Chapter 20 Declan #2
In that moment, for the first time, I realized leaving us may have caused our parents as much pain as it had Keelan and me. They suffered, too. They carried far more memories of us than we could of them. They dreamed of life before, and ached for one day—one moment—with their children once more.
I felt it all, and the weight of it nearly drove me to my knees.
Immaturity and selfishness mocked me, and I knew, with certainty, the depth of my mother’s love. My hand stretched across the table and grasped Kelsa’s. In that simple act, offering grace and comfort to my mother, my own heart cracked open.
From the ashes of bitterness, a new man began to emerge.
Kelsa sprang from her chair and wrapped me in a tight embrace. It only took a second for me to return the hug—and for it to grow into a ferocious thing—and for both of us to dissolve into tears.
órla’s taloned toes tittered on the table. “Aww! Me, too! Me, too!”
Kelsa and I laughed together for the first time as I cradled órla in my palm and Kelsa scratched her feathery head. The ensuing coo-purr made our laughter grow.
When our joy subsided, and órla’s itch was properly scratched, Kelsa patted my arm and stepped back. “Let me take you to the Well and try to answer some of your questions.”
“The Well?” Wonder crept into my voice. “As in the Well?”
Kelsa laughed again. “There’s the little boy I remember. Yes, the Well.”
órla perched on my shoulder as we followed Kelsa into the cavern’s passage, a rough-hewn shaft lit by the stones underfoot, similar to those of the Path leading up the mountain.
I brushed my hand against the walls to find them jagged and cold, not at all the childhood vision of a great shrine to magic with grand columns of marble and gold.
The tunnel opened into a massive underground chamber, and I froze in the opening, my mouth agape.
“I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”
The cavern covered more ground than the entire Guild Complex back in Saltstone—the entire complex, with all of its buildings.
Translucent crystals crisscrossed every inch of the ceiling and walls, creating a spiderweb of crystalline strands that glowed an azure hue from within.
The floor was a solid sheet of crystal that I first thought to be ice waiting to crack under our weight.
Beneath the glassy floor swirled a lake of shimmering liquid that rippled and flowed in ceaseless motion.
Luminescent mist rose from the water trapped beneath the crystal.
The lake’s churning reflected in each of the surrounding crystals, giving the room life and movement that threatened to overwhelm my senses.
At the center of the room, two rings of stairs stood before a platform of the same smooth crystal.
Undaunted, Kelsa strode toward the platform.
Her feet made a slapping sound with each step, and the imprisoned mist reached for her as she passed over it.
She was halfway to the center before she realized that I hadn’t followed.
órla whispered in my ear, “Um, Declan, why’s she laughing at you? I mean, you are kinda funny sometimes, but—”
“It’s quite safe, my brave Ranger. Come now,” Kelsa called out with mirth in her voice.
I let out the breath I’d been holding and took a tentative first step. The mist lunged toward my foot, and I leaped back. Kelsa’s laughter was punctuated with snorts that bounded throughout the cavern.
She had the same awkward laugh as Keelan.
órla giggled.
I gathered my wounded pride and marched into the room—not confidently, but not as tentatively as before.
It was hard to know where to look: at the swirling blue mass or the sentient mist that clawed for my feet?
At the reflections as they danced, bouncing off one crystal to another?
Or at the platform I now faced that opened in its center to allow the mist to rise unhindered and crawl across my mother’s form?
“It’s . . . all over you,” I sputtered.
She already looked ageless. With the mist coating her like a second skin, she was downright mystical.
“Ha. Mystical. Mist. I get it. That’s funny.”
I stumbled and fell to one knee.
órla landed and giggled again.
“Did you just say that in my head?” I asked, gaping at órla. “Wait . . . did you hear me thinking?”
“Well, duh! Do you have other eternal spirits running around up there that I should know about? I can get jealous, you know.”
“And now you’re talking in my head again. Spirits!” I scooted forward and sat on the first step, suddenly very dizzy.
Kelsa sat on a wide, flat crystal, reached down, lifted the owl onto her lap, and scratched her head.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kelsa waved a hand through the mist rising over the opening. With her movement, mist flew from around her arm and scattered in all directions, reforming itself to cling to my body and crawl across my arms.
I held my arms away and stared in wonder.
“I don’t understand any of this. When I left home, I didn’t even have a Gift—would never have one. Now, I’m sitting in the heart of magic, an owl is listening to my thoughts, and mystical smoke is clinging to my arms. Yes, it’s beautiful, but really creepy, and none of it makes any sense.”
Kelsa smiled. “Son, your connection to magic is waking, but your knowledge hasn’t even begun to stir. Enjoy the journey and know two things for certain. First, everything is about to change. What you will learn about magic—and about yourself—will threaten everything you thought you knew before.
Anyone who entered this chamber would face the same realization. But, with your bond to órla, I can’t even guess where the Path may lead you.”
She paused a moment, watching the Well’s aura swirling across my skin. Another smile curled her lips. “And that leads to the second thing: No one knows where the Path will lead until the next stones rise before them. All we can do is take one step at a time.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Why don’t we start with the question you asked before?”
I rose and stood beside where Kelsa sat near the opening.
Mist crawled up my legs and across my body.
It tingled, and I could feel immense power coursing through me when I breathed in the vapor.