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Sorry, no chapter today! :\ I've been a bit busy. Chapter will be out soon!

I am so, so sorry! New chapter MAY come on Sunday if I have time, and will DEFINITELY be out by Monday! Agh! 😛

The house was dark, and Danie’s eyes blurred with green-tinted light as they adjusted. The front room was shrouded in dark and verdant vines that warped the walls and burrowed into the floor at their feet. Little shards of glass hung in chimes above their heads, blue and violet and yellow as the sun. Some of the vines were moving more than others; Esthaenie let out a little shriek. Danielle jerked back to see a snake, flickering from green to gold to aubergine, cross the low ceiling just above their heads.

Danie sighed and squeezed Esthaenie’s head.

“Snakes. Why do the gods hate me?” Esthaenie huffed, gathering her composure.

There was a tinkling of glass from the back room, and the Oracle stepped out.

Danielle sagged with relief. This woman looked nothing like the Oracle of Verineth. She was a wood-elf, lithe and graceful, with hair shorn to her skull and tattoos inked across her body. They changed color. Perhaps that was just a trick of the light.

She also did not have a third eye stitched to her forehead. Her eyes were unmutilated.

“Visitors,” she said, “a young human, and a young…”

The Oracle trailed off, cocking an eyebrow at Esthaenie. The avariel blushed, taking a step back. The Oracle smiled invitingly and sat cross-legged.

“This is the West, not the East.” The Oracle said. “You’re safe here. Come, sit.”

The two sat, slowly, watching the Oracle with fascination (and, in Danie’s case, a bit of dread). She waved at them and turned, lighting the incense afire with a flick of one graceful finger.

“I ask only fifty gold pieces each.” she said.

Esthaenie forked it over. Danielle began to protest, then thought better of it.

“Which of you first?”

Danielle shrank back. Esthaenie turned and smiled before approaching.

The Oracle wrapped a blindfold around her eyes and began to chant softly. Danielle only caught a few words: “eyes” “python” “Demeter”. Then the Oracle relaxed, removed the blindfold, and smiled.

“Your sister is searching for you, but she will not find you until you are ready.”

Esthaenie looked just the slightest bit relieved. Danielle was glad to see it.

“You are braver than you know.”

Esthaenie blushed. The Oracle perked up at the last moment.

“Oh, dear.” She gave Esthaenie a mischievous grin and whispered something that Danie couldn’t make out. Esthaenie went red.

“What is it?” Danielle asked.

“Nothing, nothing!” Esthaenie bit her lip and shifted back, “It’s your turn.”

Danielle felt dread, heavy and ulcerous in her stomach. She took a step forward.

The Oracle smiled and wrapped the cloth around her eyes. She began her chant again. Danielle caught the same few words, but then the chant began anew, and was longer. The Oracle began to shake. Esthaenie yelped as the vines at her feet began to jerk and shift. Danie shuddered.

Something deep within her laughed.

The vines lashed out and wrapped around the Oracle, lashing her against the wall. Esthaenie screamed and tried to draw her sword, but she was held down. Danie was frozen. Frozen like she’d been when-

“GO BACK TO THE NORTH, WOLF.”

The voice was like a thousand snakes, hissing and nipping and biting down, poison dripping. The Oracle’s eyes were bound shut by vines, yet smaller ones crisscrossed and drew an eye across her forehead.

“BRINGER OF CHAOS. OF FIRE.”

“Danielle! Please!”

Esthaenie’s panic shook her out of her daze. She pulled a knife from her pocket and began frantically slashing, hacking at the vines that snared the avariel. One hand was free now, but Esthaenie didn’t move. The Oracle screamed in the background, chanting of the north and fire and death.

“Esthaenie, move!” Danie turned and saw it. A snake hung in the air in front of them, hissing, ready to strike Danielle. She gasped as a vine lashed up, pinning her down, and the snake hung over her, poison dripping from its fangs into the earth near her.

Let me out.

Danielle shook her head, crying out. Esthaenie tried to grab the snake, to save her, but was dragged down.

WOLF. WOLF. WOLF.

Danie screamed.

F

Danie screamed.

E

Danie screamed as the word etched itself into her mind.

N

Danie’s scream became a roar of rage. She lashed out, ripping through the vines, and grabbed the snake in one hand. She brought it to her mouth.

She bit down.

The snake, missing a chunk of its midsection, flopped to the floor. Blood streamed down Danielle’s chin. Esthaenie huddled against the floor.

The vines retreated. Esthaenie gasped for breath, staring in terror at the Oracle.

The Oracle, unconscious, was lowered to the floor by so many snakes and vines. The snakes bore their fallen brother away. Danie sagged with relief.

She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. She took Esthaenie’s hand with the other.

“We need to go.” she said. Esthaenie nodded, shaking.

Danielle ran from the shop with the avariel in tow. Something smiled inside her with

rows and rows of teeth.

It made her lick her own lips.

—
Lonnie