The Chronicles of Winterset: Oracle

by K. G. Reuss

  “What else?” Calix pressed.

  “N-nothing. There’s nothing else,” I replied, not wanting to tell him about jumping. I wanted to save him the pain of knowing I’d not only seen it once, but twice now.

  Calix eyed me skeptically but didn’t pursue the subject.

  “Let’s sleep. If Kellin is coming, we’re going to need to be prepared, and that means even harder work tomorrow,” Calix said, pulling me to him.

  I obliged and closed my eyes, his arms tight around me.

  “Everything is going to be OK, Ana,” he whispered. “Trust in me. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I replied.

  I only hoped love was enough to get us out of this mess.

  Chapter 41

  We awoke early and ate a quick breakfast, followed by a morning of grueling fighting stances, flame wielding, and one-sided dueling.

  I was barely able to conjure a flame. Calix would shoot ice shard after ice shard at me. He was unforgiving in his attacks, too, citing that when I came face to face with my enemies, they wouldn’t go easy on me.

  By lunch, I was an exhausted mess, my hair tangled and spots of dirt on my face.

  “Can we be done?” I groaned as we finished lunch and made our way back out to the yard.

  “Absolutely not,” Calix said firmly.

  I mumbled irritably at him and stood my ground as he began his onslaught again.

  I was stumbling through the moves he’d taught me when I felt a sudden pull in the center of my chest. It went from a pull to my body demanding it.

  I threw up my hands as a shard of dagger-like ice came spiraling at my head, and an incredible rush of wind whipped forward and knocked the ice aside, sending it careening into a nearby tree trunk.

  I followed my instincts and twisted my hands. The wind increased and scooped Calix off the ground, sending him sailing into the air. He landed with a loud thump across the clearing, his arms and legs spread out at odd angles.

  “Oh, my God! Calix!” I shouted, running over and falling to my knees beside him. His eyes were closed and his mouth was hanging open slightly.

  “I’m so sorry! Please, answer me, Calix!” I panicked, shaking him roughly. When he didn’t respond, I laid my hands on his chest and felt every ounce of desire pour through me into healing him from whatever injuries I’d caused.

  I cried throughout the entire process, the warmth flowing from my hands into his limp body.

  “Why are you crying, Princess?” Calix’s voice interrupted me.

  “Wha—, Calix? Oh my God!” I threw myself down on top of him and hugged him fiercely. “I thought I’d killed you! I thought you were dead!”

  “It would take more than a gust of wind to kill me, sweetheart,” Calix chuckled, running his hands through my hair.

  “Wait. Were you faking?” I asked, pulling away so I could look down at him.

  “Well, I mean you clearly lifted me into the air with your newfound ability and tossed me over here. My elbow did hurt,” he continued, his eyes full of mischief.

  “You faker!” I howled, leaping off of him. “You lying sack of monkey shi—”

  His laughter cut off the rest of what I was going to shout.

  “I said you hurt my elbow, Ana. And you healed it. Nice work, baby!”

  “I should lift your ass fifty feet in the air and power slam you! I thought I’d killed you!” I shouted at him angrily.

  “And now you want to try to kill me? Sweetheart, make up your mind! Do you want me safe and sound or laying broken on the ground?” He flashed a playful grin at me, and I rolled my eyes irritably at him.

  “Right now, I’d like to smack you,” I grumbled.

  “Don’t be upset. Do you realize what you just did?” Calix inquired.

  I swallowed hard and looked at him. “I did just do that, didn’t I?” I yelped.

  “You did! You’re getting it! You’re Transitioning, Ana! In a matter of days, you’ll come into all of your powers. How are you feeling?”

  “Incredible,” I answered honestly. “I mean, I’m scared, but at least I might be able to fight.”

  “I think this calls for a celebration,” Calix said, climbing to his feet. “I have just the thing, too.”

  He took my hand and pulled me inside the house, leaving me on the couch.

  “Wait here,” he said with a wolfish grin and disappeared into the kitchen. I waited for him, my stomach dancing with butterflies.

  “What do you think?” he asked, setting a plate of chocolate chip cookies down in front of me.

  “Did you, I mean, how did you bake cookies without me knowing?” I asked through my surprised laughter.

  “Well, I didn’t make them. I picked them up a few days ago,” he answered with a small laugh. “That Nabisco sure knows what he’s doing.”

  “It’s the thought that counts,” I grinned at him as I bit into one of the soft cookies and let out a contented sigh. Even through all the madness, fear, and stress, a chocolate chip cookie could still calm me down like it did when I was five.

  We sat and ate in silence until I asked a question that had been plaguing the back of my mind.

  “Calix? The Sentries... um... both you and Kellin spoke of them. What are they exactly?”

  “The Sentries are an elite group of warriors formed by the kings of Winterset. Only the best get in,” he answered, looking away from me and swallowing his cookie. “We are recruited based on our abilities.”

  “And you’re one of them? And Kellin, too? How did you two not know each other?”

  “The Sentries are secret and separate, Ana. We aren’t meant to know one another. It has always been that way. Naturally, a Xantharian Sentry would not know one from Bornia as we are kept secret from our neighboring kingdoms.”

  “What do you do as a Sentry?”

  “Whatever they tell us to,” he sighed. “It’s political, mostly. We watch and report back. We protect our realms. Everyone, the kings and rulers, pretend to be friends, but secretly everyone hates everyone else. We’re all liars deep down inside. We just do what we’re told, even if we disagree with it.”

  “Do you... I mean have you ever...killed anyone?” I asked softly, placing my cookie back down on my plate.

  “Yes,” Calix answered despondently. “I have.”

  “Is it hard? To end a life? I mean, I might have to do it someday, and it scares me. Even if it is someone who is bad.”

  “Don’t you think that maybe even the bad deserve to live? That perhaps they don’t have a choice in the matter?” Calix justified, his eyes watching me closely.

  “By that definition, doesn’t everyone deserve to live? Even those the bad people are killing?”

  “Do you want a perfect world, Ana? Because no such thing exists. You cannot rid the world of evil. Without it, there is no balance. Without balance, there is only chaos.”

  “You think if the world was filled with good it would be chaos?” I asked in disbelief. “How would there be chaos?”

  “Eventually, being a saint gets old. People get bored. We need the bad to make life worth living. It gives us something to overcome. How mundane would life be without evil? We’d tire of it and we would find ways to reinvent it,” he replied with a shrug.

  “You sound an awful lot like someone who wants to set the world on fire for the sake of the heat,” I countered, feeling my face burn with my irritation.

  “Well, we all want to be warm, don’t we?” he muttered, looking away from me. I shook my head incredulously at him but didn’t bother to continue the argument. We obviously had different views on the way the world should be.

  “It’s hard at first,” Calix said in a soft voice, and my attention snapped back to him.

  “To kill for the first time,” he continued. “It’s like most things in life that you do for the first time. You’re nervous. Your hands shake. Your heart hammers like a drum in your chest. Then the moment comes, and you become lost in it. All the fear, nerves, shaking leav
e your body, and you’re left with a hollow feeling echoing through your soul. You become empty. Nothing. The more you do it, the more lives you take, the more it takes a piece of your sanity with it. A piece of your own soul. At some point, you can’t come back from it, and you don’t deserve the air you breathe. You become a thief. You deserve nothing because you are nothing. Just like the dead.”

  “Jesus,” I whispered, staring at him in horror.

  “That’s not you, though, Ana. You are not a killer. You, my divine princess, are a savior,” he said, kneeling in front of me and looking earnestly up at me.

  “Being a saint gets boring, though, remember?” I remarked faintly.

  “Even a saint can sin,” Calix answered, gently touching my cheek with his hand. The electricity from his touch zinged along my flesh, and I shivered despite myself. His words were terrifying.

  “I wouldn’t be much of a saint,” I said, staring back into his dark eyes.

  “You’d be the perfect kind,” he replied softly, leaning in to place his warm lips on mine. I let out a sigh and kissed him back despite my fear over his words.

  He had that uncontrollable effect on me.

  Chapter 42

  “What news do you bring to me, Nihilist?” The Master’s deep voice rumbled as I gazed through the haze in the direction of his blurry form.

  “My Lord, I fear the Oracle is looking for a way out. She will never side with us,” the Nihilist spoke, his voice strong and sounding almost proud. “She is of pure Light and will not waver.”

  “That is why you are to break her, slave! It is your most important job. Need I remind you what will happen should I intervene on your behalf?” The Master hissed, sending torrents of gooseflesh across my body.

  “I cannot break her. I do not wish to,” the Nihilist spoke, his voice wavering.

  The Master strode purposefully toward the Nihilist and wrapped his fingers around his throat. The Nihilist gasped and choked in an effort to breathe. I took an angry step forward but stopped when I realized I wouldn’t be able to end it if I wanted to. This was a vision, and I was just a bystander.

  “Listen, and listen well,” Zaros sibilated, his voice deep and menacing. “You will break her. You will take her. You will be the cause of her sorrow, her pain, and all the madness she endures. It is your job, Nihilist. You are the destroyer, and you will destroy her. That is how this works. She is ours!”

  He released the Nihilist, who rubbed his neck as he raked in deep breaths. “She will kill herself before she joins us,” he said softly. “She would die.”

  “And you love her, don’t you?” the Master inquired, turning away from the Nihilist, his long black cloak dragging behind him.

  “I do,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. “That is why I cannot do this to her.”

  “This is exactly why you do it! Love!” the Master spat. “There is no such thing! You have been tricked! She has waged a war on that soft heart of yours! She is playing you, and you are a fool to fall for it. A fool! There is no love!”

  “Then I am a fool who has been defeated,” the Nihilist stated simply, rising to his feet. “I cannot do this. I will die before I hurt her.”

  The Master turned abruptly and with lightning fast agility, came face to face with the Nihilist. “Exactly,” he hissed through his teeth. “That’s the spirit! When she Transitions, you will be there, and you will die for her. Now, that is how you bind, Nihilist! There is no escape from your fate, from your destiny. She is life. You will arise fiercer than ever before! Save her by binding with her. I will spare her, your so-called beloved.”

  “You will spare her?” the Nihilist asked, seemingly shocked at the Master’s sudden generosity. “You will let her go?”

  “You have my word,” the Master smiled wickedly at the Nihilist, showing his teeth. “I will let her go. Bind with her, and I will allow you to decide what we do with her. It is my gift to you, my son.”

  “Blood bond?” the Nihilist asked softly.

  Without hesitation, the Master produced a long, jeweled dagger from within his cloak and slashed at his hand, sending a wave of red from it. I winced as the Nihilist took the blade and mimicked the motion, causing his own hand to bleed. They placed their hands together and the Master smiled triumphantly at the Nihilist as their hands glowed dimly before the light faded away.

  “Her fate rests in your hands,” the Master said triumphantly. I couldn’t read what was going on because his face was covered by his dark cloak, but I couldn’t shake the feeling the Nihilist had just made a deal with the devil.

  “Ana! Pay attention!” Calix shouted as I stared off into space, nearly getting hit by one of his ice shards. I shook my head and focused my gaze on him, forcing a smile.

  “I think I need a break for a minute,” I replied, my mind still on the dream I’d had the night before.

  “Ana, you know the enemy will not give you a break—” Calix started, but I shook my head at him.

  “Please. I need to rest. We’ve been working so hard lately, and I’ve been doing awesome. You even said so yourself,” I pleaded tiredly. “I can use wind effectively; I can sort of use fire too.”

  “Your fear of being burned prevents you from using it the way it could be used,” Calix countered. I let out a sigh of relief as he lowered his hands and walked toward me. “But fine, we can take a break.”

  Calix had been short with me all morning, and I’d been skating around the subject. He’d barely slept last night and said he needed to go for a run to clear his head. When I’d asked him if I could join him, he’d kissed me on the forehead and tucked the blanket tightly around me before walking out of the room.

  We’d barely spoken since, and I sank down on the grass, waiting for him to join me. Instead, he walked past me into the house, and I chewed my lip, wondering what was wrong with him.

  He finally reemerged nearly a half an hour later with two swords in his hands. I stared at him as he marched past, his mouth set in a hard line.

  “Come. Break time is over,” he shouted from where we practiced. I climbed cautiously to my feet and approached him slowly, wondering what he had in store for me.

  “Here,” he said handing me one of the heavy swords.

  “Um, what are we doing?” I asked, taking the sword awkwardly.

  “We’re fighting,” he said tersely, taking a step away from me.

  “For real?” I gulped, looking from the sword in my hand to him.

  “For real. I plan on drawing blood, so be on your toes. Use your abilities, use what knowledge you have, cunning, speed, whatever you possess. I will not go easy on you, and I will not stay my hand. I expect you to fight as hard.”

  “Calix,” I started, my heart hammering fearfully in my chest. “I don’t know how to do this!”

  “I taught you stances and some other things. You’re a few days off from Transition. I cannot keep babying you,” he snapped.

  I winced at his harsh words but took my stance and waited for him to attack, completely terrified out of my mind.

  He lunged at me, and I dodged him clumsily. He whipped back around and slashed at me. I yelped as the sword ripped a gash into my T-shirt. I stared down in shock and then back at him. His face was expressionless as he pushed forward at me again, and I parried his attacks, never able to get one up on him.

  He was strong. He grunted as he slashed his sword through the air at me. I was tiring quickly as I tried to hold him off. His sword contacted my own and I groaned as I tried to overcome him, my arms shaking with the effort.

  He hit me hard with a blast of ice and I fell backward. He was on me within moments, and a dagger emerged from his pocket as he straddled me, the cold steel from the blade biting into my neck painfully.

  “And now you’re dead,” he murmured, pushing the dagger harder against my neck. I felt my skin break and a trickle of blood drip down my neck.

  “Calix,” I managed to choke out. “Please.”

  He blinked rapidly and
fell off of me, a dazed look on his face. I reached for my neck, and when I pulled my fingers away, there was a smear of blood on them.

  I looked at the blood—my blood—on my hands and stared open-mouthed at Calix, who was looking at me with a pained expression.

  I climbed to my feet and raced into the bathroom to survey the damage to my neck. It wasn’t a tremendous amount of blood or a very deep cut, but my skin was split open. I pressed a washcloth to it and tried to blink away my tears.

  This wasn’t like Calix. He wasn’t this person. I wasn’t sure if he was stressed or what, but something wasn’t right.

  I tried to heal the cut but I was so distraught, I couldn’t focus on it. Instead, I bandaged it the best I could and left the bathroom feeling sad and confused. I understood he was trying to prepare me for what may happen, but going to the point of physically hurting me had me worried.

  I left the bathroom and wandered back out to the practice area only to find it deserted. I looked through all the rooms of the house and called out to Calix but he was nowhere to be found. Feeling lost, I went and lay down in the bedroom, then I grabbed my phone. I hadn’t turned it on in days, and I wondered what tragedy awaited me when I checked my messages.

  I stared at the screen as it loaded the many messages and voicemails.

  There were a lot of messages from my parents, my mom mostly, begging me to come home and talk to them. To call them, to message them, to let them know I was OK and safe. Telling me they loved me and missed me and wouldn’t be upset if I just came home. Everyone and everything would be OK.

  Then there were messages from Mel saying basically the same thing, telling me there were rumors about me and Calix, that Kellin was also gone, that Courtney was fine, and I wouldn’t get into trouble if I just came back and talked to someone.

  I felt a tear trickle down my cheek at the words of my family and friends. And then there it was—a message from Kellin.

  Ana, please, I beg you, tell me where you are. You are not safe! Please, let me come to you. I swear on my life I mean you no harm. Do not trust Calix. I have been in Winterset trying to figure out who he is, if he’s a Sentry. Ana, I can’t find anything on him! Come back to me. I pray you’re safe.