Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) Read Free Page A

for him. Lucian had never had anyone talk to him like this before. It was as if the sing-song voice was in his head. It was the voice of an angel. She was someone he’d never met. He knew if he’d heard her before, he’d remember the way she offered him peace.
    “Who are you?” he asked, still curled into a ball on his pricy wool rug. “Why are you in my head?”
    ‘Lucian, I’m Oracle.’
    He didn’t know what the hell that was—or who it was. All he knew was she’d saved him from that pain.
    For that, he’d entertain this craziness.
    He owed her.
    “What do you want? Are you killing him?”
    Her laughter filled his mind. ‘I don’t kill. I save. You called to me. You called for help, and here I am. I’m not the killer, Lucian. I’m going to help you.’
    He didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
    ‘Your gift called to mine. I’m here to fix what’s broken and get you through this.’
    “I don’t need your help!”
    She pulled away, and the pain, terror, and killing came back again. Lucian wailed in agony as the man in his vision was suffering, and he couldn’t help him. He feared him dying, and what it would do to him as he was trapped in this nightmare.
    His visions were never like this.
    He’d get flashes.
    They never hurt.
    This felt like the day he woke to find his face had been destroyed. That pain never went away, and he was pretty sure this pain would stay too.
    “OKAY! I NEED YOU!”
    Her laughter soothed him . ‘Focus. What do you see?’
    He used the calm she’d offered as a way to stare into his vision and confront what was happening.
    “Arron Abrahms is being tortured. He’s tied to a chair, he’s being burned, cut, and abused. His body is turned inside out.”
    Oracle said nothing.
    She simply let him continue.
    “He’s begging for his life.”
    ‘What is the killer saying, Lucian? Listen and tell me what you hear.’
    Apparently, this Oracle couldn’t see the vision. She could only focus on controlling his pain as he navigated through it.
    Great. At least he wasn’t in this shit fest alone.
    “He’s whispering. He’s saying there will be more. There will be seven.”
    ‘Seven?’ she asked.
    The pain was trying to push though. He could feel it. “Please don’t pull out of my head. If you do, I’ll die.”
    She offered him reassurance. ‘I’m here. What else do you see? Can you see the killer?’
    “No. I can’t see him. I can only see my friend, and it’s too late! I can only see what’s been done to him! He’s been butchered.”
    The tears came.
    How could they not?
    Who could look into this madness and not feel that pity, sadness, and remorse?
    “He’s been ruined.”
    ‘Shhhhhh, it’s okay. It’s okay, Lucian. I’m here.’
    He curled into a ball.
    All Lucian wanted was for it to stop. The pain was searing into his body and brain, making the room spin with turbulence.
    His vision wavered.
    His stomach revolted.
    It was as if he was on fire, once more, burning up from the evil visions.
    “I can’t do this. This isn’t who I am any longer. I’m not this person. Why won’t it stop?” he begged. “Why do I have to carry this burden?”
    She didn’t have an answer for him.
    There were those who had no choice but to serve their gift. She was one of them.
    Lucian Monroe was another unfortunate soul, cursed to do the same as she was.
    “Make it stop,” he begged. “Oracle! Make it stop!”
    ‘I can’t.’
    “Why the hell not!” he wailed.
     
     
    ‘ Because, Lucian, this is your path. This is your story and it needs to be told. Your journey begins…now.’

Chapter One
     
    Fire Bay
    Wednesday
     
     
    It had been one hell of a night sleeping. As Nathaniel Carter tried to rest with Avalon at his side, he’d been forced to listen to the woman he loved whimper in her sleep. If there was one sound he hated, that was it.
    Still…
    He couldn’t wake her.
    When she was having an ‘episode’ , it was best to let her finish it out. They