I rolled my neck, hoping that might help. “So why now, then? Why after nearly eighteen years are all your spells and wards not working?”

Saylor gave a rueful smile. “They were only ever a Band-Aid. The closer we get to Cotillion, the weaker they’ll become.”

David’s head shot up. “Cotillion?”

“Night of the swans,” I said, suddenly remembering. “That’s what you said when you had your little”— I waved my hand—“fit.”

“Vision,” Saylor corrected while David shrugged his shoulders, uncomfortable.

“What’s happening the night of Cotillion?” It was stupid, I know, but as soon as I said it, a weight seemed to settle in my chest. Cotillion. The night I’d been looking forward to for so long, and now even it was part of this insanity?

Saylor went to take another sip of her drink, but it was empty. I didn’t drink alcohol, but I felt her pain as she frowned at the ice cubes in her glass. I could use a drink, too. “Before the last Oracle died, she not only gave us the location of the new Oracle, she also named a specific night when the new Oracle would be tested. At the end of this test, the Oracle would either be the most powerful Oracle yet, or . . . or he would be dead.”

That word—dead—seemed to hang in the air around us. David dropped into a chair, his hands clutching the knees of his pants as he slumped forward.

Saylor reached out, to touch him, I think, but her hand only hovered a few inches in front of him before she drew it back. Clearing her throat, she continued, “So that’s why I took over Cotillion and moved it to that night.”

“Why not cancel it altogether?” I shifted in my seat. “Take David out of the country that night or something.”

But Saylor just shook her head. “Certain events, they’re like fixed points in time. Destined. This is one of them. David has to go through this test, whatever it is, and nothing can stop it. All we can do is . . . be prepared.”

“So what does all this mean?” I finally asked. My voice sounded dry and unused, and my mind was racing, trying to process all of this. Magic, and Greece, and stolen babies . . . it was like my life had suddenly turned into a really bad soap opera.

“It means that you’ve been given a sacred duty,” Saylor said. Her voice sounded different, and there was hardly a trace of Southern accent in it at all. “From this day forward, you will be tasked with protecting the Oracle at all costs. He’ll be your sole focus until the day you, like Christopher, have to lay down your life for him.”

Saylor reached for my hand, and I gave it to her without thinking. “So, Harper Jane Price. Are you ready to accept your destiny?”

Chapter 16

I WITHDREW my hand. “No, thank you.”