Oracle

Part 13

"How come we're not allowed to eat and drink upstairs?" Jaspar asked, almost timidly for his normal speech. His desire to be loud and stubborn low while still in a room of strangers. This was not the time to be rebellious or awkward. It was also the time to get as much information about this new life he was in as he could.

Jaspar felt on his leg as Elison shrugged, the man making a thoughtful sound. "I suspect it's to stop new workers from hiding away from their clients," the man commented calmly. Jaspar quickly started drinking his water to stop himself from saying anything insulting about that comment. Justice had seemed happy with his regulars but Jaspar doubted all of the owners business were like this. Or at least his gut was telling him not all of them were. It was clear what Elison meant by that even without the further explanation Elison had given.

Though Jaspar's stomach clenched at the term 'boys and girls'. Just how young did this 'John' force people into this life? Elison had said John had 'hired' Justice and called the people who worked for John, 'workers' but it sounded a lot more enforced and against their will to Jaspar. After all, Justice had sounded like John could force him to be a whore if Justice didn't start acting flirtier.

"Boys and girls?" he said, unable to keep himself from asking for more clarity. After all, these were the people he was currently dependent on for protection and mercy. He needed to learn their ways and morals fast, even the more unsavoury ones.

"Don't worry," Jaspar had to bite his tongue at that but Elison continued oblivious to Jaspar's unhappiness. "They are all over eighteen." Relief flooded over Jaspar and he only listened to the rest of the information he was given with half an ear. He wasn't dealing with people who thought it acceptable to enslave children at least. Adults, possibly, but not children. Then a sentence made his stomach sink painfully back down. "You're still one of Calder's acquisitions until further notice."

"Right," Jaspar heard his voice break slightly, sounding like he hadn't just drunk a glass of water. That word 'acquisition' made him want to throw up. He wasn't even called a term used for humans. He was just an object to them. Jaspar hadn't forgotten the term used by the men before: 'merchandise'. "Can we see the doctor now?" he asked shakily, the pain behind his eyes was starting to increase again.

Elison seemed to recognise this because the man took his glass, setting it on a table nearby them by the sharp thumping sound he heard. Elison's arms hooked around his knees and back, carrying him bridal style again. Feeling oddly safer in the strong arms around him, Jaspar was struggling not to burst into tears again but he didn't want to, not while surrounded by strangers who were apparently regulars at the pub they were staying in. Elison said nothing about his trembling, just holding him tightly to his chest.

A hand brushed against his. The hand was hot and clammy in that brief touch and should have been nothing else but a brief touch. Except a painfully familiar sensation ripped through Jaspar.

He hissed as shooting pains shot down his spine and his arms to his fingertips. Suddenly he was able to see again. He was having a vision. It was short, barely a minute long this time.

It was set in a building with no clues as to what time of day it was other than it was still day as light filtered through. The strong scent of lavender filled Jaspar's nose making him wrinkle his nose uncomfortably. A smell which made no real sense given he was not anywhere which would smell like that.

He was standing on a metal pathway, men standing next to him laughing mysteriously as they watched a man try to escape a large cage which had feral wolves inside. It looked like a cage you would find at a zoo or something, for when they kept them inside during bad weather. The wolves were inching closer to the man who was looking for something in his pockets but couldn't find what he was looking for, his face looking more desperate with every moment. The men dangled keys, still laughing at the man. The man's face paled and one of the wolves pounced on him.

Thankfully the vision blinked out just as soon as it started saving Jaspar from having to watch as the man was torn apart. Still, he has hunched over in Elison's arms, his head buried in the man's neck. Even after the vision was obviously gone, darkness surrounding him again, the smell of lavender was still stuck in his nose. Something which was strange because Elison had never smelt of lavender before, suggesting it was something else which was making him smell the scent.

"I didn't do anything," the man who must have brushed against him was saying, sounding very confused.

Pain gone, or rather the pain from having a vision gone, he withdrew from his half curled up ball and looked in the direction the voice had come from. "Don't suppose you work with wolves?" he croaked. "If not, stick away from the zoo for a while." Telling people flat out what had happened in the vision was never a good idea. People normally tried too hard to avoid the vision becoming real and more often than not ended up causing it.

"I work at the zoo so that will be a little hard," the man commented softly, apparently taking his words as seriously despite not knowing who he was. Jaspar supposed when you were in the underbelly, warnings from nowhere tended to be the ones to listen to. "I'll stick away from the wolf enclosure for a while." He acknowledged.

"Can anyone else smell lavender?" Jaspar asked, trying not to be self-conscious that at the very least the conversations around him had dimmed down with his obvious seer vision warning.

"No," Elison murmured, his grip still gentle but tighter on Jaspar than before. Several of the people listening in murmured agreements with Elison, making Jaspar grimace.

"A clue I suspect," he said in the direction of the man again. "Good luck," he murmured, not really sure what else to say to the man.

"Any timeline on this event? Or does your power not work that way?" the man asked, sounding unbothered by the warning but like he was taking it seriously. It was a valid question and it was well known every seer's powers varied slightly based on the person. Before Jaspar could say anything, Elison growled lowly in a clear warning to Jaspar to remain quiet.

Jaspar bit his lip, not unaware of the fact he probably should have remained silent about his vision, but visions about death were always hard not to say anything about. It was never a good thing to have a death vision and even if the man was of doubtful morals because he was part of the underbelly, that did not mean he deserved to be torn apart by wolves.

"I think you've had enough free advice, don't you?" Elison commented darkly, his shoulder's shifting in a way which was likely threatening.

The man coughed but muttered an apology to Elison. "Thank you pup for the warning," the man said through gritted teeth. The man backed away and Elison shifted them through the rest of the crowd. The noise dimmed down again as the door closed behind them again with a sharp bang. Jaspar shivered, wishing he could see Elison's face to tell if he was in trouble or not. That could have gone better.