“No,” I said quietly. “We only have to get three of the pieces.”
The room fell silent, all eyes wide and on me.
“Excuse me?” Silas said at last.
“Shay and I went to Haldis Cavern,” I said. “He has the piece that was hidden there.”
Shay blanched. “Uh, I haven’t told them about Haldis yet, Cal.”
“I know.” I let my gaze tell him exactly what I thought of that decision. “It’s a hilt. Isn’t it? A sword hilt?”
“Yes . . . it is.” Monroe turned to face Shay. “What haven’t you told us about Haldis?”
Shay reached for his inside jacket pocket. “Sorry. It’s just that I didn’t know if we could trust you. But I guess that’s a moot point now.” He withdrew the shimmering ochre cylinder.
The silence in the room had grown so thick it felt as though I could reach out and gather it in my arms.
“When did you retrieve Haldis?” Monroe finally murmured. His eyes were locked on the strange object.
“Calla and I went to check out the cavern in October,” Shay said, rolling the cylinder back and forth in his palms. The more I looked at it, noting the way his fingers curled perfectly around its shape, the more convinced I was that I understood.
“That’s when Shay used the ice picks,” I said. “The Keepers had a giant spider guarding Haldis. He killed it.”
“With ice picks?” Connor’s eyes widened.
Shay shuddered. “It was horrible.”
“I don’t know,” I said, a smile pulling at my lips as I recalled the fight. “You nailed that beast without too much trouble.”
“With ice picks?” Connor said again, gazing at Shay as if truly seeing him for the first time.
“Yeah,” Shay said, but he looked a little ill. He gripped the shimmering cylinder more tightly.
Silas snorted and leaned over to dig through a leather satchel half buried under papers on the desk. When he stood up, he had donned a pair of thick leather gloves. He reached out toward the gleaming object.
I started to open my mouth but then clamped my lips together and watched. His fingers brushed the smooth surface and he yelped and stumbled back, shaking his hand. The rest of the Searchers stared at Silas.
“That’s odd,” he said, reaching for Haldis again.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” I said quietly. “The pain gets worse every time.”
All eyes in the room focused on me. I stood my ground, returning each gaze with a challenging stare.
“You knew it would hurt me?” Silas’s voice bubbled with outrage.
“I didn’t know,” I said. “Well, at least not for sure. I thought maybe it was just Guardians who couldn’t touch it. But it seems that only Shay is allowed.”
Silas’s eyes bulged. “Even with enchanted gloves?”
This guy was nuts. “You thought gloves would let you touch Haldis?”
“Well, I had this theory. . . .” He scratched his head.
Monroe groaned, dropping his face into his hands.
“Silas, you didn’t say it was a theory. You swore it would work. We told Anika it would work!”
“Moron.” Connor snorted. He inched closer to Shay, examining Haldis while keeping a safe distance.
“What’s wrong?” Shay asked, frowning at their defeated expressions.
“Silas devised our most recent Striker attacks.” Adne smiled thinly. “Searcher strike teams have been trying to get to the sites in the hopes that we could pull the pieces of the cross ourselves and keep them safe until the Scion appeared.”
“But none of you can touch them,” I said. My confidence in the Searchers crumbled a bit. Could they really help my pack if they made mistakes like this?
“We didn’t know that.” Connor glared at Silas. “And dozens of Strikers were lost in attempts to even get close to the sites.”
I had to look away, all too aware that we’d made the same kind of mistake today. I can’t blame them. We’re all doing the best we can.
Silas just looked slightly put off. “I was certain it would work.”
“Why were you focused on the pieces?” I asked. “What’s so special about these swords?”
“The Elemental Cross is the only force in the world that can banish wraiths.” Monroe’s voice was deadly quiet. “When the Scion wields the swords, he can expel them from the earth, defeat the minions of the Netherworld. Even Bosque Mar himself. Nothing else can.”
Shay stared at Monroe, the boy’s face suddenly chalk white.
“I can fight the wraiths?”
“Yes,” Monroe said, placing his hand on Shay’s shoulder. “You can and you will. In time.”
Silas, apparently recovered from his moment of humiliation, spoke up. “We must retrieve the Elemental Cross. It’s the only thing that will give us victory over the Keepers.”
I nodded, trying to imagine the type of power it would take to defeat Bosque and his horde.
“Why did you keep this from us?” Monroe turned on Shay, eyes flashing with anger.
Shay looked around at their dejected faces and sighed.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I wasn’t convinced you were the good guys. I wasn’t going to trust you until Calla did.”
I bit my lip, grateful for his words but regretting what it cost the Searchers.
“Fine,” Monroe said gruffly, folding his arms across his chest. “Let’s move on. At least we know the Keepers can’t take the weapon from him once he has it.”
“It’s good that you have Haldis, Shay,” Adne said. “That will save us a trip.”
Shay smiled. “I suppose it will.” He turned his eyes on Silas. “So who was the lady?”
“The lady?” Silas raised an eyebrow.
“The woman who was in the cavern; she sang, and then all the lights went out and Haldis was in my hand.”
“Ah.” Silas smiled. “That was Cian.”
“Who?” Shay looked at him blankly.
“Warrior, prophetess,” Silas replied. “The only reason we’re here today.”
“She was the first Searcher,” Monroe added. “And your great-aunt several times over. The Scion’s bloodline begins with the forebearers of Eira and Cian.”
“Who was Eira?” I asked.
Monroe’s face clouded and he looked at Shay. “Your very great grandmother. She was Cian’s sister and the first Keeper.”
“Her sister?” Shay’s eyes widened. “How is that possible?”
Silas cleared his throat.
“Oh, just get it over with.” Connor groaned. He unceremoniously dropped to the floor and stretched out, arranging a stack of papers into a pillow.
“It’s really not that long of a story,” Silas muttered.
Connor didn’t open his eyes.
“And it’s a good story,” Silas pleaded.
“Good?” At that Connor’s eyelids snapped up. “It’s a bloody disaster is what it is.”
“I mean it’s exciting,” Silas amended.
“Yeah, our lives are ruined and you call it a literary triumph.”
“Just let him tell the story, Connor,” Adne said curtly, and gestured to Silas. “Once upon a time . . .”
Silas beamed. “The spirit world wasn’t hidden from human beings. Societies across the globe mixed with the forces of the earth and those of the Nether. That mixing is what most people would call ‘magic,’ but it’s much more than that.”
“How so?” Shay asked.
“Connecting to the elemental powers of the earth is natural. Something that comes along with life as a being on this planet. Everything is part of the same system, the same energies. The ability to tap into those forces varies from person to person, but the latent ability is there for everyone.”
“So what’s the problem, then?” Shay frowned. “If magic is just a part of people.”
“Not just people,” Silas corrected. “Animals, plants, earth, sky, stone. Everything.”
“Elemental forces aren’t the pro
blem, Shay,” Monroe said quietly. “But the earth’s magic isn’t the only kind that touches this world.”
“You mean the Nether?” I asked. Cold fingers crept up my spine. “Where wraiths and succubi come from?”
Monroe nodded.
“Not bad, she-wolf.” Silas smirked. “The Nether exists as a sort of oppositional force to the earth. Never truly part of this world but always alongside it. Like trains on parallel tracks.”
“Or its evil twin.” Adne laughed, but there was no joy in the sound.
“Too true.” Silas nodded. “When more human beings were actively tapping into the spirit world, some thought it prudent to try to harness the forces of the Nether for their own gains.”
“Why isn’t any of this recorded?” Shay asked. “Even though people always knew about Nether.”
“I’m sorry,” Silas snapped. “I thought you were supposed to be educated. Haven’t you read any history books?”
“Of course I have,” Shay said.
“Well, if you’d been paying attention, you would have noticed people up until the mid-nineteenth century talking about witches, demons, and monsters nonstop.”
“I thought that was just superstition.” Shay’s brow knit.
“Enter the scientific revolution and the modern age.” Silas smiled. “Let’s all give the Keepers a big round of applause.”
Shay and I exchanged a confused glance.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Silas,” Monroe murmured.
“Of course, my apologies,” the Scribe said quickly. “The idea of superstition is a modern invention. Its use of course is to explain away frightening beings that have always been very real and difficult to control. As you’ve just demonstrated, superstition was a very useful device and has had tremendous success in rewriting history.”
Shay was incredulous. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“He’s not,” Adne said coldly.
“So what really happened?” I asked, still struggling against the wall of lies that had surrounded my life until now.
“As I said before, use of elemental power is all well and good, but dabblers in the Nether realm created problems for themselves and their neighbors. Creatures of the Nether don’t mix well with humans.”
“What do you mean?” Shay asked.
“You’ve seen it,” I said. “We’re their food. Wraiths, succubi, and incubi. They feed on the worst parts of this life. Thrive on our suffering.”
Adne’s face was ashen, but she jerked away when Monroe came around the table and tried to take her hand.
“Oh,” Shay mumbled. “Right. Sorry.”
Silas waved his hand dismissively. “Not a problem. But back in the day, some humans of noble character took it upon themselves to reign in the presence of the Nether. They curtailed the practice of irresponsible people who didn’t realize they were playing with fire, and they fought off the actual Nether beings that manifested on the earth.”
“But you can’t fight off wraiths,” I objected.
“Wraiths are new,” Monroe said. “Well, relatively new, as in five hundred years or so.”
“That’s new?” I gaped.
“Historically speaking,” Silas answered. “Wraiths came with the Keepers. Prior to their appearance, magicians could only raise succubi and incubi—they have more human traits and thus can cross over without requiring much power on the part of the summoner.”
“How did the Keepers appear?” I asked impatiently.
“I’m getting to that,” Silas replied, unfazed by my tone. “The warriors who elected themselves sentinels of the bridge between the earth and the Nether were successful. Vigilant, patient, and ferocious, they kept the forces of the Nether at bay and the destruction that its inhabitants could wreak in this world in check. But then a knight emerged in the fifteenth century who was beautiful, charismatic, and seemingly invincible in combat. She envisioned a new purpose for her peers. Eira.”
Shay’s voice was barely more than a breath of air. “What did she do?”
“She was ambitious,” Silas said. “She claimed that the warriors could do more, not just protect the world, but rid the earth of the Nether once and for all. Close the doors between our world and the other.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said.
“It is,” Silas replied. “But the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
“Almost literally in this case,” Connor muttered. He’d thrown his arm over his eyes, but I could see muscles in his jaw and neck tighten.
Silas spared him a disdainful glance. “Eira decided she would lead the knights in this new mission. But in order to close the doors between the worlds, she needed to know how they had been opened. She sought knowledge of the Nether realm and it changed her.”
“Changed her how?” Some of the color had returned to Shay’s face.
“She found the source, the origin of the Nether’s path into earth. A being more powerful than any humankind had encountered in their brief touches of the dark realm. This creature sent its emissaries into our world to draw power and carry it back to him, making him ever stronger and widening the doors and allowing more of his creations to infiltrate the earth.”
I shuddered, feeling as though I were being pulled into a tunnel, blindfolded and not wanting to see where I was once the cloth was removed.
“Eira was strong, but her ambition proved stronger. More than anything else, the creature hoped that eventually he would open a path broad enough so that he could himself come into our world and make it his dominion. Lord of not one but two realms, both Nether and earth. He promised Eira a place at his side if she would aid him.”
“And she did.” Monroe stared at his hands, which were trembling.
“She wasn’t alone,” Silas said. “Too many of the warriors had tired of keeping the Nether at bay and sacrificing their own lives in exchange. The hunger for power among Eira’s peers proved too great. She had no trouble assembling a mass of loyal followers.”
“The Keepers,” Shay said.
“The name they gave themselves,” Silas said. “Keepers of a power too great for most humans. They considered themselves set apart, elite. Elected by fate to reign over the earth by harnessing the power of the Nether.”
“But it’s a lie,” Connor spat.
“Is it?” I murmured. “The Keepers do reign over the earth; they reap all the benefit of using their power.”
“They do,” Monroe replied, eyes distant and broken. “But the power doesn’t belong to them, and they live in fear of losing it. At the end of the day they are slaves to that same creature that seduced Eira. Our histories name him the Harbinger. You know him as Bosque Mar.”
NINE
SHAY HAD FALLEN SILENT as we left the room. I didn’t know whether I should talk to him, touch him. How would I feel if I’d just found out my only living “relative” was actually some sort of demon lord?
My skin crawled. We’d learned too many truths, turned over rocks that I wished still hid the ugliness beneath them. I’d known my masters were cruel, but now I had to face their real nature: the Keepers didn’t just use the forces of the Nether, they’d willingly bound themselves to its darkness. That shadowy world bore creatures that brought only suffering, and its horrors were the very source of the Keepers’ power. A power I’d spent my life fighting to protect.
I walked forward, forcing my stubborn body onward. I wanted to curl in on myself, close my eyes, and dream the truth away. I wished Bryn were here to talk about it—I was sure she’d find some way to tease me. Her jokes had always countered my doubts. Her bright laughter eased my tension when I had to make tough calls as an alpha. The image of her smiling face sent guilt spiraling through me. Where was she now? Had the Keepers hurt her?
“You should get some rest,” Connor said. “I’ll take you back to your rooms.”
“I know the way,” Shay said, wrapping his fingers around my upper arm. “We don’t need an escort.”
&n
bsp; “Hush, boy,” Connor said. “You’re still our guest here. Show a little respect.”
“Boy?” Shay bristled; his grip on my arm verged on painful. “You’re only three years older than I am.”
Connor squared his shoulders, his hand resting on his sword hilt. “I’m betting I’ve seen a lot more than you could stomach. Scion or not.”
I could see where this was going. “Stop it, both of you.” We were all exhausted and on edge.
“She’s right,” Adne said. “We’ve had a rough enough time as it is. We don’t need you bloodying each other up as the grand finale to a sucky day.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Connor’s hand hadn’t left his sword hilt.
I tried to quell my own irritation by examining the crystal veins that rippled through the walls. Even in the halls, now lit only by the gentle flicker of sconces at regular intervals, the patterns gave off a subtle gleam. As we walked, the colors of Tordis, like icy spiderwebs covering the walls, became rose and pale yellow. The intricate weave of multi-hued lights began to twitch and shudder. Soon scarlet and blazing orange were jumping along the walls around us as if we’d walked into a furnace.
The colors weren’t the only thing that had changed. The air around us warmed, but rather than comforting me, it made me uneasy. I sneezed, shaking my head to ward off a new, strange odor at the same moment that Shay’s nose wrinkled.
“What is that?” he asked.
The invisible concoction assaulting my nostrils had familiar components—black pepper, sage, clove, and cedar—but the combination of scents was overwhelming. My eyes burned and watered. The warmth pouring over my skin began to itch—an unpleasant sensation like tiny gnats were biting me. Shay growled, scratching at his arms.
“Oh.” Connor cast a sidelong glance at us. “We probably should have cut back through the courtyard.”
Shay began to cough and glared accusingly at Connor.
“Don’t worry,” Adne said. “We’re almost past it.”
“Past what?” I cupped my hands over my nose and mouth, but I was coughing too, as if I’d inhaled smoke.