A House of Mysteries Read online

  Keeping quiet about Bijarki had been more of a self-preservation tactic. I was so embarrassed to have had a vision about him—how would I explain what he was doing there? Why it had felt so intimate, as if we were far closer than I ever wanted to be to the incubus?

  Serena was the only one who had noticed something was wrong. I’d seen the way that she looked at me—she’d known I was leaving something out.

  “Do you want to get some air?” I asked Aida after Draven left the room.

  “Yeah, good idea.” Aida got up off the chair. Serena looked like she wanted to follow us, but Phoenix took her aside instead. We were followed out of the room by Jovi and Field. Together we all made our way to the greenhouse, and then out into the garden.

  It felt good to be outside—the living room had started to grow stuffy, but at least my body temperature had returned to normal. I sat down on the grass, and Aida followed me. My pajamas were still damp, but the sunshine would dry them out in a matter of moments. I lay back on the grass, suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion.

  “I guess we can’t argue anymore about whether or not we’re Oracles.” Aida sighed. “But what’s that going to mean? Are we going to go blind? Have shadows running across our skin?” She hesitated, thinking of something else.

  “Reproductive organs?” I asked, guessing where her mind had gone.

  “Yeah. That won’t happen though, right?” she replied softly.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Jovi interrupted, collapsing on the ground next to us. “I don’t think anything about you three is normal in Oracle terms. And remember what Phoenix said about Elissa—she obviously found a way to regain her sight.”

  I nodded, only partly reassured.

  “She’s the Oracle who wrote the diary, isn’t she?” I asked.

  “I think so,” Field replied. “It’s probably what Phoenix and Serena are talking about now. Hopefully the diary will have answers about how she overcame some of the side-effects.”

  “I’m starting to think this gift is more of a curse,” Aida grumbled.

  “Starting to think?” I replied in astonishment. “I’ve been thinking that ever since we arrived.”

  “Well, I thought it might be quite cool…who doesn’t want to see the future? But I have definitely got the dud gift. Who wants to see the present? It’s totally useless.”

  I’d be happy not to see the future, I thought.

  “It’s not useless,” I replied instead. “It’s helpful. Especially when we can’t leave the house. And just think how good it will be to GASP when we get home—you can see an attack, and then it will take seconds for the witches to travel somewhere. You might end up saving a lot of lives, Aida.”

  The girl smiled reluctantly. “I guess I didn’t really think about it that way.”

  “Because you’re never happy with what you have,” Jovi replied dryly. I laughed, recognizing the truth of the statement. For Aida, the grass was always greener somewhere else. I could promise her, if she’d seen what I had, she’d be happy to just see the present. I felt that Phoenix had the best deal out of the three of us—seeing what had once happened felt less intense. You couldn’t change it, or worry about it, because it had already happened.

  “What are the other incubi like?” I asked, changing the subject.

  Aida smirked, rolling her eyes. “Seriously hot. It was insane—it looked like I’d stepped into a photoshoot. I felt sorry for them though, especially Kristos’s brother. He wanted to wait to hear from Draven, but his father just wouldn’t listen. I hope he doesn’t suffer because of it,” she replied, looking downcast. “And that poor Druid who was being tortured. The Destroyers are horrific.”

  “Tell me about it,” I replied with a shudder. “I just hope you never have to see Azazel. He was…something else.”

  “Snakes,” Aida replied, her mouth twisted in distaste. “I’ve never liked snakes.”

  Field shook his head, doing his best to hide a smirk.

  “What?” Aida asked.

  “Nothing,” he replied innocently.

  “No, go on, what’s so funny about me hating snakes?” Aida asked testily.

  Field laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as we all looked at him. “I was just remembering the time Blue caught one in the forest, and kept it as a pet.” I glanced over at Aida—I couldn’t remember this happening, but my friend had started to blush furiously.

  “Then it escaped,” Field continued, “and you marched around The Shade for a week carrying a slingshot and a dagger that your parents didn’t know about—you were about nine.”

  Jovi burst out laughing. “I remember that. You got in so much trouble.”

  “Yeah, well,” Aida retorted. “Snakes are dangerous.”

  “It was a grass snake, Aida,” Field replied dryly.

  “Whatever.”

  I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.

  Field suddenly shot up in the air, circling us a few times before flying off up over the house.

  “What’s his deal?” Jovi asked, amused. I shrugged. I didn’t really know Field that well, but sometimes I got the impression with the Hawk boys that they just needed to fly—get up in the air and away from everything. I could relate to that. If I had wings, I didn’t think I’d stay long on the ground at any given time.

  “He’s gone off to think,” Aida replied, slumping back on the grass. “He always does that when there’s something on his mind.”

  Jovi nodded, dismissing Field’s departure. I looked over at him, noticing how the sunlight made his hair look more brown than black. His stubble was quickly appearing after his clean-shaven appearance for Sherus and Nuriya’s party. While I was studying him, the image of him being impaled on the spear suddenly flashed into my mind, and I looked away quickly.

  “Are you okay?” Aida asked with concern.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about the Nevertide Oracle,” I replied, half-truthfully.

  “Do you think she was trying to warn you of the Destroyers coming?” she asked.

  I nodded. I did—the panic in her eyes as I ran toward her had been all too apparent.

  “I guess we can assume she’s on our side, then,” Aida concluded. “It was probably true what Draven told us—that passing on the gift had been done kindly. She obviously didn’t know about Azazel at the time.”

  “I think you’re right,” I agreed. “I think in the bathroom she was trying to warn me as well. Not about Draven, but Azazel.”

  “So that’s it?” Jovi interrupted. “You’re just going to trust Draven now?”

  I looked over at Aida, who shrugged.

  “What else can we do?” she asked. “He’s the only one who has any answers, and the only one who can help us understand what we’re seeing—even if he does have his own motives, we still need him.”

  Jovi grunted in disapproval, but didn’t argue with his sister.

  I stared up at the aqua-blue sky, trying to remove the visions from my mind. The Druid had mentioned another training session tomorrow, and I was dreading it. I didn’t think I could handle much more—how could I handle seeing more of my friends getting into danger? How was I supposed to behave day-to-day when I had seen Jovi’s death? I would feel cut off from others, always on the periphery, looking in … crushingly alone.

  “I still think we should try to get out of here,” Jovi remarked idly, looking toward the far end of the garden.

  “No!” I retorted, more passionately than I should have.

  Both Aida and Jovi stared at me.

  “Sorry, it’s just, we shouldn’t. It’s dangerous. Don’t even think of doing something like that till we have a plan,” I emphasized, pulling awkwardly at the overgrown grass.

  “I won’t,” Jovi replied gently. “Don’t worry, Vita, we’re going to be okay.”

  “I know,” I murmured, “sorry.”

  Jovi looked at me with deep concern, and I stood up, wanting to go and lie down. If I said anything more, I was worried that the truth would
come tumbling out, and it just wasn’t the right time to say anything.

  “I’m going inside, the sun’s giving me a headache.”

  Aida nodded, looking up at me from the grass.

  “Do you want company?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ll come back down in a bit.”

  I walked toward the greenhouse without looking back.

  Serena

  [Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]

  Using True Sight, I made sure that Draven and Bijarki were out of earshot and then turned to my brother, who was still warming himself by the fire.

  “So the woman you saw—the diary must belong to her, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I even saw her diary—the kid, Draven, ran through the house with it.” He looked contemplative, and kind of sad.

  “Was there anything else?” I asked.

  Phoenix frowned. “In the first vision I had of the Oracle—like I mentioned to Draven—there were other servants around, and they appeared to be human, which is odd. Why would they have bothered bringing humans to the In-Between? And what happened to them?”

  I frowned too, shrugging. The fact was this whole house had a human 1800s feel—from the architecture to the furniture. Almost like it had been… transplanted here.

  “Anyway,” Phoenix went on, “in the vision with the diary, the Oracle, Almus and Draven just seemed happy. I want to know what happened to her—have you got any further with the diary?”

  “No, not yet, I haven’t really had time. I’ll read more today. I’m just hoping she’ll provide answers on how she regained her sight…I couldn’t imagine that happening to any of you.”

  “Don’t worry,” my brother replied, trying to smile. “No signs of that happening yet.”

  Not yet.

  But it didn’t mean it wouldn’t. I doubted if Phoenix would even want to tell me if it did start happening. No doubt he would try to protect me from that too, like everything else.

  “And what about the tree?” I asked. “It was weird that Draven didn’t comment on it. It seems like a strange thing to have a vision about.”

  “I know,” Phoenix replied, concern marring his features. “I don’t get that. I’ll go and have a look at it later—if it’s even still there.”

  “I’ll come with you,” I suggested. “We can go together.”

  “Focus on the diary, Serena. I saw the visions of the Oracle for a reason, and I’m not sure why. She obviously meant a lot to Draven and his father, so I can’t imagine they would have deliberately let anything happen to her. Maybe Azazel and his Destroyers somehow managed to get her out of this house.”

  “You don’t believe him about Azazel not being able to see us here?” I asked, surprised. From Aida’s vision, I had felt secure that at least the Destroyers definitely didn’t know we were here—obviously, they realized we were in Eritopia, but didn’t seem to have any other clues as to our whereabouts.

  “No, I believe him,” Phoenix corrected me. “I’m just saying she was caught somehow. If we’re going to escape the same fate, I want to know how.”

  I felt relieved that my brother was starting to trust the Druid. I was certain that I did—to an extent. He was secretive, and I was sure there was a lot he wasn’t telling us, but I did believe his intentions were good.

  “All right, I’ll get on with reading the diary. But I think you should ask Draven again about the tree. Maybe he was just preoccupied with the other stuff. It must have some relevance.”

  “Maybe,” my brother agreed. “By the way, did you warn the other girls about Bijarki?”

  “Oh, no—not yet. I forgot. There’s been so much going on,” I replied, mentally kicking myself for still not mentioning it. It wasn’t Aida I was worried about though—she was more than capable of handling herself. It was Vita I had concern for.

  “You should. He can’t keep his eyes off Vita. If Draven needed to warn him away from them, then you need to alert the girls.”

  “I know,” I replied. “I’ll tell them. Do you think he means any harm though?”

  Phoenix shook his head. “Not harm exactly, I just don’t think he can stop himself. It’s his nature, right?”

  “Right.”

  I wished I knew more about the incubus species. It was all well and good warning Vita about him, but we were sharing a house with the incubus for the foreseeable future, and so it would have been helpful to know exactly what to warn her of. As far as I could tell at the moment, he just seemed to radiate a particular type of charm, and with his good looks, it could be overwhelming. Even I couldn’t help but be hyper-aware of his presence physically. I had met a couple of nymphs when I’d visited Ruby and Ash in Nevertide, and noticed the overwhelming attraction that was totally hypnotic when I’d been around them, but the incubus’ charms were far subtler…you didn’t lose your head or reasoning, but it was like my whole body just seemed to be drawn to him, no matter how many times I shook it off or outright ignored him. The nymphs could be deadly—Ash and Ruby had only kept them in Nevertide after they’d promised not to mess around with the sentries, but even then, it had been a reluctant agreement. I wondered if incubi could be just as deadly.

  “Don’t worry too much,” my brother remarked, noticing me worriedly speculating. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean anything by it. Just make them aware.”

  I nodded, flopping into the vacated chair.

  “I miss home,” I sighed. The heat was instantly unbearable by the fire, but I felt too drained to move. “Do you think Mom and Dad are okay?”

  “I guess so,” Phoenix replied quietly. “They don’t know we’re missing. So I’m assuming that they’re fine.”

  “But how can they not know? We’re their children…I mean, they must somehow be able to tell. Feel that something’s missing, at least? How can we be completely eradicated from our homes, The Shade?” I still couldn’t get my head around the concept that we could be missing from The Shade and have no one notice our absence.

  “Obviously, these Daughters are powerful—I can’t understand how else they’d manage to fool jinn and witches. The only thing that makes me a bit hopeful about the whole thing is that the Nevertide Oracle managed to break the magic somehow, so there is a way.”

  “Yeah, if you’re an Ancient,” I groaned. “It’s not like there are any of them about anymore.” And even if there were, they’d be the last creatures I’d ask for help.

  “Which is why we need to rescue the Oracle,” Phoenix replied firmly. “I’ve been thinking about it, and it seems to be the only way we can get out of here. It also fits in with the Druid’s plans about making sure Azazel is robbed of that power…I’m hoping he’ll agree to it, and help us.”

  “Slight drawback is that we can’t actually leave the house,” I replied.

  “But we do. Vita saw it. It’s the only way.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. Whatever Vita had seen must have been terrifying for her to hold back telling us everything.

  “Maybe,” I conceded slowly. “But we need a proper plan. I’m not going tearing off into the jungle again. It would be suicide.”

  “We’ll make a plan,” Phoenix reassured me. “We won’t do anything stupid. But I’m sick of waiting around in this house. I’m fine to have a few more sessions on how to access our visions, but after that, we need to take action. We’ll get home somehow, Serena, I promise you that.”

  I smiled at my brother, knowing he was trying to make me feel better. He was always so determined, like he could bend the whole world to his will. He was a bit like Jovi in that respect—both totally optimistic that they could fight and overcome whatever obstacles were thrown our way. It didn’t matter that I didn’t believe him, and I wasn’t even sure if he entirely believed himself.

  “Okay, I’m going to read. Speak to Draven about the tree, okay?”

  Phoenix nodded, looking out of the window.

  “Don’t worry, I will.”

  Aida

  After Vita
went off to lie down, my brother left me dozing in the grass—after telling me about a million times not to go anywhere near the edge of the boundary.

  Yeah, right.

  Like I’d do that by myself in a million years. I wasn’t stupid. I knew what lay in wait for us outside of the house’s protection, perhaps better than he did. I was perfectly content lying in the sunshine now that it was past its midday blaze. Plus, thanks to the Druid’s unhealthy obsession with fire, the house managed to get hotter than it did out here. I’d moved over to the shade of a tree so my skin didn’t burn and peel, wishing I had my phone to listen to music—or a book, a magazine, or anything to take my mind off the visions. The house was full of books, but I didn’t figure they’d have anything that would hold my interest, even if I did manage to find something in English. Sadly, it looked like it would be just me and my whirring head, trying to battle off the feeling of the damp tunnels, the cries of that tortured Druid and the downcast, disappointed face of the incubus. And the Destroyer. I wouldn’t be forgetting those black eyes in a hurry, nor its snarling, hissing voice.

  I had just managed to doze off when I heard the familiar sound of wings flapping overhead. I opened my eyes, shielding them from the sun with my hand, and squinted at Field, watching him land softly in the grass next to me.

  “Hey,” he said, greeting me.

  There was a lot running through my mind, so it was a testament to the effect Field had on me that all my thoughts switched entirely to him. I sat up quickly, feeling awkward.

  “Hey,” I replied, as casually as I could.

  “Mind if I sit?” he asked.

  Unable to trust myself to talk, I shifted over so that we could share the shade. Never in my life had Field asked to sit with me—not once. It wasn’t that I was bitter about it or anything, but the request took me by surprise. He sat down, close enough that I could smell his skin—a mixture of smoke from the fires that roared in the house, and the fresh smell of outdoors. He kept his aquamarine eyes on the house, and I was grateful that I didn’t have to meet his gaze. I always felt with Field that if he looked close enough, all my feelings would be laid bare for him to see.