Page 95 of Oracles Always Win

“He’swaking up,” someone was shouting in my ear.

Igroaned and tried to turn away from the noise.

“Comeon,Jake.Wakeup,” they urged.

“Goaway.”Itried to pull my arm over my head to block out the noise and the light, but my arm wouldn’t move.

“Jake!”Anothershout, followed by a sharp stinging slap to my left cheek.

“Hey!”Iforced my eyes open.Assoon asIsawAsh’sfrantic face,Iremembered everything.Iglanced at the drawingI’dmade.

Ifmy stomach hadn’t already been churning, that would have done it.Evenin the pale gray lines of a hard pencil, the scene was grotesque.People’slimbs were strewn all over the place with an obscene amount of blood dripping and pooling everywhere else.Inthe center of the page wasGagein his demon form, his black wings stretched out behind him, his horns gleaming in the light, his clawed hands clutching a limp, and obviously dead, body.

Iran for the tiny bathroom, barely making it to the toilet, to cast up the contents of my stomach.Amoment later,Ashshoved a bottle of water in my face.Itook a swig, swirled it around my mouth, then spit it out.

“Here,”Ashsaid, handing me a wet cloth next.

Iflushed the toilet, then forced myself to wipe my face and get back in the game.Unfortunately, lethargy was already pulling at me.Iwanted to curl up and sleep, butIcouldn’t.NotuntilIknewGagewas safe.Ihunted through the small cabinet in the bathroom untilIfound some toothpaste.Mintybreath shouldn’t have been my priority just then, butIcouldn’t think clearly when my mouth tasted like puke.

WhenIemerged from the bathroom,Ashwas leaning overJeremyand peering out the front windshield.Thedirt road we were on was rough and littered with dips and tire ruts.Themotorhome chugged over them, swaying ominously from side to side as the grooves got deeper.

“What’sover there?”Ashpointed ahead. “Isthat their car?”

Irushed to the front soIcould see too.Offthe road to the left, wedged between the aspen trees at the side of the road, the car was upside down with its wheels spinning.Thewindows were all shattered and at least one door was missing.Luckily,Ididn’t see any bodies inside or around the car.Alittle further up, a cop car was in even worse condition.

“Whatthe hell happened?”Iwhispered.

Thena deafening roar shook the air, making all the windows rattle.Aninvisible force, like a concussive sound wave, rolled over us.

“Wasthat magic?”Jeremyasked.Hisknuckles were white, both with his magic and how tightly he gripped the steering wheel.

Ashglanced over at me; his fear was easy to see.

“Arewe too late?”Jeremypulled the motorhome to a stop when he couldn’t manage to get it around the overturned vehicles blocking the road.

“No,”Isaid. “Ineed to get to him.I’lltether him.Atleast until we can get him back toWillowLake.Thenhe’ll be able to anchor properly.He’sgoing to be fine.Idon’t care what my vision said.Myvision can go fuck itself.”

Istomped toward the door leading out of the motorhome, but beforeImade it there, my fingers twitched, and darkness bled over my sight again.

Fuckingfuck fuck.

Notanother one.

Chapter Thirty-Four

GAGE

Blooddripped into my eyes from bodies hanging from the trees above, until the world was layered in red.Thescent of death clogged my nostrils.Mademy fingers slippery.Coatedmy tongue.

Allthe while, intermittent screams tore through the humid forest air.

Still,Icouldn’t find any more of my enemies.

Atthe beginning of the battle,I’dmoved fluidly through the masses of my enemies.Strikingthem down where they stood, but not killing them.Somepart of me longed to eradicate these beasts from the world, but that was not my job.Ithad never been my job.Iwas the judge, butIwas not the executioner.Notunless every other avenue had been exhausted.

Instead,Iincapacitated my enemies, leaving them for those loyal to me to contain.

Butnow, everywhereIwent in these dark woods,Iarrived too late.Myenemies had either run away… or died beforeIfound their broken and mangled bodies.Istalked through yet another small clearing, but it was much the same as the last one.