CHAPTER 219

"Then we will let her decide what comes next." Eulalie squeezed his shoulder. "The egg will have to leave the Library on occasion, because time doesn't pass in here. That will be one of your jobs, to help us grow and hatch it by taking it for walks outside these halls. Bring her with you when you aren't busy hunting demons or arguing with magical royalty."

"And once she's here, I'll help raise her. Or try to, anyway." Mike ran his fingers over the surface of the egg in awe. So many feelings begged for his attention, and he couldn't focus on any of them. This wasn't just about Velvet's legacy, but his own.

He was about to become a father, but he was also reminded that Velvet was gone. These thoughts and ideas would take some time to absorb, and he promised to focus on the positives. The others would help, because that's what family does.

At the very least, he would be a better parent than his own mother had been. "Does she have a name?" he asked.

Eulalie and Sofia smiled at each other.

"That depends on you," Eulalie replied. "What do you want to call her?"

Cyrus turned onto the unmarked road off of Highway 104, the tires on his rental kicking up giant clouds of dust behind him. It had been almost an hour since he had seen another car, which included the fact that he had been forced to turn around after missing his exit.

Though he had not seen anyone, he had no doubt that he was being watched. For almost half an hour, he slalomed along the road through the sagebrush covered plains, making sure to keep his windows rolled up to keep out the heat and dust. The air conditioning was doing its best, but the car was emitting a high-pitched whine that threatened to test the limits of the engine.

Anyone following would have been surprised to see him gun the engine and drive straight into a large boulder. It was a security precaution, a spell that would only allow someone to pass if they were going faster than twenty-five mph. White light sizzled along the exterior of his black Nissan, and then a dull building the size of a garage popped into existence on the other side of the boulder. The sky was cast in grey, as if filtering out any color from the outside world.

By the time he came to a stop, there was a small group of men and women assembled outside the entrance of the building.

Upon exiting the car, he sensed the barrage of spells meant to verify his identity. He leaned against the car and stretched while they scanned him. It had been a long drive and his legs were stiff.

"Master Cyrus." A woman broke away from the pack and handed him a visitor's badge. "If you would wear this please."

"A badge? Really?" He put it over his head. "Seems kind of redundant now that you know who I am." Though he had never visited this facility, protocols were fairly standard across the world. The badge felt oddly heavy, but he assumed it was spell related.

"Let's just say the badge is a necessary precaution." The woman handed him a small stone. It had a groove in it, and he recognized it as a worry stone. "Also, keep this in your pocket while inside the building. Don't lose it or you may be subjected to termination with prejudice."

He frowned at the rock, then looked at the woman. "What the hell is going on with the Order?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not permitted to give you that information, sorry."

He waved his hand dismissively. "I understand. I suppose I have people I could ask."

Relief crossed her face and she nodded. "Shall we?" She gestured behind them and the others opened the door to the building. He noticed that they all watched the surrounding land as he walked inside, then backed into the space one at a time. Whatever was going on had them spooked bad.

The garage-like building housed a single elevator. Once everyone was inside, two of the men grabbed onto a pair of silver rods along opposite walls. Their magic flowed into the motor, allowing the elevator to descend. The trip was long, but Cyrus was simply grateful not to be sitting anymore.

At the bottom of the shaft, the group disembarked, then took their positions in a room overlooking the opening to the elevator. There was a good chance it was the only entrance to this place.

"Right this way." The woman turned away from him, and he realized that he didn't know her name. Typically, members of the Order would identify themselves upon meeting to avoid confusion. Whether this was an oversight on her part due to the new security precautions or something else entirely, he had no way of knowing.

Still, the woman's identity didn't matter. He had come to see someone else.

At the end of a long corridor, they came to a circular door embedded into the stone. She placed her hand on a scanner and the door slid open.

"He's been expecting you," she said, stepping aside. "For a couple of months now. Demanded we keep his calendar clear for today."

Cyrus nodded. It wasn't a surprise that he had been expected. After all, the Oracle often saw things long before they happened.

When he walked into the room, a red light turned on above the door once it shut behind him. It was like being inside of an extra large dark room for developing photographs, only the center of the room was occupied by a giant glass cylinder filled with mist. The cylinder itself was nearly a hundred feet across and five stories high.

"Master Cyrus." The voice spoke to him from a mechanical grill at the bottom of the tube. Somewhere inside the glass, the Oracle was speaking into a microphone.

"I like the new housing unit." He had been with the Order when they had first captured the Oracle. Originally, the creature had been contained in a metal box not much larger than a coffin with a vent at the bottom. Good behavior over the years had allowed it substantially more freedom. Attracted to tragedy like a moth to a flame, the creature had a flair for prophecy that had resulted in its imprisonment rather than destruction. There was still significant doubt that the Oracle hadn't caused the Silver bridge collapse of '67, and so it remained somewhere it could be safely studied.