Read Beneath the Hallowed Hill for Free Online Page B

canals surrounding the main Temple of Poseidon. The harbor unfolded beneath them, dotted with sleek ships that cruised the ocean or dove beneath her depths with equal ease. Diaprepes avoided the southern shopping district and headed west over the first row of olive foothills toward the deep blue peaks. The rounded cone of one of the volcanoes rose in the distance.
    Minutes later, the Temple of the Oracle appeared, a diminutive jewel on the edge of grey cliffs, the early morning sunrise reflecting in its faceted windows. The walls, built of the indigenous stone, blended with the mountain. Diaprepes landed his craft deftly beside three similar vehicles. They disembarked and headed toward the semicircle of stones in front of the entrance, careful not to step inside yet. A group of candidates and their parents waited just outside the semicircle like a flock of variously colored sheep. The parents’ robes reflected their guild: blue for healing, purple for high government officials, green for the agronomists, and so on. Children were raised in their mother’s clan, but both parents usually came for the Emergence Ceremony.
    “Diaprepes.” A stocky man with a curly beard called to Megan’s father as they approached. The two men hugged, then the women, then all of them together, and they began the usual chatter of parents losing their children to the world, a predictable series of congratulations, speculations, and condolences. Megan drifted around looking for Erythe, but it seemed her friend hadn’t arrived yet, so she leaned against a stone at a distance from the group and closed her eyes, trying to quiet her mind in preparation for the ritual ahead. She let the buzz of voices and sounds wash over her. A gull’s raucous cry carried from afar; the scent of vanilla wafted from the pines lining the mountain slope as the sun warmed their bark; something rustled in the grass nearby. Just as she was focusing to send her consciousness into that form to explore, the stones spoke.
    “She has come at last.” The voice came from the slim granite point she was leaning against.
    A murmur of agreement vibrated through the semi-circle. “ This is the one.”
    “What do you mean ?” Megan sent, but the stones only hummed a low note of contentment to themselves.
    Before she could ask again, footsteps approached. She opened her eyes to find Erythe standing in front of her, the white emergence robe setting off the soft brown of her face. “Nervous?” Erythe asked.
    “Not you, too.”
    “What?”
    “My parents keep asking me if I’m nervous.”
    “Well, are you?”
    “Curious, I guess.” Megan shrugged. “And you?”
    Erythe paused, then said in a rush of warm breath, “What if they get it wrong?”
    “Do they get anything wrong?” At Erythe’s frown, Megan added, “You can change if you’re not happy.”
    “Of course.” Before Erythe could say more, a single resonant bell sounded from the temple. The heavy oak doors, a gift from the north where the trees were sacred, parted and two acolytes, a young man and woman, stepped out. The distinctive robes of the Crystal Guild shimmered in the light, showing now violet, now silver-white, and always giving the feeling that if you concentrated hard enough, you could see whatever glimmered in the air around them just out of human sight. The acolytes walked toward the knot of people.
    Without another word, Megan and Erythe hurried back to the group. The young man nodded when they arrived. “Welcome to the Temple of the Oracle. We are honored to serve you today. Please, those who are consulting the oracle line up behind this stone.”
    “The families will come with me,” the woman said.
    Megan glanced at her parents, but they already fell into ritual protocol and avoided her eyes. The acolyte gestured for the initiates to follow. He walked to the edge of the stones and paused, tuning to the circle, then moved forward. Megan felt a familiar tingle in her limbs when she passed the