Parcae (BWWM) (Book #1 of the Falcone Series)

т ω є и т у f ι ν є

B r i a n

"Who are you exactly?" I found myself asking, looking the woman up and down. Her bright red hair was braided and wrapped around her head, golden leaves peeking from in between the braids. She was looking down at Tua's face, and once I spoke, she looked up at me, her blue eyes piercing.

"I am Oculus. How old is Perpetua?" her voice rang out as she looked down at Tua, shaking the trees and the forestry.

"Oculus? Your name is 'Eye'?" Fletcher asked, taking a step towards her. She whipped her head towards him and stared at him intently, causing him to stop walking towards her. Her eyes scanned his face before she spoke monotonously,

"You will see great troubles, great woes will come to you. But whether your life is long and prosperous is within your own nonhuman hands."

I looked to Fletcher's face as she spoke, and his eyes widened as he seemed to pale despite his dark skin.

"What is she talking about?" I asked, and she looked over to me.

"You know so little. Your eyes are open yet you see not," she spoke, looking down at Tua once again. Tua had said something like that to me the night Vinny first went missing.

"I ask again, how old is she?"

"She's nine Oculus," Fletcher said, opening his arms up. He was motioning for the woman to hand Tua to him, but she refused.

"How did she know how to awaken me?" Oculus asked, looking between the three of us.

"We don't know, she's been in a coma for the past three days," I answered her, looking at Tua as she lay in Oculus' arms.

"I was so foolish to think that I could bed a mortal man," Oculus said, finally handing Tua to Fletcher. The moment Oculus wasn't touching Tua, her eyes opened.

Tua's breathing was slow and ragged as Fletcher sat on the forest floor, cradling her in his arms.

"Who are you?" Tua asked, looking up at the woman.

"I am your mother," Oculus spoke, causing us all to look up at her as if she were insane.

"I am a parcae, my sisters and I see the past, the present, and the future. I see the future specifically, although I never saw her in mine," she said, finally cracking a smile as she looked at Tua.

"I wanted to stay, I did. But I couldn't take you back to my realm until you came of age. I thought it'd be better if you never knew me and to leave you with that imbecilic Chauncey," she added, kneeling down and lightly touching Tua's hair.

"You are a parcae Tua, and you summoned me three moons ago when I felt a warm sensation flow through my chest. I know you felt it to along with your adjutus," Oculus continued.

"My what?" Tua asked, looking back at me and then her mother.

"Your aid, you friend, your support. You made a gift for them, yes?"

"I don't make people gifts lady," Tua said, snuggling deeper into Fletcher's chest.

"No, you have made someone a gift Tua. Remember you made Bambi that necklace? The one you made with the stones and the bullets?" I reminded her, kneeling down so that I could be at eye level with her.

"Bambi, the name tastes familiar on my lips. Is her hair as wild as a lion's mane, her skin the color of dark caramel?" Oculus spoke, looking at Tua intently.

"Yeah, but what does that gift I made have to do with you or Bambi?" Tua asked her, her nose scrunching up.

"Because that means your adjutus has awoken what was once asleep within her. She only knows part of who she is, but has still made a tremendous advance in her development, as will you. When Bambi no longer needs your help in this world and you no longer need hers, you will return with me to my realm and take my place as the future foretelling parcae," Oculus finished, motioning for Tua to begin asking her questions.