Raintree: Oracle

Walking behind her he pushed down the urge to brush her soft blond hair aside and kiss her neck. For comfort. For her and for himself. Just because he damned well wanted to know what that tempting neck tasted like.

He had no prophetic gifts; he did not know what the future held. But he knew that, like it or not, he wasn’t going to get rid of her anytime soon.

* * *

In years past Echo had played for smaller crowds, but not often. She’d admit that in the early days her all-girl band had been, well, a little rough when it came to hitting all the right notes. That had changed with time, but in those first few months they hadn’t been able to draw much of a crowd beyond drunk guys who thought it would be hot to hook up with a bass player or a drummer. The band had gotten better and had eventually built a following, but it had taken time.

She’d never performed alone, not until now.

Tonight less than a dozen warm bodies were scattered about the pub. The size of the crowd was a little disappointing. Of course, it was a weeknight. Maybe weekends were livelier.

At least those who were present seemed to like what they were hearing. She didn’t have to call on her weak and unwanted empathic abilities to see that. Several customers in the room smiled, a few tapped their feet or patted fingers on a table in time to the music. They all faced the stage and listened.

For tonight Echo sang ballads, love songs, a couple of sappy songs she’d written herself. To really rock out she needed a band behind her. Drums, a bass guitar, an electric piano and amplifiers. At least two big amplifiers. One woman and one acoustic guitar made for a quieter, gentler form of entertainment.

What would happen if she had an episode while she was on the postage-stamp-size stage in the Drunken Stone? She hadn’t had to worry about that before, when the visions had only come in her dreams. She hadn’t dared to sing in public since her powers had shifted and she never knew when she might be affected. Driving was risk enough, though she’d always told herself she could sense a vision coming on in time to pull to the side of the road. Maybe.

Now, however, she did worry. A little. How was she supposed to live her life if Duncan couldn’t help her manage this? Not for the first time, she wondered why his method of ridding her of the ability was so dangerous.

Sometimes she liked to imagine the life she would live without the visions. The people she could meet, the things she could do. No more worry about others finding out who she was and what she could do. No more hiding. It would be worth any risk to live that life.

Echo loved to play the guitar; she loved to sing. The fact that her fingers had already begun to hurt were a clear indication that it had been too long. She’d lost her calluses.

Tonight there were no visions. There was just music and laughter and applause. Even Duncan seemed to enjoy her performance. Doyle came out of the kitchen a time or two to wait tables and lean against the bar to listen to her. He liked her a little, she knew, but he wasn’t her type. He was a nice guy. She’d never really gone for nice guys.

That was going to have to change. If she could manage a normal life without visions, without being called a prophet ever again, she’d eventually need a nice guy. The normal package—marriage, commitment, the whole wonderfully humdrum deal—didn’t work with the kind of bad boy she was usually attracted to.

Her mind went to her current family. Gideon was in charge of getting her parents to Sanctuary, and she had no doubt about his abilities to do so. The phone call had been tense, to say the least. He’d asked too many questions she couldn’t answer.

He’d been pissed to find out where she was; at least he didn’t know why she was here.

Halfway through her set, Maisy—the librarian the landlady had been so sure would be a great friend—came in with her good friend Shay. They were both pretty girls. Maisy had very dark brown hair; Shay’s was thick and a rich auburn. Dressed in their best—tight sweaters and short skirts and boots—they drew a lot of attention as they walked in.

It took no special powers to realize that neither of these women would ever be a friend to Echo. She got a sharp glance from both girls, then they gave their full piranha-like attention to the bar and the two men there.

Shay had her sights set firmly on Duncan; Maisy smiled coyly at Doyle. The poor guys didn’t stand a chance...

Outside the pub, the wind howled with a sudden burst. A few heads turned toward the rattling door. Echo continued to play without a hitch; this was a song she knew well.

Shay leaned over the counter, all but thrusting her breasts at Duncan. Hers were not as impressive as Maisy’s, but she didn’t have a boyish figure, either. Echo couldn’t care less, but really, did the woman have no shame?

The wind picked up and the old building creaked. The wind howled so loudly it drowned out a couple of words of her song. Everyone looked up and back; the door rattled as if an invisible hand was shaking it, trying desperately to get in.

This was a weird town, and Echo had to wonder if someone in the pub, or outside it, was responsible for the sudden wind. Someone who had a gift for manipulating the weather. Someone who could bring the wind and the rain.

Duncan caught her eye, and a voice—his voice—whispered in her head.

That someone is you, love.

Chapter 7 (#ulink_8f3c64aa-0211-5baa-aa9a-6780b34b177f)

“I don’t control the weather,” Echo said succinctly when she and Rye were finally alone. She’d been about to burst with questions for the past two hours, but she’d held it in until everyone else had left.

“There was little bleedin’ control involved, I’ll grant you that.” She’d come to him in order to master the visions she did not want, and it was clear that she fought natural empathic abilities, as well. Now this? What other surprises were hidden deep in that seemingly delicate body?

The guitar she’d borrowed from him lay abandoned on the small stage; all the customers, as well as Doyle, had gone home. As they’d left, a few had whispered that a fierce storm might be coming.

They were not entirely wrong.

“You were upset to see Maisy flirting with Doyle, I expect, and that...”

“I was not!” Echo snapped defensively.

No, it had not been Doyle. Rye had seen into her mind clearly enough to know better, but she didn’t need to know everything he saw or sensed. He didn’t like how easily he slipped into her mind, how oddly near her thoughts were to his. The ability to see so much wasn’t normal for him, not now. Even before, such connections had been all but impossible.

“Something upset you, and the wind came,” he said. “Was it a missed note? An unexpected thought of your parents?”

She leaned back, pursed her lips and then said, “I did think about my parents and wonder how long it would take Gideon to get them to Sanctuary.”

“That was likely it, then.”

Echo seemed to relax a little. “Maybe there was just a perfectly normal shift in the weather,” she argued.

“Wishful thinking, love.” The endearment slipped out. Love. Maybe she was so upset she’d miss it. “There was nothing normal about that change in the wind.”

She narrowed one eye. The expression was likely meant to be fearsome, but it was not. There was not a fearsome bone in her fine body. “By the way, speaking of not normal...stay out of my head!”

He remained calm. “You invited me in, or I could not have been there.”