What color was it?" Damali said in as calm a tone as possible, scrubbing her necklace harder.
"Like, hot silver and sorta glowing. What does that mean?"
"I don't know," Damali said quietly, picking at the intricate silver etchings around each stone even harder. "Just try to get some rest. When I learn more, I'll hip you."
"Thanks, D," Juanita whispered, and slipped out the door.
"Ouch!" the pearl in Damali's necklace complained. "I thought she'd never leave and it's about time you put me in some water. I'd have more clarity if you jogged down to the sea and-"
Damali scooped up her necklace as the she-dragon's voice began to fade within the now-glowing pearl the moment air hit it. She rushed through the house making lame excuses about having to commune with the sea to coax out a new song that was wearing a hole in her head. She blew Carlos a quick kiss but her eyes said,Later, ask me then.
"Zehiradangra! Ohmigoodness, where have you been?" Damali exclaimed in a tight whisper as she made it down the steps and headed for the beach.
"Sitting on your nightstand withway too much information," the pearl said in a huff, losing power out of water. "Waiting, waiting,wait�ing for you guys to getdone honeymooning."
CHAPTER THREE
Okay, Zehiradangra, talk to me," Damali said, stooping down with ef�fort to lower her necklace into a shallow wash of sea by the rocks.
Her entire body hurt, and after getting nearly hugged into a stupor by her family and healing Juanita, the last thing she wanted was a lec�ture from a dead she-dragon. But Zehiradangra was an old friend and now an oracle that rivaled the one at Delphi, so Damali summoned patience. Although it seemed like it was taking forever for the pearl to glow again and come to life in her hands.
Damali steadied her voice and tried again with a gentler tone. "Z... all right, I'm sorry I snapped at you.Please talk to me."
"I didn't know what to say or if you wanted me around, you sounded so... upset."
Damali sighed with relief. "I was upset, but not at you," Damali ad�mitted. "A lot of crazy things seem to be happening again. What's your take on it?"
The pearl glowed pink and then went white hot. "I did not want to intrude during a very private time, but are you all right now?"
Complete humiliation shot heat to Damali's face, and she made a mental note to be sure to shove her necklace in the bedroom drawer from now on when she wasn't wearing it. "I'm cool," she lied.
"You must be very, very careful during this time, Damali," the pearl warned. "I have never seen him this way."
"Yeah, well, me neither. But I really don't wanna focus on Carlos right now. Overall, I need to-"
"I am not speaking of Carlos," Zehiradangra said calmly. "I am speaking of his brother."
Damali leaned closer to the pearl. "Jose just went through-"
"No, no, no," she murmured impatiently, sending a small stream of bubbles to the surface of the shallow pool. "His older brother, my friend, Cain."
"Oh, him..." Damali turned and plopped down to sit on the rocks, no longer caring that her jeans would get wet and sandy. "I can't deal with whatever's going on in his twisted brain right now in Nod. As long as he stays there, then fine."
"There are several flaws to your statement, Damali," Zehiradangra said in a snippy tone that Damali had never heard her use before. "Cain loves you. He is a being that loves hard and deep, and you are very fortunate that he does."
Damali rolled her eyes and blew a stray lock up off her forehead. She had to remember that Zehiradangra used to be Cain's lover, so this was indeed going to be a delicate dance. "I'm married now," was all she could offer her.
"Yes. I know. I was at the ceremony, as you may recall."
Great. Just what she needed. An oracle with an attitude.
"Zehiradangra, listen... Cain seemed like a really nice entity go�ing in. He is fine as all get out. Has a voice like..." Damali searched for an adequate description that would mollify the offended pearl. "Like a... aw, heck, the man can sing his ass off and is awesome. Comes from good people on his mother's side. Yada, yada, yada," Damali said, losing patience. "But I had to leave him in Nod for sev�eral reasons-reasons that you agreed with when he helped set you up to get your neck snapped. Or am I not remembering how this all went down correctly?"
"It is true," the pearl said, its glow dimming, its voice sad. "I just wished better for him. I am still connected to his light energy... what's left of it, that is. You should have seen how he suffered when you left him." The pearl sniffed. "I know you had to, but during his apex-the timing was horrible."
"Pearl," Damali said, her voice coming out as a plea as she used one of Zehiradangra's nicknames. "You know I had no choice about the timing of all of this!"
"Damali, he held his sheets to his face and breathed you in for seven days-unspent. He wept from the pain in his spirit and the agony rid�dling his body for you. He shunned regeneration and nourishment to the point of near energy collapse... ." The pearl stopped speaking and swallowed hard. "I am annoyed with you because his voice echoes and suffering clouded my vision. Cain needed to sire so badly, having come so close to you in the flesh that-I cannot even speak of it."