Foresight Page 12

  “You’ve betrayed us all, Zoe!” Iepa’s magic might hold Sibyl still, but she’s done nothing to silence the woman.

  I lick my dry lips, wishing I could just forget all of this, go back to the ignorance of two years ago. But even as I do, I shake off my apathy and the frozen state I've fallen into, letting the fire rise to cleanse me and free me from my grief. “If not a goddess,” I say. “If a maji, then for what purpose?”

  Iepa smiles. “Must we have a purpose?” I don't smile back and she finally shrugs. “We are hands of the Creator,” she says. “But so are you, Zoe.”

  “But she is our Goddess.” I shiver, rub my arms after releasing Iepa's hand. “The source of our foresight.” That's what I was taught.

  “No, child.” Iepa's sad eyes tell me everything I need to know. “Gaia is nothing of the sort.”

  “Liar!” We both turn at the wailing sound of Sibyl’s denial. She’s weeping openly, her fire licking through the coils of rainbow light. “She is a Goddess!”

  Iepa rolls her shoulders in a shrug. “I do believe she did nurture your talent when your family's particular power appeared on this plane.” She frowns, shakes her head. “I should have thought to check here, I suppose, but she gave up on guiding you so long ago, I thought her elsewhere.” She smooths her braid with one hand. “More the fool I,” she says. “Doing so must have exposed her to the Brotherhood and offered them the means to capture and contain her.”

  “And take her power.” I flinch as Iepa looks up, darkness on her beautiful face. I'm having trouble assessing her age, she feels timeless to me.

  “Correct.” She now sounds angry, though I know her fury isn't aimed at me. She looks over my shoulder, glaring at Sibyl who has fallen still. “Tell me, betrayer of your blood—how did they manage it, then, those most foul of sorcerers? Gaia is,” her lips tighten as she corrects herself, “was one of the strongest of us. A mere human sorcerer should not have been able to contain her.”

  Sibyl turns her face away, jaw tight. But Iepa isn’t willing to accept her silence. The maji woman leaps to her feet and sweeps toward the old Oracle who shudders from her.

  “Don’t touch me!” She leans away, writhing as though Iepa’s skin is diseased. The maji clamps one hand over Sibyl’s shoulder and squeezes enough her knuckles whiten. Her face twists as Sibyl shudders and finally sags under the pressure of a flow of rainbow magic that seems to sizzle against the old woman’s fire.

  “Enough!” Sibyl sobs the word and Iepa releases her. I shiver as Sibyl weeps, tears gathering under her chin. “It was me. I lured Gaia to me, fed her poisoned wine.” Spite enters her tone, an old evil I’ve never seen before rippling across her face. “They offered me power and I took it, for all of us.” She meets my eyes, desperate all over again. “For the family, Zoe. For you!”

  I turn away from her as Iepa slowly makes her way back to me, sitting at her sister’s side. “Treachery,” she says. “She trusted you, Sibyl. Spoke highly of your family. Clearly, she was much more naïve than I thought to fall for such a trap.”

  “They were strong,” Sibyl whispers. “And she was weak.”

  “More likely,” Iepa says, “your betrayal broke her heart and spirit.” Iepa sighs, turns away and again touches her sister's face, a tiny sparkle of rainbow light traveling between them. “And, ever since, the Brotherhood has been using her as a power source, likely all these centuries. Feeding from her.” Iepa's jaw tightens. “Until there is so little left of her there is nothing remaining to save.”

  Tears well in my eyes at her words, my chest tight with sudden grief. My fire reaches out for Gaia and the moment my power makes contact, I feel the truth. “She's dying.”

  Iepa nods slowly, head bobbing as tears splash on her sister's cheek. “She is.”

  I sit back, weeping for her loss though she remains yet, breath rhythmic, chest rising slowly and steadily. I need to leave, to escape this horror, but Iepa doesn’t move and I can’t bring myself to leave her there.

  “Terrible things are coming.” I don’t know if Iepa cares or can help, but I need to tell someone. “Darkness, fire, death.”

  She looks up slowly, meets my eyes. “Tell me what you’ve seen.”

  I do, including my most recent vision, about Syd, the stakes, and her death. I’m certain the rise of her rainbow power means she’s about to die.

  “That’s what he’s been after.” Rage flickers over Iepa's face, makes her look fierce and powerful for a moment where once grief kept her small. Her gaze returns to her silent sister, fists clenching at her sides. “Gaia is almost drained. He’s known her end is coming and has been looking for a replacement, a way to fill her role. For more power to steal for his damned Brotherhood.” She looks away from her sister, away from me, staring at the stone floor. “He hasn’t been trying to kill Syd. He’s been trying to capture her.”

  “Why?” I know the answer even as I speak it. Haven’t I seen it enough times? The iridescence, the same as Gaia’s, as Iepa’s. I made the connection not too long ago Syd’s magic looked like my Goddess's. Does that mean she’s maji?

  Iepa turns back, jaw set, eyes flashing rainbow fire. “They have to listen now,” she says, though I’m certain she’s not speaking to me. “The Brotherhood has crossed the line, stealing power from the maji this way.” She stands and I rise with her, though she doesn’t move to leave, just hovers there over her sleeping sister. “Surely they will finally act, if only out of self-preservation.”

  I have no idea who she’s talking about, but I can’t let her leave if that’s her plan. “What of Gaia?” Now I know the truth, my heart breaks for the slumbering woman in the gold-gilt coffin.

  Iepa bites her lower lip, shaking her head. “There is nothing to be done.” She barely speaks above a whisper. “My sister is too far gone for me to reach. Only the last echo of her remains, keeping her body alive. When that is gone, all which made her who she is will be lost.” She turns on me, suddenly fierce, grasping my arms in her hands, shaking me slightly. “Listen to me, Zoe Helios,” she says. “Your people are on the wrong path.”

  I nod. I know that already.

  “There is a war coming.” Iepa sounds afraid, though her intensity doesn’t fade, nor her feeling of rebellion. I wonder who she has need to defy and if she’s much like me, in the end. “You must be on the right side.” She shudders, steps away. “I have a terrible feeling we might need you before this is done.”

  “I won’t fail you.” I don’t know why it’s important she know I’m with her, or that she know I’m loyal to the visions her sister’s power encouraged all those years ago. But it is, to me.

  Iepa smiles a little, body stiff, hands clenched at her sides again as she begins to glow with rainbow light. A tear forms in the very air next to her, a gash in the fabric of the plane, gushing bright light through it as she turns and brushes her hands over it. “You owe me nothing,” Iepa says. “Just promise me, when the time comes, you’ll do what you can to save her.”

  I look down at Gaia, confused, but Iepa is shaking her head.

  “Syd,” she says. “No matter what it takes, Zoe. Save Syd.” And then, she’s gone.

  The sudden dimness makes my eyes water, the quiet enveloping me as I draw a deep breath and let it out again. My grandmother doesn’t move from where Iepa pinned her though the rainbow light fades and frees her. I briefly wonder if Iepa’s bald speaking of truth has broken the old woman at last. Though now I hardly care.

  Instead, I crouch and brace myself on the sides of Gaia's tomb before placing a kiss on her cheek. The barest sigh escapes her as my power connects with what is left of her.

  “I’m so sorry.” One of my tears falls to her face and I brush it away. “I wish I could have saved you.”

  Her lips part as I stare down at her, a sparkling trail rising from her mouth as she exhales for the last time. The shimmering breath rises to greet me, slipping into my nostrils, my own open mouth, the corners of my eyes. I shiver as the remains of Gaia�
�s power sparks on my skin before racing through me, into me, melding firmly with my own magic.

  Wonder and awe hold me still as I warm inside from the soft presence of her. And then, she’s gone and the power is mine. I bend and kiss her one last time, before rising, turning, leaving the remains of whom she was behind.

  And face down Sibyl as she snarls at me and throws flame in my face.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty One

  I brush away the fire with one hand, contempt for the woman before me burning harsher than any blaze she can send my way. She staggers a little, eyes huge as her power is deflected.

  “Zoe.” She holds out one hand to me, face morphing from shock to the old arrogance I’m so used to. But her fear is palpable now, and I wonder if she’s always been afraid of me. “You can’t believe a word that woman told you.”

  “And yet,” I say as I descend from the altar and approach the woman I thought my grandmother, “I do, Sibyl. You, on the other hand.” I flick flame at her, feeling a burst of satisfied vengeance as Sibyl swats at them with shaking fingers. “You have been lying to me my entire life.” Our entire existence hangs in the balance of this discovery. Who my family are, what our power is really for, has been hidden from us, disguised and masked by outside force for centuries. I have no idea what will become of us, but for the first time we will be free to grow and understand our purpose.

  If we get the chance.

  “I’ve done everything I could to protect you.” A thin wail hides behind her brashness. “I’ve sacrificed my own happiness for this family, long before you were born.”

  “Why, Sibyl?” I’m tired of her, just want her to go away. I have work to do. But I can’t help but ask. “Why did you sell us out to the Brotherhood?” Surely not just for power. We have more than enough of that, the flames an endless source of fuel for us.

  She flinches back as though I’ve slapped her. “She abandoned us, Zoe.” Hateful spite spits from her lips as the heart of the truth comes out, faint madness in her eyes. I see all her years pile down on top of her as she strikes with words at the empty shell over my shoulder. “All those centuries she guided us, my mother, my mother’s mother. From the beginning.” She shudders, eyes moist, lips twisting with sorrow. “And then she left us.” She hunches forward, an ugly sob escaping. “She abandoned me!”

  Now I understand the real way of it at last. “Gaia tried to move on,” I say. “And you hated her for it.”

  “How could she leave me?” Sibyl reaches for me, falls to her knees when I step back out of her range. She paws at my jeans with desperate hands. “Yes, I hated her.” She spits, mood shifting to bitterness. “My visions were strong with her, don’t you understand? But when she left, I was weak.” She sinks to her hip, defeated. “We were all weak.”

  “So you laid a trap for her.” The desire to kill Sibyl is so powerful I sway from the effort it takes to hold my ground. “You made a pact with the Brotherhood.”

  “I had no choice.” Her voice is soft, empty. “Gaia left me and they offered me power. In exchange for her.”

  My hands ache from the fists they’ve made at my sides, my fire begging me to strike her down. She looks up at me then, so pathetic, so worthless, I can’t be bothered. She’s not worth the flame it would take to kill her.

  “You’re done lying to my family,” I say, stepping around her. “When this is over, I’ll make sure you answer for this, Sibyl.” In a flash of insight, I recall what she’d done to me. I go to her, search her robes while her hands flap at me, slapping my skin though I continue, grim against such a pathetic onslaught, until I liberate the shining gold lighter tucked into her cleavage.

  The top rings as I flip it open, flame leaping to life when the wheel spins. I focus all of my power on it, on her, and feel the draw of her magic as I douse her fire and cut her off.

  The rush of power is almost staggering. I almost didn’t expect it to work. Sibyl stares at me a moment, aghast, sheet-white and shaking. Before collapsing face first to the floor and clawing at the stone.

  And I leave her there, weeping uncontrollably in the presence of the maji she betrayed. I hope she chokes on her tears.

  I don’t notice I’m not alone until I’m almost at the door, only then spotting Ash. She’s leaning with her back against one of the Gaia statues, watching me with careful eyes. I approach her, hug her and welcome her returned embrace.

  “How much did you know?” There’s nothing accusatory in my tone. I’m really curious. All of my anger has been burned away by the fire inside me.

  “Some,” Ash says, voice thick. She’s more worked up about this than I thought. “Not enough, apparently.” She wipes at her nose with the side of her hand, eyes bright with moisture. “Let me kill her, won’t you?”

  Like she needs my permission for anything. But the way she watches me, the way Ash waits, tells me something’s changed. I shake my head, looping my arm through hers, leading her to the door.

  “Let her suffer without her power,” I say. “For a little while. Let her know how Gaia felt.” If Gaia truly even felt anything. “I want her to truly understand what she’s done, what the price of her power hunger has been.” Ash nods, grins a vicious grin. I wish I could muster some vindictiveness, but my need for Sibyl to feel her failure comes from a pure sense of justice. “I’ll return for her later, when she’s seen the error of her ways. Now, tell me you’ve rescued Piers and we can get out of here.”

  “Not yet,” Ash says. “They moved him from the torture room. But I know where he is.”

  That’s the first good news I’ve had all night.

  I almost stumble over Rena as Ash and I exit the chapel. My cousin’s stormy expression tells me I’m in for an earful, but I don’t have time for her dramatics. She grasps my arm, pulls me to a halt, even as my aunt moves to block her. I wave Ash off and face down Rena as the younger Oracle plants her free hand on her hip and glares at me.

  “What were you doing in the chapel?” She’s cocky, bossy. Clearly Sibyl has given her some reason to feel superior to me for her to act this way. I recall the suppression of my power and grin in Rena’s face. It’s not her fault, nor should I take any of this out on her, but the fire calls to me, is angry and ready to fight. And Rena is a clear target.

  I let it out to flare around me, watch as her eyes flash from contemptuous to shocked. She drops her hand from my arm with a tiny squeal of anguish, looking down at her smoking fingers before meeting my eyes again.

  “Grandmother is going to be so mad at you.” There was a time, not so long ago, I thought Rena loved me, was my friend as well as my blood. But now I see the deep-seated spite in her, the way her envy has eaten at her through her entire life, turned her against me. She’s just like Sibyl. “I’m telling.”

  Rage like I’ve never known washes away the remnants of my loyalty to Rena, and through her, to my family. I step into her space, bending over her, nose almost touching hers as I smile with my teeth bared and slap her with fire.

  Rena shrieks and spins, running for her life, feet slapping the stones as she goes. I know her distress will bring curious onlookers, despite the lateness—or is that earliness by now—of the hour. But it was worth it.

  Ash rolls her eyes at me, takes my wrist in her hand, opening the top of her lighter.

  “If you’re done playing.” But there’s a twinkle back in her eye and for the first time since this started I feel optimistic things really might work out after all.

  As I step into her flame, I feel the tingle of the remains of Gaia’s magic work its way through my system, burrowing deeper inside me. It’s mine, without a trace of her consciousness tied to it, but it feels different. It is altering me as it makes itself at home. Even the pleading flame seems subdued, curious about this new phenomenon and leaves me be. When I exit the flame with Ash at my side, I’m the most calm and focused I’ve been in a very long time.

  Two sorcerers stare at us as we approach and I realize we’re below the main
sanctuary again. Ash’s hips take on a decided wiggle, her eyebrow arching, a sultry smile bending her full mouth. I watch with surprise as she sashays to the young men, exuding sex appeal, her fire power tuned up to maximum effect.

  The results are predictable. She is a stunning woman, no matter she has a decade on the two, and they both relax and grin at her as she joins them. I approach more slowly, certain I could never repeat her performance, and am just in time to catch the first as he crumples, shock on his face just before his eyes roll back in his head and he slumps sideways. He’s heavy and almost carries me down with him, but I manage to ease him to the floor with a hearty grunt. The second is already on his way down, though Ash just lets him fall with a disdainful toss of her blonde hair.

  “This way.” She pushes through the iron gate, the squeal of unoiled hinges making me grind my teeth. I hurry after her, eyes flashing left and right, searching the plain, empty cells on either side of the short corridor. The stink of old urine and sweat mixes with a hint of rot and I swallow past my imagination’s stirrings of what could cause such a stink. All of that goes away the moment I reach the last cell and my eyes settle on a beloved face.

  “We don’t have much time.” Ash’s hand rises, her lighter held toward the main door of the cell block. “Liander will have felt the attack on his sorcerers.” And the passing of Gaia, surely. I hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll hold them off when they come, but you have to get him out of there.”

  It only takes me a moment to understand why. As I rush to the bars, place my hands on them, I feel the sticky, sucking power of sorcery as it tries to pull my strength out of me. I turn to Ash, but the distant sound of footsteps, coming fast, spins me back to Piers.

  “Wake up.” I toss a pebble at him, bouncing it from his narrow chest. He groans softly, rolls over on his side, one gray eye cracking open. It’s bloodshot, and it takes him a moment to focus, but when he finally does, he smiles a lop-sided grin and waggles his fingers at me.