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“What would make you feel better, chief? If I said the gods aimed your weapons or that you did it of your own free will?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good, because I don’t know the answer. But let me assure you, the people in those trucks weren’t good people. They were monsters, long before they ever took our daughters, and they would have done worse things than kidnap them if they knew our visions were real. I’ve seen it, over and over. I have no sympathy for any of them.”
Lila poked at her stitches.
“Come see me tomorrow.”
She shook her head.
“Then stay with him tonight,” the oracle said gently.
Lila hopped off the tailgate and strode to the warehouse toward Maria, not sure how to answer, not wanting to answer.
The oracle followed, her boots muddy in the wet grass.
They rested their elbows on the truck bed, watching the dozing Oskar. Maria turned her head briefly, then resumed her watch over her brother.
“If you want to thank us for letting you handle this, then take them with you,” Lila said. “They have nowhere else to go.”
Maria’s head snapped up.
“You won’t give the oracle any trouble, will you? No more stealing weapons and threatening people?”
The oracle stared at Maria’s face, at her hair, and at her slumped shoulders. “You’re Peter Kruger’s daughter, aren’t you?”
Maria bit her lip, refusing to retreat.
She nodded.
A warm touch landed on Lila’s back. “You beat me to it.” Tristan rested his chin upon her uninjured shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist. Lila didn’t know whether to sink into him for comfort or pull away. “I had planned to ask the oracle the very same thing.”
“Yes, your people told me as much last week. Stop trying to slip a spy in amongst the oracle children. It won’t work. I have too many people amongst yours, and they like me better.”
Tristan stared at the tires.
“So what do you say, Maria?” the oracle asked, tugging Oskar’s blanket higher upon his shoulder. “From what Tristan has told me, you were instrumental in rescuing Rebecca. The old ways are still nurtured among the oracles. Rebecca’s mother and her family are indebted to you for the rest of your life. Have you ever seen pictures of Sioux Falls?”
“No, but one place is as good as another.”
“Ah, that’s not true. Sioux Falls might be cold in the winter, but it’s extremely beautiful and it doesn’t get nearly so hot in the summers. Few places are as nice.”
Maria shrugged.
“Well, in any case, it will be a safe place for you to stay while your brother recovers. You wouldn’t be a prisoner or a slave there, though it would be best for you to stay within the compound walls. You’re old enough and shrewd enough to understand that. If you decide that you don’t like it, I’m sure we could find somewhere else to suit your tastes. An oracle lives in every city in the commonwealth. You’d have your pick of compounds.”
Maria played with her brother’s collar.
“They can keep you far safer than I can,” Tristan said. “Perhaps one day your father can join you there. I’ll get him a message. I’ll let him know that you are safe.”
Maria nodded. “All right, but just for now. Just until my father comes back.”
“For as long as you want,” the oracle said.
Chapter 31
Lila hopped out of the shower. Wet and shivering, she stared at her reflection in a steamed mirror. Purple and green bruises still marred her skin from the fight at LeBeau’s, from Alex’s outburst, from too many tumbles in the gym, and from the fight in the warehouse. They coated her as though she were a rotten piece of fruit, dropped and bumped and stepped upon.
