Chapter 7
Effie Harlow
Ididn’t know what to look for—and had no clue what the Homura Stone would look like—but the further we went into the estate, the warmer my pendant grew against my skin, which I assumed was a good sign.
Or maybe it wasn’t a good sign. I had no idea. Honestly, it was much easier to focus on that than the awkwardness between Ryder and his parents.
They were talking, at least his mom was, but it was very surface-level.
There was anger on Ryder’s end, changing the tone of his voice to one I’d never heard before.
I had a feeling it was about them choosing to return here even after everything they knew he’d been through at the hands of his grandfather.
It was really confusing especially because I now knew that when Ryder was a child, they’d left him with his abusive grandfather while they and Aanya moved to another country to be safe.
But now that Ryder was an adult, they were back in Japan…
I had to be missing something. Especially since their love for their children was clear to me in the way they asked about Aanya and looked at their son.
I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling that their choice to return was based on more than just wanting to come ‘home.’
The others were following behind us, and I knew they were uncomfortable as well because all of them were silent. Although Julian, who seemed a bit more relaxed now, offered me a wink when I looked over my shoulder. I fought the urge to go back to them, knowing Ryder needed my support right now.
“I have to ask why,” Ryder’s dad said. “Why do you need to see the stone? You’ve never held any interest in it.”
“It’s really not important—”
“It really is,” Ryder’s mom argued. “And dangerous, especially if he finds out.”
Ryder softened at his parents’ concern. “Something is happening at Silver Falls, and we need to get our eyes on the stone. We can’t really say more than that.”
“Just try to be as quick as possible when we get in there,” Mr. Bosu said after a small nod of understanding.
“Speaking of school, I haven’t heard from your sister since last week.” His mom’s brows dipped. “How is she doing? Effie, have you met Aanya?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “She was one of my first friends at Silver Falls. She seems like she’s doing really well. Her mates are really nice also; I’m not sure if you’ve met them yet—” Realizing I was rambling, I cut myself off, but Ryder’s mom had eagerly absorbed every word, a smile flitting to her lips.
“I haven’t. I’m so glad both our children found their mates. That’s all I can ask for as a mom,” she said wistfully, Mr. Bosu nodding in agreement.
Ryder’s lips tipped in the smallest smile at her words, one that he couldn’t hide despite his best efforts. Maybe…maybe this would be good, this trip. Maybe it would help his relationship with his parents. Not that it was any of my business…
No, I needed to stop thinking like that. Ryder was bringing me into his life; I wasn’t being invasive. At least I hoped I wasn’t.
I hated feeling this insecure, but these were situations I had never been in before, so I was playing it all by ear.
“We’re nearly there,” Mr. Bosu said as we traveled down a set of stairs that led underground. I’d always imagined basements to be dark and dank like the one in my old apartment building, but this space only grew more luxurious as we descended, the lighting creating a cozy atmosphere.
There were also runes on the wall. I didn’t know what they said, but I could feel the magic radiating from them, and I had to fight the urge to walk over and run my fingers over their carved edges.
A shiver ran up my spine at the idea, so I focused my attention on the stairs beneath my feet—not overly steep, but as we stepped down each one, the noise echoed louder and louder.
After we turned a bend, we reached a set of tall golden doors. The same runes were repeated on the doors as well, the familiarity really calling to me. I wouldn’t touch them, though. Any runes that could evoke a reaction like that in me wasn’t to be messed with.
“The stone is in there,” Mrs. Bosu said. “We’ll stay out here and wait for you—just be careful to not disturb anything, especially if you don’t want him to know you were down here.” Which we didn’t.
I was sure we wouldn’t be able to hide that we were here—I mean, all the house staff had seen us, twenty people at least—but I was hoping that it would be under the guise of meeting his parents or something.
“Let’s go.” Dakota appeared from behind me and led me forward, Ryder grabbing the door.
As I stepped into the circular room, six beams of light shone from the circumference, bathing the pillar in the center in a soft glow.
On it rested a rich orange spessartite garnet that sparkled under the lights.
It matched one half of my pendant almost perfectly, as if my piece had been made directly from it.
“Mona said that this is where the magic was lost?” I asked as my mates spread throughout the room, checking for any potential threats. “Why is that here? Or did she just mean in the general area?”
“This is where the decision was made to hurt the lykos—the very spot,” Ryder explained, his eyes shading with darkness. “The downfall of the lykos—their capture, slaughter, and enslavement—was the start of the loss of true magic.”
“Is that why the gate was closed?” Caedmon asked.
“In part, but we can go over that more later,” Ryder murmured, returning his gaze to the Homura Stone. “I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do. Mona didn’t explain what we should do once we got here, right?”
“She mentioned your pendant,” Julian stated.
“It’s been getting warmer,” I said, wrapping my fingers around it. Tore approached and felt it as well, and after a moment of contemplation, he motioned me towards the stone in the center of the room.
His thoughts apparently mirrored mine, something telling me that the key was to get closer to the stone, maybe even touch it.
I moved towards the pillar with slow, deliberate steps, my fingers tracing the runes that ran along the edge of the pillar once I’d reached it.
Immediately visions flashed before my eyes, causing my body to go rigid with shock.
Women’s fearful faces. Lykos. Pain. Agony.
Like a tattoo imprinted here where deceit and murder were planned, I could feel and see their fear.
The metaphoric blood stain was permanent, this place filled with a level of fury that slammed into me.
Anger at the injustices that occurred caused me to tremble, and I realized that something was infecting me—something was pulling on me.
I lifted my fingers from the runes.
The visions disappeared, and as I blinked my eyes open, I understood that those runes were placed there for a reason.
They were for protection, warding off those that looked to hurt the stone.
Although I wasn’t positive that made sense since it was Homura Stone…
for kitsune. So why would the lykos want to protect it?
Shaking the thought from my head, I decided to be bold in approaching this situation. Lifting the pendant from my chest, I held it over the fiery stone.
A spark flashed between the two of them, and like a lightning bolt, it shot right through my chest. A small cry left my lips, pain surging through my torso alongside a weird sense of euphoria.
Around me the room turned pink, the stone walls vibrating, and despite feeling that my mates were trying to break through the forcefield that my magic was using to keep them away, they were unsuccessful. It was necessary to keep them protected.
It was a second later I realized what from.
A searing, deadly inferno like I had never experienced before blasted from the stone, flames erupting all around me.
I was momentarily blinded by a flash of light that felt like the sun itself had entered the room.
My knees broke, and the skin on my body felt like it was about to melt off, my form hanging suspended by the pendant’s connection to the Homura Stone.
I cried out, but no sound left my lips, as a deep bass sound filled everything.
It vibrated my bones and formed blisters on my skin that immediately began to pop.
I let out a sob, tears leaking down my face, but they evaporated right against my flesh.
Something was trying to break out from my chest, beating on my ribcage as the blood under my skin began to rise to the surface, boiling up and evaporating.
It was excruciating, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.
The sun ignited the thing that was trying to break out of me and it absolutely detonated, the thing escaping the confines of my body, pulsing out and combining itself with the essence of my magic.
Sound returned, and my scream nearly broke my own eardrums as the walls themselves began to shake. I watched in horror as my skin began to melt off my arms, but it was nothing compared to the gaping, light-filled hole in the center of my body. I didn’t know what was happening, but I was terrified.
It was almost like I was in a dream. A nightmare. I experienced every single emotion and physical change, but I had departed, watching it all from a distant place.
I was being transformed.
Then I was snapped back into my body as my heart was dragged from my chest. I couldn’t lose any more of myself, I just fucking couldn’t.
I cried out for my mates as power pulsed through the pendant, into me, and spread throughout the room.
I was going to pass out, I knew it, the room turning black on the edges—
“Effie!” Mona’s voice filled the space around me, yanking me from my agony-filled state.
Except everything felt off. Warped.