The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) by Amber Darke Read Free Book Online Page B

more like the one you hear about in Robin Hood stories - huge, mysterious, filled with wonder and danger. That’s the one we’re headed for. If Steele can perform the spell.
    ‘You both have to be touching me,’ he says.
    Reluctantly, I put a hand on his muscular shoulder. Tarian does the same on the other side. Steele puts his hands flat against the trunk of the tree and takes a deep breath. Then he starts to whisper the incantation that will transport us to Sherwood.
    It’s taking a while and I’m beginning to worry that Steele’s magic is still depleted from the chase earlier, but at last the dim field around us starts to warp and blur, and I feel a strange pulling sensation. There’s a few seconds of darkness, and then a rushing light, a wailing noise, and a feeling like I’m about to throw up, and then we’re standing in the same positions we were before, except that Steele’s palms are against the huge trunk of the real Major Oak, and we’re standing in Sherwood.
    The tree is huge, maybe thirty feet across, and it’s not hard to believe that it’s a thousand years old. There’s a quiet energy to it that makes me feel safe. I look around us - I can see the visitor centre in the distance, and a tourist signpost pointing out the various different walks. This is still the mundane side of Sherwood. We need to get to the other side.
    ‘How do we get through?’ Tarian asks.
    ‘We have to be touching. Again,’ Steele says. ‘Right hands on shoulders, left hands touching the tree.’
    Tarian and I obey. I put my hand back on Steele’s shoulder and Tarian puts his hand on mine. We touch our left hands to the Oak.
    ‘Now, close your eyes,’ says Steele.
    I don’t like the sound of that, but I obey.
    ‘Now,’ says Steele. ‘We have to walk thirteen times around the tree - exactly .’
    ‘That would be a lot easier with our eyes open,’ I say.
    ‘I know,’ he growls. ‘That’s the point. It’s not supposed to be easy.’
    I find a knothole in the wood just under my hand. I touch it, trying to remember the shape of it so that I’ll recognise it again. Then Steele starts walking and all I can do is follow, fumbling my way around the roots and leaf litter in my way, I don’t know what will happen if I open my eyes to look where I’m going - maybe it’ll just make the spell fail, maybe it’ll trap me in some sort of hellish limbo forever. I squeeze my eyes as tight shut as they’ll go. I don’t feel like taking the chance.
    I’m starting to wonder if I’ve missed my knothole - surely we must have been at least once around the tree by now? - but suddenly there it is, I’m almost certain of it, but by then Steele is already moving us on. I hope he’s keeping a good count too. It seems like less time before I pass it again. I keep counting, three times around, four, five. With my eyes closed, I keep thinking I hear noises in the distance. I think about how weird this would look if someone else was here - three people playing some sort of weird game in the early hours of the morning.
    I suddenly remember our pursuers, the servants of the Northern Prince who are on their way here too. If they get to the Oak while we’re wandering around with our eyes closed, we’ll be like sitting ducks. My stomach clenches in fear and I almost miss counting off our ninth time around. But there’s nothing I can do. If they see us they’ll kill us, but all I can do is keep my eyes closed and count and hope.
    Ten times around, eleven, twelve, and the last one seems to take forever. I’m terrified I’ll miss it. Steele slows in front of me.
    ‘Um...’ he says. ‘I think we’re there?’
    ‘No,’ I say. ‘Keep going, we haven’t made it yet.’
    Steele really must be unsure, because he does what I say and carries on. A few seconds later I find the knothole.
    ‘Stop!’ I yell. ‘This is it.’
    ‘Are you sure?’ Steele asks.
    ‘Positive,’ I say.
    ‘All right,’ says Steele. ‘Here goes nothing.