Chapter 63: Helios

"You recognized me." I close the distance between us though she backpedals slightly, nervous, despite the fact she's the one who came to see me.

"Yes," she says, the hand holding her dead lighter in front of her shaking. Her voice barely rises above a whisper. I come to a halt, not wanting to scare her off, but needing to know what she knows. And who she is, exactly.

"You're Steam Union?" Where is Piers? He obviously didn't find her, off on a goose chase, at this point. Or pursuing the girl's sorcerer friend, more likely. He seemed less inclined to talk to us. What's different about her?

"I don't know what that means," she says, voice rising a little. She's a lovely thing, delicate and slim, with exotic features that make me think of Greece. "What's Steam Union?"

Well, that's not helpful.

"You're a wolf," she says. "A blonde wolf. But you have blonde hair as a human, too, only it's black right now." She seems confused. "And you travel with her a lot."

I'm immediately tense, hackles rising. What the hell is this? "How do you know me?" I'm certain I've never seen her before. She certainly doesn't smell familiar.

She shivers, fingers adjusting around the silver lighter. She keeps it between us, as though it will protect her from me. But if I want to take her down, I'll be on her before her thumb can strike a flame.

"I've seen you," she says. "My entire life."

My wolf chuffs her confusion. Seen me how? "You're not making any sense." Who is she?

She shakes her head, as though fighting with herself. "You travel with her, you're always with her, I've seen it." Faint horror rises in her huge, dark eyes. She licks her lips, nervous. "I shouldn't be here. But I had to know if it was really you."

"Who are you talking about?" I don't have time for this nonsense. That's what her gibberish sounds like. If she's not Steam Union, she's not helpful. Maybe I'll come back when this is over-if I can-and have a chat with the odd girl before me. But right now, I have to find Sage before it's too late.

"You know who I'm talking about," she says. "The woman with the rainbow magic."

Everything goes still inside me. Syd. She's talking about Syd.

"She's evil, you know." The girl is shaking harder, pupils dilated, eyes frightened. "You have to get away from her. Don't let her hurt you."

Now my anger surfaces, my wolf ready to take her out for the lies she's speaking. What the hell is this? "Syd would never hurt me." I take another step closer, Sage in the back of my mind, but my worry for my friend in Wilding Springs taking over while my wolf surfaces in my eyes. "She's not evil, any more than I am."

The girl wails softly, though she doesn't retreat from me despite my rising anger. "I've seen it," she cries. "I've seen the end of the world, and she's the cause of it."

My heart pounds heavily for a few beats, confusion at war with my temper. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zoe," she whispers. "Zoe Helios. I'm an Oracle. And I've seen everything."

It takes so much effort not to lunge at her, seize her in my hands and shake her, shake her so hard she stops lying about Syd. "Tell me what you've seen."

Awe seems to take her, replacing some of her fear. "I can't believe it's you," she says, wiping at a tear trickling from her big eyes. "All this time, since I was a little girl. I'm finally meeting The Wolf." She says it like she's capitalizing the words, as though it's a title. "And him," she says. "The Sorcerer." She has to be talking about Piers. "That means it's almost time." She sobs softly once before pulling herself together, cheeks wet again. Only this time she doesn't try to dry her tears. "Please, you have to listen to me."

If it's more nonsense about Syd, she can forget it. "Pay attention, child," I say. "I don't have time for your games right now. I'm looking for someone, and unless you can help me find him, you're on your own."

Her mouth opens and closes before she shakes her head. "I can only see the future I've been assigned," she says. "I'm sorry. But you have to stop her." She moves toward me before falling back when I snarl at her. "You have to stop the one with the rainbow magic before it's too late."

I cut the air with one hand. "If you're still talking about Syd," I growl, "you can shut your mouth. She's saved our asses-this whole Universe-so many times I've lost count. You should be damned grateful for her." I can barely control my rage, wanting to let it out all over this tiny thing who makes my head spin. "You're standing here," I spit the last few words, "because of her. So stop talking before I make you stop."

Zoe shakes her head, horror on her face. "No," she says. "That's not true."

"It is," I say, "and unless you were there, little oracle girl, I'd keep my damned mouth shut. Because I was." I pound my chest with one fist. "I was. I saw it happen, I lived it."

She stumbles back, head dropping. "It's not possible." Her free hand lifts to grasp the lighter, which flickers to life on its own. A flame appears, images flashing. I catch only a few, one of them predominant-Syd's grim face. "I've seen it all!"

"Whatever." I turn my back on her.

"Wait!" She comes after me, stops just behind me as I turn to face her again. She's young, maybe eighteen, earnest and afraid, lost. "She is the Dark One."

"The Dark One," I say, "is dead and gone, at Syd's hand, five years ago." Some oracle this girl is.

The flame rises between us and a face appears in the fire. Syd again. "The Dark One," she repeats.

How has this kid gotten things so confused? "I don't know who is supplying your little prophecies," I say, jabbing a finger at the fire, "but that woman is the Light One, girl."

Zoe's eyes fill with tears, her lower lip trembling. "No," she whispers. "It can't be true. How can it be true?" She stares into the flame. "Is it all a lie?"

I reach for her, she's so distraught, but she begins to fade too quickly, vanishing into the flame, the lighter flickering out and disappearing with her.

Syd needs to know something is wrong. Whoever this kid is, claiming to be an Oracle, she's seen something big coming. I have to warn my friend.

But Sage...I can't risk reaching for Syd now. And there has to be time.

I spin, hunting Sage's scent, and run for the street again, determined to track him down and finish this so I can help Syd. Because I have a feeling she's going to need all the help she can get.

My face slams into a barrier of darkness, the air smothering me before I can react, blackness engulfing me and dragging me screaming into unconsciousness.

***

I wake slowly, cheek pressed to cold stone, the scent of mildew and rock filling my senses. It's dark, but not the darkness of sorcery, merely a room absent of light. I push myself up, arms shaking, though I'm recovering from the blow that knocked me out. It had to have been magic to drain my entire body so completely.

My eyes adjust, the low light coming from a crack in the far corner outlining the bottom of what has to be a door. It feels damp and cool here, the weight of some structure above me pressing down, the tang of aged moisture on my tongue. A basement? Yes, that makes sense. And the faint taste of fermentation. A wine cellar, perhaps.

But that's not all. My vision is hampered, my wolf rising slowly, as though stunned herself and only now able to focus, taking a moment before I realize why everything in my vision seems to be cut through with horizontal black gaps.

I'm in a cage, iron bars surrounding me, overhead, keeping me from climbing to my feet.

-I'm a child again, caged on filthy straw, naked, snarling and terrified, my wolf trying to defend me as he opens the door, his hand on his belt buckle-

I smell him, mixed with memory, and know this is no past come to haunt me, as much as the two mingle together. This is real, here and now, and he has me once again where he's always wanted to keep me.

"Charlotte," Andre's voice oozes from the darkness as I turn and spot him hovering on a stool, cane before him, watching me with glittering eyes. "So lovely to have you again."



***