Read The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) for Free Online

know we’ll be all right.
    I can’t see who it is - I think it’s my tattooed mystery man, I hope it is, but I can’t make anything but colours out in the rush of motion. Whoever it is, I know I trust them.
    Then I’m cold, so cold I can’t think, and everything around me blurs, but still his hand is there and I clutch it even as I feel my fingers beginning to numb.
    Then as suddenly as it began the vision ends, and I find myself staring at the ceiling of the audience chamber. My head is on something soft, and someone is kneeling beside me.
    It’s Tarian. His dark eyes look down at me with concern - such startling eyes, as deep as galaxies. When he sees that I’m back he smiles at me and it warms my whole body. I smile back for a moment, forgetting myself.
    ‘That looked intense,’ he says, his lilting accent soothing. ‘Are you all right?’
    ‘I’ve been worse,’ I say. ‘It was just another vision.’
    ‘Do they always have that effect on you?’
    I sit up. ‘It’s always stronger here, where the ley lines converge. They weren’t like this in London.’
    He retrieves his suit jacket from where I was, apparently, using it as a pillow.
    ‘Um... thanks for taking care of me,’ I say, not looking him in the eye.
    ‘Don’t mention it,’ he says. ‘It looked painful when you fell, are you hurt?’
    I test a few motions to see. ‘No, I think I’m ok... you get used to it,’ I tell him.
    He gives me his hand to stand up and I take it. His grasp is firm, warm, and for a moment it feels familiar, but before I can complete the thought, the Prince distracts me.
    ‘Oracle?’ he asks. ‘Are you well?’
    ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I say.
    ‘Good,’ he snaps. ‘The three of you will set out in an hour, as soon as preparations can be made. Make sure you’re ready.’
    He stalks away, and I rush to my room to get into some more suitable clothes.

Chapter Six
    A small crowd has gathered on the drive to watch us go. My mother is there, wearing her usual facade of unconcern, but I can tell she’s worried. Maybe she’s thinking I might not come back. Maybe I won’t.
    Cherry is a little more open about her concerns. ‘Promise me you’ll be careful,’ she whispers in my ear as she hugs me. ‘I only just got you back. I don’t want to think... well... be careful, ok?’
    ‘I will, I promise,’ I tell her, but I know that the blood oath overrides any other promise I could make. I may
    not be able to be careful.
    Nobody says goodbye to Tarian when he arrives. I acknowledge his nod with one of my own. He’s dressed like I am, jeans, boots, shirt, jacket. We could have a long walk ahead of us. Steele arrives last, with final instructions from the Prince and a pack full of equipment that he forbids me to touch before he orders us into the same black jeep from this morning. I smile wryly to myself - when they bundled me into that jeep earlier, I thought I’d be locked in my room for the rest of my life. I hadn’t pictured leaving again so soon, let alone to go all the way to Sherwood. I slide into my seat and Tarian gets into the back with me. I don’t blame him for not wanting to sit next to Steele in the front.
    Steele starts the engine and we burst out of the driveway in a shower of gravel, then head up the road towards Sherwood.
    ‘How long’s the journey?’ I ask Steele, watching the shadowy shape of Stonehenge go past in the gloom.
    He answers reluctantly, like he can’t stand to have a normal conversation with me. ‘It should be around four hours, but the jeep is spelled. We’ll be there in two.’
    It does seem to be moving incredibly fast, and although Steele isn’t the best driver, when he weaves around the other traffic in the road we always seem to somehow not crash into anything. I wonder what kind of spells are on the jeep. I barely know anything about branches of magic other than my own.
    It’s too dark to read or anything in the jeep and I’m getting more and more nervous the closer