Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) by Morgan Kelley Read Free Book Online Page B

fingertips, she touched his face. Her fingers ran the length of the scar.
    “Well?”
    “You see the past. I see the future. You’re more scarred on the inside than the outside.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means you think you’re ugly, hideous, and a monster, but you’re not. Your face isn’t bad at all. It’s all in your mind. You hate yourself so much that you don’t see you’re still as handsome as you were. I see that handsomeness.”
    He stared at her.
    She was out of her damn mind.
    Here was the proof.
    “Can my team come in? We have work to do. We want to start working on this case.”
    He didn’t know what to say.
    This little redheaded woman was rolling right over him, and he didn’t think he could tell her no.
    “Avalon.”
    “Let me help you. I see what’s coming for you. I need you to trust me. If you do, I promise you won’t be let down. This is my job, Lucian. This is what I do. I help people like us. I help psychics who are trapped and can’t find their way out. Let me guide you out of this mess.”
    He was scared.
    There were four strangers not far away, and he knew they were going to be disgusted.
    Everyone always was or they pitied him.
    He hated that most.
    “Okay, but one gawking look, and I’m kicking everyone out.”
    That was the best she could hope for at this point. Lucian was going to take a lot of work.
    Yet, he had a chance to heal.
    She knew how.
    His future was crystal clear, and Avalon knew how to make it happen.
     
     
    Her name was Bishop.
     
    And she would save the day.
     
     
     
     
                             * * *   O R A C L E   * * *
     
     
     
     
    Ravenswood Town Hall
    Silas Reed’s Office
     
     
     
    She genuinely liked the man she called boss. Silas Reed was a good man and a close family friend. When she needed a job, he allowed her father to hire her on as a deputy.
    She’d been green as grass, and likely a menace to everyone around her, but he saw something in her.
    Bishop appreciated that.
    “Bish, we have a mess,” he said, running his hands through his very gray hair. “Have you seen the news?”
    She laughed. “Do you really think I had time today to kick back, grab a cold one, and watch the media prattle on about bullshit stuff they have no business discussing?”
    He snorted. “No, not really.”
    She glanced at her watch. “Silas, I didn’t have lunch or dinner. I’m ready to eat that stuffed raccoon of yours,” she said, pointing at his taxidermy friend in the corner.
    “I have half a sandwich,” he offered, opening the little refrigerator beneath his desk. “I can order you something if you’re hungry.”
    “I’ll go with the sandwich. I don’t have much time. I have to get back to the morgue and check in with Roxy.”
    “How is my granddaughter doing?”
    “She’s crazy. She plays with organs and maggots. Something is definitely wrong with her. You tell me what she’s thinking about.”
    He laughed.
    Silas loved this girl.
    She was like one of his own kids.
    “I’m worried about this,” he offered.
    She ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwich like it was the only thing left in the world to consume. When she got home, she was taking down a box of cereal next.
    “You should be. I’m worried.”
    That said a lot.
    Bishop Killion was tough. She had been raised with a house full of brothers, and a father who was a cop. Oddly, she was the ONLY one who followed in his footsteps—with good reason.
    She had ‘the gift’ .
    You could see it in her green eyes when she was watching a suspect. The girl was just like her father. She had balls a plenty, and the ability to solve a puzzle with the best of them.
    That’s why she was the youngest sheriff in this town, or any of the surrounding ones.
    It had nothing to do with the older men around her playing deputy. It had everything to do with the fact that in Ravenswood, the Killions were known for three things.
    They raised hell.
    They