Chapter 7
We slept at the Citadel that night, no longer fearing an attack from my great grandfather, especially now that we had the Realm Breaker.
Sebastian had insisted that he and the guys take turns keeping watch, just in case Marcie got any funny ideas.
I personally didn’t think she would risk it, but I also hadn’t thought she would sell me out.
I did understand though. My mom was her sister.
Marcie was a lot more connected to her than she was to me, and she was just trying to keep her sister alive.
She thought if she gave me to my grandfather, my mom would heal the pathways, then my grandfather would have no reason to kill her.
If I remained free, he would ultimately have to kill my mother to get what he wanted, even if it was clear now that it would hurt him to do it.
Maybe he would have even let me live if my mom complied with his wishes, but that wasn’t a chance I was personally willing to take.
So yeah, I understood. But that didn’t mean I trusted her. Fool me once and all that.
At least none of the guys expected me to keep an eye on the sword during the night.
I slept as well as I could with nerves over the coming task giving me nightmares.
Each time I woke there was someone else laying beside me.
At one point Gabriel was there to pull me into a comforting embrace.
At another point Mistral kissed my brow, telling me I was just having a bad dream and to go back to sleep.
When I woke with Crispin beside me, Ringo was there too, nuzzling his soft fur against my neck as I tossed and turned.
When Sebastian was there he was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, looking both bored and broody.
He wasn’t exactly the comforting type, but it did still make me feel better seeing him there, knowing I was safe.
At first light I felt half dead, but it was still time to get down to business.
I had a few changes of fresh clothes stored away in Mistral’s closet.
After a quick bath—not knowing when I would have the opportunity for another one—I chose thick jeans with no holes, a green tank top with a built-in bra for the ultimate comfort, my leather jacket, and boots with good ankle support.
We would travel to the waypoint first, and if our recent experience there was anything to go by, there might be quite a bit of adventure involved if the guardian was feeling feisty.
Once everyone was ready, we traveled to the stone-carved symbol that would lead us to the waypoint. No intimidating realm jumping just yet. This pathway was already waiting for us.
“If I never have to come to this cavern again, it will be too soon.“ I glanced back at the glowing blue pool behind us. At least with our conduit star at full power and my traveling getting better, we hadn’t needed to swim through to the portal. Swimming back last time was traumatizing enough.
Plus, we were all nice and dry to start our adventure, and maybe even a little excited.
Gabriel had found a sheath to fit the Realm Breaker, and it now looked a little less conspicuous with most of the mother of pearl blade concealed by leather, and the silver hilt hidden in my loose hair.
Ringo quivered on my shoulder. Like Gabriel, he was born on earth.
He’d never known the homeland of his species.
Heck, he’d hardly even known his own species.
He’d only learned he could change colors because Crispin read about it.
What else might he learn if he were reunited with more of his kind—
I cut off my own thoughts. I was highly attached to everyone with me, and now we were going to start the adventure of visiting home realms. There was always a chance that I might lose some of them to their homes along the way.
I stepped toward the portal, dutifully not looking at Mistral, who was my biggest worry in that regard. The Bogs might be currently stable because of my added connection, but once his people could return home…
He would need to consider all of his options.
I had to let him consider all of his options.
Anything else would be far too selfish with all of his people depending on him.
I did believe that he wanted me and wouldn’t give me up easily, but we all had to have our priorities.
And as a prince to his people, his priorities had to be different than mine.
Gabriel gripped my shoulder, questioning me with a look that said, Are you okay?
I forced a smile, then took a deep breath, turning toward the glowing symbol etched into the stone.
Waypoint first. Nothing bad was going to happen at the waypoint, unless the guardian was pissed that we had taken too long to return.
It had only been a couple days though. I was pretty sure the celestial creature would be pleased to see us, especially with our intent to reconnect the waypoint to the goblin realm.
Just a small path for now until we could see if there was any darkness waiting for us.
Then once it was safe, we would try to heal the full pathway.
We would undo everything my mom had risked her life to accomplish, endangering not just earth, but the other realms too.
If my grandfather had his way, some of us wouldn’t make it.
We all gathered together as I knelt and placed my hand on the symbol, the cool stone rough against my palm.
The shift was easier this time, smoother, and I wondered if it was because I was getting better, or because of the Realm Breaker’s presence.
Or heck, maybe it was the vortex. I was just accumulating all sorts of strange things.
We touched down in the same meadow as before, only this time, there was no gray.
Just like in the Bogs, everything had healed once the vortex was out of the earth.
Now the meadow was a pale green, blades of grass shifting with a light breeze.
A few yellow and purple wildflowers peeked out here and there.
It was Crispin who helped me stand. He met my eyes, keeping hold of my hand. “Is it just me, or was that a little easier than usual?“
“Not just you.” I resisted the urge to reach over my shoulder and touch the sword hilt.
Might have been nice had my great grandfather provided some instructions for using the sword.
Or maybe Marcie could have told us, but I was beyond trusting anything she said now.
All I knew was that the sword was incredibly powerful, it could project star maps, and it could be used to either sever or heal pathways.
Oh, and it was created by my ancestors specifically for my mother to use.
Everyone else who had been trying to get it would have been in for disappointment when they realized they needed her to use it.
Or me, apparently, given our shared blood.
Lacing his fingers with mine, Crispin looked out in the distance thoughtfully. “Perhaps considering things are going so well, you could jump us to the estate instead of such a long walk.“
I had been there before so it should be possible. And I did need the practice jumping to locations rather than to one of the guys…
“I believe Eva will be toting us around enough.” Mistral walked back toward me, then offered his arm, despite Crispin having already claimed my hand.
I knew Mistral had to be anxious to move on to his home realm, but he certainly wasn’t showing it.
Shrugging at Crispin—this was Mistral’s part of the adventure, after all—I took his arm, grateful that he wanted to walk.
While part of me was excited to see a far realm, it would be my first true pathway.
Everyone was depending on me, but it felt like there were far too many ways I could mess it up.
Sighing dramatically, Crispin started walking, and the rest of us followed. I tried to relax and soak in my last few hours of safety.
The sun was hot on my cheeks, blaring in the middle of the sky by the time we reached the estate.
The sun seemed like a normal sun even though we were in an in-between sort of place.
And the estate seemed like a normal estate, even though some very not so normal things had happened last time we were here.
My palms started sweating at the thought of the guys trapped in those little stone rooms. Or maybe it was just the heat. Either way, I was hot, tired, and hungry.
Crispin hopped up on the wall, then offered me his hand.
I took it while the other guys easily scaled the short stone wall on either side of us. Even Ringo had taken a little frolic through the meadow, and now scurried up the wall with ease.
Crispin’s hand was nice and cool in mine. I frowned as I tossed one leg over the wall. “You’re rather cheerful for a guy who got stuck in a stone box last time we were here.”
Crispin hoisted me up, then helped lower me on the other side, maintaining my hand long enough to graze a kiss across my knuckles. “I’m sure I have nothing to worry about with the Almighty Eva around to rescue me.”
I glowered, taking back my hand. “The things you say to me just get worse and worse.”
He flashed me a quick grin. “We are halfway to the goblin realm. Don’t tell me you’re not excited.”
Gabriel moved to stand at my back. “Eva has a proper grasp on the concept of survival instinct.”
“See?” I said to Crispin, leaning back against Gabriel. “Now that’s a proper compliment.”
Crispin pouted, but it didn’t last long as we all walked toward the estate and he started discussing with Mistral the best point to create the next pathway from.
Soon they agreed that they should find the location of the previous pathway, and that maybe the guardian would know where it was.
Since the estate existed for travelers, it probably wasn’t far.
Then again, the pathway point to the Bogs wasn’t exactly close.