Chapter 42 - Calytrix
FORTY-TWO
CALYTRIX
Iclosed my eyes and gripped onto Nova the second the curtains on my bed were pulled closed, fighting sleep as I yanked us through the nothing, taking us to the dragon landing.
It was one of the only other places I’d been in the palace and knew well enough to not kill us both. It was one thing if I’d seen a place clearly, but I’d been taken through most of the castle in the dead of night when we arrived. I couldn’t sense any of it. It all felt like a giant maze.
That was the thing about pulling myself through space.
I had to be very careful with it or I’d end up in the middle of a wall and kill both of us.
I could go to Nova, wherever she was, I could sense it, but anywhere else, I had to be very intentional about.
I only had a few jumps in me before I had to recharge.
Two, maybe three portals if they were long ones, so I had to be quite careful to conserve them. I might need them all to find him.
I didn’t expect the dragon landing to be guarded, so as long as we didn’t have very bad luck and end up there right when a dragon was landing, we should be okay.
I stumbled when I resurfaced, my eyes so heavy from the sleeping magic I could hardly open them. My body felt like it was in some sluggish dream.
I bent over, resting my elbows on my knees, sucking in air. “Gods.”
“Are you okay?” Nova put her hand on my shoulder.
“I’ll be fine. I’m just fighting…” I pried my eyes open and made myself take a few steps. “What did they do to us?”
“It’s definitely magic of some kind.” She slipped her arm into mine to help me stay upright. “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know where to start, which means we need Nyx's help. But I don’t think I can find him on my own.”
“Kol will help us find him,” Nova said.
Sneaking through the hallways, we went straight to Kol. Nova knew where his chambers were. It seemed like she’d had more freedom before I arrived. We knocked on his chamber door.
Kol immediately pulled us inside and glanced out the door behind us before closing it and locking it behind him.
“How did you two get here?” he whisper-yelled.
“I went to her like you asked,” Nova said, sounding annoyed.
“But you snuck out? Arkyn is going to be livid?” Kol rubbed his forehead.
“Is everything okay?” Alaric said from behind Kol.
“No, it’s not!” I snapped, “Faolan is missing, and you’re drinking?”
Nova leaned around Kol to look at him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m allowed to leave my rooms at night…” Alaric clutched a drink to his chest.
“This is how we know we’re getting the short end of the stick. We have a bedtime and attendants, and you two can be out all hours of the night? Males!” Nova scoffed, shoving past Kol. “You told me to tell Caly her mate is missing. Did you really think we weren’t going to look for him?”
“My brother is going to be furious when he finds out,” Alaric sighed. “He’s already spinning out about all of this. Who knows what he will do next?”
An unease crept up on me. “Could your brother be responsible for Faolan’s disappearance?”
“What makes you say that?” Kol asked carefully.
“The things he said to me after the meeting—” I cut myself off, not knowing what I was trying to say. It was just a feeling beginning to solidify.
“What did he say?” Kol asked.
I recounted all of Arkyn’s threats. “It didn’t feel like anything when he said it, but now knowing Faolan is missing, it might have been something.
He said he would arrange it, you know, for me to have access to Faolan to grow my power.
Like he has him and is the only one who could grant that.
Maybe I’m being over-dramatic, I don’t know. ”
“With my brother, over-dramatic is the baseline. Anything is possible.”
“How long has he been missing exactly?”
We tried to figure out the last time anyone had seen him.
“We have to find him before my brother does, if he hasn’t already.” Alaric set his drink aside before getting up. “And before he notices you’re missing. He’ll be on the warpath.”
“Let’s go to Nyx then,” I said, looking down at my nightclothes. “And someone give us some other pants or something.”
We changed into ill-fitting clothes, but they were better than wandering around the palace in nightclothes.
Thankfully, it wasn’t far from Kol’s suite to Nyx and Zaria’s. We knocked softly.
I kept my gaze on all the shadows, waiting for them to answer. The back of my neck crawled like someone would pop out and drag me back to Arkyn any second.
Finally, a half-asleep Nyx pulled the heavy door open. “What?”
“We need to find Faolan, and we could do with your help.” I stepped in front of Kol. “Please.”
He let us in, and we caught him up, and between us, we pieced together the last time anyone had seen him.
“It’s been a day and a half?! And you didn’t raise the alarm?”
“It’s been a bit busy here, debriefing the King about all that happened and dealing with Arkyn’s demands.
And until he changed his mind and started talking about staying, Faolan was meant to leave—that was always his plan.
I just figured he’d gone back to that plan and taken himself off.
” Nyx exhaled harshly. “But I agree. Wherever he is now, we need to find him before Arkyn does.”
“Have you tried looking for him through your bond?” Zaria asked.
“I’ve tried talking to him, but there is nothing there,” I told her, frustrated.
“But you know how to trace your magic and the threads between you, right?”
“It all feels cut off right now. I figured he was too far away.”
“He’d never be too far away to know he’s out there, alive and well. You have to feel for him.”
“Faolan showed me how to do that, how I could feel my sister’s presence in the realm to know she was okay when we’d been separated.” I hate that I hadn’t thought of it.
“You can. It might be too far to trace, but if he’s alive, you’ll be able to tell,” Zaria reassured me. “Try it.”
I closed my eyes, but they snapped open again. “What if he’s not?”
“You need to know.” Zaria took my hands in hers.
I nodded, taking a slow breath before letting my eyes fall closed again.
I found the threads between us and traced them.
It took so much focus, and I almost felt myself leaving my body, like when I portalled, but instead of pulling into myself, this was out.
It was a strange sensation, but I fought the panic and kept tracing.
“I can feel him. I think.” I tried to anchor where he was in space, like when I portalled to a familiar place. This was just without visuals. I could feel it in the map in my mind. “He’s not harmed, but I don’t think he can sense me. There nothing pulling back or responding to my call.”
“Do you know if he’s close?” Zaria urged.
I concentrated harder, trying to gauge it. It was hard to tell distance, but I could sense that he wasn’t mobile. He was stationary somewhere and… Yes! He did feel close. Like I could go to him if only I could figure out where he was.
I pushed harder, wishing I could somehow channel what he was seeing, but I knew that was impossible. However, as I dug deep into my reserves to reach out for him, I did get a sense. There was a sense of confinement, darkness, and powerlessness.
I opened my eyes and stared at the expectant faces.
“I think Arkyn has him.”
“How do you know?” Kol asked.
“Just a feeling. I can’t feel anything from him but this vague sense of being confined. But I feel like he is near.” I looked to Nyx. “Where would he hold him?”
Nyx frowned. “If he had him in the cells, I would have heard about it. I don’t think he would be that public about it.”
“What about the abandoned vaults beneath the south section? Where Kiera worked on that undead soul.” Zaria suggested, wincing. Perhaps it was a bad memory?
Nyx looked at her. “You could be on to something.”
Hurriedly, they explained the location and the basic layout to us. It sounded plausible, and hopefully, if I was there, I’d know if he was too.
“I think I should go to my brother so he doesn’t come looking,” Alaric said as we all got up.
Kol studied him for a minute. “You don’t think that will alert him to something going on?”
Alaric shook his head. “No. I think it’s the only way to keep him from catching wind of Calytrix not in her rooms, and if he does have Faolan, it will buy you time to get him out.”
“He’s got to have him, right?” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. “It’s the only explanation, isn’t it?”
No one said anything, but we all knew.
“Please be safe,” Alaric said in the silence.
“You be careful too.” Kol grabbed his arm, and it felt like we were privy to a moment we shouldn’t be seeing.
“I will be,” Alaric whispered.
Zaria gave us some better-fitting clothes to disguise us, while Nyx woke Jaxus and Kiera. We figured we’d be less suspicious in numbers. Especially with the general and his next in command with us.
The palace was silent, and I hated it more every day.
The Light Kingdom was never this way. Because of how many hours of light we got in a day, there was always activity.
Rarely darkness. This place felt like the deep recesses of a dungeon.
I needed to get Faolan out of here before we both died in the dark.
At least no one stopped us.
Not until we approached guards at the entrance to the vaults. Their presence alone seemed to confirm we were right to come here. Zaria had said they were abandoned. If so, why the need for guards?
Nyx stepped forward and waved them aside. “Stand aside.”
They exchanged a glance but didn’t move.
“We were told to let no one but the crown prince through.”
“How do you think disobeying an order from me will go over with the captain of the guard?” Nyx leaned down, looking each of them in the eyes. “And if you don’t move, you won’t still be alive to have anyone to complain to.”
They both moved.
“Don’t leave your post,” he growled at them before throwing open the door.
“Do you think that will work?” I looked behind us when we got some distance away.
“Does it matter? It at least bought us some time and made them think twice?” Nyx shrugged. “We’ve got to be close.”
But none of us were prepared for what we found.
We came to a staircase that spiraled down, housing locked door after locked door.
“What is he keeping in here?” Kol muttered.
“It was abandoned, but if he’s using it, I’m not sure we want to know.” Jaxus listened at one of them, but they were all deathly silent.
“Which means we should probably figure it out.” Nyx snarled. “But first we need Faolan out.”
I suddenly got an overwhelming feeling of being near to him. “He’s here,” I said to no one in particular and took off at a run.
I stopped at a door, and I didn’t know if I was right, but I had to be. I put my hand to it and begged the Sun God for him to be okay. “My love?”
“Tell me I’m not hallucinating.” Faolan’s voice nearly broke me.
“You’re not. I promise.” I turned to the males. “Get this door open.”
They tried. They really did, but there was no handle, no opening, no way to get in.
“Just use your magic,” Faolan said through the door.
“If I get in, we won’t be able to get out. It’s not going to open from the inside either. There has got to be a key somewhere.”
Nyx sent Jaxus to look while he and Kol kept working on the door.
“What magic is he talking about?” Nyx asked, but I didn't get to answer before Faolan called out again.
“What if you can take me with you?” His voice was barely audible. How much had Arkyn tortured him already? I wanted to kill Arkyn with my bare hands.
“We don’t know that it will work, and even if it did, I don't think I have enough reserves for both of us. I’ve already pulled Nova with me once tonight.”
“If I could get these shackles off, I’d give you power. They’re blocking my magic.”
“Would you have any left to give?” I asked.
No one asked or questioned us. I’m sure we’d have a lot of explaining to do later, but right now, all my focus was on Faolan.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said, sounding desperate.
Jaxus sprinted into view. “No keys, but the alarm has been raised. There are more guards headed this way. We have to get him out now.”
We were out of time.
“What if I can’t bring you with me?” I asked through the door, fighting the fear that crept like ice through my veins.
“Then at least I get to hold you one last time.”
“Don’t you start that!” I couldn’t handle it.
“Then have them work on breaking down the door while you get in here. You have three dragons with you—use them!”
“Okay, fair point. I can’t believe I have to do this blind again.” I closed my eyes. “Stand back. I’ve never been in that room, and I don’t want to end up inside you…and not in the fun way.”
“Only if you promise I can get inside you later,” he said through a croak.
I sighed. “Only a male would make a sex joke when it sounds like he can barely stand. Will you get in the damned corner?”
“I’m already there.”
I drew into myself, starting the process while shouting sounded from somewhere nearby.