Dark Passions at Death's Door

9 - Heading Out

Earth
Gaia

Nothing got Nїx out of sorts more than being unable to locate her favored shirt of the day.

Where is it???

She unfolded another, glanced, and grumbled while flinging it over her shoulder. No, not that one either.

Where the hells was it? It couldn't grow legs, unless... she paused and traced back through the paths of the decision trees.

Then she shook her head. No, Mariketa hadn't put a spell in here. The redheaded witch was crafty, true, but she wasn't known for pulling that many pranks. Especially not with Nїx.

She thought it over, continuing to trace the paths. Perhaps one of her sisters had stolen it from her?

Sigh. No, they hadn't stolen that one, either. A couple other shirts were missing, yes, but she didn't need those. In fact, she'd chosen them specifically to get stolen.

Her sisters had a bad habit of getting clingy with her favorite shirts, so she stole, bought, or acquired others that would outshine her choices deliberately.

Finally, she conceded defeat. Huffing, she fell onto her soft bed and plucked at the strings on one comforter. Perhaps the fates just enjoyed playing with her. These days, the paths had been growing dimmer with each passing hour.

The last time she'd felt this disillusioned with her being an oracle, it had been forty years ago. Or was it fifty?

Her sisters said she spent an entire month mumbling ancient Babylonian. The dialect was not lost to her, but for the life of her, she couldn't reacquire the language that readily. More was the pity, she knew a couple tomes she needed to read very shortly.

She rose up, then tugged on the nearest t-shirt. When she saw herself in the mirror, she grimaced. Black was slimming, but she liked her curves, damn it!

Another caught her eye. A deep maroon. She'd filched it from a local shop not less than a week ago on a whim. Though she didn't bother mentioning the two hundred dollars she'd left on the counter. The proprietor was on hard times.

She held up the soft cotton, considering.

Well, that was that. She stripped the black shirt off and slid the maroon over her, pasting a smile in the mirror of her vanity. Hm. Much better. Nїx paused, considering the phrase.

In My Defense, I Was Left Unsupervised.

She smiled more widely. It would do. She caught a glimpse of something ahead. A new decision tree had appeared. She focused on the tangent. Nїx felt forward through the branches and frowned. The gold thread unraveled to black swiftly.

Some warlock was about to make a very fatal mistake. One that involved making a move on the Vertas Pact. That settles my evening plans.

Phenїx would be going on a little treasure hunt. Or more appropriately, a head hunt. Not that this one was very much to look at.

Still, a few pretty explosions were just what the doctor ordered. She tied a pink string on her finger.

Better still, they were what the oracle ordered. She slid on a pair of tight jean short shorts, and then threw on her best pair of black thigh-high stockings, with come-get-me high-heel boots that zippered up to her calves.

Regarding herself in the mirror, she sighed. It's such a burden to look this good...

She traipsed down the stairs of Holly's mansion. As usual, her young niece was trying to get the twins ready for their bedtime. And as usual, the darlings had zero interest in doing so.