32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
A week later, I’m in the kitchen washing the dishes, but my attention is elsewhere. My eyes keep darting to Raven, who’s currently perched on the windowsill, gazing at the clear blue sky. I can’t stop thinking about her still being like this, about Alaric waiting for her, about Lorcan pouting somewhere in the stables.
Once again, I try to comfort myself by thinking about how hard Orpheus is working on finding a solution.
Once again, I fail.
Then, as if I summoned him, my husband appears next to me, startling me so much, I drop the plate and stumble back. “Damn it, Grimm,” I say as I give him a playful shove in his chest, the commotion making Raven throw a glance over her shoulder. But as soon as she sees Orpheus chuckling as he pulls me into a hug, she turns back around.
It’s at that moment that Lorcan comes in.
It makes my eyebrows shoot up, when I see the serious look on his face. “We have the time and the location,” he tells me.
My heart skips a beat. They’ve contacted him. With a tip of my head, I nudge him to talk.
“At midnight tonight,” he says. “It’s at the Academy, in the basement of Grimm Tower.”
Tonight? Gods, so soon? “Alright,” I tell him. Then I turn my eyes onto Orpheus and Raven.
For a moment, the three of us just look at each other in silence. I’ve spent the last week not letting myself think about this moment, so now that it’s come, the anxiety is hitting me with a vengeance.
I need to go back to my time, but what about Jericho and Orpheus? What will happen? I decide not to think about it. I look at Orpheus, his eyes telling me it’s all going to be alright.
*
We’re walking through academy grounds just as the night is falling. Orpheus is in front of me, I can hear Lorcan grumbling behind me, and if I look up at the night sky, I can see glimpses of Raven following from high above.
The only sound apart from Lorcan’s grumbling and our collective footfalls is the faint whisper of wind through the trees.
It’s horrible, simply because it all makes for a terribly poor distraction from what’s about to happen. I’m not sure what that is, but I don’t have a good feeling.
Orpheus leads us into the deserted Grimm Tower and down the stairs into the large basement, the walls lined with crates.
Sensing Lorcan come to a stop to my right and Raven landing on my shoulder, I use my Sight to take a look around.
And there it is, at the center of the left wall — a shimmer in the night air.
I just keep standing there, trying to fight my emotions.
No, I need to focus.
I turn to Lorcan, who’s already looking at me, waiting with this strange apprehension.
Then something makes my head snap back to the left, just as everyone else tenses up as well.
The next thing I know, the basement is no longer empty. It’s populated by the members of the Order of the Dawn, standing in formation between us and the portal, with Myrrh at the head.
I exchange a quick look with Orpheus. Frowning, I turn back to Myrrh. “You’re here,” I state simply, doing my best to hide the suspicion.
She tilts her head at me. There’s a moment of silence before she asks, “Did you think we wouldn’t be?”
I give something between a shrug and a shake of my head.
“What if something goes wrong?” that other member of the Order says, confusion in his voice. “It’s our purpose to be there for you.”
I take the time to exchange a look with both Orpheus and Lorcan. Then I clear my throat and turn my eyes back onto Myrrh. “Of course. Well then…” I step forward, clearing my throat. “Thank you for this.”
“Indeed,” Myrrh chimes in. She waves a hand in the direction of the shimmer, making the other Order members part to make way for us. “Please, the portal is already open. Go ahead.”
For a moment, I hesitate. Then I feel Orpheus take my hand and give it a gentle squeeze. I look up to smile at him, right before I take a deep breath and signal to Lorcan and Raven to follow me.
Letting go of Orpheus’s hand, I lead them to the portal.
I move to step inside, with the corner of my eye catching Myrrh move as well.
I stop.
So does she.
I keep standing there, my mind buzzing as my gut tells me to abort the mission. Right the fuck now.
“What is it?” I hear Myrrh ask.
And I don’t know what the hell is happening here, but being honest is not an option. “It’s just…” I turn to look at her, putting on a relaxed, slightly worried face. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Anna,” Raven starts in a confused voice.
“No need to worry,” Myrrh cuts her off.
“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “Maybe we’ll do this some other time.”
The look I throw Orpheus is subtle, but he seems to understand what I want — to get the hell away from these people, as soon as possible.
He moves to get to me, but the movement doesn’t escape Myrrh.
Almost too fast for me to process, I see shadows lash out of her body and enter the other members of the Order.
I look at her and that’s when I realize – the crooked smile on Myrrh’s tilted head is a familiar one.
*
She starts cackling as her appearance changes. Her face is practically falling apart, but it’s her for sure.
Serra.
I’ve read about Tension Magic being used to control the perception of your appearance, I’ve just never seen it in use before. Not to my knowledge at least. Still, I know it’s an incredibly taxing type of magic, which could explain her giving up on it.
I grit my teeth. “I knew there was something off about you. There is no portal, is there?”
Quickly and subtly, I try to use my Aurora powers — I shift all my focus onto her and try to blast her to pieces. But my powers fail and I see Order members grab Lorcan and pin him to his knees.
Serra shakes her head. “Not this time, little girl.” She raises her hand and shadows start rushing towards me.
All of a sudden, a huge wave of sand bombs on the shadows and they are mushed into the ground.
Orpheus booms, “This is the second time you’ve tried to hurt my wife, and it will be the last.” He starts walking towards her, his arms outstretched, immense waves of angry sand gathering behind him. “I will murder you, you vile woman.”
Looking at Orpheus, my insides melt. That’s my mate.
But then I look back to Serra and it surprises me, when the expression on her face turns to a sly smile. “Will you now?”
All of a sudden, Orpheus grunts and falls to his knees. I see other Order members, ghoulish expressions on their faces, gather around him with hands outstretched, holding plates of something.
Orpheus sends sand towards them, but it just falls to the ground. He doubles over and grunts in pain.
I try running to him, but shadows bind me.
“Anyi,” he calls out, but I can’t even .
“Did you not think I’d come prepared,” says Serra.
Orpheus grunts, “How did you know?”
A voice booms from the entrance into the basement. “Let’s just say she had a little…help.”
It’s only when she steps in front of me that I see her. Urryse.
“Mother?” Orpheus spits out.
Urryse comes to stand next to Serra. “I had to do this, Orpheus, for the good of the family. I tried doing this the easy way and taking her when you were returning from the ball, but you, my son, proved to be too much of a nuisance.”
It’s like a knife to my gut, the look of hurt on Orpheus’s face.
“So I told Serra about your little weakness,” his mother continues coldly, “about how magnetic energy incapacitates your sand. And a good thing that I did because once again you would have completely ruined my plans.” She chuckles. “And I have big plans for this family, my boy. Just imagine what we could do with Baldur’s power. We’d be unstoppable. One fae family to rule them all.”
“You will pay for this,” Orpheus grits out.
Urysse just lets out a scoff. “You always were an ungrateful child.”
Serra cackles and comes closer to me, still pinned to the floor by her shadows. “And now I will capture you and prepare you for his arrival. My love, my master. He will be so pleased with me.”
She comes closer and the shadows start seeping life out of me. I hear Lorcan yell and Orpheus growl like a wild animal while my mind goes dark and my eyes start closing.
Then I hear a scream, and the shadows loosen their grip.
They only do it for a second, but that’s more than I need. I spring to my feet and see Raven flying around Serra’s head, pecking at her eyes.
“You damned animal,” Serra screams.
I move to use my fire on Serra to help, when Raven takes me completely by surprise.
“I’m not an animal,” Raven grits out, “I’m Raven!” And she starts flapping her wings, summoning such a powerful gust of wind that she throws Serra to the ground and keeps her pinned there.
It’s just when I move to go free Orpheus that the shadows reach for me again.
“Anna,” Raven calls out, “you didn’t give up on me, and I am not giving up on you!”
She loops around and throws me a stick. I snap my fingers to light it on fire with my rune and push it into the shadows trying to bind me. They retreat.
Raven flies back to Serra, who is about to attack her, while across the basement, I see Lorcan in bear form barely being contained by the Order members.
I keep using the stick to defend myself from the shadows as I move towards Orpheus.
It makes me stumble back, when I hit a wall of air. I look up to see Urysse tapping her runes.
“You filthy mutt,” she spits out, “stay away from my son. He is mine.”
The air pressure increases all around me and I find myself being thrown to the ground. My whole body aching, I can do nothing but look at Orpheus incapacitated.
“Let my brother go,” I hear a familiar voice boom and see Faryn stepping into the scene. Syl is close behind.
“Let him go, Mother,” Farryn warns. Her eyes are full of tears, her voice full of fear, but the look on her face is one of pure determination.
When her mother moves to attack her, Farryn taps her Runes and sends a few balls of fire flying towards. I watch Urryse easily dodge them.
“You wretched child, you really are worthless,” she snaps at her. She turns to Syl to say, “Get your sister out of here, I will deal with you later.”
I glance at Syl’s pale face. She nods and says, “Yes, Mother.”
No no no.
Syl walks to Farryn and grabs her arm. Farryn cranes her neck to look at her, something intimate being exchanged between the twins.
Then Syl taps her Runes and the ground under Urryse starts falling, encasing her until the only thing above ground is her head.
Syl turns away from her sister and fixes her eyes on her mother. “No, Mother,” she tells her in a cold, determined voice. “We will deal with you later.”
I knew Syl was the finalist in the Trials, but it still surprises me that she is that powerful.
“Sylmarilla,” Urryse calls out in a warning voice, but Syl just throws a glance her way, taps her Runes and makes an earthen gag to shut her up.
Then she turns to look at Farryn with an apologetic smile, and Farryn shakes her head. I forgive you.
Now if they’ll only save their brother.
The sisters look at Orpheus, who is still on his knees, and then they tap their Runes simultaneously, the plates in the hands of the order members starting to glowing red, as if they’re heating up.
I hear a grunt and turn to see that Serra is back on her feet, and both Lorcan and Raven are on the ground.
I guess extreme heat destroys magnetism, because Orpheus gets up and looks at me, and I can feel the full power of our mate bond. I can feel it, the true power of the Aurora.
Orpheus sees it as well, and gives me a proud smile.
You get that bitch, that’s what his look tells me.
He starts running towards Lorcan and Raven, and I just know, he’ll manage to save them.
I look at Serra. My tattoos start glowing as I feel power surging through me.
“You little bitch,” she turns to snap at me. “I will destroy you and your little mate.” Her shadows start gathering around her in great force. “Once I’m done with you,” she warns, “you’ll be nothing but—”
“I don’t think so,” I say with a smile.
I feel the grip and my power crashes into her shadows like a wave. For a moment, there is nothing but light. And once it subsides, there is nothing but her dead body on the ground.
My tattoos stop glowing and I fall to my knees, exhausted.
I feel his arms wrapping around my body. “Anyi my love.”
I look up at him. “Are they all…?” I ask.
“Lorcan is hurt, but yes, everyone is alright. Now let’s get you home.”
He picks me up. I smile and rest my head on his shoulder.