Oracle rising, p.1
Oracle Rising, page 1
part #3 of Genesis Academy Series
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Books by Barbara Hartzler
Dedication
FREE Prequel
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Paige's Story Continues
Bonus Chapter
Prequel Sample
Also By Barbara Hartzler
About the Author
Acknowledgments
GENESIS ACADEMY
Book 3
Oracle Rising
Barbara Hartzler
Copyright © 2023 Barbara Hartzler Sutton
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2023
Editor: Rachel Garber
Cover Design by Fantasy Book Cover Designs
BOOKS BY BARBARA HARTZLER
THE MONTROSE PARANORMAL ACADEMY SERIES
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 1:The Nexis Secret
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 2: Crossing Nexis
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 3: The European Conspiracy
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 4: The Seer’s Army
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 5: The Last Ruby
Montrose Paranormal Academy Book 5.5: The Secondborn Seer
Montrose Paranormal Academy: The Complete Series Box Set
THE SHADOWSTONE ACADEMY SERIES
Shadowstone Academy, Book 1: Broken Trinity
Shadowstone Academy, Book 2: Rise of the Watchers
Shadowstone Academy, Book 3: Sacred Stone Squad
Shadowstone Academy, Book 4: The Final Stand
Shadowstone Academy Boxset: The Complete Series
THE GENESIS ACADEMY SERIES
Genesis Academy, Book 1: The Seer’s Legacy
Genesis Academy, Book 2: Oracle Unlocked
Genesis Academy, Book 3: Oracle Rising
Genesis Academy, Book 4: The Last Amethyst - October 2023
For my mom, who reads all my books. Hope you like this one!
Want to read the prequel for FREE? Read all about how James was banished from Montrose Paranormal Academy … and when Lucy’s visions really started.
Click here to join my mailing list to download your exclusive free copy of Montrose Paranormal Academy, Book 0: The Nexis Awakening today!
www.barbarahartzler.com
CHAPTER ONE
SOPHIE
THINGS AT Genesis Academy were changing—in a good way. My lips curled into a smile at the scene playing out before me. Right now, my entire family was moving into the visitor’s suite like a parade of locusts, chattering away.
After all the craziness I’d endured to unbind my Oracle powers from the clutches of dark magic before my eighteenth birthday, I could really use a slice of normal life right now.
Even if my crazy family was far from normal. My mom, the Seer. My aunt Paige, the Secondborn Seer. And now me—the Oracle. Not to mention my Dad, the former Interpreter and Aunt Felicia and Uncle Eric, the former Messenger, and Secondborn Messenger, respectively.
Yeah, we were a bunch of weirdos with far-from-normal supernatural powers.
Soon enough, I’d have to tap into my newfound Oracle powers, just to see if that whole Ascension ceremony actually made them stronger.
But for now, I’d enjoy some much-deserved family time. Or family chaos in this case.
“Shouldn’t Sophie move in with us?” Mom huffed out, dragging in two suitcases at once.
“Of course she should.” Dad ruffled my hair as he passed me. “But her friends have to come too, especially that bodyguard boyfriend of hers.”
He winked at me, and my cheeks lit themselves on fire.
“Dad. Stop it.” I ground out through clenched teeth. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“Good. Then I’m doing my job as your dad.” He flashed me a mischievous half-smile and followed my mom upstairs.
She was counting out all the rooms. “I think we have enough spare rooms for the kids. I’ll have to call Stella to make sure it’s okay.” She leaned over the railing, her dark hair streaked with strands of gray swishing over her shoulder. “Would you like that, Sophie?”
Biting my lip, I bobbed my head furiously. Even though I’d been attacked in this very room by the Supreme Guardian Councilor only a few weeks ago, I still preferred my room in the visitor’s suite over my dorm room. En suite bathrooms beat communal bathrooms, hands down.
After the massive invasion by the True Guardians, as they’d taken to calling themselves now, and the Council Guard, Aunt Stella had ordered that the back entrance to the visitor’s suite be bricked in. The maintenance crew had just finished up the changes yesterday.
In fact, the whole school was getting a security makeover. With more and more Shadow Guard troops coming in daily, Aunt Stella had set up heavy guard patrols that rotated around the campus twenty-four-seven. They’d also put barbed wire on all the fences and had stationary guards posted at every entrance and exit that couldn’t be walled off. My beach runs, after-dinner walks, and rooftop sessions with Xander were now strictly forbidden. Our alfresco meals were still up for debate. As long as guards were on duty and the area swept, we could still have our lunches and dinners on the back patio. But even that could be taken away at a moment’s notice.
On my eighteenth birthday, not only had my world been turned upside, but the entire Order of the Guardians was thrown into chaos.
All because the Supreme Guardian Councilor attacked Genesis Academy to try to steal my powers. And instead, I’d used my powers to show everyone how he rigged the Guardian Council election—exposing him for the fraud he was.
And then I destroyed one of the last three Sacred Amethysts. Now there were only two Sacred Amethysts left in the world.
For centuries, the fragile existence of the Three Societies was centered around guarding the twelve Sacred Stones handed down to them from the time of Moses. All twelve stones originally went to the Order of the Guardians, but the lust for power divided the order into three secret societies.
The first faction to break off from the original Guardians and form their own group was the Nexis Society. The original Nexis founders had an above-average lust for power and were the social climbers of the group. They were charged with guarding the four Sacred Rubies that had the power to control the unseen world of angels and demons. The only problem was that only the Seer could actually wield the power of the rubies—just to add some checks and balances.
A second faction split off to form their own group. Calling themselves the Watcher Corps, they set themselves up as the mediators between the over-cautious Guardians and the power-hungry Nexis Society. The Watchers were charged with protecting the four Sacred Sapphires, a stone that allowed everyone to see the unseen world of angels and demons.
After twenty centuries of in-fighting, cold wars, and actual wars, in the early twenty-first century, evil leaders emerged from the two factions bent on world domination.
One of these evil leaders was my grandmother, Rosalyn Stanton. Twenty-five years ago, Rosalyn and the Nexis Society went after the only Chosen One who could wield the power of the Sacred Rubies to command armies of demons—the Seer, aka my mother.
Instead of getting her to control demons for them like they wanted, Mom destroyed all four of the Nexis Rubies in what we now refer to as the Nexis Ruby War.
A few years later, another evil leader rose to power, one of the co-conspirators behind the scenes of the Nexis Ruby War. Sherrilyn Montrose quietly took over the Watcher Corps with a Guardian smear campaign, then went after my Aunt Paige for her Secondborn Seer powers.
In the Watcher Sapphire War, Aunt Paige ended up destroying all four Sapphires and the Sector Three Guardian Amethyst, which the enemy had tainted with dark magic.
And now I had destroyed one of the three remaining Guardian Amethysts. All because the angel who gave me my powers told me it was the sacrifice I had to make to free myself of dark magic. There were only two Guardian Amethysts left now—and both sides were freaking out about it.
Those of us in the Rebellion, or whatever we’d end up officially calling ourselves, were ready for the era of secret societies to end. We wanted to live normal lives in the normal world without spies, endless secrets, and costly wars.
But the True Guardians wanted to preserv
Suddenly, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, snapping me out of my musings.
Someone was behind me, his breath warm on my nape.
“You know, if you move into the visitor’s suite, I’ll have to move in here with you,” Xander whispered in my ear, his warm breath sending sparks skimming down my spine.
When I turned to look at my boyfriend, his lips were curled into a smirk. Like he knew exactly how his words, even just his presence, affected me.
“What?” He shrugged one shoulder, piercing me with his burning blue gaze. “I’m just saying.”
“Of course you are.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to hide my smirk.
Mom leaned over the railing and shouted down to me. “Stella says it’s okay, but only if we have extra guards stationed at your door.”
I exhaled a deep breath and rolled my eyes.
Xander called up to her. “Couldn’t agree more, Mrs. Stanton.”
“Xander, I told you to just call me Lucy.” Even so, Mom smiled and shot me a knowing look.
Then she disappeared back into the recesses of the balcony.
I gave Xander the side eye. “Are you really going to call my mom Lucy?”
“Not a chance,” he puffed out a silent laugh. “But I will move in here if you want to. It sounds like I could keep you a lot safer in this smaller suite, especially now that it’s only got one entrance.”
He pulled me into the nearest room, which was the downstairs game room.
Instead of flicking on the lights, he shut the door and pressed me up against it.
Suddenly his lips were on mine, warm and sweet and making my knees want to melt into the floor.
I closed my eyes and sank into his arms. Until images started forming behind my eyelids. Fear curdled in my throat, and I tried to pull back, but there was nowhere to go.
My lungs heaving for air.
“Something wrong, Sunshine?” he murmured, finally pulling back, his mouth swollen from my kisses.
“I—uh, I don’t know.” I gnawed on my bottom lip.
How could I tell him I’d been starting to see visions, but at the same time pulling myself back from seeing too much? I had all of these new Oracle powers after my eighteenth birthday, but they’d only given me nightmares.
Sure, I’d have to face the inevitable and see bad things. But not while kissing my boyfriend, am I right?
I just hated that these new powers invaded my life like this.
“C’mon, out with it.” Xander rubbed the side of my cheek, staring into my eyes. “You know whatever it is, we can tackle it together, right?”
I nodded, blinking up at him. “Do you think your sister will want to move in here?”
His eyes clouded over, and he pulled back, as if he knew exactly what I was doing.
“I’m sure she won’t mind.” He cupped my cheek again, leaning in. “I hope you know you can trust me with whatever’s going on with you. When you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Xander.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“Let’s go find my sister. I guess.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then led me out of the room.
I don’t know why I didn’t just tell him the truth. But I would. Soon.
—————><—————
SOPHIE
EXCITEMENT BUBBLED in my veins as I bounded up the main academy stairs and raced down the hall to my dorm room—soon to be my old room. My roomie was going to lose it when I told her the good news.
“Bella, wait till you hear this.” I threw open the door and froze in the doorway.
Bella was locked in an embrace with my cousin Patrick on the bed, their lips glued together.
In two seconds, they broke apart. Bella’s cheeks flamed beet red, her curls even wilder than normal.
“Hey, Sophie.” She had the decency to grimace, her gaze flying from me to her boyfriend.
“Hey, Soph.” Patrick grinned at me like he’d just won the lottery or something.
“Patrick, get out of here.” I hissed, smacking him on the shoulder. “Xander’s right behind me.”
“Oh, crap.” Patrick’s big brown eyes flew wide as he rose to his feet in a flash. “Too bad there’s nowhere I can hide.”
“Just sit over there and pretend we were studying or something.” Bella smoothed her clothes and hair back into place.
“Um, yeah. I don’t think that’s gonna work since we haven’t had real classes in like two weeks.” Patrick shot me a small grin as he fluffed his fro.
“Shoot, you’re right.” Bella turned to me. “What was your news, anyway?”
“We’re moving into the visitor’s suite with my family.” I smiled as wide as I could to cover the total and complete awkwardness.
It was one thing to know your two best friends were dating, and another to catch the live show.
Right on cue, Xander filled the doorway. “Hey, Izzy. Did Sophie tell you the news?”
“Yeah, she just did.” Bella’s eyes brightened, her smile a little too big. “No more communal bathrooms.”
Xander narrowed his eyes at her, then turned to my cousin. “Patrick,” he growled.
Patrick didn’t even flinch. “Does that mean we’re moving to the visitor’s suite too?”
Then he flashed Xander his trademark megawatt grin.
Gotta hand it to my cousin. Either he had balls of steel or he really loved Bella. Probably the latter.
Xander’s glare turned into a scowl. “I guess so.”
“And you’re hoping they’ll let us be roomies. Am I right?” Patrick arched his eyebrows, barely holding back a laugh.
Bella sputtered, dropping some of the clothes she’d started gathering from her wardrobe.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud.
“Yeah, quite the opposite, actually.” Xander’s accent was suddenly extra British.
One glance at Patrick, and I totally lost it. I busted out laughing, with Bella and Patrick not far behind.
“Was that funny?” Xander’s forehead wrinkled as he turned to me.
I tried to rein in my giggles. “It’s your face, mostly. You look like it’s the end of the world rooming with Paddy.”
“Do I?” He puffed up his shoulders, smoothing away all the forehead wrinkles as he leveled a gaze at Patrick. “Well, I’m still getting used to my sister having a boyfriend who is ballsy enough to make out in her room on a weekday.”
“Oh!” I yelled. “Burn!”
Patrick coughed and Bella’s cheeks flamed again.
Then Xander turned a serious look on Patrick. “Don’t look so worried. We’ll have plenty of time to iron out the details once we’re flatmates.”
And this time, everyone cracked real smiles, including Xander.
“Okay, I’m done messing with you. Let’s help the girls pack. You know I can’t let this one out of my sight.” He pointed at me, his blue eyes twinkling.
I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t have much to pack. You can start on the desk. I can fit all my clothes into a duffel bag. Especially if we don’t need the uniforms anymore.”
Xander arched one dark eyebrow at me. “Maybe you could bring one uniform.”
“Hey, man. That’s my cousin!” Patrick yelled across the room. Then he started laughing. “I’m just kidding.”
“Better be.” Xander rolled his eyes at me, but I saw his lips curl into the teeniest of smirks.
The countdown was on. Soon enough Patrick would wear him down, and they’d become friends. It was only a matter of time.
Too bad time wasn’t on our side right now. As I packed my clothes into my duffel, my stomach twisted into knots.
Shadow Guard troops would be arriving here from Sector Two in a matter of days. Soon this room would be occupied by soldiers preparing for war. Or other Genesis Academy students who stayed behind to join the war effort.
Things were about to change in big ways. And I had a feeling it would get worse before it got better.
