Chapter 22 #2
Lysandro’s shoulders came down from around his ears as some of his tension drained from him. “I was hoping you’d say that, and it’s why I’ve called you all here.”
“Can’t Scotty help him?” Stevie asked. “He’s his anchor, right?”
“Mhm, and I believe that’s why his Maker’s only been able to disturb his sleep but not actually summon Ego to him. If he’d still been in the dark space where he’d started, I don’t believe he would’ve resisted at all.”
“Yeah, not being a sound witch anymore really screwed him up,” I said, gnawing on my bottom lip. I couldn’t lose my cousin. I just couldn’t. I had this wonderful found family, but Ego was my only blood relative who’d been there for it all.
“What do you mean?” Delaney asked. “What happened to him being a sound witch?”
“Well, you know,” I said. I clawed my fingers and opened my mouth wide and hissed. “Vampire.”
Delaney blinked at me, then looked to Lysandro, who merely stared back, then blinked at me again. It was probably the most impressive slow blink I’d ever seen. I’d be more in awe if Lysandro wasn’t making this situation sound so dire.
“Is that why he told me to lay off his whole crew and cancel all the things and whatever?” She fluttered her hands like I’d seen my cousin do so many times that I almost laughed.
“I mean, I know he said he wasn’t a sound witch anymore, but I thought it was because he felt a stronger pull to his vampiric nature. ”
She snorted elegantly. “I can assure you that your cousin is still one hundred percent a sound witch. Have you seen what he’s been producing on YouTube lately?”
“As Dead Air?” I asked.
“Mhm. I had no intention of letting him give up his career, and I was looking into ways to make it work with his need to sleep during the day, when Dead Air’s music called to me.”
“Dead Air called to you?” Chance asked. My bestie was the best. I needed an answer to that question, too.
“He did. That’s how I found him before, as well.”
“But, uh, how?” I asked since she’d cleared up exactly nothing with her answer.
She pushed her hair back from her head and…her ears grew to narrow points.
Rosie giggled like a schoolgirl and clapped her hands together. “Why, you’re a fae. I haven’t seen one of your kind in years and years.”
Booker turned to me and King and mouthed, “Fae are real?”
King exhaled heavily, his breath tickling my ear. “So now we know that mages are real and so are fae, apparently. This just keeps getting wilder.”
“Yes, well, back to the matter at hand. I suspected that Ego hadn’t lost his witchy abilities, which is amazing. Plus, he has an anchor. I think we can use those somehow,” Lysandro said.
“Yes, Vampire, you can,” a lyrical voice said that didn’t belong to anyone in this room. It resonated at a frequency that I had to assume was a goddess, which meant Carli was being used as a mouthpiece again.
Lysandro gaped down at Carli where she’d now sat up straight between her wife’s legs.
“Oh, Hecate, thank you for honoring us with your presence again,” Rosie said.
Chance looked at me and mouthed, “Again?” and I shrugged. I hadn’t heard about her visiting before either.
“You have much to learn, young vampire.”
Lysandro flushed.
“But you’re making your god proud with how you’ve stepped up for the fledgling.”
Lysandro opened and closed his mouth twice, like he wanted to speak but just couldn’t get the words out.
“You must all fight this battle together. The fledgling is meant to be here, and so is the bridge.”
Lysandro cleared his throat, then managed to choke out, “The bridge?”
“Yes. Like so many assembled here, the anchor is not just one thing but two. He will help bridge the gaps between magical communities, but he can also bridge realms. Since so much has been lost to the passage of time, hear me, Lorewarden. The one who came before you was failed, and didn’t get the training he deserved. ”
King froze at being addressed by the goddess.
“Together, you and your mentor will find those things which are remembered no more in The Vault, but you must look where nothing exists. But this time, our kind have decided to intervene and set you on the path.
“A vampire-witch combination is powerful. With an anchor by his side, more powerful than the fledgling’s sire. With the young anchor being a bridge, he can root dimensions where they need to be. Bring the Master here where he can be appropriately dealt with. Together, you all have the power.
“And, Lysandro?”
“Yes, Goddess Hecate?”
“The time for hiding is over, so sayeth your god,” she finished solemnly.
Carli shook, then fell back into her wife’s waiting arms. Harry disappeared, then rushed in with a cup of water. He knelt down next to the wives and pushed it into Cassi’s hand to give to her wife.
The rest of us sat in shock, letting the words of the goddess roll around in our brains, searching for answers. Lysandro’s pale countenance had gone almost translucent, and I worried he would fall, but Benji was already up and moving, guiding him to the chair he’d been in.
After several minutes of silence, Rosie cackled. “Guess we have our work cut out because that didn’t make a lick of sense.”
King’s arms tightened around me, and he whispered, “Don’t mind Gran. We’ll figure this out,” then he kissed the shell of my ear.
For the sake of my cousin’s life and my own sanity, I hoped he was right.