We made our way back up the tunnels in relative silence. I hadn’t answered her question, merely spun and escorted her against the current while I pondered what had happened. She didn’t press further, settling into her own comfortable silence. As we trudged uphill, I ignored the thoughts pacing at the back of my mind. I needed to get Phemonoe out, or at least under Xinva’s care, and then I was going to come back and take a walk outside Peklo.

If she really had gone to the astral plane, I needed to make sure her re-entry hadn’t left a massive flare from the transition, or that the Sea Mother’s corruption hadn’t crept this far, or that another monster or hostile entity wasn’t stalking our underworld, now that the scent had been taken beyond. Assuming it had.

When we reached the dark bend to the first tunnel, Phemonoe tugged the elbow of my sleeve. “Hey.”

I paused outside the blackness and looked down at her. “Yes?”

“Did you…hear the vision?” She masked the fear in her voice, but it leaked out through her eyes, along with a puff of that unnatural blue vapor. It had faded almost entirely, shortly after her return, but it still came in fits and spurts as we walked.

“What?” I scanned the spirits around us, thinking I’d felt something but finding nothing amiss.

Her eyebrows quirked down, darting out of her bangs. “So if it wasn’t that, what’s wrong?”

Tilting my head, I gave her a sideways look. “You disappeared.”

Bewilderment slapped her face around. “What on earth are you talking about?”

I turned to face her. “Some kind of ring appeared, and the whole lot of you vanished from the tunnel. Almost like a…”

Like a portal swallowed them. Whatever scowls had graced my face before paled in comparison to the one I wore now. The ring hadn’t behaved like a portal. No glimpse of the realm beyond, and no other portals moved. This one had been an active agent, affecting instead of being affected. My first suspicion, the Sea Mother, made no sense, because why would she steal away Phemonoe only to send her straight back? Not to mention the changes within the Oracle that, if not beneficial, at least had not yet been malevolent.

More of the strange light steamed from her eyes as she gave me a funny look. “The machinations of the gods that I’m not to be privy to?”

“How long were you talking with the Oracles?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure, as it’s hard to tell without the sun. But hours, at least.” A nervous laugh escaped her. “You were there. I thought you were eavesdropping the whole time, despite how you kept your back to us and acted aloof.”

“You were gone a handful of minutes, at most, and I wasn’t with you.”

“Are you sure?” Concern lined her face. “Not that I don’t believe you, but it’s hard to deny what my eyes saw.” Her voice grew soft as she watched my face and realized what she was saying. “Oh.”

I nodded. “I’m not sure what happened, but whatever it was, it wasn’t real.” I folded my arms. “Not a proper vision, because I saw what must have initiated it, and when the ring hit the ground all of you were gone. I don’t know its origins or purpose, but I’m going to find out.” Trying to keep the frustration out of my voice, I said, “What was that vision you had?”

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She went still. “Please, don’t ask about that.”

I frowned. “But the Oracles–”

“They are in agreement.” There was steel in her voice, though not malicious. “I will give you what I can, but even that might be too much.” Emotion bowed the steel, straining her words.

“I just want to understand,” I said.

Face pinched, she nodded. “Most visions are a single event, maybe a few possibilities. This was a flood, dozens of potentialities all at once.” She shook her head. “Even with the conference, I only know a few certainties. But what I do know is that the more I reveal, the fewer pleasant endings remain. Every piece brought from obscurity precludes a branch I would never prune. So please.”

Well that was a rat’s nest and a half. Malia might know how to untangle useful information from that knot without ruining the whole thing, but I wouldn’t mess with it until we had a chance to plan. But with the Sea Mother and Paedens moving against Tingin, and Hasda’s Third Trial riding its coattails, who knew when that would be. Probably not before significant portions of the vision had come to pass, but we’d have to make do.

I sighed. “All right. But is there any advice you could give me, based on what you know, that might help me navigate towards those better ends?”

Her eyes flitted back and forth as she chewed her lip, a very uncharacteristic tick. “I…I’m not sure.”

An overenthusiastic honk startled us. Xinva poked his head into the tunnel, his glossy black eye taking us in.

I jerked my head towards the Oracle. “Keep an eye on her for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Whatever protest Phemonoe had been preparing, I didn’t wait around to hear. I stormed through Sisiranga, scattering spirits too slow to get out of my way. Unharmed, they re-formed in my wake and shambled on along with the Avoso. Traveling alone, it didn’t take me as long to reach the third tunnel, and when I reached the spot where Phemonoe had met the Oracles I found an absence of spirits lingering. It was an unsettling sight, a blot of darkness which the river of souls should have consumed.

But there it was.

As I approached, I tugged at the edges of the astral plane. My projection didn’t come easily, and by the time I stood in the middle of the empty space it’d barely come at all. I strained against the block, but I couldn’t reach the transcendent plane.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” a soft voice whispered behind me.

I whirled and found a tall, thin specter standing behind me. Her thin robes were several centuries out of style, but distinctly Carthian. Though shrunken, her eyes pierced me with a knowing gaze that only Oracles could achieve. What bothered me the most, though, was how clear her form was. Without my Scythe, she should’ve been a washed-out blur like the other souls.

Her smile was regal, and for a moment I wondered if she’d lived during the era when diviners and royalty had been one and the same. She carried herself well, hands clasped before her as she regarded me. “You won’t find what you’re looking for that way.”

“And that is?” I let the effort drop, although I kept the fringe of my projection on my fingertips.

“You disrupt the currents of prophecy like a stone a still pond.” Her eyes danced. “But you have the subtlety of an elephant.”

“Were you among the Oracles Phemonoe met with? I’m afraid I didn’t recognize any of you.” My mind struggled to place her looks and diction. Something about her was familiar, but I couldn’t figure out if she’d served just before my ascension, or during the early years. She didn’t quite resemble…

“Doune,” she said.

The First Oracle. Of course.

I grunted. “You’ve changed.”

“As have you, bony child.” She raised her eyebrows just a tad. “You promised to put some muscle on. I see you’ve done the opposite.”

“This is just a temporary measure.” I shrugged and turned back to the void. “Did you see what happened?”

“I was there.” That smile of hers hid all sorts of secrets, and she wasn’t sharing. “I know my daughter told you not to pry, yet here you are at our doorstep with an iron bar wedge by the latch.”

“I’m not prying into anything.” I scowled. “If you talked for hours, as Phemonoe experienced, then you’d know the security threat a rent between the astral plane and Peklo represents.”

“That place is sacred to Oracles, and well-protected.” Her eyes were veiled, her lips pursed. “More than that, you are not privy to know, god though you are. But understand that it’s no avenue for the Sea Mother to empty the coffers of our dead.”

“For a class whose sole purpose is to demystify, you’re sure concealing a lot.”

She snorted. “You have only yourself to blame. It’s a wonder Phemonoe could even join us, as she’s no longer an Oracle.” Eyes narrowed, she jabbed a wispy finger at me. “But you already knew that.”

“Yes, yes, an accident with consequences I’ve been reminded of repeatedly already.” I waved her comment away. “Is there nothing of use you can tell me? We’re a little in the dark right now, and with conflict looming on the horizon and Phemonoe swearing herself to silence, we’d appreciate all the help we can get.”

Doune dimmed, her spirit fading more than receding into the river of souls. “Take care of my daughter, Charax. I expect her to rejoin her sisters in one piece.”

And then she was gone. Despite being no more luminous than the other souls, the light felt softer now that she’d left. The absence in the river had filled behind me as we talked, although its subtle glow diminished none of the feeling that something important was missing. Scowling, I turned and headed back up the tunnel to retrieve Phemonoe, the not-Oracle with an unspeakable prophecy, and tried not to grind my teeth too hard.

This was going to be one nasty fight.