Rogue Oracle by Rogue Oracle (epub)

Author:Rogue Oracle (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket
Published: 2011-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

WHEN TARA OPENED HER EYES, SHE WAS STARING UP AT THE jewel box of stars in the sky.

She’d expected to find herself in the desert, as she had in her previous visions. But there was no soft sand underfoot, no warm glow of sunshine in the sand.

This was somewhere else entirely.

The black forest stretched around her as far as she could see. The sounds of animals scraping and chattering to each other mingled with the whisper of leaves on trees. Locusts buzzed around her, suggesting that the night was still relatively young. Though it was warm enough for humidity to cling to her skin, the scene chilled her. She knew this place. It was the forest the Pythia had left her in when she was a girl, expecting her to navigate her way out.

Tara’s hands balled into fists. She was no longer a child; she was an adult. She was not abandoned, as long as she had herself to rely upon. And she would find Cassie and get out of the forest.

Something bumped her leg. Tara looked down to see her companion, the lion, rubbing against her side. He yawned; lions weren’t nocturnal creatures. In the darkness, his half-lidded eyes shone with reflected light, like coals. His tail swished sluggishly among the leaves on the forest floor.

Tara found the North Star overhead, spied the crescent moon peeping among the trees. She began to orient herself. Remembering the direction the cards had told her to go, she began to walk east, dipping a bit south. The lion padded after her in the woods. Once or twice, he paused to chase something in a sudden burst of energy, but he always returned to her side, flowing along at the hem of her skirts.

She walked for what seemed like hours, until the forest opened into a field. The field was pierced by the pond she’d seen in reality, grown tall with grasses and thundering with the sound of bullfrogs. At the edge of the pond stood the pale form of a young woman, kneeling to drink from the water.

“Cassie!” Tara shouted.

The girl turned, and Tara ran toward her. Grasses sliced into her skirts and cut her legs, but she ignored them, rushing to the girl’s side.

Cassie stood in the shallow water by the cattails, looking at Tara with confusion on her face. Tara grasped her bare shoulders. “Cassie. Where are you?”

The girl looked at Tara with a sense of puzzlement. “I’m not sure. I’m running … running …” She looked up at the bright stars overhead. Tears shimmered on her face. “I killed a man.”

“Listen, Cassie.” Tara shook her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right. Just tell me where you are.”

Cassie shook her head, slinging dark hair around her face. “I don’t want them to find me.”

“No one’s going to find you. You’ll be safe with me.”

Cassie’s eyes were black as pools. “Okay. Okay.”

Tara patted her cheek. “Tell me where you are.”

Cassie bent to the surface of the water. She scooped up the water with her milk-pale hands, poured it into Tara’s.

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