The Sibylline Oracle (7 page)

Lifting himself up, Caleb said, “Yeah, but you have to admit, it is fun when a breeze comes up and…” Caleb indicated the kilt rising up on Tavish and mimicked him trying to pull it down. Tavish rolled his eyes in irritation, though a sarcastic laugh escaped the side of his mouth.

Camille gave Caleb a look that silenced him and then she gestured to Valeria. “Please, Valeria, have a seat!” Camille pointed to the loveseat near Alex. Valeria went to sit down and noticed that Alex had made sure that he wouldn’t have to sit next to her.

Lars began. “Valeria, I suppose we need to fill you in on why we are all here. I guess you have heard some of it. I understand you met Mani?” Alex locked his attention on Lars. “So, I’m just going to jump into it,” Lars continued, as he sat on the leather ottoman in front of Valeria. “Obviously, we have a purpose and you are principal to that purpose. But for you to understand what must be done, and why we are here, I believe it’s important for you to first understand the history of our situation.” Lars drew a deep breath. “I want to warn you that this is not going to be easy. It’s going to require that you open your mind to other realities.” Lars waited for Valeria’s nod. “Suffice it to say, we have a common enemy and if we all work together, we can eliminate the threat.”

“I don’t understand. Is it some disease? Are you looking for money? I can probably help,” Valeria offered.

“No.” Lars attempted to hide his mild amusement before continuing, “It’s a man.”

Oh, my God!
They really are trying to fix me up with someone,
she thought. She glanced at Tavish and their eyes met. His expression appeared to be in battle as all sides of his face shook and shimmied until, at last, the right side of his mouth popped up, followed by the left side, in what appeared to be a smile...or a sneer. She quickly looked away, trying to hide her horror.

Lars continued, “Valeria, we all owe you a great deal of gratitude for what you did for us.” He looked to Alex. “Lexi, does she remember?”

Great! Lars is starting with gratitude...this can
’
t be good.
She decided she would make certain that they all knew she was happily engaged…and to a handsome diplomat! She didn’t need their pitiful attempts at setting her up.

“She’s had a familiarization with Mani but we’ve had no significant discussion as of yet.”

Valeria felt her irritation rising, realizing that Alex considered all of their previous discussions as insignificant but she tried to hide it. “Familiarization? Is that what you call it?” she asked, ensuring that her eyes were on Lars and Lars only. She tried to think of something in the vision that would indicate who Alex was setting her up with and felt absolutely ridiculous. She worked, somewhat unsuccessfully, on her poker face, which Weege told her she did not possess.

Lars nodded. “Yes. Let’s talk about what you saw in the transference with Mani. Do you remember the situation? Does any of it seem familiar to you?”

Valeria drew her eyebrows together and looked up, trying to recall the entire scene. “You know, some of the people seem somewhat familiar.”

“You wouldn’t forget me!” Caleb said, his smile taking up most of his face.

“I didn’t see you in the vision,” Valeria said, conversationally. Seeing Caleb frown, she added, “But I’m certain I wouldn’t forget you.”

Caleb let out a joyous laugh of vindication. “Sweet! Told ya!” He pulled his arm down in a fist of victory.

Daphne piped up, saying, “Caleb, you weren’t even there!” But Caleb ignored her.

After thinking about the vision, Valeria said, “There was a little boy in Mani’s vision; the boy was maybe five, with blond curls. I guess he looks a bit like you, Lars,” she said and Lars nodded. “And you,” Valeria said, pointing to Daphne. “You were there. But you look about the same age.”

Laughing coolly, Daphne refused to speak directly to Valeria. “I’m ageless. That’s why.” Daphne aimed the comment at Camille, who gave her a disapproving look.

“I guess that’s all,” Valeria said.

Lars nodded and then looked to Alex. “Lexi?”

Valeria noticed a hint of disappointment cross Alex’s face. He stroked his fingers through his hair and then nodded. “In that case, let’s just…” Alex took a deep breath. “Let’s jump into a history lesson.” He narrowed his eyes. “Val, how familiar are you with Pre-Classical antiquity? That’s the period of Greek history prior to Homer,” Alex said, being careful not to meet her gaze for more than a moment.

“Prior to Homer? I think I read the Odyssey in high school. But I don’t remember much about it,” Valeria admitted.

“Well, all right. Let’s begin with Apollo and the gods,” Alex said, as if he were beginning a class.

Valeria wrinkled her nose and looked at Lars, whom she was able to make eye contact with and still think straight. “Gods? Are we talking fiction?” She was trying to follow where this was going. Who was this guy they were going to spring on her—
a history buff or just ancient?
Valeria looked up to see Tavish’s smile-sneer again.
This was going to be a long meeting!
Alex shifted closer to Valeria.

“Three thousand years ago, we
all
had more power. We were newer. We hadn’t been told that we couldn’t do things. We expected magic to be all around us and available.”

“Alex, I’m not certain what this is about, but why do I get the feeling you aren’t speaking in generalities?”

Alex and Lars looked at each other. Alex raised an eyebrow and then gave a slight chuckle. “Sorry, Val, I guess we didn’t expect a comment like that so quickly.” Alex winked.

The wink from Alex energized her, and she smiled back.

“So you were talking about magic?” She wondered if her face was flushed and if Daphne had noticed it. Of course, Daphne must be used to women fawning over Alex.

“Yes, magic!” Alex turned away from her for a moment and took a deep breath. When he turned back, his game face had returned. “There were those who had tremendous power. Because of their strength, they were the rulers of the land. But strength and magic alone was not enough to make someone a god.” Alex paused for effect. “It had to be written in the stars. So, if you were a very clever ruler, you found someone who could ‘locate’ you in the stars.”

Caleb added with a laugh, “Celestial dot-to-dot! Want to see my drawing?”

“Not just yet, Caleb. Maybe you can show Val later.” Alex instinctively sat on the ottoman in front of her. “If you were written in the stars, you were a god!”

“That’s interesting!” Valeria smiled. Alex found himself smiling back at her as he would any student. Then he realized he had looked too long and quickly glanced away.

“So the god, Apollo, found a beautiful child, the princess of Troy. Her name was Cassandra and she had the gift of vision. In fact, her gift was even more powerful than that of Apollo’s oracle, Myrdd, and far more powerful than Apollo’s priest, Aegemon.”

“Are you telling me what I read, or what you teach, or is this something else?” she asked.

Lars and Alex looked at each other, uncertain about how to continue. Camille jumped in. “Valeria, I promise it will all make more sense when you see the bigger picture. It may help if, for now, you just accept the facts as Alex presents them.”

Valeria nodded to Camille in appreciation. Lars gestured for Alex to continue. “Are you familiar with an oracle?”

“Isn’t that a prophet? I remember in art class we studied the Sistine Chapel. Wasn’t there an oracle and a sibyl on the Sistine Chapel?”

Alex nodded. “Yes, on both accounts. An oracle was typically a prophet, but could also be used to describe a prophetess. A sibyl was a prophetess who could also be called a sibylline oracle. Their visions were considered divine. In fact, there are actually five sibyls on the Sistine Chapel.

“Those names, oracle and sibyl, were also assigned to their prophesies. The Last Oracle is also sometimes called a Sibylline Oracle and was the most powerful of all the oracles. She was also the author of the original
Sibylline Oracle
document, which disappeared not long after she created it.

“There are documents referred to as
The Sibylline Oracles
, that are considered to be original utterances from the sibyls. Those documents were created much later by other sibyls and have since been edited by various religious sects over the centuries.”

Alex stopped to give Valeria a chance to absorb the information. “Originally, there was only one oracle, Myrdd, who was a very wise wizard. Apollo gifted Myrdd with the power of vision.” Alex paused, momentarily distracted by Valeria’s gaze. “Apollo liked the effect that he'd created. So, he blew into the stars and spread fifty oracles around the world. Then he blew again and split those stars in half, creating perfect mates for his immortal oracles.”

“But Apollo’s priest, Aegemon, was bitten by Envy’s bite. Apollo had granted this gift to so many others and not to him, even though he had served Apollo faithfully as his prophet and priest. So, to appease his loyal priest, Apollo gifted Aegemon with immortality.”

“Aegemon?” Valeria interrupted.

Lars nodded. “Our enemy.”

“The robed man in the vision,” Alex added. Valeria frowned, wondering how Lars and Daphne had aged so differently. They certainly were not twenty-five years apart now, as they had been in the vision. But she had told Camille she
would take it all in first. She was certain Alex would clarify her confusion.

“For Aegemon, having the gift of immortality wasn’t good enough. Envy’s poison ran thick in his blood and he became enraged knowing that others possessed powers that were once his alone. Aegemon had used tarot cards to foretell the future. If Aegemon was wrong, he would blame the stars or say that the generals had changed their own fate.

“One day, Aegemon had just delivered a message from the cards. At four years old, the Princess Cassandra, innocently reread the cards with a different fate. Aegemon denied the child’s accuracy, but as it came to pass, she was correct.”

Alex rose and walked to the fireplace. “Aegemon realized that Cassandra had far more power of prophesy than he had.

“A few years later, Aegemon overheard Cassandra ask Apollo when the others like her would be arriving. Aegemon had seen a vision and was aware of a handful of true oracles whom would cause him trouble. He issued an order to bring all of the existing oracles to Apollo’s court to give them an opportunity to serve.

“Armies traveled across Europe and Africa to bring all potential oracles to Apollo…” Alex walked back to Valeria, returning to his position on the ottoman. He looked intensely into her eyes and said, “Including a few of us.” He paused to allow Valeria a chance to take in what he had just said.

She bit her lip. “You mean, your ancestors, right? I know that’s how Europeans sometimes talk; they say
we
and they mean ten generations before. That’s what you mean, right?” Valeria looked around the room.

She reflected for a moment. “The vision I saw…was that what was happening? Was that Cassandra and Apollo?”

No one responded. Valeria started to laugh, but saw that no one else was joining her.

“That can’t be true!”

The silence was deafening as Valeria took in this new reality. “Alex, did I misunderstand you? If I’m hearing you right, you are…I mean…that would make you…what? Over 3,000 years old?”

Alex seemed to be carefully evaluating her response. She narrowed her eyes and did her own evaluation—Lars, Alex, and Camille seemed to be frozen, awaiting her reaction. Daphne stared at the fire. Caleb sat smiling, excited from the tension. Valeria had no idea what Tavish’s expression meant; it appeared to be a cross between boredom and irritation.

Instinctively, Alex pulled Valeria’s hands into his—giving her another flash of heat from the thrill of his touch. The move had been intended to calm her, but it had quite the opposite effect. Alex took a deep breath and softened his gaze as he met her eyes. “Yes, beautiful, we are.”

Valeria knew she should be pondering the absurdity of what she had just heard. But despite her heart rate, she felt an almost tranquil haven, lost in Alex’s beautiful blue eyes that seemed to bar her from rational thoughts and actions. She turned away to take a moment to re-evaluate…well, after she forced herself to breathe again.

Deliberating over the ludicrous concept that these people sitting in a room with her were over 3,000 years old made Valeria feel ridiculous.
That couldn’t be right!
Still, they didn’t look like the kind of people who would con her. She had first-hand knowledge of that type of crowd. These people, even Tavish, seemed as if they would be truthful. Valeria didn’t want to pull her hands from Alex's but she knew that, until she did, her thinking would be colored by his touch. She started to move her hand from his and he released them, but she sensed it was almost unwillingly.

With a clearer head, she decided that none of these people
were like anyone else she had ever met, and she felt she could trust them implicitly. She decided to see where this was all heading and to reserve her judgment until later. She had the opportunity to look into Alex’s eyes to respond. She was half-afraid that she would get lost in them again and forget to answer when everyone, including Daphne, was watching. Risking it, she took the chance. They were the most remarkable blue, opening up a world where she could lose herself. Smiling dreamily, Valeria sighed and said, “Alright.”