“What is it I’m supposed to do to stop the end of the world?” I asked.

The Oracle’s eyes rolled back, glittering as her lids fluttered. “I cannot see that far. At least not yet.”

“Remy, help me at least find my brother. The medallion will be able to help with that,” Nightmare pleaded as he took my hand into his.

“Find The Bringer of Darkness and retrieve the last artifact protected by the Army of Light. Perhaps then I will be able to see who we are truly looking for to stop this all and what she needs to do to stop them,” The Oracle said, her eyes rolling back into position.

Nightmare squeezed my hand. “Remy, please.”

“Where is he?” I asked, sighing heavily. It wasn’t like I had anything else going on. After all, my boyfriend had just abandoned me to join the Army of Light.

And maybe I owed it to Darkness. If I hadn’t kept his medallion, he probably wouldn’t be missing.

“I’m not sure exactly,” she said, tapping her chin. “There is a storm over him with thick, rolling black clouds. The sky is blood red, constantly flickering and flashing from endless lightning,” The Oracle said, grimacing. “If I weren’t so hungry, perhaps I’d see more, but with every passing day, I grow weaker, and it’s not from lack of food.”

“What is making you weaker?” I asked.

“I can feel the end coming, and it’s exhausting. I can’t focus. The war needs to be stopped,” she said, meeting my gaze. “And soon. It’s not only killing me but our land and, soon, our people too. Have you felt it yet?”

Nightmare shook his head. “Not really.”

“Good,” she said, turning to me. “You? You feel anything?”

“I feel the same as I always have,” I said, hugging myself.

“That’s good, I suppose,” The Oracle said, inhaling before sneaking another quick bite of food. “But as this war accelerates, you will feel it. First in your bones and then in your blood.” She turned to Nightmare, her look turning painfully serious. “Tick Tock. Find your brother.”

Nightmare’s expression brightened. “My sister might know where he’s being kept.”

“Good luck,” The Oracle said, waving at the door. “Show yourselves out.”

“Thank you,” Nightmare said, bowing his head briefly before opening the door.

I turned to follow him but stopped abruptly. My head turned to watch The Oracle eat her meal as her words found me.

“The story is about your parents, Remy,” The Oracle said, her words only inside my head. Her lips didn’t even move except to chew her food. “Please, don’t deny it for long. We need you. You are the one we’ve been waiting for. In time, you will see.”

Nightmare grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the house, closing the door behind me. He raced around the side of the house, leading me toward a shed in the backyard.

“Oh, no. Not again,” I said, frowning.

“It’ll be easier this time.”

“Promise?”

Nightmare opened the rickety wooden door, revealing the glimmering, swirling portal. He wrapped his arms around me, pressing my face to his chest.

“No promises,” he said, pulling me in with him.

It happened unbelievably fast. In less than a second, I spilled out onto the hard, rocky ground.

I raised my head to look around, and everything spun. There wasn’t anything I could do to stop the bile as it crept up the back of my throat.

Nightmare groaned as I threw up onto the ground. Thankfully, there wasn’t much inside me to expel. I stood, my knees shaking as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

“I will never get used to it,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut, willing the world to stop spinning. “And I don’t want to.”

A colossal, ominous black cloud loomed menacingly overhead. From within, torrents of rain descended with relentless fury, drowning me in a deluge of elemental wrath.

Nightmare laughed. “My sister can be so dramatic.”

“I told you never to come here again,” a woman dressed in a sleek, black leotard said, peering over the edge of the low-hanging cloud. Her eyes landed on me. “What is she doing here? I’m going to tell The Oracle what you’ve done.”

“Shut up,” Nightmare said, slicking his wet hair back. “Remy, this is my annoying little sister, The Bringer of Storms.”

“Titles and all. She must be important,” The Bringer of Storms said, raising a brow.

Nightmare held out his hand. “Any chance you can stop this while we chat?”

“I could,” she said, smirking slyly.

“Will you?”

The Bringer of Storms puffed out her bottom lip. “Fine.”

The rain stopped instantly but remained just overhead. She sat on the edge, swinging her legs over the side and crossing them.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, looking at her nails before flicking them on her chest as if to polish them. “It’s been years, dear brother, and I can’t quite say it’s been too long just yet.”

“Darkness is missing,” Nightmare said, crossing his arms.

“He doesn’t go missing. Darkness just doesn’t want you to find him,” Storm said with a haughty laugh.

Nightmare clenched his teeth. “This is serious. The Oracle—”

“You bothered The Oracle about this?” The Bringer of Storms said, straightening her spine. “What is wrong with you?”

“Storm, this is serious. I know you’ve disengaged from us after… after she left, but we need to work together now more than ever,” Nightmare said, the tendons in his neck tensing.

“She didn’t leave,” Storm said as her eyebrows squeezed together. “She was killed. Murdered by those stupid things. And my brother,” she said the word as if it were coated in mud, “did nothing to help her.”

Nightmare shook his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. “It wasn’t like that, and you know it. This is important, Storm.”

“And she wasn’t important?” Storm asked, grimacing.

“Of course she was! But if we don’t do something to find Darkness, the same thing is going to happen to all of us,” Nightmare said, clenching his hands into tight fists.

Storm’s shoulders dropped. “What do you want from me?”