Emma stepped into the well-maintained cottage on the outskirts of the port town. It was a picturesque place. Bluebells lined the front walk, swaying in the gentle sea breeze. The lawn was neatly maintained, and a wooden fence surrounded the yard. The wooden cottage had a thick thatched roof that had obviously been repaired recently.

Once she was inside, she was confronted with a woman about ten years older than her with large green eyes, black hair, and a heart-shaped face. It was the woman's eyes that made her smile. The Blue Fairy had drilled into her head for years the truth that real Oracles had green eyes. It was a fact that she explained wasn't well-known. But that always confused Emma until Blue explained that people were so good at counterfeiting the skill that it wasn't apparent to the non-magical community.

The woman took one look at Emma, plucked up her crystal ball, and put it away in a box. "I won't be needing this," she mumbled.

"Wait, but I was hoping you could help me," Emma protested. "Please. I just need a little guidance."

The Oracle raised one eyebrow at Emma and replied, "You misunderstand my meaning. I'll help you. I just don't need all this crap I use for the general public." she said, waving her hand dismissively at her table. She then gathered the sage scattered around the table and put that away too.

Emma cocked her head and had a puzzled expression on her face. "Why use those things if you don't need them?"

"Because most people are idiots!" she snapped. The Oracle paused, with clenched fists, and took a deep breath. "I only sort of mean that." She shook her head, "It's been a frustrating day until now."

"If you need me to leave…" Emma offered, meaning it but hoping not to be taken up on the offer to go.

"No. And honestly, I haven't helped anyone with magic in almost three years. This will be a nice change. I just want to smack my last client over the head and knock some sense into her stupid head."

Emma gave her a wry smile, "I would imagine they don't come back as clients if you do that."

"No, but I'd be fine with that, really. She keeps returning, asking the same question and getting the same answer. And then she ignores everything I tell her."

She sat down at her seat at the round table with a light blue tablecloth on it and motioned for Emma to sit too. "I got ahead of myself. Sorry. I'm Tabatha."

"Don't worry about it, Tabatha. I'm Emma, and I'm so excited to meet you."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Your eyes are green. I have hope that you turn out to be a real Oracle. If not, though, I won't tell anyone."

Tabatha gave Emma an approving smile. "Someone has taught you well." She then held up her hand to stop Emma from saying anything. "I can sense enough to know not to look for any answers from you. Your privacy is your protection."

"Thank you."

The Oracle added, "I have trained myself to ask things to learn more about my clients. It helps me to give them their future. Please know I'm not trying to pry into your life. And don't feel the need to answer. It's merely a professional habit."

"So you're not a real Oracle?" Emma asked, confused.

"I absolutely am. I just don't use that skill much anymore. I would starve to death if I did. People don't want the truth. I learned that when I told the unvarnished truth once and nearly got myself beaten to death." She pulled her hair back from near her hairline on the right side of her face, exposing a long jagged scar. "He used my own fire poker."

Emma shuddered. "That's awful!"

Tabatha let her hair back down and, smirking, said, "So out of anger, I told all his girlfriends about each other. He ended up running off and joining the Navy to get away from them. And what would you know, but he ended up dying of illness alone in a foreign land as I told him he would initially."

"Oh, that's funny! I am sorry he hurt you, though."

"It taught me something, and I grew from it. And really, I need the reminder sometimes. Like with this woman, that's frustrating me. I need to remember my lessons over the years and let it go."

"What happened? If you don't mind if I ask." Emma was curious and couldn't help herself.

Tabatha frowned and folded her hands together in her lap. "Her boyfriend is cheating on her, and I've told her so. I've even given her the names of the other women, multiple, he's slept with. And yet all she does, time after time, is to come to me and ask what she can do to please him. She just doesn't care that he's unfaithful. All she does is explain to me that true love overlooks the bad. Fucking gag me."

"Sadly, not everyone can change their path. Some people have chosen to dig themselves in and identify with their choices, good or bad. Even when their initial decision was founded on faulty logic."

The Oracle gave her a questioning look. "I feel that is something personal and not just related to Susan-the-sap, as I call her." She shook her head. "That wasn't a question. Just an observation."

Emma nodded. "It's a lesson I've been forced to learn. I'll say that much."

Tabatha shifted in her chair and said, "What is it that you're needing from me? If I can help in any way, I will. I sense that whatever journey you're on, it's important."

"I need to find something that I'm told no longer exists. And if, by chance, it does, everyone claims that it would be in the clutches of The Dark One. Feel free to send me on my way immediately."

Blinking in shock, Tabatha shook her head. "Gosh, I'm glad I can't remember what I say when I'm in a true Oracle trance. I'll try to help you but don't tell me one way or the other if it worked. I don't want to know where anything is that he would want. That doesn't seem safe. Are you sure you want this information?"

"I'm sure." Emma paused and added. "You feel it, don't you? I can tell now that you're powerful enough to tell."

"I wish I couldn't. I like you, and people with strong magical powers don't last long in this kingdom if they're not aligned with that man."

Emma knew the Oracle would never say "The Dark One." A mythology that had grown up so enormously around him that people began to believe saying his name got his attention no matter how far away he was.

She said, "I'm looking for magic beans. Are there any to be found?"

Tabatha shook her head. "You're crazier than Susan." She then smiled, "But at least you're not a bland doormat. Just promise me you won't tell me anything that I'm about to say."

"I promise."

Emma was startled by how quickly Tabatha went into her Oracle trance. She found herself trying to memorize every part of what was happening to detail it to Blue one day. That was when the fairy was speaking to her again after the fit. She knew she would throw over Emma's disappearing act. True Oracles were very rare, and it would interest her.

She watched as her clear green eyes turned cloudy and then lightened until her eyeballs were completely white. Her lids were fixed open, unblinking, while she stared through Emma.

In a raspy and flat tone of voice, she said, "Three beans are to be found at the top of the beanstalk for what they're worth. They will be found in plain wrappings and cloaked from others. Know that betrayal will stalk you, coming like a thief in the night. Beware of two faces on one man."

"Where is the beanstalk?" Emma asked

"Deep in the Enchanted Forest. Remember this, be wise. Your eyes won't see what your heart knows."

Tabatha snapped out of her trance and gave Emma a sour look. "I can tell by your face you're not pleased."

"I'm confused," she admitted honestly. "Really confused."

"It's how it usually is. I can't help it. Just know I wish you luck and that the answer takes you far away from danger."

"I'm not telling what was said," Emma vowed. "I promised. But thank you for all your help."

She then paused and added, "I have something for you." Emma pulled a glass vial from her pocket and opened the stopper. She then chanted a spell, and the liquid inside glowed bright red, and then the light faded to nothing. "Susan's a fool, and I wish this weren't the best thing I could think of to have her stop frustrating you. Have her add one of her hairs to this liquid and then put the contents in his drink."

"What will that do?"

"It's the best punishment I can devise for him without destroying her. His male member will only work when he has sex with her. It won't make him good, but it will make him faithful."

Tabatha took the vial from Emma's hand and looked thoughtfully at it. "In a way, it's a punishment for her too. He won't leave her so she can move on to someone else."

"And what do you really think would happen if he left her?"

The answer came quickly to the Oracle. "She'd kill herself."

Emma stood. "And now I've saved a life. I will try to remember that when I think of her volunteering to tie herself to such a man."

Clasping the vial in her hand, Tabatha shrugged sadly. "You're right. This preserves her life."

"It just seems like such a sad way to live."

"It is." Sighing the Oracle and she added, "We were friends growing up. I can't respect her now, though, and it's destroyed what we had."

Emma stood and said, "And yet you're still helping her the best you can."

Walking away from the cottage, Emma thought about the men she had known her whole life growing up. She couldn't fathom any of them ever being able to do anything like what Susan's boyfriend was doing. She reminded herself of the warning about the two-faced man. Just because it hadn't been her experience of men, it didn't mean all men could be trusted.