Free The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) by Amber Darke

treachery?
    ‘We’re here!’ Tarian calls, with a glance at me.
    He’s right, while I’ve been complaining to myself, we’ve reached the bridge. Steele was right, bridge is really too strong a word for it. It’s no more than a few ropes strung across a terrifying chasm, holding up some planks that look about ready to rot. The handrail ropes only just come up to my waist.
    ‘All right, let’s go,’ says Steele.
    ‘Wait!’ I say.
    Steele raises his eyebrows at me. ‘We’re in a hurry, Oracle. What’s the problem?’
    I don’t want to look weak in front of them, but I don’t want to die either. When you put it like that, it’s not a difficult choice.
    ‘I’m scared I’ll fall,’ I say. ‘If I have a vision halfway across, I won’t be able to do anything to keep myself from going over the edge. It’s been a few hours since I last had one and the magic here is strong enough that I must be due another one pretty soon.’
    ‘Fine,’ says Steele. ‘We’ll rope ourselves together - all three of us, you in the middle. That way if you stumble there’ll be two men’s weight to keep you up there.’
    I thought he’d take this chance to make some sort of sarcastic dig at me, but we are in a hurry and it does make sense.
    ‘Thanks,’ I say, watching as he retrieves a rope from the pack and starts tying it around himself, making a sort of chest harness. Then he beckons me over and does the same to me. Tarian is last, and finally I’m tied between them, a few metres of rope separating each of us from the others.
    It makes me feel safer to know they can catch me if I slip into a vision halfway across, but I still have to take a deep breath and force myself onto the bridge. It creaks and sways as Steele leads the way onto it, and the second I follow him I feel it sag beneath me. It’s swaying so hard I’m dizzy almost right away, and I have to make myself focus on a spot on the other side. If I look down at the bridge itself my head spins. I risk a glance down every several steps to make sure the path is still clear ahead of me - I know Steele’s leading but I want to be sure I don’t miss a crack in the planks that he avoids. The last thing I need is my foot stuck in the middle of this thing.
    The bridge feels longer now that we’re on it. I can’t bear to look back and see how far we’ve come. It seems like we’ve made almost no progress but I feel as though I’ve been walking this shaky, rattling path forever, the planks beneath my feet slippery with dew, the rope under my hands fraying, the whole structure swinging from side to side with every step we make, groaning like it’s about to collapse. I’m hoping and praying that I don’t have a vision while we’re in the middle of this thing. I know we’re roped up and I’m safe but it doesn’t stop me picturing myself falling sideways, the ground looming beneath me while I hang there, trapped in the future.
    The future. None of that stuff in my visions has happened yet. And all of those things were definitely not happening on this bridge. Does that help? This is something I’ve never really had cause to wonder about before - if I’m having visions, does that mean I’m going to live at least until they happen? Or are they just possible futures? If I die will they be erased?
    When I was little and I was still trying to convince myself that I might not be the Oracle, I used to try and make my own prophecies fail. If I had a vision of eating cereal I’d have toast for breakfast for weeks. If I saw myself tripping on a particular rug in the corridors, I’d avoid that whole part of the building for weeks, but eventually I’d always forget and they would always come true.
    But this is the first time I’ve really, genuinely thought I might die. And I don’t know what to believe. But as the ground sways below me I’m genuinely starting to doubt whether we’ll ever get across this bridge.
    There’s a cracking sound, a yell, and I’m being