The Last Oracle Read Free

making a call on his radio. Alex had never been cross with her, but he certainly would not be happy about this.
    “Tattletale,” she muttered to herself.
    She shook off the thought and enjoyed feeling like a fairly normal person…although, since she fell in love with Alex, life was too extraordinary to be considered normal.
    The guide to this vehicle passed Valeria a blanket for her legs and then pulled into the blackness of the African bush. The Land Rover’s headlights briefly illuminated the dust flying up from the road as the vehicle began to move, He was driving faster than typical. She realized that the guide was concerned about an additional delay, risking that there would be fewer animal sightings, which determined his tips.
    Ganya, their Zulu tracker, turned on his flashlight and began shining it into the brush rapidly, left and right, as they drove. When they had first arrived, Valeria questioned the tracker about a set of glowing eyes that she had spotted.
    “Rodents,” the tracker said without delay, or sometimes, “birds.” As rapidly as he had glanced at the glowing eyes, she couldn’t imagine that he’d actually identified the creatures. But the guide would always patiently stop the vehicle and back it up. The tracker would illuminate the creature with his flashlight and, to her surprise, he was always correct.
    Valeria marveled as the sun began to rise, lighting up the enormous African sky. It was nearly black to the west and the palest of blues to the east, with light pink-feathered clouds brushing the blue of the sky, as the yellow and orange orb rose above the horizon, touching the rounded top of an acacia tree.
    Mrs. Smythe leaned around her husband and asked Valeria, “Have you seen the hippos yet? They took us to the river yesterday and it was the most marvelous experience!”
    “Oh, I would’ve loved to have seen them!” Valeria wondered why her guide hadn’t taken them to see the hippos.
    “It really was fantastic!” Mr. Smythe said. “Of course, it is a bit of a jaunt to the river by foot. But you really must see them.”
    Now Valeria understood why her guide hadn’t taken her to see the hippos. Leaving the vehicle was against Alex’s rules. Just then, some static sounded on the radio and Alan, the Smythe’s guide, picked up the mic and spoke into it.
    “Sorry, mate, can’t understand a word you’re saying,” Alan said into the hand-held microphone. Valeria felt relieved, as she was certain that Toma was setting the rules of the drive and that would certainly not include seeing the hippos. A few minutes later, she thought she saw dust rising in the distance.
    “Would you like to see the hippos, Mrs. Morgan?” Alan asked, bringing the vehicle to a stop.
    Glancing to Caleb, who was still heavily engaged in conversation, she hesitated for no more than a millisecond before responding, “Yes, I would!”
    Jumping out of the vehicle, she saw that Caleb was holding hands with Amy. Getting out of the vehicle would mean he would have to release her hand, and he might not get his nerve up again. The boy lowered his brow, clearly torn, as he glanced from Amy to Valeria.
    “Caleb, why don’t you stay here? We won’t be long.” She smiled at him.
    He offered her a guilty nod. Alex would not be happy about any of this—particularly that she had left the Land Rover. The first lesson of safari was that as long as you didn’t stand or separate yourself from the vehicle, the animals perceived the 4x4 and its occupants as a single, large animal. By leaving the vehicle, the danger mounted exponentially.
    Also, hippos were known as the most dangerous animals in Africa, killing more than lions, crocodiles, or even the unpredictable and foul- tempered Cape buffalo. The hippos, with their enormous canines and incisors, were known for being extremely aggressive and unpredictable, and worst of all, unafraid of humans. In the mornings, when the hippos would graze outside the river, unprovoked,