Revealed Read online

  No warning will help. Prevention is the key. The Goddess’s sigh was a warm breeze stirring the branches full of green and purple leaves. I have shown you a possible future. It is up to you, Counselor , to see that it does not become the present.

  “But how?” Rast demanded, exasperated. “How am I supposed to prevent this…this universe-wide genocide from occurring?”

  Stay at your post. I will not always be able to commune with you but you must sit on the Seat of Wisdom and look often into the Eye of Foreknowledge. These are the tools I have given you and the Counselor s before you—I know you will use them well.

  “What am I looking for? How will I know when I find it?”

  You will know.

  “Why can’t you just tell me?”

  Because the future is fluid and ever changing. It is affected by the million different choices made every second of every day. And because some hearts are shadowed, even from me.

  A new picture appeared in the fountain. A man—Rast supposed it was a man, anyway—tall and broad shouldered as any Kindred with thick black hair and a neatly trimmed black goatee and mustache framing sensual red lips. When he smiled, white, even teeth were revealed. Teeth that looked every so slightly too sharp. His eyes were a solid silver with no pupil at all.

  “What is he? Is he one of the Hoard?” Rast couldn’t take his eyes from the man in the fountain. Behind that handsome face there was a blackness—a roiling, hungry evil like a mass of snakes which could never be satisfied, which would never stop eating.

  He is Draven, the Goddess murmured. The leader of the Hoard. His power for destruction is unmatched in the universe. Your father wounded him badly—drove him underground. But a thousand years have regenerated him completely—now the Hoard grow ever stronger and their appetite for destruction grows with them.

  “Great,” Rast said flatly, still staring. He had the feeling if this guy looked at you in just the right way, you might fall down dead from an aneurysm or wake up the next day with a tumor the size of a baseball lodged in the base of your spine. Babies would cry until their noses bled and old men would have heart attacks wherever he went. Yet, he would also be able to walk around in broad daylight, looking perfectly normal and carrying that cloud of evil wherever he went.

  He is one of the soulless ones—what you would call a demon, the Goddess said. The most powerful one the universe has ever seen. And he is hungry, Counselor —ever hungry.

  “Yeah, I get that,” Rast murmured, still staring. Suddenly the demon-man turned his head and those his pupiless eyes bored into Rast’s own, making him gasp. “Turn it off! Turn it off—he can see me.”

  He can sense you. The vision in the fountain faded and the water began flowing once more. He knows there is a new Counselor on First World—the first in a thousand years. And he knows you are your father’s son—it makes him wary and cautious—slow to act. This is the only advantage you have. The Goddess’s voice was becoming faint.

  “So I’m just supposed to keep an eye on him?” Rast asked. “I mean, I’m not allowed to go fight him, am I? I’m not allowed to leave the surface of the planet.”

  To leave First World is to lose your wings forever. The voice was fainter still. You will find others who are suited for this battle as well. Find them and gather them to you. They will help you learn what Draven is planning—his strategy and secrets. Even now he is searching for the key—the key to unlock the universe for his designs. He must not find it!

  “But…but how will I know them?” Rast asked. “The ones who are supposed to help?”

  You have ever been a finder of the lost. The Goddess’s voice was little more than a whisper now. It has been your calling from the first. Use it now along with the knowledge and wisdom I will send. For now, I must go.

  “But Goddess—”

  Be vigilant, Counselor . Guard First World well. For if it falls, the universe will follow.

  And then she was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Nadiah woke and yawned, stretching her arms above her head to get the tingly feeling out of her fingertips. She looked around for Rast and saw him pacing a few yards away, his new wings tightly furled against his back. In that position they were almost completely invisible as the feathers molded to his body and took on the coloring of his skin. She reflected that unless someone knew his secret, they would never guess he had the power of flight.

  “Hello.” She rose and went to him, smiling. “I guess we must have fallen asleep. I can’t believe we spent the whole night up here.”

  “Yeah, we really wore ourselves out, I guess.” He turned to face her but his smile was troubled.

  “Rast…” Nadiah put a hand on his arm and noticed that his wings quivered with her light touch. “Are you all right?” she asked anxiously. “You seem unhappy.”

  “I’m just a little worried, that’s all.” He cleared his throat and smiled at her. “I had…well, I guess you would call it a vision last night. I, uh, met the Goddess.”

  “You did?” Nadiah exclaimed. “What did she say?”

  “Pretty much that I’m meant to be here and so are you.” He smiled at her briefly. “But also that there’s big trouble coming. Not just for First World but for the whole goddamn universe if we can’t stop it.”

  “How can we stop it?” Nadiah asked.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. I only know we’re supposed to be vigilant and find people to help us.” He pulled her close suddenly and looked into her eyes. “And that we’re supposed to be together.”

  Nadiah looked at him hopefully, her heart beating hard. “The Goddess said that?”

  Rast nodded. “You’re supposed to be my Lyzel, all right. She said the reason she gave you the Sight was to help me guide First World.” He frowned. “And it looks like it’s going to need a lot of guidance in the very near future.”

  “That’s all right.” Nadiah hugged him hard. “We’ll do it together.” Then she pulled back and looked at him, biting her lip. “But…what about the high priestess?”

  Rast smiled grimly. “Oh, I think I can handle her. In fact, I don’t think we should wait a minute longer to do just that. Are you ready to go?”

  She nodded. “I guess so. I’m famished and Sylvan and Sophie are probably worried sick about us.”

  “Then let’s go ease their minds.” Rast swung her up into his arms and spread his wings. Their great, feathered lengths glinted in the green sunlight, dazzling Nadiah’s eyes. “Come on,” he said, smiling at her. “Let’s fly.”

  * * * * *

  “Look, there they are!” Sophie pointed to the winged shape cresting the horizon, relieved to see it wasn’t just another one of those huge black birds of prey that swooped over the desert from time to time.

  She and Sylvan were standing in the guest area, which she thought of as the oasis of light, and scanning the skies anxiously. They’d both seen Rast’s wings come out and watched as he scooped Nadiah out of the sky and spirited her away to the Healing Garden. But afterwards as they waited and waited for the couple to come back, Sophie had begun to worry and wonder. A thousand thoughts had crossed her mind. What was going on in the Healing Garden? Had Rast been able to save Nadiah? What if he hadn’t been able to save her and he was too grief stricken to leave the lush garden?

  Sophie hadn’t wanted to share these ideas with Sylvan—the strain of worrying about his younger cousin was evident in his face. But it was impossible to keep some of her fear from leaking across the bond they shared as a married couple. And she couldn’t help feeling his fear through the same link. All in all, the two of them had spent an extremely restless night, barely nibbling on the Willy Wonka bread even though it tasted wonderful, as always.

  So it was with great relief that Sophie watched Rast circle above them and land lightly in the oasis with an obviously healthy Nadiah held securely in his arms. She felt Sylvan’s relief as well and flashed him a smile which he returned whole heartedly.

  The minute the couple