The front door opened, but there wasn’t anyone there. I chewed my lip as my feet rooted themselves to the ground.
“Guess we’re expected,” Nightmare said, straightening his spine. He cleared his throat and stuck out his hand to me. “Shall we?”
“Um, I’m not sure. Where are we exactly?”
Nightmare grinned. “There isn’t anything here that will hurt you. If there is one place you’re safe, this is it.”
“Why is that?” I asked, shaking my head.
Darkness flicked a look at my wrist. “My brother is adored. If you have that, they are going to assume it’s because he wanted you to have it.”
“That’s hard to believe when everyone is trying to get it,” I mumbled.
“But no one who stole it would be brave enough to come here with it,” Darkness smirked, raising a confident brow. “Besides, you’re with me. I might not be as loved as my brother, but I’m not no one.”
I pressed my lips and looked at him. “Fine. Whatever.”
With a sigh, I took his hand and followed him to the front door. We stepped inside to a living room that looked as though it was right out of an 80s catalog.
The sofa was orange with yellow flowers, and there was an unmatching afghan draped over the back. There was a puke green recliner with a TV tray set in front of it with a plate of steaming food.
My stomach rumbled as the scent of sage and garlic filled the room. I swallowed hard as my eyes focused on the generous slice of turkey nestled beside a mountain of mashed potatoes smothered in golden gravy. There was a heaping serving of fragrant herb-sprinkled stuffing that looked crispy on the outside. To the side, in a small bowl, there is a pile of homemade cranberry sauce — not the jelly from the can — and a warm dinner roll with butter dripping down the side.
I pressed my lips together as if I could taste the food on the tip of my tongue. The floor creaked as a short woman wobbled into the room using a walking stick. She barely even bothered to look at us as she made her way to the chair.
“You’re about ten minutes earlier than I thought you’d be,” she mumbled, flicking a look at Nightmare. “I don’t have enough for the both of you.”
“We’re not here to eat,” Nightmare said.
I mean, I could have eaten. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had something substantial.
“I know why you’re here,” she said, glancing at me as she shoved a piece of turkey into her mouth. “But you, Alistair, Bringer of Nightmares, have never been on time in your life, so color me shocked.”
The woman stuffed a plain white napkin in the front of her button-down lavender blouse. She eyed me as she picked up her fork and knife.
Her face was wrinkled, and her curly hair was a gray nest on top of her head. Every movement was graceful and deliberate.
“Do you know who I am?” she asked, looking into my eyes.
“I’m sorry, I don’t,” I replied.
A smile grew on her face. “I know who you are. I know all about you.”
“There really isn’t much to know,” I said, shrugging.
“This is The Oracle,” Nightmare said, slightly jerking his head to the side.
“And the young woman with you is Remy. She lives on Earth with her aunt,” The Oracle said, her eyes shimmering as she stared at the wall, her body frozen. “Her parents… her parents are….” She turned to Nightmare. “Leave us.”
I shook my head and grabbed his arm. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I just really don’t want to be alone in this place. I have no idea where I am or how I got here. Well, I kind of remember how I got here, but I didn’t much enjoy it.”
I pressed my lips together to stop the words from spilling out all over the carpet. The Oracle chuckled.
“If you insist, he can stay,” The Oracle said. “But I might say something you find private.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“Years ago, a demon and an angel fell in love. After years of sneaking around, the demon fell pregnant,” The Oracle said, placing her hands in her lap as she focused on the wall. “They claimed to be in love, but the Army of Light believed the angel was tricked by the demon. A bounty was put on the demon by the Devil himself for doing something so incredibly heinous with an angel, of all things. But the couple didn’t give up easily. They fled together to another plane to hide from both the demons and the angels so they could be happy together. While evading those who wanted to do them harm, they had another child, a young boy.”
Nightmare folded his hands together, watching me as The Oracle spoke. He seemed more interested in my reactions than he did in her words.
“Children that are created when an angel and a demon come together are extremely rare and special. Almost as special as when two of our kind create life,” The Oracle said, breaking her trance to wink at Nightmare. She cleared her throat and turned back to the wall. “Anyway, those two children were hunted mercilessly. Both the angels and demons wanted them destroyed because of what they could do. Eventually, they were tracked down by the demons. The mother, a demon, and the father, who had been considered a fallen angel, were banished to The World of Lost Souls forever. It is unknown what happened to the young boy, but it is believed he was captured and eliminated. Somehow, despite everything working against her, one of the children managed to avoid the idiotic little demons.”
I didn’t like the numbing sensation moving through my body. The vibrating tingling settled in my knees, making me feel unsteady as I reached out to hold on to Nightmare for support.
“Do you know why I’m telling you all this?” The Oracle asked, turning her blank stare to me.
I shook my head even though the feeling ripping through me seemed to indicate otherwise. How? How could this all be?
“The young survivor is the key to saving everything. She will save my world and your world,” The Oracle said, adjusting the napkin on her lap before taking a scoop of mashed potatoes and shoveling it into her mouth. “We are so extremely grateful and honored to have her here with us. To help stop the end of the world.”
“No,” I said, walking backward until my back was against the wall.
“Her?” Nightmare asked.
The Oracle nodded once. “Now that she is with us, we can take the steps necessary to stop the apocalypse once and for all.”
“I’m just a girl. There isn’t anything I can do to stop anything,” I said, swallowing hard.
