Chapter One #3
“His gift is a heightened sixth sense of being able to ‘lie detect’,” she said before Lucian could say anything.
Then, she began rattling them all off, as if she had something to prove.
Because she did.
If they were going to survive this, they all had to work together.
Already, she was trying to untangle the threads of Fate in order to save as many lives as possible. Those lives being the people in this room.
Hers included.
There was no doubt in her mind that she was the final round in this sick individual’s game.
As of this moment, if what she heard in the static was correct, Lucian was going to die.
Then, there would be more.
It upset and terrified her, since she could see it in the static, as she heard his wails of pain. Not only was he going to lose his life, but so was she.
They were all that stood between this entity and Genesis Manning.
If that darkness won, everything would be unbalanced. There would be no way to save the spirit realm, or to help the wayward psychics find their niche in life.
To help people.
As she told each one of them about their gifts, Oracle-splaining it to them, there was silence.
And it was NOT golden.
It was filled with fear and trepidation. The sadness was now morphing into something more, and she knew they needed to get through this in order to allow her to help navigate this mess here.
When one of Julian’s sister’s raised her hand, Avalon glanced over at her.
“Will Beckett be okay?” Lianna asked. “I’m worried about my sister’s husband.”
Why?
Well, she’d been feeling shitty non-stop over him being hurt in the static—all because she found this case and threw it at them.
While everyone told her it was NOT her fault, it was difficult to believe that. Lianna was worried this was going to destroy everything her brother and sister-in-law had built.
As she spoke, Oracle focused on the woman and could feel her trepidation.
“He will be. Granted, as of this moment, his gift is burned out. Will that return? I don’t know. What I do know is that this entity’s whole goal is to make as many of you inept in this fight. He hates that you help people and wants to make everyone suffer for some reason.”
Julian didn’t understand any of this.
They’d never done anything to anyone, and he couldn’t rationalize why they were being hurt.
“Why?” he asked. “Why is this all happening? If you’re the all-seeing Oracle, surely, you have a clue as to why this is happening.”
Because it had been a long-ass day, Avalon pointed at the couches and wanted to sit down. She and Nate had been traveling for days, and she was exhausted.
As a matter of fact, so was he.
She needed her husband to help her with this, so they needed to rest at some point. If not, she would be more easily taken down by this psychic.
“May we?” she asked.
It occurred to Victoria that they were all hostility, and no hospitality.
That wasn’t how they rolled, even if this was a horrible situation to be meeting people.
Instead, Tori nodded.
“Do you need something to drink? A snack?” she asked. “I’m not going to lie, but you look like you’re minutes from collapsing.”
When Avalon went to brush it off, her husband stepped in, and Nate handled that.
“She is. We haven’t slept in days,” he admitted. “We’ve been trying to get everything handled before this piece of shit strikes again.”
Yeah, that said it all.
He was no fan.
Well, welcome to that particular club.
While this Oracle person was calm and collected, the man beside her, her husband, was certainly not. It was clear he was not amused by any of this.
The stress lines etched around his eyes and mouth, and the way he was hovering over his wife, said it all.
He was at his breaking point too.
It appeared that they were all trapped on this shit boat together. Now, they had to make sure it didn’t go down.
Like the Titanic.
So, it was time to be rational, and figure this out. Julian didn’t want a repeat of what happened when Nyx did what she did to screw them all over.
That was a karmic journey he did NOT want to repeat.
So, Julian had to put away the anger and put on his thinking cap so they could clean this up and go back to life as it was a week ago.
“What would you like?” he asked. “Coffee? Tea?”
Avalon sat, and they could all see she was wobbly. Her husband guided her down, so she could get comfortable.
“Tea would be lovely,” she said. “Thank you. I don’t drink coffee because it makes me jittery, and no one needs a jumpy Oracle,” she joked.
And no one laughed.
It was a tough audience, that was crystal clear.
Also getting comfortable, Tori sat across from her, as Lucian and Bishop were near the two people.
For some reason, that upset her on a deep level.
Yeah, it annoyed her.
Why?
Well, they were their family now, and she was NOT giving them up to these two people. When all was said and done, the Monroes were theirs.
As were the Maguires.
“You’re angry with me,” Avalon said, focusing on Tori. “I can feel it from here. You think I’m here to steal your family away from under you.”
Well, shit.
She’d nailed that one.
Because Victoria Littlemoon was more than angry.
She.
Was.
Pissed.