Chapter 14 #2
Bridget slammed her lips shut. He was right. Her onslaught of questions had cracked Stellan’s composure. A trickle of blood escaped his nose as he clearly battled the curse holding his memories hostage.
“The crown is the other well-known artifact…”
His gravelly tone told her it wasn’t a normal crown. Silence enveloped them. Bridget’s own heartbeat echoed in her ears.
“What did that do?” Archer asked. “Or is that…”
“People believe it could raise the dead.”
Ice filled Bridget’s veins. A knot in her stomach screamed at her. Telling her of things she didn’t quite understand. When she finally found her voice, she asked, “Why would she do that?”
“To raise a zombie army of Blood Witches,” Archer muttered. “Obviously.”
Nylah asked, “Do you know where the crown is now?”
“No one knows. It was last seen five hundred years ago.”
Despite answering Nylah, Stellan kept his gaze locked on Bridget. There was a strange sort of desperation. A plea for understanding. A begging for her to read between the lines and discover what he didn’t remember fully.
She was very close to getting her hands on something that would have won her the war. You stopped that before it happened. Stellan’s explanation about why she was executed echoed in her head. She’d found the crown. And then hidden it from Vega.
Despite any more evidence from Stellan, she just knew.
Beside her, Archer let out a tired breath. “Let me guess… Whoever saw it last took the secret of where it was hidden to their grave.”
Stellan nodded, but he kept his gaze on Bridget.
The secrets and plans swirling left her breathless.
Without having to ask, she knew the search for the crown’s location inside her mind would happen again.
The scars on her stomach burned. That’s what Quinn had been looking for when she’d nearly spilled all her blood during her first few days in Elyria.
This is why they were going back. Whatever magic or rune he needed to dig deep inside wasn’t here.
“This will be fun…” Archer mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“Now… if we could please…”
Before he could finish, Stellan froze abruptly.
Bright eyes glazing over, he reached out a hand and steadied himself against the truck.
Without warning, he grimaced and twitched.
Muttering things in another language under his breath as he shook his head, over and over.
Bridget watched in awe. She’d never seen a Shaman have a vision before, and it was nothing like she imagined. He seemed to feel everything.
Slowly, Bridget moved toward him. When Stellan twitched again, she raised her hand.
Alexia dug her nails into her arm, so hard Bridget’s muscle throbbed underneath her leather coat. “Don’t touch him.”
Bridget recoiled out of her grip. “Something’s wrong,” she argued, turning her focus to Stellan once more. His blond hair, now damp with sweat, clung to his forehead. Wrong seemed to be an understatement. Whatever Stellan was seeing was torturous.
Shuffling closer, Nylah whispered, “Why is he in so much pain?”
Breathing hard, Stellan mumbled, “No, no, no.” Then, with a gasp, he convulsed and collapsed against the rusty metal.
Reflexively, Bridget darted forward to catch him before he hit the ground. But she wasn’t the only one.
“Nylah, don’t!” she screamed.
The moment both of their hands touched Stellan, electricity whipped through Bridget’s muscles.
The world around her disappeared and transformed into a shadowy, spinning mess of distorted images.
The wall surrounding Astraeus, blown to bits.
A city on fire. A Wraith with hollow eyes digging their claws into Marin’s back.
Each vision was more terrible than the last. When Bridget was sure her head would explode from the sheer force of the changing realities, an invisible force pulled her backward.
With a pop, Bridget landed in snow. Cold air filled her lungs as she struggled to control her breathing and process the blue sky above her. Irony metal filled her mouth. Swallowing hard, she wiped her nose. Not metal. Blood.
Then she remembered what happened.
To her right, Nylah lay face down in the snow. Her body shook with every breath. Bridget rolled over and frantically crawled to her. “Are you okay?” Bridget demanded, turning her over. Blood poured from her sister’s nose, as well. “What were you thinking?”
Nylah rubbed her eyes and wearily sat up. “That’s what magic feels like?”
Before Bridget could admonish her more, her sister began to cough uncontrollably. Rubbing Nylah’s back, Bridget held her steady and used the sleeve of her jacket to clean up the excess blood staining her face. After a moment, when she still didn’t stop, Bridget’s stomach twisted.
“She’s already sick,” Archer said, briefly glaring at Alexia. “Magic is going to affect her more.”
Bridget reached for her backpack, but Stellan beat her to it.
He dug inside, then pulled out an identical bottle of the homemade liquid he’d given Nylah when they’d first arrived.
His hand trembled as he handed it over to her.
Bags that hadn’t been there before now hung under his eyes.
Bridget had been in his head only seconds and she wanted to scrub the images from her brain.
She couldn’t imagine what else he’d seen… and would continue to see.
The moment the liquid hit Nylah’s lips, her coughing subsided. Relief almost knocked Bridget to the ground again. She reached out to rub her sister’s back, but she knocked her away with a weak push of her shoulder. “Stop hovering,” Nylah grumbled, taking another sip of the liquid. “I’m fine.”
Above them, Alexia scoffed, “I told you not to touch him.”
“Do you ever say anything helpful?” Archer asked.
Closing her eyes, Bridget replayed the shadowy visions. “Has that happened?” she asked Stellan, who leaned against his truck, arms folded. She hadn’t been able to recognize the when of the images. Just that it was Astraeus being attacked and nearly burned to the ground.
A muscle in Stellan’s jaw flexed. “It will. We’ve wasted too much time. We won’t make it in time to help stop it.”
“What do you mean? Is it happening right now?” Bridget demanded. Stellan didn’t answer. She clenched her teeth together. “Then fuck it, let’s just go through Cavamyne.”
Archer helped Bridget to her feet. “What did you see?” he asked.
Stellan shook his head. “Like I already said, Vega—”
“Obviously you two were too focused on the gloom and doom to actually see anything useful,” Nylah said, casually wiping excess snow and dirt off her pants. “Luckily… I did.”
Bridget’s mouth fell open as she watched her dig around for something in her jacket pocket.
“I was confused for a second, but then I realized I was in your head,” Nylah continued, glancing up at Stellan. “So then I thought about what I wanted to see. Before I knew it, I saw a flicker of brightness. And then I almost… like reached out and grabbed it. If that makes sense.”
“And what was that?” Stellan asked, blinking rapidly like he didn’t quite know what to make of her. Bridget didn’t either. Nylah had been around magic for one day and already seemed to navigate it better than she ever had.
“The best outcome.” Nylah straightened, then pulled the black stone from her jacket. In her palm, it glittered and glowed. “And what I could do to help.”
Color drained from Stellan’s face. He bent closer and peered at the stone, but did not reach out to touch it. His throat bobbed as he asked, “Where did you get that?”
“Cade…” Nylah replied, eyebrows creasing at his obvious wariness.
Stellan looked to Bridget for confirmation. She nodded. “I didn’t realize what it was until I came back. A rune, right?”
“Not exactly. Did he say why he had it?”
“Never,” Bridget said. “But it must have come from the vault in Mount Lugh. There was something missing in the case where I found the Bloodstone.”
Cursing under his breath, Stellan ran a hand through his damp hair. And then laughed. A sharp, humorless, shocked laugh. Like he wasn’t quite sure if he was amused or completely flabbergasted.
Archer gazed at him sideways. “That’s not just a rune, is it?”
“It’s one of the Tuathan artifacts,” Stellan said, then laughed again.
Bridget’s mouth fell open. “How is that possible?”
Suddenly, Stellan grabbed Nylah and spun her around in the air. At first, Bridget was shocked by the gesture. But as Nylah squealed, she remembered he did help raise Marin. Her gaze softened as he gently put her back on the ground.
“You might be the most peculiar child I’ve ever met and what you did was extremely dangerous, but the whole city of Astraeus is about to owe you a very large thank you,” Stellan said, causing Nylah to glow proudly. “That stone should create a gate for us. Right here. To anywhere we want.”
Hope stirred in Bridget’s chest. “And you can use it?”
“No…” Stellan said. “But I think she can.”
Silence enveloped them all. After a minute, Nylah shuffled closer to Bridget. When she audibly swallowed, she stepped in front of her. “How?” Bridget asked. “She’s a human.” Which meant consequences. And payments. And pain. Something she wouldn’t let her sister experience.
A hint of a smile on his face, Stellan held out a hand to Nylah. “Do you trust me?”