Chapter 10
Ten
Hikaru
I hated this place. This monstrosity of a building with its twists, turns, and multiple levels.
I’d once found the Magical Usage Compound a curious playground.
I’d relished all its little hidey-holes and found its numerous halls, rooms, and tunnels endlessly fascinating.
It was the perfect place for an insatiably curious kitsune to grow up in.
Had Huxley known that? Had he designed this crazed building with me in mind?
I scoffed, scolding myself. I’d been important to Huxley, if only for my magical potential, but I hadn’t been important enough to design an entire structure around.
Even contemplating such a thing was dangerous to my precarious psyche.
I needed to remember that I’d been nothing more than a magical pig raised with slaughter in mind.
The only reason Huxley had given me any attention at all was for his own benefit, not mine.
While I hadn’t spent much time in Keir’s personal quarters, I’d pranked the old gryphon enough over the years to know their location. I’d manifested outside his door instead of in his living space. I wasn’t sure if I’d done so out of politeness or in a foolish attempt to delay the inevitable.
Keir was inside. I could read his magical signature.
I could track him just as easily as I could Niki.
What I hadn’t been able to do was track the missing.
That alone indicated they were no longer living, that their magical signatures were no longer there for me to find.
Their loss had left a hollow hole in my chest. I doubted the coming centuries would be able to fill that emptiness.
I was still standing in the hall, contemplating knocking, when the door opened.
Raising my head, I found myself staring into Keir’s deep amber eyes.
No matter how stuffy and old-fashioned I found Keir, I’d always been fascinated by his eyes.
The depth within them was unlike any other.
Keir’s eyes were keen and sharp, as if very little could escape his sight.
They should have felt cold and calculating, and yet I’d never once gotten that impression.
Instead, Keir’s amber irises were warm and welcoming.
Even at his most angry, I’d never found reproach within his gaze.
It didn’t look like today would change that fact.
“Hikaru.” My name exited Keir’s lips in a relieved breath.
“It is good to see you.” I had no doubt Keir truly meant those words.
“Would you please come in.” Keir held his door open.
The old oaken structure was sturdy and wide.
The warm glow of the low banked fire deeper in the room beckoned me inside.
With a barely there nod, I complied. My fingers fisted and released in quick succession. It was difficult being back. I was nowhere near my old rooms or Huxley’s, but the scents inside the compound were the same and flooded my memory, triggering emotions I didn’t want to address.
My gaze flicked around the room. It was the same as the last time I’d been inside.
Well-worn rugs covered the wood planked flooring while comfortable furniture was arranged in a semi-circle around a low coffee table sitting in front of the fireplace.
The kitchen fed off to the left and there was a hall to the right that led to Keir’s bedroom and bath.
The space wasn’t all that large, but what it lacked in size it made up for in coziness.
“Just as I remembered,” I mused.
“I’ve seen no reason to change it,” Keir predictably answered. “Would you like some tea?” Keir headed toward the kitchen before I could answer. He knew I wouldn’t say no. Keir made the best tea.
He must have already had a pot brewing because Keir came back to the living area less than five minutes later, two teacups in hand.
“Please, sit.”
A padded footstool sat off to the side. Its backless comfort was ideal for winged pixies. It worked equally well for a kitsune’s tails.
I grabbed my cup of tea before sitting. The aroma trigged even more memories, these bitterly pleasant. I inhaled deeply, drawing more of the comforting scent into my body before taking a sip. The temperature was perfect, just as I’d expected. Just as it always was.
Keir and I sat in mutual silence, both of us drinking our tea, neither ready to address the elephant in the room. The fire crackled and popped, sending sparks floating into the chimney. I wasn’t typically at a loss for words, but I suppose loss in general made words wither.
“I was worried you’d been… I wasn’t certain if Tenzen was able to take anything more from you,” Keir finally said. “I counted your tails. I’m relieved to see you still have seven.” I’d once had eight until I foolishly gave one up when Huxley asked for it. I’d been such a trusting idiot.
Flicking my tails, I answered, “Yup. All are accounted for.” My tone was far more flippant than I truly felt.
Keir softly smiled. His face was all sharp angles. Sometimes, his smiles accentuated those angles. But every so often, I got a glimpse of one that rounded those edges and outwardly exposed Keir’s deeply caring nature.
“I didn’t think…I mean, I don’t think any of us thought Tenzen would go after you. I thought…” Keir’s smile faded into a regretful frown.
“Looks like none of us were all that special.” I certainly hadn’t been. I’d been a thing to be used and nothing more.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Hikaru. If I’d known what Tenzen was up to, I—”
“He would have killed you as soon as looked at you,” I stated. “That’s who he was.” My tone was flat. I had no idea if all shadow borne were as ruthless as Huxley. As far as any of us knew, all other shadow borne were peacefully slumbering. Where? We hadn’t a clue and I hoped it stayed that way.
Keir didn’t so much as flinch. His jaw tightened and his amber eyes briefly flared with the intensity of his emotions. “Despite knowing you’re right, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t meant to.”
“No, I suppose it wasn’t.”
My eyes wandered the area, searching for another topic. Anything to avoid what I’d come here for. “Where’s Martin?” I tilted my head, my lips twitching. “You know that dryad has a hard-on for you, right?” I inwardly snickered at my bad joke. Martin was an oak dryad. Oak was a hardwood.
Keir’s lips twitched as he tried to tamp down his amusement. Despite his efforts to the contrary, Keir had always found me more amusing than irritating. “Martin is an excellent assistant. He—”
“I’m sure he’s learned to assist you with a lot of things.” I suggestively waggled my eyebrows and Keir rolled his eyes.
“Really, Hikaru? Is that the best you can do? I must say, I’m a bit disappointed.”
Not even the slightest bit put out, I shrugged. “What can I say, it’s been a tough month.”
All amusement seeped from Keir’s face. “That it has.” Swallowing, Keir’s amber eyes narrowed, the warmth from earlier long gone. “Since you’re here, I assume Warlock Holland passed along my message.”
“He did.” I stared into my nearly empty teacup. “He said…Niki wasn’t sure of the details.” I cleared my throat and attempted to look anywhere but at Keir. “Niki said something about needing to travel through stone.”
Keir nodded while running a hand through his multicolored hair. Strands of dark brown faded into lighter shades. Some of those strands were tipped in white and resembled the feathers of his shifted form. “That’s correct.”
My tails nervously twitched. “How?”
“How did we find them?”
I nodded.
“Tabitha.” Tabitha Clark was a talented medium. She could not only speak with the lingering spirits of the dearly departed, but she could help them manifest themselves as well.
Scrunching my eyes, I asked, “Did she send a spirit in to look or—”
“Alethia found her.”
I felt like Keir had struck me in the chest. “A-Alethia, she’s…”
“She’s one of the missing. One of the deceased.”
My chest didn’t just ache, it felt caved in—hollowed out as if someone had punched a hole in me.
“Alethia.” Her name slipped from my lips like a whispered prayer.
If Huxley had been both mother and father to me, then Alethia was akin to a doting aunt.
She was the first elemental I’d met. Alethia was the wind.
She could have roared through the halls of the compound, but she’d had no reason to push herself on others.
Alethia was the cool, comforting breeze, not the raging hurricane.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t capable of becoming the storm, she simply chose not to.
In many ways, learning Huxley had killed Alethia hurt worse than his attempt to do the same to me.
I wanted to scream, to beg the heavens for some type of explanation. Had I been a younger kitsune, I most likely would have given into the overwhelming urge. But that young, na?ve version of me disappeared long ago. Any remnants that remained had been obliterated with Huxley’s betrayal.
Shoulders slumped, my tails stilled as they dragged along the ground. “Alethia found Tabitha.”
“She did.” Keir shifted, his own pain reflected in his beautiful eyes. “We’d hoped…looking back, it was foolish to do so.”
“Foolish but understandable.” Keir and I didn’t always get along, not that there was any deep seeded animosity between us.
We were simply two very different personalities attempting to cohabitate.
Any previous disagreements were set aside.
Grief was a powerful emotion, washing all others aside as it claimed its rightful place.
“Martin said something similar.”
A sad grin twisted my lips. “That might be the first time Martin and I have ever agreed.”
Keir’s soft smile was answer enough. “Martin has been very distraught. I apologize if he was anything less than courteous when I asked him to contact you.”
I waved off Keir’s concern. “Martin was fine.” I wasn’t even trying to placate Keir. My earlier comment about Martin’s obvious desire for Keir seemed out of place and I grimaced with unusual remorse.
“I believe Martin enjoys sparing with you.” At my raised eyebrows, Keir chuckled. “Oh, he’d never admit it, but it’s true all the same. That’s one of the reasons I asked him to reach out first instead of doing so myself. I thought Martin could use the distraction.”
“Glad I could be of service,” I huffed, crossing my arms as if put out, even though I wasn’t. In some ways, Keir’s words comforted me.
“As am I,” Keir sassily replied before sobering. “Alethia came to Tabitha two days ago. I’m no medium, but what I understand from Tabitha, it took Alethia that long to build up the energy to seek Tabitha out. Her message was brief.”
I rubbed the aching hole in my chest, knowing the effort was futile. “She’s gone again?”
“She is. Tabitha hasn’t been able to reach her again, but Alethia was able to convey enough information that we believe we know where her remains can be found.” Keir grimaced. “Tabitha doesn’t believe Alethia will be alone.”
I sucked in a painful breath. “You think the rest of them are…”
“I’m uncertain. Maybe not all, but…enough.
” Keir’s attention settled on the fireplace.
“I won’t rest until all are found or accounted for.
I can promise you that.” Gryphons did not make promises lightly and the weight of Keir’s was akin to a magical contract.
“I do not ask this of you lightly, Hikaru. I know it will not be easy. I would ask a brownie, but—”
“But Huxley’s actions have made that impossible.”
“Indeed. I think it will be many centuries before the Magical Usage Council is forgiven.”
“I think that’s a generous calculation.”
“I will not argue that point. If you say no, I will understand.” Keir inhaled deeply. “I can go to Fairy, but—”
“No.” I stood, shoving my clawed fingers deep into my jacket pockets.
“I’ll do it. They were my friends…my family.
They should be found and cared for by family.
” Huxley had found me as little more than a toddler.
Abandoned by the goddess who’d created me, Tenzen Huxley took me in.
Even I could admit I’d been a menace. Curious, wild, and with absolutely no sense of right and wrong, I’d wreaked havoc on the occupants living within the compound.
I’d been scolded, chased out of rooms, and chastised.
None of those encounters had ever turned violent and with enough time, forgiveness was always found.
I might have annoyed my found family, but they’d never attempted to change who or what I was.
They’d made allowances and guided me to less destructive paths, but they’d never once accused me of being anything bad.
I’d been nurtured and cared for when I was at my most vulnerable.
Now it was my turn to care for them, even if the only way that caring could be expressed was by bringing their bodies home and giving their souls a chance to rest.
Turning from the fireplace, I squared my shoulders and asked, “Where do I find them?”
Keir stood and closed the distance. His arm reached for me, his large hand settling on my bicep and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll take you to Tabitha. She’ll give you the details.”
We left the comfort of Keir’s quarters, heading through a maze of halls I knew better than the back of my hand.
Neither of us said a word, both of us stuck in our heads.
We’d meet up with Tabitha soon enough and then I’d be off, passing through solid rock as if it were little more than air.
I’d find our missing family and one by one, I would bring them through that solid stone and to the family that loved and missed them.
It was no less than they deserved. It was the last kindness I could bestow upon them.