Page 89 of How Does It Feel?

I felt a flutter of foreign, masculine pride in the back of my head.

What? Was that him?

Holy shit. I could feel him, like a trickle of his emotions were entwined with mine. I could feel his anger, and it felt like spicy hot lava in the back of my mind. There was something else. It felt like . . . I don’t know . . . sadness? I hadn’t felt anything quite like that since—

Since she had taken the other half of my heart.

I would get home and get my friend back. I hadn’t been through all this for nothing.

Bastard.

I tried to send my anger to wherever that spot in my mind was.

“Get off my damn table! Be a little self-aware human! No wonder you are in this predicament.”

I froze, crouched on the long black table to look at the old woman.

She stood looking annoyed at the end of my long wooden perch. Deep purple robes hung off her round body. Wrinkles, deep and thin alike, etched across her golden tan skin. Her silver hair was pinned beautifully up in several knots atop her head, the same silver of the brows that furrowed in my direction above gorgeous brown eyes. She looked old, but in a goddess-like way, not in a haggard old woman way.

“Get off of my table before you knock off all of the potions,” she scolded.

Her accent matched her robed attire sounding as if it were from another time entirely.

“Wh-who are you?” I asked as I eyed the snake in the corner.

It slithered at the wall but seemed content to avoid us.

Three more snakes dropped from out of nowhere with a soft thud, landing just to the side of the table.

I screamed, feeling the blood drain from my face. Was I going to pass out? After all of this. Everything I had been through just to have it all brought down by a stupid fear of snakes? I loved every animal, and I would never hurt a snake, but for some reason, they terrified me.

I felt a wave of relief and the muffled sound of laughter from a crowd in my mind.

He knew how much this was affecting me—he could feel it.

“The snakes are not your only worry, child. I suggest you get off this table and begin your trial before this room is filled with snakes. I can shadow myself out, can you?” the beautiful old woman asked.

“You-you don’t understand. They are venomous snakes. I can tell by the shape of their head. Most nonpoisonous snakes have a triangular head, but these have a broader jaw. It-it’s because of their venom sacks,” I stammered, unable to focus. Pure fear had its grip on me and my decisions at this point. “Who are you anyway?” I asked again.

“I am the oracle, Lania. I am here to deliver your words of fate and task you with your second trial,” she said calmly as if we weren’t in a room raining venomous snakes out of thin air.

“An oracle? You’re going to read my fortune for the second trial?” I asked incredulously before looking at the slithering reptiles along the floor. My body immediately began to tremble. Would they hurt me, or would they help me like the other animals? “What about the snakes?” I narrowed my eyes at the woman.

“Foolish girl, as the oracle, I am also the monarch of poisons.” She put her arm on her purple-clad hip and motioned for me to get off the table.

The swallow stuck in my throat. The snakes had moved to the other side and seemed to be piling up on each other, likely for warmth in the cold cave.

“So you’re poisoning me,” I stated, looking at the seven various colored cups on the table, each filled with a different colored liquid.

“Yes, essentially.” She looked down as if that made her sad. “My job today is not as oracle, but I have been blessed and burdened with both titles, so I will lighten my tongue. Death and darkness will haunt you well into the golden fortress disguised as home.” She stepped closer, and her eyes glistened against the torchlight as she studied my face. “You search for what makes your heart whole. Remember, the viper warms himself in the daylight but finds his home in the dark. Above all else, remember to unleash the viper inside when you need it the most.” With this, she nodded her head down and took a few slow steps away from me and the table.

“I don’t understand any of what you just said?” I questioned, worried that maybe I had missed a clue she’d just given me.

She simply smiled. “You will soon.” She began to fade.

The opacity of her robes changed before my eyes.

“Wait! You can’t leave me here!” I screamed.