Chapter 15
On the fated morning, a solitary cloud crossed the sun as I worked in the temple’s crowded courtyard.
The breezy air stilled as its shadow fell over us, and I froze, anticipation raising the hairs on my neck on end.
A tingling sensation developed at the tips of my fingers, and my mouth went dry.
It was not uncertainty that set my pulse racing. It was familiarity.
The tingling became burning that surged up my wrists, and all at once I was struck by that petrifying sensation once again: the feeling that I had never forgotten, despite the years that had passed since my childhood.
Sizzling power crept up through my veins from my limbs to my heart, twisting painfully inside me until my chest was fire and my body was ice.
I couldn’t move. I could only look to the sky and open my mouth.
The voice that roared from my throat was not my own.
“Your harvest blooms shall wilt and fade as hero’s heart and soul are weighed. Save your people or agree where you will spend eternity!”
Thankfully, Sophie was nearby when it happened.
As soon as my mouth had finished screeching, she saw my knees give way and jumped into action to shield my fall.
I tumbled, half onto her and half onto the ground, my body limp and unusable while the power drained away.
There was fire coursing through my blood, followed by ice, until at last I returned to the bliss of absolutely nothing. My head pounded.
“Oh,” I stuttered, half comprehending. “Oh…”
The next thing I knew, I was back in my bed, looking up at the high ceiling of our room. I winced as I sat up, my mind clouded over.
“You’re awake!” It was Zoe’s voice that called from the lounge. Her footsteps thumped softly against the stone as she hurried over to my side. “How do you feel?”
“Woozy,” I said, rubbing my temples. “How long was I out?”
“Not too long. But I’m sure you’ll get the rest of today off,” she said hastily. “It’s all being taken care of.”
I hugged my knees to my chest and looked up at her warily. “And…what was it that I said?” The consuming feeling of powerful magic was all I could remember.
Zoe repeated the words to me. “Don’t worry,” she reassured me afterward. “It’s already been written out and sent to the archives and to the elders. I’m sure they will enact additional security measures, given how foreboding it sounds.”
“And no one knows what it means?”
“Nope. You still never make any sense,” she joked. “Everybody’s thinking about it, though! Maybe someone will figure it out. In the meantime, we’ll have to try to be safe.”
It was an unsatisfying answer, but I supposed as an oracle I was used to receiving those.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to distract from my headache by frustratedly weaving colored yarns into a long knotted strip.
It was an ugly thing that deserved to be cast into flames, but at least it was good for keeping my hands busy while I waited for the evening to arrive.
After a few hours of sitting in bed and badly weaving, Alex and Sophie returned for the night with Andrew following behind them, holding the key to our door. But instead of sealing us inside as usual, he stepped over the threshold and into our room.
“I have been overly strict with the four of you,” said Andrew shortly.
“I thought my actions necessary, but I realize now that they were a mistake.” He locked eyes with me.
“I was a witness this morning to your visitation by the divine. I could feel the power that spoke through you, as could everyone present. I can only conclude that your meditations have had great effect, and I pray that you forgive me for my doubts.” He strode over to our small table and set down the key to our room.
I swallowed my surprise. We were being released? I was a good oracle? “Thank you, Andrew,” I said, almost numb.
“I will let you get some rest,” he said, retreating from our space. “Gods be with you.”
When he closed the door, I glanced over to Alex, playing with my yarn nervously. “Well, that was unexpected.”
“He had to do it,” she replied, frowning. “You made one of the more stunning divinations that this place has ever seen. The whole courtyard felt holy while you were channeling.”
“I can’t even remember saying the words,” I said. “I only remember the feeling. And I want to be more excited about our freedom, but I can’t stop thinking about what happened. Does anyone out there have any idea of what’s going on?”
Alex frowned and shook her head. “No, not yet.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Zoe comforted. “Let’s just get you some rest.”
“Alright,” I agreed through my headache. “But we should ask Thanatos, too.” He would be our only hope for clarity tonight. Zoe’s eyes widened, but she swallowed what I assumed was a fearful outburst. “I’ll be the one to ask,” I reassured her.
So we waited. And when Thanatos flickered into our room, one look at my face told him that something had happened. I scooted down to sit on the foot of my bed, and he hurried to join me, wrapping his arm and wing around me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
He smelled nice. A smile tugged at my lips, and I laid my head on his shoulder.
“I’m no longer a terrible oracle,” I said in a quiet voice.
My headache was pressing, so I waved my hand at Zoe, who took over in reciting the tale despite her still-persisting fear of Death.
She repeated the prophecy to him twice: the full thing, the exact words.
Thanatos rubbed my back slowly while he listened. If the conversation wasn’t so important, I probably would have fallen asleep on him. “Concerning,” he remarked when Zoe was finished. “And there is nothing else? No other knowledge?” We pondered it.
“Cyrie, what about that other vision you had?” Sophie asked, suddenly remembering. “The handsome man who said he’d be back for you?”
I let out a snort of laughter and motioned to Thanatos beside me. “Yeah, I made that one up. I was a bit frazzled when we first met, so I had to throw you all off my scent.”
She scoffed and glared at me in humorous disapproval. “If you were going to feed us half-truths, you could have at least been more detailed.”
“It’s not my fault he’s sexier than I could describe him,” I retorted. Sophie folded her arms; Thanatos laughed and kissed the top of my head.
“What about golden hair?” Alex cut in, drawing us back to seriousness. “I saw it in a dream. There were withering flowers in it, too. Short golden curls?”
Thanatos began to shake his head no, but then froze mid-motion. I leaned back to watch as his expression changed from concern to disbelief to reluctant certainty. “Oh, fuck,” he muttered quietly.
“What is it?” I asked in alarm. He remained silent for a drawn-out moment before turning to me.
“I understand,” he finally replied. A hint of a smile crossed his lips as he cupped my face in his hand. “Oh, Cyrie. I…I know what you are.”
I raised my brows, looking up at him with bewilderment. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I understand now,” he repeated, and he tenderly swept my unruly waves away from my face. “Oh, my love. Finally it makes sense to me, your unusual gift. You can see me because you are touched by the Underworld. You can see me because it was Hades who gave you sight.”
“What?” I asked, recoiling a little. “What do you mean? Why would he do that?” I didn’t understand those words one bit. I’d never heard of a prophet not tied to Apollo. Maybe rare cases were out there somewhere, but none of the other gods had ever been known to care for such a thing as prophecy.
“I know why,” Thanatos answered quietly. He let me go and started to pace back and forth across the room. My sisters watched him nervously, silently. I worried when his broody contemplation dragged on, but just as I was about to interrupt, he stopped to meet my eyes again.
“You once asked me if I had ever been cheated,” he reminded me. “Twice, I told you, and this is true. One of these was...recent. Relevant. But first, you must understand that there are others who defied me before I could ever feel the calls of their souls.” He sighed heavily before continuing.
“The bloodline of Zeus carries the power of eternity.
So, as gods do, his children have exploited their gifts to thwart me, to thwart nature, by granting immortality to their favorites before their times to die ever came.
It has happened repeatedly over the centuries—an incredibly rude practice, I might add—and it has frustrated Hades and I to no end.
“But there was nothing that could be done about it, for the meddling of gods ensured we would never have a claim to these few souls.
So I accepted these irritating aberrations as an inevitable part of a realm loved by the Olympians.
At the very least, most of them chose mortals who were truly exceptional in life. Deserving, if there is such a thing.
“Then, one day, golden-haired Apollo crossed the line.” Thanatos folded his arms, and his lips curled into a disgusted snarl.
“He’d fallen for yet another mortal, you see, and from their union came the promise of a child—a demigod.
But this was not to be. His woman was cursed with a terrible labor, so that when the time arrived her body tore itself apart in the birthing of their son.
This battle was one she was destined to lose.
Such was the will of the Fates: I would have the both of them that night.
“The rain was heavy when I flew to the apex of the tower where she lay.
I knew Apollo was there when I approached.
I could feel the radiance of his power surrounding them, but I did not expect him to use it, for I underestimated the depths of his arrogance.
When I landed there, I swept the woman away easily enough.
But, with the son…for some fucking reason Apollo would not let him go.