Raintree: Oracle (Raintree 4)

Snow. They wouldn’t see snow for months, unless a freak weather system of some kind moved in. They rarely saw snow here at all.

A shiver walked up his spine. Echo smiled up at him. “If you help me...” she began, and then she went silent. Her smile faded away as she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Echo had an untrained and uncontrollable effect on the weather. When she was sad, it rained. When she was happy the skies were clear blue.

Sometimes. Nothing about that particular power was defined. It was new and unpredictable.

Was it possible she could make it snow? What emotion would bring on that kind of weather?

“We have to go,” he said, taking her hand and leading her from the shower.

“What’s wrong?” she asked again.

Rye threw her a towel and began to dry his body with another. “It was cold, you said, there was snow. But was it a natural snow?”

Echo paled as she read his thoughts. She, too, dried her body vigorously. “Oh, hell, I don’t know.”

“In your vision, what was Cassidy wearing?”

Echo closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back, searching her memory. Her eyes popped open and she tossed her towel aside, rushing into the bedroom to grab her clothes and start pulling them on with efficiency. As Rye did the same, she described the dress his daughter had been wearing in the vision. Pink-and-yellow flowers, old-fashioned, short sleeves.

It was the same dress she’d been wearing when he’d left her.

* * *

Cassidy’s first niggle of warning came too late. Her da had warned her, time and again, not to rely on the knowing. She might see things about other people, but when it came to herself and those she loved most dearly, there was a veil. Granny said no one on this earth was meant to know too much about their own path, not the good or the bad.

Someone knocked loudly. Cassidy, who had been reading in her room, stood slowly. She started to call out, “Don’t answer!” but she was too late. Her grandmother opened the door.

Cassidy glanced at the window. She could escape by that route, perhaps, but then what? Whoever had come for her had Granny. Granny was old. She didn’t have many powers, and she had none that would offer any self-defense. If the person who had come for Cassidy didn’t find her, would they take their anger out on Granny?

By the time she decided to go out the window and get help, it was, again, too late. She’d hesitated too long! The door to Cassidy’s room opened slowly. Please be Granny. Please be Granny! It was not Granny, of course. It was her. The woman standing there smiled.

Cassidy remained strong. Crying and begging would not help. Not with this one. She lifted her head and said, in an almost-even voice, “I did not expect you.”

“Good.” Maisy smiled. “I love the element of surprise. It makes life so much more interesting.” Her eyes scanned the room, quickly, efficiently, and then she turned those scary eyes back on Cassidy. “Give me any trouble, and I’ll kill your grandmother.” She delivered the threat with that weird smile in place and an ordinary tone in her voice. As if she were saying, I think you’d like this book. “Then the people I’m working with will go after your friends. The brown-headed boy who always needs a haircut—you like him a lot, don’t you?”

Brody! She wouldn’t dare...no, she would. She would, without a second thought. Librarians were not supposed to be evil! It was just wrong.

“I won’t give you any trouble,” Cassidy said. If she was going to, it’s not like she would tell. The librarian said she liked surprises...

“Good. Then the old woman should be fine.”

“What about my da?” Cassidy asked.

“We won’t hurt your da.” Maisy stepped closer.

Instinctively, Cassidy leaned away. The librarian’s shields dropped, and her aura changed. Black. There was so much black!

Leaning down, placing her face too close to Cassidy’s, the librarian finished with, “Your da’s going to become one of us.”

* * *

They ran. Echo had immediately offered her car, but Ryder insisted the way the roads twisted around to get to the cottage, running—even walking—would be faster.

They ran. His legs were longer than hers so he pulled ahead easily, but she pumped her legs harder in an attempt to keep him in sight. More than once she offered a silent thanks to spin class. Maybe she should’ve gone to more...

They ran. Echo was too soon breathless, but she didn’t stop. Ryder drew ahead of her, but he never left her sight.