by Selena Scott
“Are they shifters or humans?” Mel asked, tugging her shirt over her head.
“One of each,” O replied. “And three little ones in between.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
O bounded up the stairs of the small one-story house. Mel and Ike followed behind. She fingered the two friendship bracelets that she now wore on her wrist. Both O and Ike had insisted they’d made them for her. It was silly, but they calmed her. She wasn't sure what to expect of O's friends. But she was reassured by the little tricycle tipped in the front yard, the sidewalk chalk strewn around the concrete steps, the laundry hanging on the line.
It reminded her of her home with Ike back in Vegas. She watched a tiny T-shirt flap in the breeze, pinned by clothespins, and she suddenly got a bone-deep ache. She missed having a baby. And Ikey had been so dang cute. She had never been sad or ashamed to be a single mother. Her only regret was that some days, occasionally, she'd wanted to share his loveliness with someone else. She had just wanted to know that somebody else was seeing what she was seeing.
Mel sighed again. Those days were behind her. She watched O knock in a jaunty rhythm on the front door. Her stomach did a curious little flip as he turned around and winked at her. Everything about him was just so relaxed, his posture, his smile, even his wavy blonde hair peeking out from the pink baseball cap he wore again today.
Ike leaned into her a little and Mel's hand found its way to his shoulders as they heard heavy footsteps come to answer the door. Neither knew what to expect. She was sure that O wouldn't lead them into danger. But still, she found herself holding her breath.
The door swung open and a giant of a man filled the entire frame. This guy's muscles had muscles. His short brown hair was the same amber-ish color as his eyes and his mouth instantly turned into a frown when he saw who had knocked on his door.
"Great," the man said. "Just what I fucking needed today. A visit from Bozo the Psychic."
His comment immediately got Mel’s back up. She bristled at his tone, but O just leaned on the doorjamb, rolled his head to the side. "Psychics are amateurs compared to what I can do. You should know that by now, Amos."
Amos' eyes raised to the heavens but before he could say anything else, a tiny body pushed his way through the middle of Amos' legs.
"Uncle O! Uncle O!" A little dark-haired boy absolutely flung himself out the front door and into O's waiting arms.
Mel took a deep breath and mentally yanked her lady parts to heel as she watched the man she loved rip the shirt up from the kid’s back and blow a loud wet raspberry on his bare skin.
"Drake the snake!" O yelled and squeezed the kid hard enough to make him grunt. "How ya been living?”
“Good! Uncle O, I got a new bike and Lila got my old one!” Mel pegged the kid at 5 or 6 years old.
A little curly black head of hair poked out around Amos’ legs, a little bit shyer than her brother. She was maybe 3 years old.
“Uncle O!” she clapped her hands over her mouth like she was embarrassed that she’d spoken up.
O’s grin for her was earth-shattering. He dropped Drake in a laughing heap on the ground and swooped the little girl up in the air. “Well, if it isn’t Lila the croc-o-dila. What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked, with a loud smacking kiss at the end.
She giggled and squinched her face against his whiskers. “I live here, Uncle O.”
“That explains it, then. Wait a second.” O furrowed his brow and pretended to think. “Who else lives here?”
Lila’s face lit up with the answer. “Me and Drake and Daddy and Mommy and Rudy.” She threw her voice into an intense whisper and held a pudgy finger in front of her mouth. “But be quiet because Rudy is sleeping.”
The man, Amos, softened a little as he watched O greet his children. It would take a heart made out of stone to not be softened by that. A moment later, a small curvy woman with a mess of curly black hair nudged the man aside and stood in the doorway, too.
"Oh, jeez," she said when she saw who was at the door. "We didn't expect you back so soon, O. Is it good news or bad news?"
Mel's heart sank at the woman's tone. Regardless of how these people felt about O as a person, they obviously deeply dreaded seeing him. Being an oracle, she supposed it was natural for people to assume that he was always bearing some sort of news. But what a burden. She wondered if all of his friends treated him in the same way.
"No news," O said, a lazy grin on his face. If their reaction to him bothered him, he didn't show it. He tossed Lila back through the air toward her parents and she squealed in delight as her father snagged her safely out of the air.
"We're actually here trying to get some information from you."
At the word 'we', the woman looked behind O and saw Mel and Ike standing down on the sidewalk.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You brought people. Come on in." The woman gestured for all of them to come inside, a genuinely friendly smile on her face.
Mel still wasn't sure if she liked the man, but the woman seemed nice enough. Taking her son firmly by the shoulder, Mel and Ike trudged up the stairs and inside.
"I'm Mel and this is my son, Ike," Mel held out her hand to the woman. They shook hands.
“I'm Lucy. This is Amos, my husband. And this is our son Drake and our daughter Lila. Our youngest, Rudy, is asleep in the other room."
Amos nodded to Mel and Ike as they walked into the small house. It was surprisingly spare for such an obviously loving family. No decorations or anything. The bare minimum. It almost looked like a hotel room.
Mel and Ike settled themselves on the couch as Lucy came in from the kitchen with a pitcher of iced tea and a glass of juice. "Hey, muscles, will you grab that banana bread I baked yesterday?"
Mel grinned at the woman's nickname for her husband. It was incredibly apt. Ike looked up and caught Mel's eye. The same smile swept over his own face.
"So how do you two know each other?" Lucy asked.
Amos walked back in and set the banana bread down on the coffee table. Both waited for O's answer.
"Oh. Mel's my wife,” O said, as he distractedly watched the kids start building block castles.
Lucy froze halfway through setting down their drinks. Amos' mouth dropped open. Ike turned to stare at his mother. Mel felt herself slowly lifting away from the couch like a helium balloon on a very long string.
O looked around at all the shocked faces and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, crap. Sorry. I was distracted. I guess I got the future confused with the present." He dragged a hand over his face in an embarrassed little gesture that strangely endeared Mel to him even more. She’d never seen him look embarrassed before. “I haven’t asked you yet, have I?”
For a second Mel thought he was talking to her, but then she realized that O was looking at her son. Ike just stared back at O, a completely blank expression on his face.
O sighed. “Ike, in the future, I ask you if I can marry your mom.” O’s eyes were a little cloudy, as if he were both in the present and in the future at the same time. “You give me a hard time about it for a few weeks, but eventually you say yes.”
Ike was still frozen, staring at the Oracle. O wasn’t finished. “I ask you in about 6 months.” Now he was talking to Mel. “We’re lying next to a river after a long hike. You say no to me at first, when I ask.”
Amos let out a little chuckle from across the room.
Ike stared back and forth between O and his mom.
O continued on. “You tell me that you would never say yes without talking to Ike first. So, you go talk to Ike. He says that you should do it, that he’s kind of looking forward to having a guy around. This time, you ask me. I say yes. I give you a ring, but you don’t really like it. You don’t say anything, though, because it was my mother’s ring. And in a few months you start to really like it.”
Mel held her hand up into the air, indicating for him to stop. Silence pulsed in the room as Mel felt her life list to one side. She watched pretty much all
her plans for the future tip right off the seesaw.
Lila lifted a little action figure, making him fly through the air. The sounds of the toddler playing jolted Mel back into reality.
“I. Um. Wow.” It was the best she could do.
“Of course, it’s not gonna happen that way now,” O continued, an intriguing blush playing over his cheeks. “Because I told you about it. So, that changes our future from what it was gonna be. But, you know, that’s what was gonna happen. If I hadn’t said anything.”
Ike leaned forward and picked up a slice of the banana bread. “Shouldn’t you guys kiss or something?” he asked his mom and O.
“What?” Mel felt like everyone’s words were coming to her through a bowl of Jell-O.
Ike shrugged. “Isn’t that what people do when they’re gonna get married?”
“Are we gonna get married?” Mel asked. But she wasn’t asking the Oracle. She was asking her son. For permission? Maybe not. For his blessing? Maybe.
Ike took a honking big bite of the banana bread. “This is good,” he said to Lucy, spraying crumbs on the couch. “I don’t know.” Ike turned back to his mother. “I’m confused with all this past and present stuff. But if you’re asking me if I’m okay with it, well, it feels kinda weird. But it sounds like I’ll get over it.”
Ike turned to O, a question forming on his face. “Hey, what does the future say about you and me? Am I always gonna call you O? Or am I gonna start calling you dad?”
O turned an even brighter pink and tucked the hat a little further down his brow. “I’d uh- rather not say.”
“Holy SHIT.” Mel covered her face in her hands and leaned forward, taking deep breaths. “What in the name of fuck just happened?” She didn’t even care that there was a toddler within hearing distance. She was beyond caring.
The couch dipped beside her and O’s arm came around her shoulders. When she uncovered her face she looked up to see O gripping Ike’s hand. Ike’s eyes were closed. When they fluttered open, he immediately sought out his mother’s gaze. “Whoa. Mom. You gotta try this.” He picked up his mother’s hand and shoved it into O’s.
Immediately a feeling washed over her. Not images. Just a feeling. One that she could tell was coming toward them soon. It was a family feeling. A tether that went from Ike’s heart to hers to O’s and back to Ike’s. In the future, they were a unit. That much was clear. O wasn’t showing them the details. But he was showing them enough.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. When she opened them, she realized that Amos, Lucy, Drake, and Lila had cleared the room. Given them a little space.
“Crazy, huh?” Ike asked, scooting a little closer to his mom. “Can’t you sort of feel the echo of the feeling? Even after he stops showing you? Can’t you feel it right here?” Ike touched his own chest. Then his mother’s. Then O’s.
“I feel that feeling all the time. Since the moment I met you guys,” O said. “Most of the future I block out. It’s too much. Too much information, too much wasted time trying to sort through it all. But that prophecy? That one just keeps banging down the door.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mel had decided that it was time for her and Ike to take a stroll around the neighborhood together.
"I think everybody needs a break after that one,” she had said. So with a sweet little closed-mouth kiss for O, she and Ike disappeared out the front door.
O flopped back onto the couch and grimaced at Lucy who had just come back into the room.
"Okay. Scale of one to ten, how bad was that, Luce?"
"O, honey. That was awful. Train wreck awful. Seriously, I couldn't look away!" Lucy flopped onto the couch next to him.
Amos came back into the room holding a squirmy baby girl in his arms. "Lila went down for her nap but look who woke up."
O held his hands out for baby Rudy, whose eyes had lit up at the sight of him.
"But," Lucy continued, a grin growing over her face. “You know, it seemed like she was into it. Into you. I think she might love you, O.”
"Are you guys talking about that marriage proposal bloodbath that just went down in here?" Amos asked and took a seat in a lazy boy across from them.
O made a face for the baby and she started to giggle in his arms. “I swear, Mel’s got my head on backwards. It's been a really long time since I made a mistake like that. Failed to distinguish the future from the present."
Amos crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. "So all of that, past, present, future, that's all just floating around in your head constantly?"
O blew a raspberry on Rudy's neck and nodded at Amos. "All that. Plus there are prophecies, which can tell the future, but are often more metaphorical than anything else. There are people who are crying out for help, praying to anybody that will hear, but as far as I can tell, I'm the only one who can hear them. When I touch someone, I can see their life, their feelings, their spirit. There are ghosts and signs, and babies getting ready to be born. You'll never believe how chatty this one can be.” He held up their daughter and, much to her delight, made her legs dance around. “Damn near talked my ear off whenever I'd come visit her before she was born."
"Jesus Christ," Amos pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward. “I had no idea it was that constant for you. That’s horrible. God, O. Nobody deserves that. No wonder you're so fucking weird."
"Yeah," O looked up, completely unoffended. "It's kind of a miracle I made it this far, right?"
Lucy leaned over and wiped some spit bubbles off of Rudy’s chin. "If you can do all that, then why can't you find our mystery man? Why can't you see the outcome of the revolution?"
O bobbled a toy for the baby and was quiet for a while. "In something like the revolution, there's no one definite future. It depends on so many choices that so many people still have to make. If you asked for something more specific, like, will Solar survive the revolution-”
Amos snapped to attention. Solar, the leader of the Surgere, the rebel army that was the heart of the revolution against the king, also happened to be his best friend from childhood.
"I would tell you that, yes, he's going to survive to see the end of it, no matter what the outcome. There was only one path that led to him dying and that road ended a long time ago."
"What was it?" Amos asked, a small hoarseness in his voice.
O weighed his options, figured it was worth telling them. It would only make Amos feel good.
"If you'd chosen to keep guarding King Dalyer, if you'd turned away from protecting Lucy and let Dalyer take her for his wife, then Solar would have been killed in the battle she would have waged." O set Rudy down on the ground so that she could practice her crawling. Her parents didn't know that she was only a few days out from a true cruising. "But you didn't. You chose the right path. The hard path. You chose Lucy. And in doing so, you saved Solar."
If O hadn't known the hard-ass former bodyguard for damn near 20 years, he might have thought those were tears glistening in his eyes.
"I would have waged battle?" Lucy asked, pride and astonishment coloring her tone.
O nodded and reached for another slice of banana bread. "If Amos had turned from you, Luce, you would have burned the entire castle down, taken Zara, and started a full on Surgere war."
"Holy hell. Baby, I would have started a war!" Lucy called over to her husband.
He raised his eyebrows indulgently. "I heard, hatchling."
"Yeah," O said through a mouthful of bread. "A lot was riding on whether or not you two boned."
"You say that with pride in your voice. Like you had something to do with it," said Amos.
"I did!" O insisted. “You remember all those dresses the King demanded that Lucy wear? Who do you think arranged for all of them to be so small? Remember that? She had to squeeze ten pounds of soup in a five pound bag."
"Remember it?" Amos exclaimed. "I still daydream about those dresses."
Lucy rolled her eyes at the two men. “If we’re done discuss
ing my soup, do you mind answering the question about why you can’t locate the man from your visions the way you can everybody else?”
“I don’t know,” O said and leaned back on the couch. Lucy exchanged a quick glance with Amos. Neither of them had ever seen him quite so solemn before. “The only thing I can think is pain.”
“What?” Amos asked, his brow furrowing.
“The only thing that consistently blurs or obscures my powers as an oracle is pain. After my injury, my powers were considerably weakened.”
“Injury? What injury?” Lucy leaned forward, her compassionate heart had her taking O’s hand in hers.
The front door opened and Mel and Ike tromped back into the house, both of them looking considerably lighter and more relaxed for their walk. But Mel’s face pulled tight at the tension in the room.
“What’s going on?”
O nodded his head for Ike to come over. “This is Rudy.”
Ike plopped down next to the baby and picked up her doll, made it dance around a little bit. Rudy’s smile for him lit him up in a way he never could have imagined.
O looked back at Mel and gestured for her to come sit with him. “I was just going to tell them about my injury.”
Mel’s brow darkened even further as she sat on the couch. She immediately put a protective arm around O’s shoulder. O sent out some feelings toward her. Hoped she would get the message. He didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted her to tell them.
Mel’s eyes searched his for a moment and they cleared in understanding. She gave him a little nod and a squeeze of her hand.
“Dalyer did it,” she told the group. “They fought a few months ago, in dragon form. He almost took O’s wing clear off.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Fuck,” Amos growled and was suddenly standing, war in his eyes. “Goddamn it. O, are you okay?”
The concern and rage she saw in Amos’s eyes, all on O’s behalf, instantly warmed Mel’s heart to the gruff stranger. She’d wondered if maybe O’s friends took him for granted a little bit. Her loyal heart had been mildly standoffish toward Amos. But she could see now how long their history was. How complicated their friendships were. And how much Amos cared about O’s wellbeing.
