Chapter 4 #2
Downstairs smells like coffee and whatever Asher is cooking up in the kitchen, and the moment I step off the landing and onto the hardwood of the main floor, I’m bombarded by the puppers.
Excited little butts waggle, welcoming me to a new day. I lift each one of them up for a kiss before setting them back on their scrambling little paws. “Okay, who’s hungry?”
As if they understand every word I’m saying, they turn their little snausage bodies around and take off toward the kitchen.
When I open the fridge, a small glass container sits on the middle shelf with a sticky note on the lid that reads for sleeping beauty with a small drawing of a crown underneath.
Harhar, such a comedian. I smile despite myself, take off the lid, and stick it in the microwave. While it heats up, I pour myself a glass of juice.
“We’re in here, P.”
Carrying the warm container through to the living room, I follow Asher’s voice and find them.
Asher is horizontal across two-thirds of the couch with Orion tucked against his side, his silver-blue eyes fixed on the television. The two are curled lazily around each other and look adorably comfortable.
The moment I arrive, Asher hits pause and presses a hand to his chest. "She lives. It’s an Emberwood miracle."
I roll my eyes and claim the armchair, setting my juice on a coaster and sitting back with my container of breakfast scramble. "It's not even noon."
"It is almost noon. The sun has been up for hours. Some of us have been up for hours." He gestures at Orion as supporting evidence. “Even Plant Boy got up, had breakfast with us, and got started on his day.”
Orion says nothing, but the corner of his mouth twitches as he holds back his amusement.
I tuck my feet under me and dig into my breakfast. Oh, he's even added hot sauce. I eat a forkful and let the silence sit for a moment before meeting his expectant gaze. “Thank you. It’s delicious.”
“You’re always welcome. Now, tell me what’s going on with you.”
I swallow. "I just had another freaky Tharuzel mind-meld nightmare."
Both of them straighten and curse. It’s a move so coordinated that, if I hadn’t just confessed to being sucked into the embodiment of a soul-sucking demon, I would laugh.
I tell them everything. The cave, the enormous carved circle on the wall, the geometry drawn in blood across the floor, the jeweled dagger, the black ooze that seeped from the cut in his palm...
“And the way he drew his own symbols over the top of the existing carvings… It felt like he was rewriting something that already existed.”
Orion shakes his head. “Okay, there is a lot to unpack in that, Pops. You’re sure he was imbuing the runes with souls?”
“That’s what it felt like, yeah. And I think it worked because as he did it, the runes blazed to life.”
Asher runs a hand through his shaggy blond hair. "Okay, that's a lot."
Orion's brow has pulled together. "And if you’re right, it sounds like he was doing something to a pre-existing magical structure."
Asher blinks. “You mean like taking it offline?”
“No, more like converting or repurposing it."
"For what?"
He shrugs. “I have no idea."
“Do you think if we figure out where it was, we could maybe figure out what it was?”
Asher sits forward. "All we need to do is find a cave with a giant magical circle inside that’s been used to feed souls into stonework. That doesn’t sound so hard.”
I sigh and reclaim my breakfast. “Not helpful.”
“My bad. Okay, so what do we know for sure?”
I think about that. “I know that whatever he did, his spell unleashed at 11:47 our time, because I checked the time the moment my eyes flew open. I know that there was a gigantic rush of power. And I know it was in an old, damp cave that had already been set up with magic.”
"Hold, please." Asher pulls his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through a couple of screens. His thumbs fly as he gets into the zone, and less than a minute later, he’s frowning at his screen. “Oh, shit.”
“What? Did you figure it out?”
“Okay, so I searched for weirdness in the news that might be Tharuzel-shaped that occurred at 11:47 EST.”
“And?”
“And there’s been an earthquake in Ireland."
"And that qualifies as a Tharuzel event, how?”
“Well, aside from it happening at the exact moment Tharuzel was up to his fuckery, it was a 4.8 magnitude quake in an area with no fault lines, no seismic history, and no reason to explain an earthquake there. Geologists are calling it anomalous."
My egg scramble feels heavy in my stomach.
"Do they mention a cave?”
Asher frowns. “Not specifically, but Ireland is riddled with networks of caves and has centuries of fae magic, right? It stands to reason that the cave you saw could be there.”
Orion stands. “Can’t hurt to check it out.”
I reach for my phone and dial.
Garrison picks up on the second ring.
"Miss Hallowind." His voice is a low rumble, the kind that seems to travel through floors. "Please tell me this is a personal call and not yet another calamity you’ve stumbled into.”
"If only I could, I definitely would.”
There’s a sardonic chuckle in the background. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
“I had another nightmare in Tharuzel's consciousness, and based on what I saw and the timing, I think it connects to an earthquake that was reported this morning in Ireland.”
The air crackles with power and then, the massive Rift Minotaur is standing in my living room. Orion and Asher both jump, but somehow, I’m getting used to Garrison and his ways.
He meets my gaze with a deeply furrowed brow. “Tell me.”
I go through the dream again, more carefully this time. The cave, the circle, the geometry, the ritual. The black substance in his palm. The runes blazing. All of it.
When I finish, he straightens and stares out the glass doors toward the forest behind my house and the standing stones beyond.
"I agree with your assessment. A significant transfer of soul energy into a fixed physical structure could cause a seismic event. And yes, Ireland possesses many magical caves and tombs which match the description of what you saw.”
“Nailed it.” Asher raises a hand for a high-five, and I widen my eyes at him and leave him hanging.
Garrison, thankfully, is still staring out at my backyard. “Were there any details in the dream that felt minor to you? Peripheral. Things your mind may have skipped because the larger image demanded attention."
I run it back through my mind and try to separate the whole from its parts.
"I don't think so. It was dark and smelled damp.
Everything was stone. There were no markings on the cave itself other than the circle.
I couldn't see an entrance. I couldn't tell how deep underground they were.
I think he was alone… but he might not have been.
But other than the runes and the weird oozing blood thing, nothing else. "
He exhales slowly.
"Very well, I will look into this on our end and see what I can learn about what happened in Ireland. Be ready, Miss Hallowind. I have a feeling your Life and Death Brigade will be heading into the field in the near future.”
I nodded. “We’ll be ready."