Page 86 of Oracles Always Win

“Alright,”Gagesaid a few minutes later, “enough.Anyonewho hasn’t met yet, make your introductions now.Wehave work to do.”

Chapter Thirty

JAKE

IwishedIwas anywhere but here as everyone turned to stare at whatI’ddrawn on the side of the motorhome.Theyall studied the awful, horrible drawing like it was fascinating, andIcouldn’t force myself to do more than take a few glances at it before turning toward the sunrise.Ipretended to study the colors soIcould paint them later, but really,Iwas just trying to ignore thatI’ddrawn a massacre—like,WTF, brain?

“Itlooks like the wolf pack…” someone murmured.

“Doesthis mean they’re all going to die?” someone else whispered.

“Isthis connected to the bombing?Akind of retribution?” someone else queried.

Alarmed,Ilooked atHayden.

“Ididn’t do this,”Isaid. “Imean…Yes,Idrew it, butI’mnot…Idon’t know… inciting theEternalMagicto take revenge or whatever.”

“Ididn’t think you did,”Haydenassured me, even though his voice wasn’t as strong and steady as usual. “Iknow oracles are vessels forMotherMagic’smessages, nothing more.”

Ihad to look away fromHayden.Thehaggard look on his face was breaking my heart.Itcouldn’t have been easy for him to see whatI’ddrawn, knowing he had family out there.Iwanted to sayIwas sorry.ThatIdidn’t mean it.Buthe was right,Icouldn’t control whatIpainted.Thankfully, everyone here seemed to accept that.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group just continued to murmur and point at things whileVantook photos.Jeremywas busy writing a dissertation in his notebook.Hisstrange creature had emerged from the backpack now and was draped overAdrian’sshoulders.Iblinked at it.Thething had four arms and two legs.Thatjust wasn’t right.Wherehad he found such a thing?Iedged away from where they were standing.

Iignored them all untilIsaacleaned over to whisper something inTeague’sear.Idistinctly heard the wordspolar bears.Teaguechuckled, then his gaze darted to me.Iscowled atIsaacwith my hands on my hips.Hedidn’t need to tell everyone about my underwear.Heraised his hands in surrender, but he was laughing now too.

“Comeon,” he said. “Itwas funny.Imean… the polar bears were so damn cute on those skis.”

Gage’sscowling face was much more effective than mine.Thesmiles dropped right offIsaacandTeague’sfaces.Shit.WasIbeing an ass?Theyprobably ribbed one another all the time.WasthisIsaac’sway of bonding with me?I’dnever had brothers or friends who did that, but it was a good thing, right?

Ihadn’t caffeinated enough yet to make decisions like this or deal with people today.

Thenthe other chatter quieted too.

“Let’stalk about next steps.”Vanlooked each of us in the eye.

Nelsonlifted his hand. “Iwant to go back to the pack today.Seewhat is happening.Tryto gather evidence about the bombs.”

“Mydeputies andIhave already been to the pack,”Vansaid. “Robbieturned over two pack members, saying they were responsible.Hedenies having any knowledge of what happened.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,”Nelsonmuttered. “Iheard him talking.Thereis no way he didn’t orchestrate the whole damn thing.”

“Thewolves we arrested have confessed.”Vanfrowned. “AndRobbiewas careful not to lie to my face.Heknows hellhounds are walking lie-detectors and has learned how to phrase things without implicating himself.Butthere isn’t much more we can do to the pack unless something else turns up.”

“Sothat’s why we need to go and look,”Nelsonsaid.

“Mydeputies andIshould be the ones to gather evidence.”

Nelsonrolled his eyes. “You’vespent too long working in a human police department.You’rethinking like a human.We’retrained enforcers for theSC.Thisis what we do.”

Vanlooked atGage, who merely nodded.Thenhe turned toHayden, who didn’t do anything but grind his teeth together.

“Fine,” the hellhound said, but he didn’t sound happy.

Isaacnodded. “I’llgo with him.”

Avein inHayden’sjaw pulsed as he clenched his teeth.Noone else spoke up.

“We’reall concerned aboutJake’svision.”Gagegestured to the drawing. “Butwe can’t predict when it’ll happen.Itmight be months or years from now.Wealso don’t have enough data to know if what is shown in the visions can be altered.”