She motioned for me to follow and disappeared into a space between two giant boulders.
My shoes squished wetly as I walked up the sloped beach to the boulder strewn plateau. The crevice between the rocks was tight, but I could feel the warm air flowing out and saw the soft flicker of firelight.
With some wiggling, I pushed my way through. The dim passage I found myself in wasn’t much wider than the entrance.
“It helps keep the heat in,” Lucia said from somewhere ahead, as if reading my mind.
I took a step forward and something crunched under my shoe. I squinted down at my feet but couldn’t see anything in the icky darkness gathered around my legs.
“I apologize for the mess. It’s not easy to keep a cave clean.”
I continued forward, that feeling of disquiet growing. But, no anger.
The ground tilted down slightly for several yards before I came to a bend. The light flickered more strongly ahead. I stepped around the edge, thinking to see an end, but it was just more passage. I looked back, staring at the sliver of daylight I was leaving behind.
“We’re almost there, Megan. A warm fire and some wine. If you’re old enough, that is.”
I turned toward the firelight once more, my shoes crunching on something with each step.
“Old enough? I didn’t think those rules applied here.”
Her gentle laughter floated back to me.
“I do try to respect all rules. Without them, our world would be complete chaos. No one wants that.”
Something rolled under my foot when I placed my next step, throwing me off-balance. I spread my arms to keep myself from falling, and my palms connected with cold, slimy rock. A dank, damp smell heavy with bitter smoke filled my nose. Flinching away from both the smell and the rock, I removed my hand. The smell vanished.
The oracle’s home was disgusting.
“Why do you live in a cave?” I asked, carefully moving toward the flickering light.
“There’s nothing to build with on the Isle of Woe.”
I frowned. She was right. There’d been nothing but rock and bones. How, then, was there a fire?
Another bend reflected in the light. Warmth wrapped around me, making steam rise from the cold, wet jeans clinging to my legs. I knew I was getting close. Instead of hurrying, I slowed.
My gut was telling me something wasn’t right, but my fury temper was quiet. Not a whisper of anger. Sure, I was annoyed as hell that I was cold and wet and smelled like fish, but that had nothing to do with Lucia. Why, then, did I feel like continuing was the wrong thing to do?
“Are you coming, Megan? I just poured you some warmed wine.”
Unsure why I was feeling weird about the place, I soldiered on and rounded the bend. Relief rushed through me that the space before me wasn’t more narrow passage.
A fire burned in an open pit to one side of the large cavern. Thick smoke curled up toward the tiny hole in the ceiling. My eyes barely noted the flames that I’d followed there. Instead, my gaze was drawn to a large, wooden table that took up the center of the space. Its grain gleamed so palely in the firelight that it appeared almost white. Dark engravings decorated the surface, epic battle scenes showing men in loincloths and armor fighting on mountains and in valleys.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it?”
Lucia’s voice drew me from the mesmerizing images. She stood beside the table and pulled out the single, cushioned dining chair.
“Come. Sit. Rest yourself, and tell me why you’re here.”
I walked toward the table and the old-fashioned goblet blocking part of a scene that kept drawing my eye.
“I came to talk to you.”
“Me? Why?”
I managed to look up at her.
“You’re an oracle, right?”
She smiled softly and gestured to the table.
I sat with a heavy exhale. Until the moment when I eased the weight off my legs, I hadn’t realized just how tired I was. It felt weird being so exhausted. I would need to remember swimming in hypothermic lakes the next time I felt angry.
“I am an oracle. The only one in Uttira at present,” she said, motioning to the heavy goblet. I picked it up and felt her hand brush over my wet hair.
“You’re so cold. I have another gown if you’d like to change.”
I shook my head and brought the goblet to my lips. The metallic taste of the cup made me hesitate. A heavy feeling gripped my stomach, and I glanced at the fireplace just above the rim of the cup. The flames danced prettily from their source. Bones.
I set the cup down quickly but couldn’t seem to focus on the source of the flames again.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like wine? I can fetch you some water.”
“No. It’s okay.” I blinked, trying to focus on what was feeding the fire. Had I really seen bones?
A jab of anger hit me right between my eyes. Before I could react, it was gone. I frowned and rubbed my eyes, having a hard time focusing on anything but the flames, themselves, and the table and the feel of her hand on my head.
This wasn’t right. I looked at the walls but could only see a hazy darkness. Something was very wrong.
“Why are you living in the middle of the lake?” I asked.
“We are all meant to be somewhere, Megan. Where would you have me be?”
“In town. In a normal house.”
“Easily accessible? No, my sweet treat. That’s how wars start.”
Sweet treat? I wanted to shiver at the words and decided it was time to start listening to my gut even if my fury temper was quiet. My gut yelled at me not to relax or rest, that I needed to hurry up. That I was taking too much time even though I’d just gotten there.
“So how does this work?” I asked. “My friend told me there’s a price for everything. What’s your price to answer my questions?”
Lucia laughed lightly.
“Your friend sounds very wise. Most people who come here think answering questions is my purpose.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes and no. Although I can see glimpses of the future, that’s not the sum of my existence. We should be more than just our purpose, don’t you agree, Megan?”
“I guess.”
“Don’t guess. Know.”
“That’s why I’m here. Because I don’t know.”
“Oh?” she said, her hand stroking over my hair again.
“I need answers. My mom left me, and I need to know why.”
“Let the past stay in the past. Why she left doesn’t matter. Your future is what you seek, is it not?”
“Fine. What do you see in my future?”
“I see you drinking your wine.”
A tingle of frustration raced through me, and I knocked the goblet aside. A hiss resounded near my ear. I turned back to look at Lucia and caught a glimpse of something that wasn’t Lucia. A wide mouth and scaled skin. Her face came back into focus, smiling kindly with golden hair falling prettily around her shoulders.
She touched my hair again, stroking the dried strands.
“What’s your true form, Lucia?”
She jerked slightly.
“True form? What do you mean?”
“We all have true forms, don’t we? That’s why I’m here. I need to know mine. I need to know what I’ll become.”
“Become. You’ll become nothing more than what you are, cod fish,” she said. Her hand left my hair, and she moved toward the fire. “I have some bread warmed, if you’d like.”
She reached for something from the darkness near the pot. As she walked toward me again, her eyes reflected silver, like they’d caught light. But, she had her back to the fire.
Rage ripped through me, so harsh it felt as if I was going to be torn in half. I stood suddenly, knocking over the chair and slammed my hands down on the table before me. The scent of fresh wood smoke teased my nose.
The oracle stopped walking, the form of her face flickering ever so briefly between snake and woman at the same time my rage vanished. We stared at each other for a long moment.
“You are not what you seem,” I said. “And, this place isn’t what it seems.” As I spoke, I looked around the room again. This time, I saw more than I wanted to.
A waist high ledge made of bones ran the circumference of the room. The floor was covered with them as well. They weren’t human, but they weren’t fish either.
“Are you eating mermaids?” I asked, dragging my gaze back to her.