Page 296 of Oracle Returns: Time will Stop

Tori shrugged.

“Sure.”

Approaching, she placed her hands on Tori’s shoulders, and the woman stared into her blank eyes. All of a sudden, Tori felt like she was falling into a field of soft, cotton-y snow. Flower petals tumbled around her, and there was melodious laughter.

Until there wasn’t.

Once more, she was back at Ridge’s home and standing in that bedroom.

Someone was damn good at astral projection, or as her husband’s people called it, dream walking.

Just.

Like.

The.

Killer.

Tori was beginning to believe someone else could dream weave with the best of them.

“Show me,” she heard, and Tori did.

She walked her through the mansion and to the space. The static sound was less painful, but she could still hear it.

As she showed the woman, Avalon whispered into her mind.

It can’t get you. I’m in control.

If she said so.

As she gave her the tour, Avalon moved closer to the inkiness in the master bedroom and stared down into it.

“What are you doing?”

Oracle explained.

It doesn’t know about this tear. The dead opened it up so that someone would see it and help them. They needed you to find it, so you could tell me.

Tori watched, and that’s when Avalon did something she hadn’t expected.

Gently, she reached in and pulled a person out.

Tori couldn’t move, she couldn’t interact, and she couldn’t warn her.

Instead, she watched as the woman glowed pure white against the darkness.

One-by-one, she began pulling them out, and they dissipated around her.

They vanished.

Tori couldn’t believe her eyes, and then, she realized what she was doing. Oracle was saving the souls. She was literally pulling them from purgatory, somehow.

Just keep the mental link open.

He can’t get me if I’m using your psychic link to save them. I can’t hide here long, so he’ll figure it out, but until he does, we can save some of them. Once he realizes what is happening, the tear will close.

Tori wanted that.