Oracle

Chapter 5

Ira

He stood as a dark silhouette against a backdrop of wild flames and billowing smoke. The smell of burning flesh hung heavy in the air as fire consumed the bodies piled at his feet. He watched as the fire runs flaming fingers over limbs and faces, eating the flesh and bone at its mercy. It was a greedy thing and covetous too, but it would die out soon enough. When it did, it would do its job of dispersing the essence it stole from the dead.

He tilted his head back to face the night sky and laughed. It was a sound edged with unrestrained exhilaration and abandon, of power and pain. The power poured from him in waves and dissipated across the earth in the jumping scattered way of lightning. When it was done, he was empty. His body was just a shell, no longer overflowing. Lightly panting, he slumped and let his head lull forward. It took several long moments before he straightened. Calm and relaxed, he stepped away from the human bonfire. Tugging up the collar of his long coat he turned as if to leave but stopped to look out into the night. Searching. Eyes as cold and lifeless as emeralds locked on something nearby. It was barely a shimmer, but he could feel its presence. A smirk formed on his lips making his otherwise handsome face seem almost cruel. When he spoke, it was with a mocking edge.

"Can I help you?"

Gasping I jerked from dream to reality.

He saw me. He saw me. He. Saw. Me.

The thought was an ongoing montage running on repeat in my head. I don't know how or why but for the first time someone in my dream had been aware of me. Not as another one of the participants I sometimes became trapped in but as me, or at least the part of me that watched.

I could still feel his eyes cutting into me sharp and unrelenting.

"Hello, earth to Ira."

Blinking I looked up remembering where I was. Autumn, Emma, and I sat at one of the tables in the diner for an after-school snack and study session. The other girls were staring at me, Emma's brows furrowed into a worried crease, and Autumn looking curious.

"What?"

"I asked," Emma said slowly "if you have a date."

"A date?"

"For the Ball?"

"oh" Right, the Ball. I didn't really care enough to go but had agreed to instead of disappointing Emma. I'd planned to just tag along since boys weren't exactly lining up to ask me out and thank my lucky stars for that. Boys meant a relationship, relationships meant attention; something I avoided at all costs. "No, nobody's asked me."

"River will take you if you want." Emma points out.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather not have to deal with him for an entire night." Autumn gave a quiet snort of laughter, but I ignored her, adding, "Besides, I'm pretty sure he plans on asking Alysa."

"Plus," Autumn added just as her phone buzzed "it's the twenty-first-century, girls can ask guys out remember."

"And who exactly do you think I'd be asking?" I scoffed.

"Oh, I don't know" she hummed, tapping her pen in a raped tempo. "Maybe the hottie you've been daydreaming about all day."

I grimaced at her skewed assessment.

"I wasn't daydreaming." It came out as a mumble, but Autumn snorted loudly.

"Sure, you weren't, and Emma is totally still a v- ow" Autumn rubbed her leg and scowled at Emma who glared right back.