So if you want to read the rest of this version you'll have to go to youpublish .com/files/22296/Clan-of-Oracles-Book-1 and PURCHASE IT. If you don't want to do that, then don't read this. Just warning you now. :)

But trust me, this one is completely different from the other two. You'll want to read the rest of this. :)

Mya

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One - Sunday

Nick pulled the curtain back into place as he stood up as if from a dream. God, he really, really, wished the past four years had all been a dream, but.. well... he really did have to face another day without her.

He looked over to the bunk bed he had refused to let his aunts get rid of, the bottom one still made with her sheets and blankets... even four years later. They kept trying to get him to let go of her, of her things. And he had made concessions over the years, her computer had been donated to the services for the blind, her cane had as well as the rest of her visual aid devices. Her clothing had been similarly donated, but he had kept her curtains that she had loved so much and he'd kept the bed the way she had made it that morning. The only testimonials that she had ever been here at all.

It still seemed entirely unfair to him. She had been fighting back her visions and slowly going blind from them for years, only to have her life cut short before she could find out if she could survive her last vision... she deserved better. He knew she would have had it no other way; she died saving his life, which he was grateful for, but she also knew that he would have done anything to save her, and had nearly depleted his healing magic trying. Only her last words and his aunts getting to him in time kept him from dying trying to save her in his grief. Honestly, that would have been the most tragic part of the whole thing... if she had died in vain.

He shook his head and looked at his bookshelves. Today the world just seemed gray, and nothing seemed to hold meaning in it anymore. When he got like that, that's when he knew it was time to be around other people, so he walked out and went downstairs, only to find no one was there, for once. So he sat down and flipped on the tv, channel surfing for about five seconds before Chris showed up in jeans, red t-shirt, and wrap around black with red lensed sunglasses and stylized tossled hair. Nick was surprised to see Chris not wearing anything that was at least slightly high fashion.

Chris sat down next to Nick without a word. Sometimes Chris' ability to read minds really came in handy, though he rarely went beyond the surface thoughts that Nick knew he couldn't completely shut out. Some of the magical beings around found it weird that no one in the family seemed at all concerned with the fact that Chris could dive into their heads and rearrange their thoughts if he wanted. But Nick knew Chris had enough ethics not to... heck, half the time he didn't go in even when he should or had permission to. Sometimes Nick swore Chris wasn't real fond of his mind reading abilities, though he knew Chris wouldn't ever admit it. Course, he knew there were some days that all three of the teenagers in the house with abilities would eagerly swap Tim for his magiclessness, but those days were usually few and far between. Besides, they had all seen the hoops Tim had jumped through, being in the magical world but not really of it.

The one thing that was interseting was that Chris was the only one in the family who shared an ability, namely his teleporting, with a parent, namely his mom. They all kinda assumed it had something to do with his half kadechi, or shapeshifter, heritage, though they had no proof. Especially when you considered the fact that all his half kadechi did otherwise was make Chris shorter than normal (5'2" to be exact, which was still taller than even most half kadechi reached), have violet eyes and light sensitivity.

"Are you okay?" Chris finally asked.

Nick shrugged, but knew that his words would betray him regardless of what he said.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah." He admitted.

Chris nodded. There wasn't anything left to say after four years, and they both knew it.

"You want to talk about anything?"

Nick shrugged again. "I just miss her, is all."

"Yeah, I know. We all do, but--"

Nick nodded.

There were footsteps on the stairs again and Nick looked up to see Kate, her long brown hair remarkably free of styling products for once, green eyes sparkling, descending in a floor length sleeveless pink ballgown with long gloves, which Nick knew was mostly to keep her from accidentally draining and nullifying peoples energy, magic, and species abilities as well as any illusions and spells on them when she touched them. When she got to the ground floor he realized she was also wearing matching shoes.

"What's the occasion?" He asked her, never having seen her wear anything that fancy before. Or at least that obnoxiously ornate.

"Don't tell me you forgot!" She exclaimed.

"Forgot what?" Nick asked.

"Fuck." He heard Chris mutter, and looked over to see his cousin smacking his head with his hand. "Court."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought that was next Saturday." Nick said, eyes wide.

"Nope. It's today. You've got three hours."

"Then why are you dressed already?" Nick asked.

"Mom wanted to make sure the dress fit, also, still have to do my hair and--"

Chris chuckled. "Let me guess, she's going to start on the rest of us soon, right?"

"She's pinning down Tim as we speak." She looked pointedly at Chris. "And your mom's going to want you shortly once she's done with Dad."

"Crap." Chris muttered. "She got us all new clothes, didn't she?"

Kate nodded. "And apparently it's species-specific. Sorry Nick."

Nick sighed. "I hate wearing centaur clothing... it itches and never fits right." He gave her a reluctant look. "It's at least a decent color, right?"

She shrugged. "It's in the clan colors."

Nick groaned. "Why did grandma have to have had an obsession with pink? She could have picked anything... but no, it had to be light pink."

Chris chuckled. "At least it's not bright orange."

"I think that would be preferable."

There were more footsteps as a very grumpy looking Tim came down in a pink suit, complete with dress shoes and a white shirt. Nick didn't even want to know what his aunt Helen had used to get Tim to put it on, let alone keep it on. It went oddly with his dark green eyes, long dyed black hair, and tall and skinny frame though.

"Nick, your turn." He said as he flopped onto the couch on the other side of Chris. That's when Nick noticed he even had a matching pink hair tie. How his aunts had managed that, he really didn't want to know.

Everyone stared at Tim.

"What?"

"It's just been a while since we saw you in anything not black, is all." Kate admitted.

Tim didn't say anything for a bit before he looked at Chris and Nick. "You two will probably want to go up before Mom and Aunt Zoe come after you."

Chris sighed and stood. "Yeah, probably safest." He gave Nick a pointed look.

Nick sighed and finally stood up too. "Alright, fine, I'm coming."

"Maybe they're right." Tim muttered. "Maybe grandma really was crazy."

"If that's true then the council is even more crazy for letting her color decision stand." Nick muttered.

"Amen." Tim agreed.

"It's not that bad." Kate said, though her cloudy blue eyes showed some of her doubt.

"Says the one who likes pink." Tim muttered.

"I still say it could be worse." Chris said as he headed up the stairs.

Nick shook his head as he followed Chris.

"I still think you should talk about it." Chris said, though he didn't look back at Nick. "Four years is a long time not to talk about it."

"I have talked about it."

He looked back. "Really? With who?"

"Tim, once."

Chris nodded like that didn't surprise him much as he turned around again as they continued up to the third and final floor where both of Nick's aunts were waiting in their respective pink dresses, looking impatient. Chris wordlessly went with his mom, Zoe, into the room she shared with her husband, Jo, as Tim and Kate's mom, Helen, took Nick into her and Greg's bedroom. "Look," She said as she closed the door behind them. "I know you don't like this, frankly I'm not real thrilled to make you, either, but--"

Nick sighed. "I know, dumb council rules. Just give me the thing and I'll change."

She handed him the pink shirt. "I'll help with you with the rest once you transform."

He nodded, took it, and wordlessly shut himself in the bathroom, not even worrying about where his uncles were. He quickly stripped, just wanting the whole thing over and done with as he pulled the shirt over his head and shifted back into his centaur form, somehow making his way back into the bedroom.

Aunt Helen nodded as she looked him over. "Glad the shirt fits, I had to guess with you." She pulled out the rest of it. Nick bit back another groan as she started to tie it onto his back. He really didn't understand the point of the dang thing, it's not like it did anything but cover most of his red-orange fur-covered horse torso. It didn't make him feel any more or less dressed, and no one did much or said much regardless of if he had anything on back there or not... but under council rules, he had to be dressed like this. He had to show up in true form, the form he mostly just despised. Damn thing just got in the way, really, and marked him as what he was... unrelated to the rest of the family.

His aunts Zoe and Helen had an elder brother, Brian, who had been engaged. She had had a vision of Sarah and the two did everything they could to make sure that vision came true. Then a few months after her conception a centaur had appeared in their bedroom and had used his time altering ability to... rape his mom while Brian was still there and then get away.

His mom, Marianne, had refused all talk of abortion, apparently wanting to meet the both of them, and Nick and Sarah had been born seven months later. Apparently he and Sarah had been inseparable from that moment on, which didn't surprise him much.

Their mom died a couple days later from complication of the birth, and their dad disappeared a couple days after that, never to be seen from again. Nick suspected his aunts knew more than they said, though. Nick knew Brian had left of his own volition, that much was crystal clear... whether it was because of grief, being overwhelmed caring for two newborns, or having a red-headed centaur running around reminding him of what had happened to his should-have-been-wife, Nick didn't know, but he suspected.

Aunt Helen finished tying the damn thing on and stepped back. "Does that feel okay?"

Nick wiggled a bit and took a few steps. "As good as it gets. These things will never be comfortable."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why don't you look in the mirror and see what you think?"

He went over to her full sized... for a human... mirror and looked in like she wanted, even turning so he could see the thing on his back. It wouldn't have looked half bad if it had been another color, he had to admit. It had decent embroidery around the edges in white, which he assumed had something to do with his position in centaur hierarchy, seeing as none of the others had any embroidery on theirs. Course, he was also the only one wearing traditional clothing, too. But that was mostly because he was the only non-human in the family who hadn't been outlawed by his species... though technically Chris had never been outlawed, he was just the son of an outlaw, and thusly didn't technically exist to the bureaucracy.

"So?"

"Not bad." He admitted. "Despite the color."

She laughed. "I'm not fond, either. Guess it was mom's last laugh at all of us."

Nick smiled slightly despite himself. "Yeah, guess so." He looked at her. "Thanks for the help."

She nodded. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"No worries, I will." He agreed, and headed for the door, carefully trudging down the stairs. He hated using stairs in this form cause he had to pay attention to four feet instead of two, and stairs were tricky with hooves in general, but mostly just required a slower pace.

Chris appeared next to him not long after in a suit that looked at lot like Tim's. "I still can't believe they're making us do this."

"The aunts or the council?"

"The council. Mom and Aunt Helen have no choice, really."

Nick nodded. "When was the last time we went to court, anyway?"

Chris shrugged, pushing his sunglasses back against his nose. "I don't think we ever have... besides that once after Uncle Brian left, but...."

Nick nodded, Chris had been only one then, and probably didn't remember much. Kate and Tim weren't even conceived then, really. He decided not to think about it, though. "Honestly, I still can't believe they can call us in without warning or protocol and we have to make it in, no matter what."

"I'm just glad they picked a time we could make it without having to make excuses to anyone." Chris agreed. "I don't know how we pulled that one off... course, it helps that they gave us two weeks notice."

"Which they did probably knowing that we'd need that time just to get the proper attire."

"At least they're not completely stupid."

"Completely being the operative word." Nick muttered as they hit the second floor. "This is taking way too long."

"I'd teleport you, but I've used more magic than I should anyway with Mom having me running errands yesterday and-"

"Yeah, I know. You practically ate half the fridge yesterday to make up for the energy loss. I'm just pissed off."

"Don't blame you." Chris said.

They didn't say anything for a bit.

"You aren't getting off at the second floor to fix your hair or anything?" Nick asked.

Chris laughed. "It's just the council, besides, my hair's fine."

"You just don't want to face the wrath of Kate making her hair perfect."

He smiled. "Well, that too."

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In case you didn't read the one above, here it is again!

If you want to read the rest of this version you'll have to go to youpublish .com/files/22296/Clan-of-Oracles-Book-1 and PURCHASE IT. If you don't want to do that, then don't read this. Just warning you now. :)

But trust me, this one is completely different from the other two. (as if you couldn't tell already from the fact that Sarah's dead) You'll want to read the rest of this. :)

Mya