30. Raven

THIRTY

RAVEN

“Is this fool going to actually explain why we’re here?” Leila mutters under her breath, and I bite back the laugh that threatens my lips.

We’ve been walking across the sand for over an hour, leaving me to wonder why the fuck he didn’t have the gateway bring us closer to the cave I assume we’re going to, but this isn’t my mission and I’m not about to ask. His fur coat stands out in the distance as we trail toward the back of the students, happy to keep as much distance as possible between us and him.

I’ve spotted a few professors among the crowd, but I haven’t seen Figgins or Fitch.

“I’m sure he’s leading us to our doom,” Grave grunts, and Creed hums in agreement.

I’m perfectly sandwiched between Brax and Eldon for a change as we all walk in a line. I don’t know what’s shifted, but apparently, there’s no need to protect me as much out here. Not that I’m complaining. I’m actually enjoying it.

We stumble in the sand as we head up the dunes, breathless by the time we get to the top, and that’s when the caves appear in the distance. From the sun beaming down from above to the gray skies that loom over the peaks, it definitely feels like we’re being led to our doom. Grave might be onto something there.

Everyone keeps moving, watching their step as we trail back down the sand dunes and, as predicted, Erikel doesn’t communicate anything further until the opening of the caves is directly behind him. From a distance, they didn’t look that big, but now that we’re up close, I’m left questioning whether the cave system could be bigger than the entire grounds of the academy.

We’re fucked.

My gut twists.

We’re going to have to head in there and my gut tells me we’re not coming out.

“Upon entering the caves, everyone’s priority is to look for a special jewel. It’s red, glistens like a ruby, with magic swirling inside the prism. You’ll know when you’ve found it. Whoever finds it will be granted their freedom and released from the academy.”

Chatter picks up at his words, excitement buzzing through the crowd as he offers everyone exactly what they want. The only issue with that is he’s not a man of his word. I don’t think he ever has been, and I don’t see this going any differently. He’s simply using us to find the Poten’s Ruby.

“The clock starts now, but hurry; danger may lurk inside.” He steps aside to stand with the golden warrior, watching in amusement as Silvercrest Academy students barge their way inside in the hopes of freedom awaiting them at their success.

Shadowgrim students follow after them, and we continue to lurk amid the masses at the back.

“I think our aim needs to be to find the ruby and destroy it,” I murmur as we enter the dark and grim cave system. The walls are damp, the dripping of water echoing in the distance, and coolness wraps around us, sinking deep into my bones.

“I agree,” Brax states. “He can’t have the ruby. We’ll never survive the rest of the night if he does.”

Fuck. That’s true.

“Do you remember anything about this?” I ask, tilting my face to Eldon’s, and he shakes his head.

“No. I remember hearing the water, but it was muffled, dampened by the rubies in the walls. If we can find that, we’ll be closer.”

Continuing through the cave system, we come to a small area that branches off in different directions. The majority of students are taking the two paths to the left, while a few go for the third trail. That draws me closer to the fourth and final pathway.

Selfishly, I don’t wait to see what the others think, I just go, following the damp and dreary path over uneven terrain.

“We’re going to try this way,” Leila hollers, waiting back at the entrance with Grave and pointing to her left. I nod in acknowledgment, letting my gut continue to guide me.

Another fork in the path appears, and I stand at the split for a moment, hands on my hips as I consider the best route to take. Creed steps forward to offer his advice when a figure appears on the pathway to the left.

The sneer on her lips and the cock of her head are a dead giveaway.

“Fuck off, Genie,” I grumble, shaking my head at her sudden appearance. It’s unwarranted and unnecessary. Again.

“Oh, honey, when I get this ruby and hand it over, I’ll be fucking all of the way off while you are left to rot and die. It’s going to be fantastic,” she says with a little shimmy to her shoulders.

Bitch.

“That sounds great, are you done?” I retort, beyond bored of her presence, but the way she bares her teeth at me tells me she’s far from done.

Dammit.

She takes a step toward me, chin high in the air, but Brax quickly steps forward in an attempt to block me from her. Much to her delight, I side step him and face her head on. “Daddy is going to love destroying everyone you love, Raven. Maybe not Eldon, though. If you ask me nicely, baby,” she breathes, winking at my man, and I’m done with this bitch.

Rearing my arm back, I slam my fist into her face. No magic involved, just raw skin on skin, and as much as my knuckles burn, I’m filled with exhilaration.

“He can kill us all,” I hiss, watching as she staggers back with a gasp. She cups her bloody nose for a second before she screams like a banshee.

I watch her energy shift, her magic coming to the forefront, but it’s nothing at all like we practiced. Now I’m nervous. But I’m also acting on protective instinct for my men, so before the wisps get any longer, I reach out and grab it.

With her magic locked in my grasp, I start dissecting what her magic can do, but it’s too difficult as I’m overcome with the need to just yank at the strand. Before I can consider the consequences, I let my own magic take over and pull as hard as I can.

A scream tears from Genie’s lips as she slumps to the floor, breathless. The wisp of magic extends before curling into a ball in my open palm, and I gape at it, trying to understand what the fuck just happened.

“Fuck, I can see it,” Zane murmurs, pointing at my palm where the tendrils of magic swirl.

“You can?” I reply in surprise as Genie continues to cry out on the floor.

“What the fuck?” Brax grunts, glancing from my palm to the bitch making all of the noise.

Why can everyone see it? That’s not what usually happens.

My pulse rings in my ears, panic and uncertainty kicking in as Creed clears his throat. “Not to alarm anybody, but I think you just took her magic.”

I rear back like he’s slapped me as my jaw almost grazes the ground.

I didn’t… I can’t have…

Could I?

“Holy shit, I think he might be right,” Eldon murmurs and Genie finally calms down enough to look up at me with loathing blazing in her eyes.

“You have the ruby already. Don’t you? You have it,” she snaps, staggering to her feet, and I shake my head vigorously.

Brax inches between the pair of us again, but she doesn’t try to edge forward this time.

“You can’t just leave it floating in your hand, Dove. You need to destroy it or connect with it.”

“You mean take it,” I repeat, staring at the pale gray color in my hand.

“Yeah, basically.”

Fuck.

“Well, I don’t want it.” That’s for certain. Why would I want her magic as well as my own?

No. Fucking. Way.

“Then you have to destroy it,” Creed murmurs, and I shake my head in disbelief.

“Yeah, but how the fuck do I do that?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Genie yells, her breathing becoming frantic as she claws at her clothes. “Give it back! Give it back right now!” she screeches, and I can’t hold onto something that belongs to her for even a second longer.

If she wants it, she can fucking have it.

I blast it back at her, hoping it will just stick, but as everything unravels in slow motion, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. As the tendril approaches her, she lifts her arms out to her sides, just like her father does, ready to embrace the beauty that is her magic, but instead of connecting and rippling through her body in delight, it collides with her palm and disappears.

Genie stills at the contact, her body going stiff as she topples backward, landing on the ground with a thud. She’s locked in place, her arms frozen in the air in front of her as the rest of us wait with bated breath for something to happen.

But nothing does.

She doesn’t move, and the tendril of magic doesn’t reappear.

Nothing.

“Creed?” I turn to him, pointlessly seeking his help when I know he has no idea either.

He clears his throat, rubbing at the back of his neck before he takes the needed steps forward to hover over Genie. “I think you may have figured out how to destroy the magic… and its original vessel.”

I gape at him, knowing he’s right.

I just killed her.

Killed. Her.

I mean, she was a bitch, but… fuck.

“I don’t understand. I was trying to mirror her magic, but my own kind of…” I don’t even know how to describe it so it doesn’t sound as vile as it makes me feel.

“Shadow, I think that was another magical ability altogether,” Brax states, his eyes soft as he slowly approaches.

“But Genie was right. That was like what the stone can do. I… I don’t have the ability to do that.” Even as I say it, I know I’m wrong. I know everything has changed once again, and I’ve revealed another strength, but it somehow feels like a weakness.

“How about we pause all of this right now and circle back to it once we have the ruby taken care of, okay? That’ll give you some time to wrap your head around it all,” Eldon says, stroking a hand down my cheek, and I nod.

“Let’s do that,” I mutter, taking tentative steps to avoid Genie the best I can as I take the other pathway from where she lies.

We walk in silence, although my head is loud and clustered with thoughts, fears, and everything in between.

I’m a weapon. I’m a monster. I’m… I don’t know what the fuck I am.

I don’t know how I manage to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we continue through the cave system. Eldon took the lead shortly after our run in with Genie, attempting to guide us through the darkness until he suddenly comes to a stop.

“Can you hear that?” he asks, and we all listen for a moment, but nothing sounds any different.

Brax shakes his head, confirming what we’re all thinking, and Eldon waves his hand dismissively.

“The water, does that dripping sound different to you?” he asks, being a little more specific this time, but I still don’t know what he means.

It’s Zane who gives him the resounding no this time, and I expect us to carry on moving, but Eldon can’t let it drop. He takes a few steps forward before spinning around and glancing around the small space.

“Down here,” he murmurs, dropping to his knees.

Frowning, I move to see what he’s talking about and find a small hole in the wall that’s hidden by the shadows to our right. He’s already going through the gap without a backward glance, and I can’t utter a word of complaint because I did the same earlier and he blindly followed. Now it’s my turn.

I drop to my knees, cringing at the damp ground beneath me, but I usher through after him and the others follow after me. It’s a narrow tunnel that’s far longer than I’m expecting, but when Eldon reaches the end, he’s able to stand.

He reaches a hand down to me when I get to the end, and when he pulls me to my feet, I gasp.

Holy fuck.

Red shimmers everywhere. Large cuts, tiny jewels, and everything in between twinkles from the wall embedded with rubies.

It’s stunning.

“Holy fuck, that’s dazzling,” Zane says as he stands beside me, and I nod in agreement. It completely illuminates the room.

“This is where my vision led me. Now we need to find the ruby,” Eldon states, racking my body with nerves. We’re one step closer to putting a stop to Erikel. I can feel it.

Zane grabs a hold of my hand and pulls me toward the shimmering wall of uncut jewels, and I focus on finding one with black tendrils of magic swirling around inside of it. I sense the others join us, but it’s Eldon who gets closer to the wall first.

“In my vision, it was around here,” he explains, waving his hand around the shadowed area where the wall meets the ground, which is also embedded with pretty rubies. “Ah, shit. Here. It’s here,” he says with a scoff of disbelief, and a second later, he’s holding a red ruby with black tendrils inside.

I exhale, staring in shock.

We found it. We fucking found it. It feels too good to be true. It feels too good to be true. I repeat the thought for the third time when reality dawns on me.

If it feels too good to be true, it’s probably because it is.

“We need to destroy it. Now. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I admit, and Eldon looks at me with concern swirling in his blue eyes.

He stares down at the stone for a few moments before slowly spinning in a circle. He stops with his back to us and points to something in the distance. “Maybe my vision showed me the gate because that’s where it should be hidden,” he breathes, and when I step around him, I notice the green archway in the distance, just like he had described.

Holy fuck.

“Is that the gate to the Realm of Shadows?” Brax asks, awe in his voice as he blinks repeatedly at it. My heart races for him, remembering how much he’s been researching this in an attempt to see his parents again.

My hands shake with nerves as he turns those sweet fucking eyes my way. I see the hope there. A feeling I don’t imagine my gargoyle feels very often, if at all, and my heart swells.

“Let’s find out,” I breathe, a sense of excitement shimmering through us as we look at one another.

Zane claps, chuckling with excitement as we cut the distance to where the green arch stands tall. Eldon keeps a hold of the stone, but he pauses when we get closer. “Be careful, though. In my vision, there were shadows almost dancing over the emeralds,” he explains, leaving me breathless.

It sounds like bedtime to me, and just like then, I watch as the silhouettes swirl across the cave wall. I take that as my cue to step up to the door. The shadows have never made me feel unsafe or scared before, I don’t expect that to change now. Coming to a stop in front of the door, the dulled brass handle beckons me closer, but before I reach for it, I turn to Brax.

“Are you ready?” I ask, watching as he exhales slowly before giving me a nod.

I take my own deep breath as I latch on to the metal and twist. It swings open effortlessly and all of the shadows slip inside. I frown at first as only a bright light stands before me. A little like a gateway, it doesn’t offer me a glimpse of what’s inside. I just have to trust it.

A hand grabs mine and I know it’s Brax. Clasping on to him tightly, I place one foot in front of the other. My eyes fall closed as the world shifts around me so fast it feels like it takes my breath away.

The sound of birds tweeting in the distance is what greets me first, then a floral scent hits my nose a moment later and I feel like I’m going to drift, a sense of calm serenity washing through me like a gentle ocean wave.

It feels like I’m home.

Which is the weirdest fucking thing ever.

“That’s my family’s home,” Brax murmurs, pulling me from my thoughts, and as I blink my eyes open, I see the house come into view.

“I remember this,” Eldon adds, patting his friend on the shoulder as we all stand and stare in surprise.

“Brax? Brax, is that you?” My gargoyle’s chin falls to his chest and I watch the weight of the world leave his body at the sound of the woman’s voice. She appears a moment later, rushing down the pathway from the porch, both hope and sorrow marring her face as she looks us over. “Brax, honey, you’re not supposed to be here yet. What’s going on?” Her hand falls to her chest like she has to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.

“I don’t know what it means when you say that, but I’m not dreaming this time,” he mutters, and her eyebrows rise.

“Then how did you get here? Oh, gosh, did you all… are you all… dead?” she says the final word with a gasp, horror flickering in her eyes.

“No, no. We’re fine. I’m fine. We found the gate.”

She takes a step back, shaking her head fiercely. “Please tell me you didn’t use the gate for the Realm of Shadows, Brax. Please.” My spine stiffens, panic clawing at me as she frantically swipes a hand down her face. “No, no, no, no, no,” she chants, tears forming, and my gut twists. “Get out. You have to get out right now,” she orders, shoving at his chest.

I feel his pain at the first push. The confusion and anguish seeps from him as his mother nudges him away.

“Mo—”

“No, Brax. Get out. Get out right now,” she yells, and a man comes rushing from the house.

“Father, will you tell her to stop?” Brax pleads, even as his mother continues to edge us back to the emerald gate that remains open behind us.

“You used the gate,” the man murmurs, the color draining from his face. “Not the gate, son.”

What the fuck have we done?

“Brax, we need to leave. Right now. Trust them. We need to go,” I breathe, looking up at him as he frowns. I can see the war in his eyes, the need to stay and understand, but there’s no time for that. “Come on,” I encourage, cutting the distance to the still-open doorway.

As I near the archway, I can see the cave system on the other side, and as dark and dingy as it is, his mother is making me feel a lot safer there than here. Even despite the feeling of home I got when I first stepped through.

Her panic is real. Her pain is undeniable.

With hopes of encouraging him back through easier, I step through the archway, feeling my world tip once more as I plant my feet on the ground of the cave. I turn back to the emerald door, expecting to see nothing like last time, but to my surprise, I can see clearly into the Realm of Shadows.

“Brax,” I call out, and he glances back at me.

Eldon, Creed, and Zane all step up to the space where I am, but none of them step through while Brax is lingering.

“Why? Please, just explain to me why?”

His mother sobs into her hand uncontrollably before shoving at his shoulders with more force than I expect, and he stumbles through the gateway, landing with a thud at my feet.

Fuck.

“Brax,” I start, but he quickly waves me off as he stands, turning to the doorway.

“This is why,” his mother cries, pointing at Eldon, Creed, and Zane, who are at her side.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Brax says, exasperated.

I wave for Eldon to hurry on through, but he shakes his head.

“They’ve never danced with the shadows before.”

“What the fuck does that mean,” Brax growls at the top of his lungs as I stare at my fireball, my onyx-eyed love, and my invisible joker.

I understand it before she says it, my heart splinters into a million pieces before she confirms it, and I know there’s no surviving this.

“They’re trapped.”