Plunk.
“Do you think there are enough crystals that we could throw them into the lake and pile them up enough to walk on?”
“I doubt it,” Royce says. “Besides, there are only a few broken ones. It would take ages to get the rest free.”
“We’ve got ages,” I reply. Next to me, my torch burns lower and lower, signaling we may be trapped in darkness for all those ages. I swallow down the panic that rises at that thought. I have to find a way back to my father, my people, before Dionysus tries anything else.
“What if we hollowed out one of the crystals?” he asks. “Maybe there’s one long enough that we could use it as a sort of channel to catch the water from the crystal.”
It’s a good thought, but as we both stare around the cavern, it’s clear no crystal is long enough to reach the middle of the wide lake.
We fall back into silence.
Plunk.
“That sound is going to drive me insane,” I say, covering my ears.
Royce pulls me against his chest, careful of the gold on his jacket. “Don’t worry. If anyone can get us out of here, it’s you. You’ve spent years thinking about how Dionysus weaves words. You can figure this out.”
I stare at the ripples on the water’s surface as they jump up and down.
I go over the sign’s words again and again. Drink from the end of the crystal. Don’t touch the lake.
I bite my lip. I’ve still got nothing.
Royce has picked up a shard of crystal about the size of his forearm and is turning it over in his hands, running his finger along the crack zigzagging across the outside. He brings it close to his face.
“Anything?” I ask, leaning in closer, trying to see any secrets the glassy crystal might hold. “Another riddle? A map?”
He shakes his head and lets it fall away. He absently drills the end of the crystal into the ground over and over again.
But it drills a thought into my mind right along with it, and I jolt forward.
“What is it?” Royce asks.
“The sign never said that crystal.” I say, pointing to the one in the center of the lake. “Why not any crystal?”
His eyes shoot to mine. “It’s worth a shot.”
I pull him to his feet, and we move to the edge of the lake.
Together, we drag a thin crystal to the edge of the lake. Royce insists on going first as I dip the end into the water and then hold the crystal high enough for a drop to fall into his mouth.
Then Royce does the same for me. The moment the water touches my tongue, the cave rumbles, revealing an opening at the other end.
“Another test down,” Royce says, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.
“Hopefully it’s the last,” I reply as we make our way down into the new tunnel. But the moment we step into the tunnel, the walls disappear and light flares up around us.
We’re standing outside on another pathway with high mountain peaks ahead of us in the distance. A fierce wind wraps around us. It tugs at my cloak, pulling me toward a small gravel path. A path that leads to another cave.
“There.” I point. Could this be the Oracle’s cave at last?
My heart thuds in my chest. I blame it on everything we’ve been through and not on meeting the woman whose prophecy led to my father becoming king—and ultimately to him being cursed.
The entrance to the cave is tall enough that neither of us have to duck. Tiny purple flowers bob their heads on either side of the entrance as the wind catches them.
Darkness hangs like a curtain just inside the cave. I swallow.
Fear roots me to the mountain.
Maybe we shouldn’t have come. Maybe the Oracle is no better than the god who gave my father The Touch. Maybe she just likes to manipulate lives and make people miserable too. Maybe I’m next on her list.
My throat is dry as I look to Royce. “Do you think that’s it?”
He shrugs. “When it comes to the Oracle, who knows.”
His body is tense, and his hand rests on his sword hilt.
“Maybe I should go in alone,” I say. Dionysus’s search for me is why we are here, after all.
Before he can reply, a voice calls, “Both of you, come in. I’ve been expecting you.”
CHAPTER 7
My blood runs cold as Royce and I look at each other before turning to the entrance of the Oracle’s cave. The Oracle I’ve feared my whole life.
My stomach feels as if a river rages through it. The only thing worse are my thoughts. Maybe we shouldn’t have come. Maybe the Oracle will simply kill us. Maybe she’ll make some prophecy about me that will ruin my life—just like she did to my father.
There’s only one way to find out. And I have to risk it to save Lagonia.
We step into the cave.
As soon as we cross the threshold, all traces of the wind stop tugging at us.
The walls of the cave are smooth and cold. It smells similar to rich, fresh earth, like the palace garden in springtime. Long, carved columns rush up toward the ceiling as we make our way through a short entryway that guides us to a much wider, deeper area. As we walk, I notice levels of concentric circles make up the floor of the cave. Heavy stones jut out of the sides of the circular layers, offering an uneven staircase that leads to the center where a woman sits crossed-legged next to a fire.
Billows of smoke shoot up through an opening at the top of the cave.
Oddly, the cave doesn’t smell of smoke at all.
The woman’s hand streaks out, gesturing us forward. She’s more petite than I expected, with a frame as thin and short as that of a child.
The wrinkles on the dark skin of her face look like a rose from above, deep crevices striking out in a circular pattern around her face. Bracelets line her thin arms from her wrist to her elbow while a thick shawl slumps over her shoulders. But as we get closer, it’s her eyes mine keep going to. They’re entirely black and darker than any night I’ve ever seen, and yet, there’s a vastness about them, like gazing into a starless sky. It’s not so much staring into two orbs as it is staring through them to the endless landscape beyond. The harder I look, the deeper I see, each passing moment promising that if I just probe a little longer, I’ll discover something—some secret, some truth—hidden there amongst all that darkness.
The woman’s cracked lips move slowly, breaking my gaze. “Welcome, my children.” Her voice is ageless as it rings out softly and yet loud enough to absorb as it passes through me, somehow managing to reach to my very bones, to the very core of my being.
I quickly lower my head, afraid to look in her eyes once more, as we make our way down the stone staircase. “You knew we were coming?”
She weaves her hand through the smoke in front of her, causing it to spin and twist upon itself. “I know many things, Princess.” When we reach the center, she gestures for us to sit on the side of the fire opposite her. “Although you took much longer than expected for someone with so great a need. It’s only when one truly needs it that I allow my cave to appear.”
“So it didn’t matter which path we took?” Royce asks, eyeing her sideways.
She laughs. “Of course it mattered.” A sly smile slides across her lips. “All paths have different destinations. Some just lead to them faster and some lead to them not at all.”