Page 46 of Revelations

His eyebrows arched underneath his curly auburn hair. “Look.”

He pointed back to the stairs. Nothing. The snakes had vanished.

Five steps up, a shrill ringing pierced their ears that nearly drove Thomas mad until the visage of a black cat appeared in the shadows with glowing yellow eyes.

“Who trespasses here?” it hissed.

“Grey, did that cat just speak?”

“Yes, I did,human.” Its tail flicked back and forth. “Now answer my question. Who are you and what business do you have?” The cat did not seem to be the warm and fluffy type, more like a giant guard dog wrapped up in a tiny, furry package.

In a respectful tone, she addressed the cat. “My name’s Greylyn, and I’m a guardian angel. This is Thomas. He’s just a human.”

“Hey, words hurt! Just a human, my ass!”

The kitty did not appear to like his sarcasm and hissed at him again.

Reluctantly, Greylyn continued. “I’m looking for an oracle. One who can help me with a certain prophecy.”

Instead of disbelief, which she had rather expected, the cat mewed. “Yes, my mistress has been expecting you. This way, please.”

All of a sudden, the feline was almost friendly. Almost. Before they were allowed to enter at the door, the cat demanded that they remove their shoes and keep their eyes downcast.

A feline version of a bailiff, it ordered them, “You are not to look the oracle in the eyes. Do you understand? Especially you,human.” The cat really seemed to have a thing against humans.

Nodding their agreement, they were escorted into the inner sanctum of the oracle. The cat vanished into thin air with no more than a soft popping sound.

Thomas whispered, “Oh, I can’t wait to add this to my journal. No one is ever going to believe this.”

A smooth, but deep female voice addressed them. “I wouldn’t bother writing it down, young man. Sometimes the truth is best left a secret. It’s safer that way, for everyone.” After a pause, during which Greylyn felt the oracle’s gaze evaluating her through the dim lighting, the woman added, “Much like this prophecy you seek.”

Startled, Greylyn almost looked up, but remembered the cat’s warning just in time. “Yes, ma’am. So you know who I am, then?”

Warm laughter filled the room. “Why, of course I do. I am the oracle, after all. No other oracles in the room, none even on this side of the continent; and I’m the only one still living who was alive before you were.”

Yeah, that was certainly old, but the voice reverberated with youth and vitality.

“I’ve been waiting on your visit for many years now. There was no other way you’d find the answers without my help. I’m curious, though. How did you find me? I thought I’d done a thorough job of staying hidden all this time.”

“You didn’t want me to find you, then? You were hiding specifically from me?” Greylyn pondered why someone as powerful as an oracle would feel compelled to hide from anyone.

The sounds of shuffling feet met her ears as the woman drew closer. A plump hand reached out and gently touched Greylyn’s chin, lifting it up. She shut her eyes to block out the vision of the oracle. The cat had warned them to notlook upon her.

But to her surprise, a kind voice reassured her, “It’s okay, child, for the daughter of Cadeyrn and Safiya may look upon me. You might be the only being in creation who is able to do so.”

Greylyn stared up at the oracle in complete awe. The woman’s skin was a warm mocha. Her complexion was youthful, with plump, rosy cheeks, full red lips, and large, almond-shaped eyes. Her long, curly hair was held back from her round face with a colorful headband made of silk. In the little light available in the room, it almost appeared to shimmer, as the colors morphed like a kaleidoscope. She wore a simple red dress that grazed the floor, with a shawl of ivory covering her shoulders. At nearly six feet tall, she towered over Greylyn, but was not intimidating in any way. If anything, the woman’s presence was welcoming, like a beloved family member whom no one had seen in years.

Unable to speak, Greylyn found herself being led by a gentle hand to a worn, leather chair at the other side of the room. Thomas remained exactly where he was.

She turned around to check on him. He stood, motionless as if in a trance, staring directly at the floor. The only movement was a slight expansion and contraction of his chest.

The oracle tsked a couple of times. “Your friend is fine. However, since he is unnecessary for the discussion that we must have, I put him in a little sleep; that’s all.”

Now free to look around, Greylyn noticed that the apartment was not like the others for many reasons. For one thing, it was extremely tidy. For another, instead of a conglomerate of small rooms, this was one large room like one of the warehouse lofts pictured on television shows. There was almost no light; certainly none from actual light bulbs, incandescent or otherwise. Candles flickered on the coffee table that now stood between them. More candles illuminated a corner with a small sink, stovetop, and humming refrigerator. The windows had been blacked out too. Greylyn could barely make out a canvass of symbols covering the walls—most likely the protection symbols that had made it impossible for her to enter without Thomas’s help.

Noticing her gaze, the oracle explained, “It’s not much, but it’s home. Been my home for decades. Even when the neighborhood went to hell, I stayed. Even when the city cut the electricity to all the buildings on this block and the next, I stayed. Told myself that I wasn’t going to be bullied from my home.” After a pause, she added, “Besides, I don’t have much longer left on this Earth. After almost two millennia, I’d say I have done enough.”

Blinking in surprise, Greylyn asked, “Two millennia? That’s amazing! I’ve been roaming around for about four hundred and fiftyyears, and I have no desire to do this for a thousand or more.”

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