Chapter 26 Heavenly Bodies and Portals to the Void
Heavenly Bodies and Portals to the Void
ANNA
In the days after the ball, tension settled into my shoulders like a bruise that wouldn’t heal. Nightfall was not the same after the attacks.
Few students lingered in the common areas for long and those who did were in groups, frequently looking over their shoulders. Roslyn assured me the situation was being dealt with and that they were looking for Malakai, but it was clear she was worried.
When I saw Isabella for the first time since the attack, I nearly crushed her spine as we embraced.
Having her back was a breath of fresh air.
After Cody and Skylar vanished without a trace, a deep root of discomfort had formed in my mind.
I didn’t realize until this moment, with her back and healthy in my arms, how terrified I was that I’d never see her again.
I blinked away tears as I tried to hide my reaction. Isabella had become something like a sister to me, just as I thought of Katie and Eiryn. Eventually, she adjusted back to a normal routine, but I didn’t want to press her for details of what happened yet.
I did, however, talk her into breakfast. As fate would have it, that turned out to be a bad idea. The hall was filled with whispers when we arrived and sat down at our usual table. Everyone wore grim expressions like someone died.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Isabella glanced at Riya and Eli, and I saw Riya’s eyes were red. Eli’s usual cheer was missing as he pulled Riya next to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
My brows furrowed.
“Isaac is missing,” Eli said quietly.
I gasped. “What? How?”
“He told his dormmates he forgot his cloak in the training hall last night. They found it odd because he was wearing it when he left. It freaked them out, so two of his dormmates went to a professor but the other followed him. He’s in a coma in the hospital wing now,” he said.
“He was found in the corridor near the dorms. No sign of Isaac anywhere.”
Fear and anger crawled across my skin. Something was coming—whoever was doing this wasn’t even trying to hide it anymore with their hypnotism. Everson, Malakai—they were involved in this. They had to be. It couldn’t be a coincidence. They all knew.
I slammed my fist against the table, drawing the others’ attention.
“He isn’t the first,” I said, and rose from my seat abruptly. “Cody was.”
Blake wasn’t in Meridian or Griffin Hall.
There was only one place left to look—his tower.
Running, I brushed past students, knocking into some.
I ignored their irritated remarks, panting as I took flight after flight of stairs.
The décor in this part of the castle changed as I got into the chambers used by diplomats of The Falls.
It was dimly lit with lanterns and decorated in rich purples and reds that contrasted with the elegant, plush furniture.
The symbol of the raven was elegantly woven into the curtains' embroidery.
I needed Blake to tell me the truth—to know he didn’t know what was going on and that he wasn’t protecting Malakai. He told me to come to him if I wanted answers. I didn’t just want them, I needed them.
Nothing made sense and none of this was right. Something evil was happening here and if the Aurkai weren’t going to stop Initiates from vanishing, then I would.
Taking a breath, finally, a calm, soothing feeling slowed my mind.
What was this?
I stopped running, my limbs heavy, and my head woozy.
I don’t know how, but I knew—he was doing this to me. Anger broke through as I realized. I was sick of being manipulated!
Terrified, I tried to run. As I turned the corner to Blake’s tower, I heard footsteps. Blake? My head pounded as I looked around for what I heard. Then, I felt it—there was someone behind me.
“Time for a nap.”
I turned, my body feebly attempting to block an attack, but it was too late. A crushing blow to my head knocked me to the floor. I tried to stand up but my vision was fading. Someone grabbed my feet, and I shifted my torso to try to break free of their hold, but my strength was failing.
After that, there was nothing.
My dreams were flooded with shadows twisting in my mind.
The memory of that night surfaced like a plague unleashed from the darkest depths.
It harnessed my waking thoughts and suddenly I was back in my childhood home.
I was in darkness. I could see my kitchen but it was blurry.
The shadows were stretching all around me.
A deep and painful cold had reached the depths of my heart. These shadows—were they mine? They couldn’t be, right? But this cold was coming from within, so frigid was my heart I wasn’t sure it would ever beat again. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t face it.
I retreated from the memory, but I was swept away by another.
An unfamiliar memory.
A memory that was not my own.
I was in the Catacombs, but I didn’t remember how I got here.
Suddenly, a man whose face I couldn’t see was pulling me toward him.
“Adelyna, will you marry me?”
My face became inflamed, and my heart beat itself against my chest furiously. I was growing faint. What was he doing? Was this a competition to him? A rivalry he was determined to win?
“You know I want to be with you,” I whispered.
His eyes narrowed, an action so minuscule that I barely caught it but it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. I could feel his power beating within him and I broke eye contact.
“Of course, I will marry you.”
A soft collective gasp sounded throughout the room. No one cheered.
“Good,” he said, his voice smooth. “Then you can show them you have no qualms with being with me and that it is not an ancient mandate that will yield your deference. De-robe.”
A chill swept through me, malignant and penetrating; I couldn’t move. This wasn’t him. He was cold. It was as if he had been…
…touched.
I woke abruptly in a cold sweat, my head still pounding. The dream flashed in my mind like wisps of smoke but the very real physical pain I was in quickly took precedence. I couldn’t see anything, and my back was against a hard stone surface.
Something soft was covering my face and I was breathing in my own hot breath. A sharp yank of my hair made me wince and cry out. It felt like they’d ripped a chunk out as the covering over my head was ripped off, the sudden light blinding me and forcing my eyes shut.
When I cracked them open, the room was sideways. Someone was there, holding a cloth bag in one hand and watching me through an odd mask and a black hood, the rest of their body draped in robes.
The mask was silver, with swirling engraved markings covering it. Small holes opened in oval shapes for the eyes. I pressed against the wall I was near, trying to get away. My hands were bound behind my back, and I quickly scanned my surroundings.
“She’s awake,” the man in the mask called over his shoulder.
“Good, get her up.”
I recognized Melanie’s voice as the man dragged me to my feet.
I struggled against the bindings around my wrists, loosening the knots desperately.
As Melanie approached, my captor maintained his grip on my upper arm, and I finally loosened the bindings enough to slip my hand loose.
Immediately, I elbowed him in the chest. He was surprised enough that I’d landed a kick strong enough to thrust him against the wall behind him.
I rushed forward, drawing the sword at his hip, and struck him with the hilt to render him unconscious.
Quickly, I fell into a defensive stance, focusing on Melanie’s form as she approached me.
Behind her, an arched doorway drew my attention.
Built of black stone, the archway stood on a raised platform with four columns supporting the covering of the same black stone material.
Intricate designs in a glowing purple were etched into the stone archway.
Within the arch appeared to be some liquid material swirling and shifting.
Nothing held it there but it stayed perfectly within the stone archway.
Had it not been shifting and glowing, it could’ve been a purposeless door in the middle of an otherwise empty room.
I couldn’t understand what I was looking at, but as the purple and black swirled and rippled, I knew it wasn’t a material I’d ever seen.
“They say if you aren’t strong enough and you enter the portal, you will be lost,” Melanie said, stopping a few paces before me.
She, too, was wearing a black cloak and black outfit consisting of shorts and a corset top underneath. Her sword was in her hand, and her mask was on the floor.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked, having difficulty looking away from the swirling oddity before me.
“To make it clear what I told you in the beginning,” she said. “Stay away from Blake.”
Was she serious?
“Are you still on about this?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” she spat, rushing at me.
I blocked her blade, bearing the weight of her strength, and barely pushed her back.
“You think you can come here and charm everyone into loving you, but their lives are not that simple. You are a distraction who has never faced real hardship. The only reason you are still alive is because you have been protected,” she said, her voice dripping with malice.
I barely dodged her in time and rolled across the stone floor before returning to my feet and bracing for an attack.
“I didn’t come here to charm anyone,” I said.
“You should not have come at all.”