by Moni Boyce
These ruins covered a larger area than The Tholos. Once they reached the temple’s ruins, he stooped and placed his hand on one of the decaying pillars. “Indica mihi quem quaerimus. Reperio.” He waited. Nothing.
Magic was not going to be what unearthed The Book of Prophecy; that was clear to him now. He stood and dusted his hands on his jeans. When his eyes met hers he shook his head. She tried to give him a smile, which seemed more like a grimace before she turned away and wandered around.
He knew she wanted this all to just be over. He did to. Some of the others tried to cast spells to locate the book with the same results. Nothing. Phaedra walked towards him.
“Anything?” She must have figured Willow had a clue or something that would help.
“No.”
She looked out at the mountains. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but not know which haystack to look in.” The exasperation in her voice was evident. He felt it too.
Why did her mother tell her about the existence of the book, but not where or how to find it? Unlike the ruins of The Tholos that were almost picturesque, the ruins of the Temple of Apollo weren’t much to look at. Here there only remained six jagged columns of varying heights, which stood taller than anything else. The rest of the ruins just consisted of the foundation of what once was a temple people traveled to from all over to visit, and hear the mighty Oracle speak.
A quick flash in his mind showed Willow much the same way she looked the other night in her toga, giving prophecies and visions to the generals and emperors that came to have their destinies revealed to them.
His boot kicked at a few pebbles as he watched Willow walk over to the columns. She had her back to him, her hands wrapped around her torso, almost like she was hugging herself. There was no way she could be cold out here. It was blazing hot. Before he could give it any more thought, the ground rumbled and shook. Then the earth began to fracture, like an earthquake was tearing it apart from the inside. He stumbled around, as did everyone else, trying to find something to hold onto and keep their balance. Out of the corner of his eye he could see some people had been knocked to the ground by the force of the quake.
“Willow!” She was right near a portion of the fragmented ground. She wasn’t looking at him, but she looked terrified. The uneven, shaky ground had her swaying. She’d dropped into a crouch to try and steady herself. There was no way for him to get to her. A vapor or mist rose from the fissures where she stood. Icy fingers wrapped themselves around his heart. What if the gas was poisonous and she breathed it in. “Willow! Cover your mouth!” He tried to yell above the rumbling of the earth that quaked beneath their feet.
Thankfully, she heard him. She covered her mouth and watched with wide, fearful eyes as the vapor rose around her. Seconds later, he saw her hands drop to her sides and her body go rigid, before she fell to the ground convulsing.
Fuck!
Fear, adrenaline and anger coursed through his veins. Agony sunk its teeth into his guts and tore them to ribbons as he watched her writhe on the ground. Was the gas killing her? She wasn’t screaming. Was it because the mystery gas was choking her to death? He attempted to use his magic to try and stop the earthquake. When that didn’t work, he tried to use magic to end whatever was happening to her. Again, nothing. Whatever had caused the earthquake and vapors had also quelled his magic. He was reminded of how helpless he felt on the battlefield watching that spear run through her body.
A frustrated roar erupted from his throat.
Not again.
He would not stand by and watch her suffer again. Even if it meant his life, he would get to her. It was like God or something in the universe heard him, because the ground stilled. The gaseous substance continued to flow from the crevices the earth had cut open around Willow.
Lysander somehow beat him over to her body, but he only came within fifteen or twenty feet of her and didn’t go any further. Eli was about to run past him to get to Willow when Lysander blocked him. “Don’t touch her.” His voice was calm. “Not when she’s like that.”
Despite Lysander’s demeanor, he was anything but calm. He pushed against him. No one and nothing would keep him from saving Willow. “Let me go. She needs me. Look at her.” He shoved against Lysander again. If he had to put this man flat on his ass he would, especially if he didn’t move out of his way.
“I have looked at her and I’m telling you she doesn’t need you. She’s not hurt and she’s not in pain.”
He’d had enough. If Lysander wanted a fight, he was about to get one. Usually, he could keep a cool head, but when it came to her, he wouldn’t stand by and let something happen to her if there was something he could do about it. “If you don’t step out of my way, I won’t apologize for what I do next.” He was ready to use magic to remove Lysander from his path if needed. At this point, everyone had formed around them. He could see Phaedra gearing up for a brawl if it came to that. The other Protectors also looked ready to have his back.
“Look at her eyes.” Lysander didn’t seem fazed one bit by the fact that anger seeped out of every pore or that Eli was close to laying hands on him or worse. “Look.” He said the word more forcefully this time.
Eli’s chest rose and fell with agitation, but reluctantly he let his gaze drift to Willow. Lysander continued to restrain him.
Willow’s eyes had gone a glassy white like they did back at the Walker coven during their last training there, a milky white like he’d just seen at The Tholos ruins when she saw the past. Lysander was right. She wasn’t injured... Willow was seeing the future. His body relaxed and he took a step back.
“The Pythia, the original Oracle of Delphi, Willow’s ancestors saw some of her visions this way. It was not uncommon. It’s not pretty to watch...” He looked over his shoulder at the jerking movements of Willow’s body and limbs and turned back to Eli. “We have to let it take its course. These ruins, this place...” He looked around and up at the sky. “It must have recognized who she was. The Temple of Apollo may no longer stand, but the ancestors know one of their own. This place is still imbued with power.”
Eli could only hope that not only was she seeing the future, hopefully she was getting a glimpse on where to find the book.
As Willow continued in her trance, Arsenio spoke up. “I’ve tried to call Hadrian to see if they experienced the earthquake, but I’ve gotten no response. Maybe I should send some of the men back to make sure everything is all right at the theatre.”
“Good idea.” Lysander threw over his shoulder.
Arsenio pulled two men from the group and gave them instructions. They disappeared into thin air.
Even though he was aware that Willow was in no danger, it didn’t take away his worry or concern. This was still new to her and it was the longest she’d been under. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
Morgana came up on one side and Mathilda on his other side. Mathilda put her arm around him. “She’s okay.” Her young voice sounded so strong and sure that it gave him confidence that it was the truth.
“I know you worry about her, but she’s strong. She’s a fighter, that one.” Morgana echoed Mathilda’s reassurances.
He appreciated having them here. It wasn’t easy caring about someone as deeply as he cared for Willow. She’d told him she could take care of herself and he knew that, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to take care of her as well.
CHAPTER 9
Willow
The minute the ground started shaking fear seized her insides. She couldn’t reach out for Eli because a large crack had broken across the ground before she could move. It wasn’t that wide, but with the way the ground rolled beneath her feet she could have lost her footing trying to jump across and plunged to her death. She had no idea how deep the chasm was that opened and she wasn’t going to find out.
She couldn’t have explained it later when asked, but the fear left her body and then it felt like she was no longer in control of herself when her body went
completely still. It wasn’t exactly an out of body experience, but for a moment she no longer even felt the ground tremble, and then in the next instant her limbs and body were flailing about of their own volition. In medical terms, they would have said she had a seizure. The thing was, it didn’t hurt. Her limbs and head thrashed around, beat against the ground, but there was no pain.
The first vision she saw began with thunder cracking and lightening flashing across a red sky. When she looked around she stood outside a dense, thicket of trees and on the other side of her was a castle. It seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t exactly place why. She looked up at the sky and noticed that a total solar eclipse was happening. Shouldn’t that have made the sky go black?
What’s causing the red color?
The air smelled damp and redolent with the sickly sweet odor of... death. In the instant that another thunderclap sounded she knew this was Killian’s castle.
Where is this?
She looked this way and that, searching for an answer like she would suddenly see a sign that would alert her to the location. Before she could do any investigating the vision started to disintegrate the same way it did earlier.
No, no, no.
If only there was a way to control the vision, so she could stay in it long enough to get more information. She wanted to stomp her foot like a child. When elements stopped swirling she found herself in utter blackness. It frightened her at first and then she heard a heartbeat. The rhythm wasn’t normal though, the thump thump she heard beat twice as fast as hers. Then she saw it. It was like someone was using a camera and zooming out: a tiny foot, a leg, ribcage, a tiny hand with little fingers that twitched slightly and then a translucent eyelid where the veins were visible... a baby, a baby that was still inside its mother’s womb. She was hearing a fetal heartbeat. The baby seemed backlit by a light, the way she was able to see the organs. It was clear the baby was still growing. It was a marvel to get to see this stage of its development.
Whose baby am I seeing?
She noticed something spark next to the child. Maybe it was just her eyes. What was that? She was about to blink when the spark happened again and lasted a moment longer than it did before and then cut out.
What is that? Is that normal?
She was so intrigued by being able to see life at this early stage, the spark was forgotten when her eyes went back to the baby.
After a few more moments, the elements shifted and moved around and the scene was gone. She was beginning to grow used to it now.
This time she found herself in a large, dimly lit room that looked like something out of the United Nations. Around the room, rows and rows of chairs sat behind desks and there were placards and name tags that sat in front of each chair. She walked over to the nearest desk and picked up the name plate. Where you might see a name and a country if this was the United Nations, instead it said a name and supernatural faction underneath. The one she picked up read Aine Sparklefrost, Faery.
What an interesting sounding name.
Seeing the word faery made her think of her lineage, her father. Would this Aine person know him?
Out of the corner of her eye she saw some shadows being cast against the wall and when she looked over at them she could see a few people huddled in a corner of the room. Although she couldn’t hear anything, she had the sneaking suspicion that the meeting was a secret one from the way they leaned in to whisper and they kept looking around like they were afraid of being caught. Since the light was too low she couldn’t make out anything. What if they were plotting to do something evil? She tried to race down to the front to see their faces, but the elements began to swirl and shift.
Come on.
Every single time, it seemed to take her out of the vision at the most inopportune time.
In the next vision she saw herself in a room with Zoriana. She was looking at their backs. It felt like they were at the Walker coven, but she couldn’t be sure. She’d never been in the room before. Only candlelight lit the room. Whatever they were doing it appeared that they didn’t want to be caught doing it. They were huddled over a book.
What if it’s...
She rushed over to try and peer over Zoriana’s shoulder, but it was like a cord or something was tethered to her back. It yanked her back from the scene. She reached out trying to clutch onto it and hold it, grab it back, but the further she was pulled the smaller the scene became until she was in the blackness again. It felt like she was falling. She tried to reach up and grab a hold of something in the nothingness, but there was nothing to grab a hold of. Wherever she was started coming into focus and it stopped feeling like her body was hurtling to its death. Now it felt like she was falling in slow motion the way her limbs floated above her. Within seconds, she landed softly on her back on a limestone floor. She stared up at the ceiling for a second, trying to acclimate to her environment before she sat up.
Once she sat up, she looked around and saw statues of many Greek gods and then a huge hearth. As she completed her 360-degree view of the place her eyes landed on a woman sitting atop a chair that looked like it was on stilts. This woman was no statue. She was flesh and blood. The sight of her startled Willow and she found herself scuttling backwards in a crab-like walk trying to get away. Had the woman been there the whole time.
When the woman didn’t come down from the chair or seem to pose some sort of threat, she stopped moving. The woman looked at her with curious, but knowing, hazel colored eyes.
“Where am I?”
“You don’t know?” Her voice had a wise, otherworldly quality. Willow took in the way she was dressed. She wore the ancient Grecian dress, the peplos, she’d seen women wearing in her earlier vision. The material had been dyed a maroon or burgundy, she wasn’t quite sure in the inadequate light. The garment was draped and fastened with a few ornamental pins and buttons. The loose fitting veil didn’t entirely cover her long, wavy chestnut hair. Her tawny beige skin had a healthy glow.
A sudden movement on the woman’s chair revealed a large Python wrapped around the back and arms of the chair. It was moving. Willow gulped.
This was not the future. She was in the past, in ancient Greece once again to be exact.
“You’re The Pythia.” This time it wasn’t a question. She made the statement with conviction. With crystal clear clarity, Willow realized she was speaking with the original Oracle. This woman was her ancestor.
She must have seen her eyeing her pet. “He will not hurt you.”
So you say.
That didn’t stop her from being afraid of the beast that looked like it was at least ten feet long.
The Pythia didn’t seem to have any interest in getting to know her. “You may ask one question. Choose wisely.”
Willow licked her suddenly dry lips, her eyes darted back and forth before she swallowed and spoke. “Where is the Book of Prophecy?”
The Pythia smiled a secret smile. “What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?”
Willow’s stomach dropped.
Seriously?
The one question she could ask was met with a riddle? Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?
“But...”
The Pythia’s smile widened and Willow could feel the elements about to shift once more. “Wait. Please...” She tried to request more time, a different answer, anything that would actually help them. It was too late. She had already gone. In the next instant, Willow blinked her eyes a few times and found herself looking at the sky.
Now, where am I?
“Willow?”
When she heard Eli’s familiar voice, she raised herself up onto her elbows and turned to look in his direction. She was back in the ruins and everyone stood in a group. The earth no longer shook and the vapor had disappeared.
He rushed over to her and knelt beside her. “You’re okay.” It was like he was reassuring himself that she was in fact okay. The others crowded around behind him.
“Yeah, I’m okay. A little dazed.” She shook her head and then remembered the riddle The Pythia gave her in response to her question on where The Book of Prophecy might be located. “Listen, I saw The Pythia...”
The mouths of the witches from the Greek coven fell open in shock and awe. “What? You saw The Pythia?” They marveled over this.
“Right now isn’t the time, but I promise I will share more details later, about her and what the temple looked like. Right now, I need everyone’s help in deciphering a riddle she gave me that’s supposed to lead us to The Book of Prophecy. I didn’t expect her to be so cryptic...”
“Willow, the riddle. What’s the riddle?” Phaedra cut her rambling off.
“Sorry. The riddle is, ‘What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?’”
Nearly everyone was about to answer when Arsenio tsked her like he’d done in the car when he had to teach her about the Pythian Games. “Not only is your ancient Greek history lacking, but clearly your reading is as well. Most Greeks know that riddle. It is from Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus. The Sphinx gives Oedipus the riddle to solve or she will kill him. I believe she will strangle him or eat him or something.” Arsenio mused, trying to remember if he was correct or not.
She tried not to linger on the fact that her education must have been severely lacking if she was literally one of the only people in the group that didn’t know about the riddle or else she hadn’t been paying attention that day in school. Either way they had no time for one of Arsenio’s lessons as much as she enjoyed it last time. “Sphinx. The Sphinx. It must mean the book is in Cairo right? Think about it. Cora told me my ancestors were Greeks that married Egyptians. It makes sense that someone would have transported the book to Egypt to keep it safe.” She was excited and about to continue her theory when Mathilda spoke.
“What if it’s Thebes and not Cairo? Oedipus was traveling to Thebes when he met the Sphinx.”
