping the town, they’d listen to me.
So I told them about my powers, about the underwater spring that was the real source of magic, though I kept its precise location to myself, at least for now. I told them about my research on wraiths and how magic was the only way to defeat this one.
I fell silent after only a couple of minutes, though by then, all the elders wore shocked expressions. It would have been funny if it weren’t so nerve-wracking.
“We also have a theory on what the wraith is doing, and what it might be after,” Elias said.
All heads locked on him, as if relieved that they could now give their alpha their undivided attention, rather than having to focus on me.
“We think he plans to destroy the spring, or try to,” Elias continued. “If he’s able to do that, think of the level of despair it would cause. Silver Falls would be ruined as a town. We’d have to move, and the sand wraith would get to expand his territory.”
No one had to answer. Everyone could guess the wraith’s next target would be Adobe Creek, a town that didn’t realize shifters or wraiths or any other supernatural creature existed.
Everyone turned to the Oracle again.
“I will say, when I cast the runes and searched for Elias’s luna, this was certainly not the outcome I anticipated,” she said, still studying me with an unnerving gaze.
“I won’t pretend to like witches. However, I have seen enough to know that the universe works in mysterious ways sometimes.
If magic really is the only thing that can destroy the wraith, then it seems we will need you. ”
“There’s one problem,” I said. I felt heat rise to my face as embarrassment washed over me. I could tell by the expressions on some of the elders that they could smell it. “I don’t know how to use my powers.”
A derisive scoff of disbelief sounded from one of the elders. I thought maybe Romulus. Elias let out a low, threatening growl.
However, the Oracle continued to look speculatively at me. “I know a little in the ways of magic,” she said. “My own studies often touch on magic practices. I would be willing to help train you.”
The elders all stared at her with varying expressions of disgust.
“You’d be willing to train a witch?” Romulus asked.
The Oracle’s sharp stare cut him off.
“If it means I am able to save our town, then absolutely,” she said. “Would you rather see Silver Falls fall to the wraith?”
Romulus turned beet red, but he didn’t respond.
“Besides.” The Oracle returned her attention to me, her gaze not exactly friendly, but nowhere near as hostile as the rest of the group. “It sounds as though her magic is in tune with the oasis. I can’t imagine there being any malice there.”
Well, at least one of them besides Elias was on my side. I gave a half-bow to the Oracle.
“I would be honored to have your help with this,” I told her.
The Oracle smiled, satisfied as she gave a short nod. “Excellent,” she said as she pushed herself to her feet. “In that case, we can start right away.”
I blinked, taken aback. “This minute?”
“No time like the present,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “Especially when we have a wraith breathing down our necks.”
I couldn’t argue with that.