Chapter 34-1

Carter

Time was something I did not have. Time to grow into my new role. Time to reconcile with the truth that I would become, The Oracle of Death, and that I would rule the Far Beyond people. And especially I did not have time to ponder just how I was to begin my trials.

I must now find The Life Sage but I don’t have a clue where I’m supposed to start.

DEEP BREATH LATER

Stevron again offered me a bushberry. I again shook my head.

“You recovered remarkably fast.” He was now frowning at me. “Any unpleasant sensations?”

Apart from the chill invading my mind and the cold surrounding my heart? “No,” I answered Stevron, “I feel warm. Like my body temperature has risen a few degrees.”

Stevron nodded. “It has. You’ll begin to notice more changes in the days to come. No more nausea?”

I latched onto the words, ‘more changes’ and ‘days to come’. Not much was making any sense to me. “No, I’m finished throwing up.”

Stevron turned and I thought he was going to follow Mylane. He didn’t move, then he looked back over his shoulder at me. “You still can’t hear me, can you?”

That was the only thing that did make sense to me. I shook my head. “Should I?”

Stevron gave me a weak smile. “I didn’t expect it but I was hoping. Glad to see you back.”

I raised a hand to my jaw. My skin had begun to itch. I paused when my hand rasped against whisker bristle. My fingers brushed my lips. I could feel the coarseness of the beginnings of a moustache over my upper lip.

A worried look entered Stevron’s eyes. “You do know that you drained yourself almost to the point where I didn’t know if we could bring you back, right?”

I nodded. “I had intended it that way, but then…”

“You couldn’t follow through.”

I sighed heavily. No, I could follow through. All because I couldn’t bear the thought of allowing another potential Oracle to take up the cause that I was destined to do. Nor could I disrespect my family by belittling my brother’s deaths because I was a coward.

“You could have-”

“Used my own blood?”

I nodded. “It would have given me a little more time.”

Stevron shook his head. “You know my blood wasn’t what was needed.”

I felt anger roll through my gut. Yeah, I did know. I was just being immature and selfish.

Something flickered in Stevron’s eyes. He gave me a saddened smile. “You knew this day would eventually come. The Death line you carry could not be denied.”

My anger ebbed until I felt only despair. “So Jake was right? The Oracle of Death is close to his final death?”

“Yes, but transforming you will now greatly diminish his powers.”

“How long do I have to complete my trails?”

He shrugged. “Who knows how long it will take him to complete he’s own trails? He’ll try and extend his life for as long as he can but…”

“I know,” I exhaled my breath. The chill in my brain turned to ice freeze. “I need to do this as fast as I can.”

Sudden I felt a crushing pain in both my wrists. I winced as Stevron forced my hands back down to my side. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. My hands had reacted faster than my brain. I had just been about to throttle Stevron.

“I told you,” he lifted an eyebrow, “you need a bushberry.”

I snapped my jaw shut and stood staring at Stevron. My hands once Stevron released me pressed against the sides of my thighs. I could feel hard muscle beneath my touch.

“Carter, bushberries are going to be your new best friend, so you might as well get used to them. Your body and mind will be going through a lot of changes.”

I glanced down at Stevron’s hand. He now held a pouch of bushberries.

I had never tasted a bushberry before, and for the first time since the day Jake died, I was truly afraid. Afraid of what I’d just become.

I glanced at Angie. She had eerily stood by me, not adding anything to the conversation. Did she even understand what had happened to me? Did she understand the destiny I now held?

“Carter,” Stevron pressed, “for Em’s sake.”

My heart stopped cold. Emmalee? For Emmalee I’d do anything, anything whatsoever. I snatched the pouch from Stevron’s hand and extracted a berry and quickly shoved it into my mouth. “Tell me everything.”

I watched Stevron exhale. He looked at Angie. “You need to hear this too.”

I saw Angie’s face change and I watched her lips move. “So, you’re finally going to start answering my questions?”

“As I told you,” Stevron said to Angie, then turned back to me. “It’s Carter’s story, I’ll just be filling in the gaps.”

My stomach clenched. What was Stevron implying? Was he expecting me to tell Angie the destiny of the Death line? If so, why? Why did Angie need to know about the Sapphyre Wings history? Did it have anything to do with what was behind the dramatic change in her?

The questions in my eyes must have relayed my confusion better than if I’d spoken the words, for Stevron continued.

“Angie was bitten as well, and I’ve just told her that she is of mixed blood.”

My eyes flew to Angie. She was a member of the Sapphyre Wings, just like me? How was that possible since Mikkel was a Far Beyond, or more accurately put, an Outsider? And did this mean that Emmalee was half Sapphyre Wings as well?

©Legend of the Sapphyre Wings by Janet Merritt