Page 39 of Oracles Always Win

Vanessajerked her head around and stared at me.

“Well, look at that,”Vanessasaid. “Doyou know him, sugar?”

“Him?Himwho?”

Vanessapointed atGage. “Thatman.”

Mystomach flipped, then flopped.Vanessasaw him too?Icleared my throat and pasted a brittle smile on my face. “Oh!Ha!Him?Imet him last night.”

“Didyou now?Andwhat do you know about him?”

Hehas horns.No.Icouldn’t say that.Ihave approximately ten million paintings of him in my room, give or take a thousand.Nope.Couldn’tsay that either.Iwant to lick his dimple.I’dsound like a creep. “Hedrinks dark ale.”

Vanessasnorted. “Areyou sure there’s nothing more?Youdon’t happen to notice anything else?Maybe…um… in his hair or something?”

“Nope.Nothingat all.”

Myheart pounded.Shewasn’t talking about his horns because his horns didn’t exist.Thenmy fingers tingled asIgrew dizzy.Irecognized the signs, and panic sprinted through me.

“No, no, no…”

Icouldn’t have one of my possessed painting episodes.Notnow.Notin front of everyone…Butit was too late.

“Jakedear?Iseverything okay?”

ButIdidn’t have time to answer before my vision blurred and darkness enveloped me, pulling me under.

Chapter Fifteen

GAGE

Ihad parked thePinkLadyin the lot at the bottom of the hill atWinslowPark, but whenIspotted where the painting group was set up,Idecided to take a short cut and jump through a portal to get closer instead of walking up.Itwas just my luck to appear precisely whereJakewas looking.Theguy’s eyes had nearly popped out of his head with how wide he’d opened them.

ThebrownieJakewas standing beside giggled gleefully at my appearance.Shespun towardJaketo see his reaction.Afterall, usually all it took was one glimpse through our natural glamour and a mundane would see everything in the supernatural world.

Exposurehappened in a lot of ways, like if a shifter was seen changing forms, or, in this case, a man appearing out of nowhere.Shit.Icouldn’t believeI’dmade such a basic mistake.ButIhadn’t expectedJaketo be looking at that lopsided tree at that exact moment.

Ishot out my magic and confirmed the others on the hill were all supes.Noharm done there at least.Ijust needed to check onJake.

Jakeshook his head and turned back toward the painting in front of the brownie and talked to her like nothing had happened.Ofcourse, his flushed cheeks gave away his discomfort.Interesting.Couldhe see my horns or not?

ThenJake’seyes seemed to roll back in his head and his body stiffened.

“What’swrong with him?”Iran forward, closing the distance between us.

Jake, without looking, unerringly grabbed the brownie’s paintbrush and palette from her hands.Hepushed the brush into the mound of black paint and lifted it toward the canvas.

“Oh, heck no,” the brownie shouted and grabbed her painting.Shedarted away fromJakeand his black paint, taking her canvas with her.

Jaketook slow lumbering steps toward another easel.Noone came forward to claim the piece or stopJakefrom using it, soIfollowed behind.Thepainting was a lively work of the town below.WasitJake’s?It’dbe a shame to lose it.Ina flash too fast for a human and even most supes to follow,Igrabbed a blank canvas from the small stack at the base of the easel and switched it with the townscape.

Thepaintbrush hit the canvas the momentIset it in place.

Witheach push and pull of his arm,Jakeapplied more and more black paint even though his eyes were vacant as he stared unblinkingly ahead.Thenhe added dots of white here and there, followed by an unpredictable mix of fine lines and exuberant strokes.Iwatched, mesmerized, as an image emerged through the black.Theladies he’d been painting with gathered around too.Noone spoke.

Bythe timeJakestilled, a dismal scene had emerged.Thesubject matter was all too familiar, and yetIknew this painting didn’t reference the past.Oraclesonly foretold the future.Justa few weeks ago, we’d discovered a storage facility filled with imprisoned supernatural beings.Thescene on this painting was strikingly similar, confirming that although we’d stopped one arm of the trafficking operation, we weren’t done yet.Ihad suspected as much, butI’dhopedIwas wrong.Thismessage from the oracle told meIwasn’t.

Jake’sbody convulsed then.BeforeIrealized what was happening, he had spun away from the painting.Hebent over and threw up, all over me.Warmrunny vomit soaked into my pants and covered my shoes.Igagged but managed to calm my stomach beforeIemptied my breakfast too.