24. Aeron
Aeron
By the time Quill and I were clean once more, we found our clothing sitting on the bed.
The magical constructs had not only washed it, but they’d repaired the tears as well.
I turned my shirt over, looking at the golden thread they’d used to embroider the holes closed.
It was a little gaudy, but it would do for now.
We just needed clothing to get us through until I went back home to my grandfather.
After that we’d find a way to reach out to Quill’s parents and get him some new things as well.
Once we were dressed, I took Quill’s hand and led him down a grand staircase that seemed to go on forever.
The sanctuary was even more impressive in daylight than it had been when we’d first arrived.
Sunlight streamed through windows, though they remained frosted and impossible to see through, illuminating tapestries and artwork that seemed to shift as I stared at them.
I wondered how long this place had existed.
Clearly it was a well-kept secret if only some of the Elder Council knew about it.
“It’s beautiful,” Quill murmured, his eyes taking in every detail as we descended. “How is this even possible? A place like this, hidden away?”
“A metric fuck-ton of magic,” I said simply, though I was asking myself the same questions. “My grandfather never mentioned anything about a sanctuary in the Veil. Which means either he didn’t know, or he was keeping it secret from me too.”
The thought didn’t sit well with me. There were too many secrets now, too many things being kept from me by people I was supposed to trust. First there was keeping the breaches a secret, then Wild in disguise, Atlas in disguise too, and now this sanctuary hidden away in the secret place between life and death.
The house seemed to almost lead us as we walked, hallways appearing when we needed them and doors melting away before we could test their handles.
After a few minutes we found ourselves standing in front of a pair of stained glass doors with nowhere else to go.
The moment I pushed them open I was struck with the damp scent of earth, rain, and plants.
Below my feet was a cobblestone path. But above me trees and vines with flowers in hundreds of different colors stretched up almost impossibly far toward a glass domed ceiling.
We’d stepped into an enormous garden that seemed to defy the laws of physics in the middle of a never ending magical mansion.
The glass ceiling looked like a Victorian conservatory, its metal framework turning green in the humidity.
And the space beneath it was vast enough to hold a small forest. Vines twisted around stone pillars, and I could hear the soft trickle of water from fountains hidden somewhere among the foliage.
And somehow, there were birds, colorful and bright on the branches or swooping between trees.
“Oh my god,” Quill breathed beside me, his hand tightening in mine as he took in the sight. “This is incredible.”
We followed the cobblestone path deeper into the garden, and I found my earlier frustration beginning to ease.
It was hard to stay angry in a place like that.
The air smelled of earth and growing things, of life and vitality in a way that made the chaos of the previous night feel like nothing more than a bad dream.
Ahead, I could see figures moving among the flowers.
As we drew closer, I recognized Elias and Caden sitting on a stone bench near one of the fountains.
Wild was there too, still looking exhausted despite the healing that Caden had apparently worked on him through the night.
Atlas was pacing nearby, his expression troubled.
“There you are,” Elias said, looking up as we approached. “We were beginning to wonder if you’d decided to stay in bed all day.”
I felt heat creep up my neck at the implication, but I didn’t bother denying it. There was no point. They probably already knew exactly what we’d been doing, and honestly, I didn’t care enough to pretend otherwise.
“What’s happened?” I asked instead, pulling Quill with me as I moved closer to the group. “Any word from my grandfather?”
“We were able to reach him,” Wild said with a nod. “He’s expecting you when you’re ready.”
“What about Widdershins?” Quill asked. “Did everyone make it out in time?”
The four of them went quiet for a moment, and I knew what that meant before they’d even spoken a word.
“There were casualties,” Atlas said quietly, his jaw clenching. “The security team managed to evacuate most of the students to the reinforced buildings, but not everyone made it.”
I felt Quill’s hand go rigid in mine, his entire body going tense beside me.
“How many?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“We’re still getting reports,” Elias replied, and I could hear the weight of responsibility in his tone. “But preliminary counts suggest somewhere between thirty and fifty students didn’t make it to safety in time.”
The number made my heart race. Thirty to fifty. Real people. People I might have passed in the halls or sat next to in class. People with families waiting for them to come home. The paranormal community wasn’t that big to begin with. Fifty of the upcoming generation lost was no small number.
“And the Purity Front?” I asked, my anger demanding action, demanding that I do something to make this right. “Do we know who they are? Where they’re hiding?”
“That’s where things get complicated,” Wild said, exchanging a look with Atlas that made my skin prickle with unease.
“My mother, the woman you both saw, she’s been leading them again.
Or at least, she’s the one orchestrating the attacks.
But she can’t be working alone. Someone had to rescue her from the cube of binding and bring her back. She couldn’t have done that alone.”
“Of course she isn’t working alone,” I muttered, rubbing my hands over my face in frustration. “Nothing is ever that simple.”
“There are others with her beyond the undead,” Caden added, his blue eyes fixed on me with an intensity that suggested he was measuring my reaction. “Witches, mostly. People who believe in the Purity Front’s ideology and are willing to work with a necromancer to achieve their goals.”
“My grandfather will want to know everything,” I said, already thinking through the logistics of getting back to him, of reporting all of this in person. “He’ll want to know who they are, what they want, how many of them there are.”
“That’s why you need to go,” Elias said, standing up from the bench. “But before you do, there’s something else you need to know. Something about what happened last night that we didn’t have time to explain.”
I felt Quill lean against me, and I instinctively wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer. Whatever this was, I had a feeling we weren’t going to like it.
“My mother,” Wild began, his voice taking on that ancient quality it sometimes did when he was speaking about something serious.
“She wasn’t always what she is now. She was once a powerful fae noble, one of the most respected members of the Seelie Court.
But she became obsessed with power, with immortality, with the idea that magic should be used to elevate the worthy and eliminate the weak. ”
“She sounds delightful,” Quill said dryly, though I could feel the tremor in his voice that betrayed his fear.
“She’s dangerous,” Atlas said flatly. “She’s had centuries to perfect her craft, and she’s not bound by the same moral limitations as the rest of us anymore. When she was sealed away, we thought we’d solved the problem. But clearly, we were wrong.”
“How did she escape?” I asked, my mind already working through the implications. “If she was sealed beyond the gate of death, there should be no way for her to return.”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Elias admitted.
“We know someone helped her, someone with access to old magic, someone who knew the binding spells well enough to unravel them from the outside. But there are only maybe ten people in the world who would be capable of such a thing, that we know of. However, it’s possible the Purity Front has resources we weren’t aware of. ”
The implications of that statement hung in the air between us like a sword waiting to fall. If the Purity Front had found a way to bring back a long destroyed magic like necromancy, what else did they have access to that we didn't know about?
“We need to go,” I said, looking down at Quill. “My grandfather needs to know about this immediately.”
“I know,” Wild said, standing up as well. “That’s why Atlas and I are going with you. We have a teleportation circle in the sanctuary, one that will get you directly to your grandfather’s estate without any risk of interception.”
I nodded, grateful for the assistance. “What about Quill?” I asked, not wanting to leave him behind but also not knowing if bringing him with me was the right call. “He’s my mate. I won’t leave him behind.”
“He goes with you,” Elias said simply. “We’ll contact his parents, let them know he’s safe. Your grandfather can arrange a meeting with them if necessary. But for now, he stays with you. It’s the safest place for him.”
I felt my heart do a little flip of relief in my chest. Quill was staying with me. Whatever came next, we’d face it together.
“Thank you,” I said to Elias, meaning it more than I could express. The thought of being separated from Quill after everything was not an option. “I won’t forget this.”
“Just make sure your grandfather understands what happened here,” Wild replied, his green eyes serious.
“We’ll brief him on the situation, but he needs to understand that my mother is a threat to everyone.
Not just the paranormal community, but the human world too if she’s given the chance to expand her operations.
Now is not the time for hiding how serious the situation has become. ”
“I will,” I promised, and I meant it. “I’ll make sure he knows.”
Quill squeezed my hand, and I looked down at him.
He looked small somehow, overwhelmed by everything that had happened and everything we’d just learned.
I hated that look on his face. I wanted to make it go away, wanted to shield him from all of this chaos and danger.
But I was beginning to understand that wasn’t going to be possible. Not anymore.
“We should gather what we need,” Wild said, already moving toward one of the garden paths. “The circle is on the other side of the sanctuary. It’ll take us about ten minutes to get there.”
I followed him, keeping Quill close at my side.
As we walked through that impossible garden, I found myself thinking about everything that had changed in the last twenty-four hours.
The wards had fallen. Students had died.
My grandfather’s carefully maintained secrets were unraveling one by one.
I’d told Quill I loved him. And somewhere out there, Wild’s mother was planning her next move.
The weight of it all pressed down on me like a boulder.
“Hey,” Quill said softly, tugging on my hand. “You okay?”
I looked at him, at the concern written all over his face despite everything he was going through himself. “No,” I admitted. “But I will be. We will be. We’re not going to let them win.”
He nodded. “No we won’t,” he said, determination in his voice. “Not after what they did to everyone.”
As we emerged from the garden and began making our way through the corridors of the sanctuary, I couldn’t help but wonder what my grandfather would say when he heard about all of this.
About the breach, about Wild’s mother, about Quill being my mate.
About the fact that everything we thought we knew about the threats facing our world had been fundamentally wrong.
An extremist group was one thing, something that needed to be quelled.
But an army of undead summoned to kill without thought, that was a crime unseen since before the dark ages.
I had no idea how we were going to stop them, but I’d find out soon enough. Because one way or another, we were going to end this. We were going to stop Wild’s mother and the Purity Front, and we were going to make sure that what happened at Widdershins never happened again to anyone.
I had to believe that. Because the alternative was unthinkable.