The Forbidden Oracle

by Devyn Forrest

  Then, I sauntered toward the door, feeling their eyes upon my back, my naked ass, and my long legs.

  When I appeared at the edge of the party, I knew I looked wild: naked, my skin glowing, my tits perky and my hair was strewn out behind me, like a mermaid’s underwater. I stretched my arms out wide, parting the crowd of dancers easily—it was like their bodies were easily guided by mine. They whirled around to look at me. Collectively, their jaws dropped.

  Margot stood at the back of the crowd, gaping at me. I walked toward her like a model walks a catwalk, stretching my legs toward her and pointing my toes.

  “What—what are you doing?” Margot demanded, sounding god-damn petrified. “Leave me alone. Please, Ivy.”

  Tears fell down her cheeks, staining her mime makeup. God, I relished seeing her so afraid of me.

  When I reached her, I draped my fingers across her cheek—gazing into her eyes. They flickered with fear. With a jolt, I saw it—a memory. She was just a little girl, seated in the rain in a Paris park, watching an older man kiss a younger woman across the grass. With a jolt, I knew—the man was her father and the girl was not her mother.

  I brought my hand away from her, leaving her with the memory and her bottom lip jutted out quivering.

  “You bitch,” she muttered.

  “Watch yourself, Margot,” I returned, giving her an icy glare.

  Then, I turned toward the school. I walked slowly, methodically, still feeling all eyes on my back. When I reached the forest, I felt Celeste running up behind me. She called my name, but her voice just kind of echoed and bounced around my head. I couldn’t focus on it, nor could I focus on her. Not then.

  When I was in the middle of the woods, I stopped. Celeste grabbed my shoulder, yanking me back and I only blinked at her. She was gasping and crying. Her makeup was all fucked up, as I watched the black tears roll down her cheeks from her mascara.

  “Can you hear me, Ivy?” she yelled at me in a terrified voice. “Please, Ivy. Answer me. What—what happened? I was looking for you everywhere when the clock struck midnight. I could feel this insane shift in the air and the shack over by the docks—it started glowing like..”

  “I was fucking Ezra when it happened,” I murmured, my voice cool, calculated.

  Celeste looked oddly petrified. “You really need to watch out for them, Ivy. They’re not good people. They—they rule this school and...”

  But I cut her off. “No, Celeste. They don’t rule this school anymore. I’ve been fucked around way too much.”

  I turned and continued to walk through the woods. I felt like I was absolutely flying—and knew, somehow, that I could if I wanted to. I felt like if I willed almost anything, I could make it happen. I could feel this magical blood pumping past my eardrums. It was like music.

  Celeste continued after me. She seemed to know better than to speak. When we reached the dorm, we made our way up the steps and then entered the living area, still not speaking. I wondered what was happening back at the party. I imagined that they hadn’t just kept going. From just a glance out the window, I noticed that several people had already begun to filter back slowly—seemingly at a loss for what else to do. I’d left everyone panicked and reeling. I had been the hurricane that they hadn’t seen coming.

  I let Celeste come into my bedroom with me. She kept her eyes to the ground while I donned a robe. With a flash of my fingers, I drew up a fire in the fireplace. It roared in just a few seconds, flashing its orange arms and legs across the coals and logs.

  “Wow,” Celeste breathed. She looked at me like she’d never seen me before. “What has Professor Binion been teaching you?”

  “Not enough, really,” I replied. “I don’t think either of us was really fully aware of what it would mean when my powers came. But look—” I opened my robe to show her my stomach. “It’s here, which means that all the people after Aunt Maria and me can probably sense where I am now.”

  “But Headmaster Chesterton knew about your birthday,” Celeste whispered. She looked very small. She began to wipe at her cheeks, conscious that she was probably covered in black makeup. “He probably doubled down on the spells. That’s why your Aunt Maria brought you here.”

  “I have to call her,” I whispered. “I have to make sure she’s all right.”

  Suddenly, my brain filled with the worst images imaginable — dark shadows. My aunt, rushing through the woods, her eyes frantic and black.

  I began to shake, knowing that she was now in impossibly grave danger.

  I reached for my phone. I thought the rings would never stop. I could feel her out there somewhere and I could feel that she was still alive, although I knew that the spells around Origins Supernatural meant that I couldn’t fully see what was going on outside the boundaries. It was like a foggy window.

  Finally, Aunt Maria answered the phone. “Baby. Happy birthday,” she said. Her voice was soothing and happy. She said it the way she’d said it every other year before this—before everything had gotten absolutely fucked up.

  “Hi,” I said. “It’s happened.”

  Aunt Maria didn’t speak for a few seconds. I could feel her going over this in her head. It was the only conclusion to the story; the only way it could have ever happened. And yet, I still kind of felt like I was disappointing her. I didn’t understand it. Like—I should have avoided it somehow.

  “I had a feeling it would happen even though some stated it might not,” Aunt Maria replied.

  I sucked in a deep breath and felt Celeste’s eyes on me, studying me. I knew my face was scrunched and weary.

  “BUT NOBODY HAS FOUND you. Have they? I keep hearing about these horrible murders around Hillside Falls. The bounty hunters are there. I feel like they’re closing in on you.”

  Her laugh was light and it was so unfitting to what was actually going on. “Honey, they’ve been hunting us for years.”

  “But the spells. They’re dying....”

  “I suppose it won’t happen so quickly,” she offered. “I can still feel them and I’ve asked Zoey to increase the security a bit. She’s helping me in almost every way, Ivy.”

  What Aunt Maria said made me take my first full breath of the day. I felt overwhelmed with sudden optimism. Was it possible that we would actually get away with this? That Zoey would keep Aunt Maria safe and that I would become my own mother's prophecy—an actual oracle? My eyes filled with tears and suddenly, I felt overwhelmed again like a wave washing over me.

  “Jesus, okay,” I breathed.

  “Yeah. Jesus,” She echoed back.

  We both laughed nervously and the fire continued to roar in the fireplace. I wished, for some reason, that I could tell exactly what had happened, but I would have to keep out portions of the story. Of course, it hadn’t gone exactly to plan with me, partially exposing who I am and some powers. It didn’t help that I absolutely freaked everyone out. But that couldn’t have been helped.

  “You sound okay,” Aunt Maria said.

  “Maybe I will be,” I returned. “I think Origins is a good place for me. And I think—my professors are really helping me. Being different from anything I ever knew is overwhelming, but I have to ask, how did Mom go without using her powers for so many years? Living with Dad and me, pretending that she didn’t want much to do with any of this?”

  Aunt Maria laughed into the phone. “She really didn’t think about it much. She was just a wife and a mother, you know? She loved you both so much that it trumped everything. She didn’t need to think about the other stuff.”

  I had older images from when I was a kid. Dad was always sweat-faced and angry-eyed, hovering over whatever appliance he wanted to fix—until Mom dotted a kiss on his nose and accused him of being cranky. Then, he flung his arms around her, lifted her into the air and whirled her around and around until she laughed uncontrollably.

  Aunt Maria and I said our goodbyes finally after she was put at ease that I was okay and vice versa. Outside the bedroom door, Celeste and I could hear
the other girls wandering in. They were quiet, trying to whisper. I didn’t know if it was because of Professor Springer—or because they were a little afraid of me.

  “I told the boys exactly what I am,” I said to Celeste suddenly, surprising myself.

  Celeste gave me a strange side-eyed look. “I don’t know why, but you’ve always had this weird power over them. I thought at first it was because you were the new girl. But maybe they sensed who you were all along.”

  “I don’t know. Ezra kind of looked at me at the end like I was this villain he wanted to destroy,” I explained.

  “He’s the villain, Ivy. He’s a vampire.” Celeste offered.

  “I’m not so sure,” I returned. I rolled this thought around in my head for a second. All vampires couldn’t have been made the same.

  “Fuck. You’re falling for them,” Celeste accused me. “I’m going to lose you to the three kings of Origins.”

  “Ha. As if.” I dropped back on the mattress, bouncing slightly. Celeste did the same. She went to reach for my hand, but I again slipped it away from her, muttering, “I really can’t. I’m just so tired. I’m afraid if it happens.”

  “Right.”

  I wanted to yank the conversation back to any kind of normalcy. I wanted to find some common ground, where Celeste wouldn’t feel like she had a crazy best friend who’d been “chosen to save the supernatural world,” or whatever. I cleared my throat and said, “You really have to tell me more about what’s going on with you and Peter. What do you think? Is it real love?”

  Celeste fell into her own beautiful conversation, sizzling with passion and lust and what could very well have been love. We talked about Peter for an hour or so, until both of our eyes slowly closed and we drifted off to sleep. We snuggled up under my covers, sleeping together like we were little girls.

  Just as I had imagined, this was the first day of the rest of our lives. We had to prepare for the road ahead. Together. Somehow.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nobody woke up at Origins Supernatural Academy on a Sunday morning until after eleven. This was kind of the rule. Everyone was allowed a blissful few hours in the morning to stretch out beneath the covers, roll around on their pillows, and daydream about whatever had happened the night before. As I laid there next to the still-sleeping Celeste, the sunlight swept in through the curtains.

  It was my birthday. It was my full-fledged, seventeenth birthday.

  I was free of the fear of the unknown to a certain degree. It was just here, with all the chaos and adrenaline it was always going to bring. I could now welcome it with open arms.

  There was a rap at my door a few minutes after eleven. This was a pretty big surprise since I was borderline-nobody at Origins, and nobody really cared about me except Celeste unless, of course, fuck with me.

  “What is it?” Celeste murmured, groggy. She rubbed her eyes.

  I swept off the sheets and walked tip-toed toward the door. The rap came again like the person thought I hadn’t heard. I opened the door seconds later to reveal Riley on the other side—one of Margot’s cronies. Behind her stood Zelda, Meghan, the mermaid, and a few other girls.

  “Hello...?” I said, unsure why so many people were at my door so early in the morning.

  Riley nodded down toward what she held in her hands. There, she held a massive bright pink cake, with the words “HAPPY BIRTHDAY IVY” written on it in yellow icing.

  I gaped. “What is this...”

  Riley shrugged. Her red hair shook along with her, shining with the new morning sun. “We know it’s your birthday. It’s written on the calendar. We thought we’d better celebrate, huh? It’s only right.”

  What calendar? I gaped at them all, feeling strange. They all looked at me like they wanted to please me, which was certainly nothing I had felt at all over the past few months.

  “Oh, and happy Halloween, of course!” Riley said to break the awkward silence.

  I stretched my hands out and accepted the cake. I gave a little shrug and said, “Who made it?”

  “We all chipped in,” Riley replied. “It was Margot’s idea. She’s out collecting the flowers we ordered. She’ll be here in a second.”

  On cue, Margot appeared in the doorway to the living area. She looked beautiful as ever, with all the mime makeup wiped off her face. In her arms, she held a dozen red roses, each of them pristine, like each of the petals had been hand-selected. Her long legs led her toward me faster than should have been scientifically allowed. When she reached me, she held them out—like a peace offering.

  “Here. Happy birthday,” she said and gave me a warm smile.

  I didn’t have hands to grab them since I was still carrying the cake. I just looked at her, completely shocked. “They’re...um. Perfect,” I said, hating how unsure I sounded.

  Margot shrugged. “I know this witch over in Newton. She’s a part-time florist and grows the perfect flowers. They even rival the ones in France—and I would never just say that.”

  Someone suggested we head out into the living area to celebrate. I walked like I was sleepwalking. Everyone seemed to eye me curiously like they were seeing me for the first time. Someone dropped the roses into a vase of water, while another girl started cutting the cake. I was given the seat of honor in front of all the other girls. Confused and bleary-eyed, Celeste sat next to me. We made heavy eye contact for a few seconds before someone shoved a plate of cake into my face. The same conclusion greeted Celeste and me at the same time: the girls were afraid of me. They were afraid of all the shit they’d put me through, and what I might do to them.

  The boys had obviously told them what I had said in the shack. Ezra had probably told them about the mark burning into my skin. This both thrilled me and freaked me out. I wasn’t just the ordinary, nobody new girl anymore. I was someone they wanted to please, and not because they liked me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting. It was the perfect breakfast, especially since I felt vaguely hungover from the night before. The girls around us tittered and giggled and gossiped about things that I didn't really know about. One girl came over and started asking Celeste about her relationship with Peter—as if anyone had ever cared about it before.

  “You guys are so cute together,” she said, sounding like a cartoon of a high school cheerleader. “God, I mean. How did you bag him, Celeste?”

  Celeste didn’t trust these girls any more than I did, but I knew she liked the attention. Who didn’t? She blushed and said, “I know. I dreamed about him all summer, and now... I guess it’s just working out, you know?”

  “It’s so fucking hard to find any boy at Origins Supernatural who actually wants a girlfriend,” another girl chimed in. “They all want to just sleep around as much as possible.”

  For whatever reason, I locked eyes with Margot right then. Her eyes darkened and I knew what she was thinking: that I’d fucked the boy she liked the night before and probably would again if I got the chance. She swallowed, as Zelda chimed in.

  “Yeah, Margot and I are always talking about that,” Zelda said. “The boys here think they’re like, vagabond billionaires. They can just toss us around at random. Sure, everyone here thinks they’re special. It’s Origins, for god’s sake. But that doesn’t mean...”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Margot said, interrupting. She slid her fork through her cake and then licked the icing off the edge. “The boys can do whatever the hell they like. No matter what race they are, we all know that boys are second-rate citizens. Isn’t that right?”

  Everyone laughed uproariously. Even me and Celeste had a few nervous chuckles like we weren’t sure what to do or what to say. By the time the cake was finished, some champagne had appeared on the counter—with several girls saying it was best to “drink the hangover away.” I had a glass in my hand as Margot slipped in beside me, batting her perfect big French eyes at me.

  I noticed she was careful not to touch me.

 
; “Ivy. Ivy Whitestone,” she said, almost relishing the way my name felt against her tongue, I thought. “It’s so nice to finally get to know the real you, you know. I always wondered when you would come out of your shell.”

  “Oh?” I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm.

  “Now, I hope you’ll know that I feel terrible that we got off on the wrong foot,” she continued. “It’s obvious that you belong here, far more than most of us.”

  Here, her eyes turned toward Celeste, which enraged me. Celeste belonged to an incredible line of witches. Her inability to master her powers had nothing to do with her ability. She had strength beyond most people I knew. I thought it was just a matter of her fear of it, really. She knew she was capable of so much, yet was terrified of the damage she might cause.

  Now that I had felt some of my powers, I felt I could relate.

  “Anyway. I’m glad we could celebrate your birthday all together,” Margot continued. “And I hope this gives us an opportunity to grow closer. I was even thinking... perhaps you could come to Paris for a bit over Christmas break? I know it’s short notice, but I’m sure my parents could help out with the flights and everything. The world will soon understand what it is you are. And it’s better for you to be on the side of the winning.”

  I looked at her for a few seconds and knew that there was no way I would ever trust this girl. Not in a million years.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Celeste and I joked about this little party the girls had arranged after it ended—when we sat back on my bed, heavy with cake. It seemed so ridiculous to have the world kissing my feet, after months of their bullying.

  Celeste shrugged, saying, “Hey, as long as I can enjoy all the fruits of your fate with you...” She rubbed her belly, smirking.

  “Ha. I would rather get rid of all the cake in the world if it meant I could just go back to normal.”