The Oracle

Chapter 21

Copyright © 2010-2012 by Kymberlee Elliott. This work is protected under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988. All rights are reserved; any infringement of this copyright can be punishable by law. Infrigements include any unauthorised selling, broadcasting, copying, duplication or distribution of the work.

Chapter 21

I wasn't sure what was going to come, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. People were chattering and laughing and it was driving me steadily insane. I could feel the pulse point in my temple pound in time with the ebb and flow of the conversation. Taking a deep breath I grit my teeth and dipped my head between my knees. We still hadn’t had any luck tracking the locus and so I was left shielding the Shifters. I wasn't expecting it to last this long and I was struggling to maintain my shielding; it seems almost cosmic power still had its limits. I snorted and rubbed a temple.

As a result I was already short-tempered even without the fog. A warm hand the size of a dinner plate landed gently on the curve of my spine. The warm pressure made me sigh and sink further between my legs as I attempted to keep my shields strong. I was suitably distracted when the hand moved in long, slow drugging sweeps up and down my back, the fingers stroking the newly bared skin at my neck on every pass. Tipping my head sideways I blew out a breath and tried to peer through my hair at the face I knew would be watching me. Sure enough my gaze clashed with a familiar golden pair. Sitting up I sighed and closed my eyes. ‘I am getting too old for this shit Kit.’ He snorted and shook his head settling his hand around the back of my neck. His hands were so big he had almost wrapped them all around my throat. The warmth and the skin to skin contact helped and I managed to rally my shields and the peace washed over me. ‘You are doing well glykia mou, there is a lot still to learn, but we have started on our journey. You will get a Guardian and the bond you share will give more natural defences allowing you more breathing room to perfect your own.’ I understood about half of what he said and was too tired to bother asking what he meant so I just filed it away in my ever expanding folder of ‘must ask Kit’s’.

‘So what am I supposed to do today, because if I am honest all I want to do is crawl in to bed for like a year. I mean do I have to be here for this?' I knew I had to have a Guardian, I was even a little (and I would admit that out loud for no-one) excited about getting one if Kit could be trusted and there were in fact all these benefits to having one, but I was more nervous. In my head I was expecting and hoping (again that would never be admitted out loud) that it would be Kit. I liked Kit...a lot and not just physically, though I can acknowledge that he is an insanely good looking specimen, but he just had a way of making me feel like I was his everything and to a hard as nails delinquent who had grown up afraid of even making eye contact with someone that was a novel allure indeed. 'Yes glykia mou you have to be here for this. Your Guardian will be expected to put your life above his everyday without even thinking about it because that is time someone could be attacking you. Though it will hopefully never happen they could end up making the ultimate sacrifice and die for you.'

I did not appreciate his tone, which made me feel like a naughty child. 'I didn't ask them to Kit.' He growled at me and it wasn't the playful growl I was used to. 'For goddess sake glykia mou will you grow up and stop acting like a hard done by little girl. Yes your gifts seem more like a curse and because of them you cannot have the life you have always wished for, but that is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You just don’t understand do you, you have all of the knowledge and none of the wisdom. You are our balance - without an Oracle the Council has an egomaniacal reagent and people like the Malachai are free, preying on other psychics.’ His words stung and although I may lie to other people I try and make sure I am always honest with myself so I could admit that it was partly because he was right. I was still stuck thinking what all this meant to me and my life, I barely spared a though for what it meant for everyone else.  I could admit this to myself, but it still didn't mean I appreciated Kit laying out on the line for me. I was getting ready for an Oscar winning pout when Mari piped up from my other side.