She smiled slightly.
“You’ve already noted that there’s nothing on this island. What did you think I ate?”
“I don’t understand,” I said, frowning.
She laughed.
“Of course you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be here.”
Another jolt of anger poked at me only to vanish again.
“What I don’t understand is why I’m not hurting you. Killing is wrong.”
“My sweet fledgling fury, what defines wrong but the rules we are taught?”
My skin warmed with my growing irritation. She was responding to my questions with half answers and vague counter-questions. Although the swim in the lake had worn me down for a bit, my general pissiness was more than ready to bounce back.
The scent of fresh wood smoke grew stronger, and her gaze dipped to her table.
“Stop,” she commanded, rushing forward. “You’ll destroy it.”
Smoke curled up from the table. My hair tickled my cheek as I lifted my hands from the wood and looked down at the scorch marks. The carvings that had been under my palm were gone.
“Hateful, hell bird,” she hissed.
“Lying snake,” I said, looking up at her.
Her gaze narrowed on me.
“I don’t lie.”
“How do you explain these bones?” I asked. “You’re killing people, and I think I even see a few human bones over there.”
“I’ve already answered that. I must eat.”
“And, why am I not angry? Consuming flesh is against the rules. Wicked.”
“Because the past does not exist here. Nor the future. Only the present. And, in the present, I haven’t killed anyone or consumed anything.”
Her words worried me. Not the killing, but about the time. Something was wrong with what had been happening since I’d arrived. My hair had dried while she’d touched it. Only minutes had passed yet my hair, which took a good hour to air dry, was no longer wet. My gut told me again that I needed to hurry up and get my answers then leave.
“What is my true form, and how do I control my rage?” I asked.
She smiled and reached out to touch my hair. I batted her hand away. Now, the touch of her skin against mine sent a shudder of revulsion through me. She felt cold and damp, like the stones.
Impatience stoked the fire growing inside of me.
“Lucia, you have about ten seconds to start giving me some real answers before I get really mad.”
She laughed.
“I’ve done nothing for you to label me wicked, my tidbit.”
I shivered at the words. If she wasn’t doing something wrong, now, she definitely had something wicked planned for me in the future. Since getting angry at her wasn’t working well, I went another route.
I focused on the flames licking me from the inside and thought of Eliana waiting for me and her worry. Then, I thought of Oanen. Of all the times I’d burned him because I didn’t know what I was doing. Finally, I thought of my mom and all the answers she hadn’t shared.
My anger climbed higher, and I knew the moment the oracle understood the situation. Her silver eyes reflected the orange light glowing from mine.
“If you leave now,” she said, “I’ll give you the answers you seek.”
“No.” I set one of my hands on the table and smiled. “Smells like toasting marshmallows, don’t you think?”
“Hateful hell brat. I’ll answer one now and one when you’re in the boat, rowing away.”
“Fair enough. But, I will turn around and destroy everything on this desolate rock you call home if you go back on your word.”
She nodded and looked pointedly at my hand. I lifted it from the table and arched a brow.
“Come.” She turned and started toward the crack in the rocks. “Your true form is born of—”
She disappeared from view, and I rushed forward, slipping into the passage.
“Born of what?” I asked.
“Born of fire. Keep up. I won’t repeat myself. That is not part of our bargain.”
I hurried, slipping and sliding over the bone littered floor.
“Vague answers aren’t part of the bargain, either. I already know I have fire. I want to know my true form. What will I look like? Am I going to be a snake woman like you? I want specifics.”
She laughed from somewhere ahead, the howl of the wind almost carrying the sound away.
“You are nothing like me. That you are born of fire means you are made from the flames of hell. You are hell’s messenger. You bring the souls of the damned to their final place of unrest.”
“But what will I look like?”
I turned the second bend and could see a dim sliver of light ahead but no Lucia. Another shiver ripped through me as the first gust of cold air rushed into the passage and hit my slightly damp jeans. It wasn’t until I stepped out of the opening, into a wind lashed early twilight, that I understood what had happened.
Time had passed while I’d been in the cave. More time than I’d anticipated. A storm had rolled in, blotting out the light of day and turning the lake into a sea of crashing waves.
Ahead, on the shore, Lucia stood near a boat. I stumbled forward, the wind battering me and whipping the strands of my hair into my face. It hadn’t yet started to rain, but I could feel moisture in the heavy air.
“What will I look like?” I repeated as I neared.
Her gown billowed in the gale winds but her golden hair barely moved.
“You will look much like you do now. Hair flying and eyes burning bright. Only, you will be covered with giant flames.”
That didn’t sound so bad.
“And the rest?”
“In the boat.” She motioned to the vessel the waves were trying their hardest to pull back out into open waters.
I stared at the boat that had carried me most of the way to the isle. The plug was once again in place, and both oars waited for me. My bag, which had held my change of clothes, lay ripped and empty in the bottom of the boat. There was no salt. No weapons. And, the oracle wanted me to head out into storm-tossed waters just before sunset.
Our eyes met, and she smiled slowly.
“In you go, Megan. Once you’re in the water, we’ll both get what we want.”
“You want me dead.” I said it without thinking, but I knew I was right when she smiled wider.
“Stay here with me and never learn the truth, or get in the boat and take your chances with the open waters.”
“Not much of a choice,” I said.
“But it’s still a choice. And one only you can decide.”
Pushing back my hair, I stepped into the boat. It rocked under me then jerked forward. I looked back at Lucia, who was pushing me into the crashing waves.
“The answer,” I yelled over the noise.
“Row, Megan. And, I will keep my word.”
I started rowing, getting drenched quickly with the first wave that hit the bow.
Lucia’s voice carried to me as I put distance between the shore and the boat.
“Controlling your temper is like asking a fish not to swim. You were born to be angry. There is no controlling it. Those who've told you otherwise have been lying to you.”
Adira. The Quills. The Council. They’d all lied to me. Everything I’d been told to do. All the tests. Lies. Why? They were keeping my mark from me based on my inability to control my rage. Did that mean I would never get my mark? That I would be forever trapped in Uttira?
I saw red. And through that color-stamped haze of emotion, I also saw Lucia change. Her beautiful face melted away to reveal the sleek flat head of a snake. Her body elongated, and her arms and legs disappeared.
Suddenly, I understood what she really meant when she said we’d both get what we wanted once I was in the water. She had given me my answer, and now she was going to get what she’d wanted all along. A meal.
I pulled hard on the oars and ignored the icy water hitting my back. Nothing mattered but rowing as fast as I could. My life depended on it.
Nineteen
I watched Lucia slither forward on her belly and enter the foamy surf.
The intent to kill danced in the reflective silver of her eyes. So, why wasn’t I angry? Where the hell was my fury temper?