The world is not what you think. Love isn't what it seems to be. Life is a cycle of magic. And Scarlet is the girl who has that magic. Once they called her a halfling, an aberration that shouldn't have existed but now others say she's special.
In a...
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There wasn't a happy clatter of utensils nor a merry chat, or hidden glances with smiles in between. We dined in silence, the grandfather clock in the room ticking as if it measured the minutes until they descended upon us.
Where were they? What point of their journey had they reached already? Were they close?
Perhaps it was these questions that I could hear like a muffled echo in the quiet of our group, or maybe there were other, much darker, scarier thoughts that clanked in the minds of my companions.
"Come with me to my suite, Scarlet," Oracle said as she dropped the fork beside her plate and stood up from her seat. Shoving a bite into my mouth I raised my eyes to meet hers. All she did was give me the smallest of nods and that was enough for me to know why she wanted me to come with her.
But I didn't want to separate with him. I didn't want to follow Oracle to her chamber in the house and fall into a world where he couldn't reach me or I—him.
"It's time, Scarlet. Let's go and prepare you for your battle," she said again with a note of impatience her voice.
I glanced at him, my eyes drawn to his face with the undeniable need to commit it to my memory... Just in case it was the last time I was seeing him. I wanted to stay here, keep my eyes on him and fight on his side. I wanted to remain in our world and not walk into the one where I was going to lose him from sight.
He leaned closer to whisper in my ear, "It's alright. Go."
I did. Breathing in and out, I shifted out of my chair. My steps carried me away from him as I followed Oracle up the stairs and into the room she'd been given to stay. She was moving with grace, the weary posture becoming someone her age missing with her, and I wondered how she was able to keep herself in that state for so long. Unchanging even if her face bore the traces of her age.
She pushed the door to her room open and held it for me. There was a sad look in her eyes now that we were alone. The barrier that had kept her emotions in check while we were eating with the others seemed to have slid down and now it was all there for me to see and wonder.
What had she seen to look at me this way? What did the Moon show her to place this kind of expression on her face?
"Tell me she's going to be kind to us, Oracle," I said needing to know.
"Maybe tomorrow but not tonight," was all the older woman said before motioning for me to come in.
What greeted me inside her quarters was a near empty room and the smell of fresh paint.
Taking note of my surroundings I couldn't help but notice the lack of furniture as Oracle had obviously get rid of most of it, the only other pieces remaining besides the bed covered with a white cotton afghan—the armchair next to it and the wardrobe on the opposite side.
Several pillows were placed on top of the bed as well as onto the armchair and a few more laid on the floor by the left wall of the place. Sheets of paper having the same writings I had seen back in her cabin were taped above the wooden paneling but while she had made sure to preserve the walls, the floor was a different matter.
