Chapter 31 #3
“It won't hold for long,” my father warns. “You need to reach her consciousness before the barrier fails.”
“How?” I demand, maintaining the blood-lock with effort I can feel draining me rapidly.
“Speak to her. To Nyv. Remind her who she is.”
I move closer, careful not to touch the barrier. “Yo Nyv, you idiot,” I call, trying to keep my voice steady. “It's Jax. You need to come back now.”
Her black eyes stare unseeing.
“Remember who you are,” I continue, more forcefully. “You're Nyv Salem. You're not a vessel. You're not a tool. You’re the most stubborn, spite-driven pain in the ass I’ve ever known, and you don’t let anything get the last word. Not me. Not your brother. And definitely not whatever that thing is.”
Something flickers across her face, the smallest twitch of recognition.
“Good,” my father encourages. “Keep going. But try memories instead of insults.” I can practically hear him roll his eyes.
I rack my brain for something meaningful. “Remember when we were kids? That summer when you were nine and you broke your little finger slipping from the old oak behind your house? You made me promise not to tell anyone you were crying.”
A faint, strained breath leaves her.
“And I didn't. I just sat with you until your dad found us. You threatened to punch me if I didn’t.”
Her fingers loosen slightly on the dagger.
“She's listening,” my father says. “Another push.”
“You're stronger than this thing inside you, Nyv,” I tell her, my voice growing hoarse with effort as I maintain the blood-lock. “You don’t fold. You never have. You dig your heels in and make everyone deal with you. So if something in your head thinks it gets to take over—” I dare to move even closer. “—it picked the wrong person.”
Nyv blinks, and for a split second, I see her gray eyes flicker through the black.
“Now,” my father commands. “Pull the dagger away!”
With my free hand, I gesture sharply, using the blood magic still flowing through me to create a kinetic force that yanks the dagger from Nyv's grasp. It clatters to the floor several feet away, and the moment it loses contact with her skin, she gasps like someone surfacing from deep water.
The blackness recedes from her eyes, leaving her looking dazed and terrified. She stares at her arm where the dark veins are slowly fading, then at me.
“Jax?” she whispers, her voice small and confused. “What happened?”
Before I can answer, the dagger on the floor begins to vibrate violently, the crimson veins in the blade pulsing angrily. It starts to slide across the stone, moving back toward Nyv as if pulled by an invisible force.
“We need to go,” I say, grabbing her arm with one hand while helping Ridge to his feet with the other. “Now!”
We stumble toward the exit, the dagger scraping across the floor behind us, moving faster. As we cross the threshold, I slam the heavy door shut, the sound echoing through the crypt. There's a sharp thud from the other side.
“We need to secure this,” I pant, looking for something to barricade the door.
Ridge, still dazed but recovering quickly, helps me drag one of the corridor’s small but heavy stone benches in front of the entrance. It won't hold forever, but it’s a fix that’ll buy us time.
I pull out my phone with shaking hands and dial security. “Hey, this is Jax Salem,” I say when someone answers. “We have a breach situation in the Vault of Sundered Blades in the east wing crypts. Send a containment team immediately.”
After ending the call, I turn to Nyv, who's leaning against the wall, looking pale and disoriented.
“Are you okay?” I ask, examining her arm where the veins have almost completely disappeared.
“I don't... I don't remember coming down here,” she says, her voice unsteady. “I was heading back to my room after training, exhausted, and then... nothing until I heard your voice.”
Ridge looks at her, then at me, his expression grim. “This is getting out of order. Burr’s training is supposed to prevent this.”
“Yeah. Well, she’s obviously not good enough yet.”
We start walking, Ridge and I supporting Nyv by her arms.
“And what the hell was that, Jax?” Ridge says. “That blood magic you did... I've never seen anything like it.”
“My Ide,” I say, the half-truth sticking in my throat. “It knows things. About blood magic.”
Ridge casts me a look. “That was your Ide, helping you in there?”
I nod, feeling the weight of the lie—or at least, the partial truth—settling uncomfortably in my chest.
“Well maybe they’re not all destructive then,” he murmurs.
“Whatever it was,” Nyv says quietly, voice still uneven, “thanks. I felt... I think it was trying to change me in some way. I’m not exactly sure how, but it was…” She shudders, her face uncharacteristically haunted.
“We need to tell people about this,” Ridge says, helping his twin up the stairs. “Corvin, Burr. If the Ides are trying to… mess with their hosts, we need to warn people.”
I nod, but inside, my father's voice is cautious. “Be careful who you talk to.”
I exhale sharply. The pressure of it all is starting to grate.
All the half-truths. All the things I can’t say.
I’m used to walking into a problem and tearing it apart until I understand it, not tiptoeing around it like one wrong word’s going to set everything on fire.
But the way my dad’s still acting, that’s exactly the risk.
I hang back a step as Ridge moves through the exit with Nyv, back into the main building.
“I need more info from you,” I say under my breath. “Seriously. I can’t handle these vague warnings, these restrictions, forever.”
My father doesn’t respond but I sense he’s registered it.
We move the rest of the way in silence back toward our dorms, all three of us uncharacteristically tense, shaken. I keep half-expecting Nyv’s Ide to take hold of her again. She seriously needs a mega-dose more of training.
We’re about to turn down the last corridor before our rooms when I hear footsteps along the adjacent hallway.
I pause, retrace my steps and glance down it.
A thin, dark figure moves with purpose. Warden Blythe.
She's headed toward the administrative wing, a leather-bound book clutched against her chest.
“Blythe,” my father's voice suddenly cuts through my exhaustion.
I feel a surge of alertness despite my aching muscles. “What?”
“Follow her,” he says. “Discreetly.”
“You say something?” Ridge calls back to me.
I clear my throat, mind ticking. “I just remembered something. I need to check on... a thing.” Smooth.
“A thing?” Ridge's eyebrows shoot up. “Now? After what just happened?”
“Security's on the way to handle the vault,” I non-answer, already backing away. “Get Nyv to her room. I'll catch up with you later.”
Nyv looks too drained to argue, and Ridge is focused on supporting her weight. He gives me a skeptical look but nods. “Fine. But you should rest too.”
“Yeah, definitely,” I mutter, turning.
I wait until they're around the corner before slipping down the corridor after Blythe. Her dark robes whisper against the stone floor as she moves deeper into the administrative section.