Hellbender - Dana Cameron Page 0,9

the Order named Jacob Buell. Somehow he got dragged along with me when I ended up here. I think I might have brought him here, trying to defend myself. Or maybe he contacted them or had a tracking device and they found him.”

Okamura-san discussed something briefly with Ken-san, and they both nodded when she pointed to a place on the map. There seemed to be some disagreement after that, however.

“We should go immediately,” Ash said, translating for Okamura-san.

“They’ll be expecting us,” Rose protested. “And if they have an oracle, it’s possible they’ll have noticed his connection with Ivy.”

“We can’t wait,” Ivy said numbly. “We have to go now.”

I agreed. One of our Family was in the hands of the Order and would be tortured for information or research.

Without a word, we began our preparations. I borrowed some gear and helped the others with theirs. It gave me direction I sorely needed and objectives I could meet. What kept me from begging off and pleading exhaustion, which wouldn’t have been hard to argue, was the idea that the Order, and potentially the presence of evil among them, would be a test of my ability to Change. I needed to know if I could Change more than I needed sleep, and doing it among my own kind seemed like the safest way, even if it was in the middle of a fight.

A van was packed and a small car readied to follow. I was about to ask why we needed something so big when I saw the backboard and the medical kit go into the van. We had no idea how many of the Family were there and what shape they’d be in when we found them.

If we got there in time.

We drove north, along a cliff overlooking the ocean. The place we were looking for was meant to look like a family compound. We stopped partway down a long, winding drive that led to a high wall, plastered and painted. Two stone dogs with red cloth scarves stood outside of a small building near the gates, and I wondered if they were Fangborn signals or Japanese art. I realized with a shock that there were two trees near a small shrine in front; a rope was tied and suspended between them. Along the rope were carefully knotted pieces of paper. Ash explained those were prayers, but I had seen them before, in a vision at Ephesus. I’d thought I was seeing a tree covered in ghosts.

The Trips insisted on doing a reading. I became really apprehensive when they asked me to join them, not knowing what would happen if I tried to use my powers. I’d assumed they were doing a prognostication on the raid we were about to undertake. But no.

“We’re still getting way too much interference from you,” Rose said. “If we drain off those visions first, maybe we can check for the raid after.”

I shrugged and made a corner to their square. It felt very silly to pause for any reason in the persisting rain. I could hear the ocean waves breaking on a beach somewhere beyond the cliff on which the house stood.

The Trips required physical contact to use their gift, and like many other oracles, they also used talismans to help them concentrate and align their power. Some oracles used crystal balls or stones to help them tune out the real world. Some used bones or trinkets they’d found. It was always a personal choice.

The Dickson Trips used smartphones.

Rose and Ash each took one of my hands. They linked arms with Ivy, who pulled up a Tetris-like game app.

“Old school,” I said.

“It helps with concentration,” Rose said.

“No storyline to distract us,” Ash added.

Ivy said nothing, but she didn’t need to. She turned her attention to the screen and stared, her thumbs jabbing the screen, slowly, and then picking up speed. Her eyes started to glaze over.

Plug in, turn on, tune out.

“Oh, boy,” Ivy said. Her eyes rolled back in her head. Same with her siblings.

It took a lot for me not to pull away from them. They were nice kids, but this was just freaking me out. Sure as sin, it was no fake. Power came off them in waves. Somehow I felt I was completing the circuit, and what they shared was coursing through me. I saw fragments of their lives in a rush of impressions. I saw my shock mirrored in Rose’s face.

“Hey, she isn’t supposed to be able to do that!”

“Well, she is,