Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

brIAR

" H ey, pretty girl!" Bastian calls as Saint and I approach the front of the cathedral. "These two were starting to get worried about you." Malachi raises a brow at Bastian for ratting him out, and Xander shoots his twin an exasperated look.

"Sorry we were late." Here's hoping they won't ask why we were not on time. Saint already feels bad enough about the accidental mate bond. He doesn't need the Wyldharts telling him he shouldn't have done it.

Bastian pulls me in for a quick hug, burying his face in my hair as he does so. He inhales a few times before releasing me. "You use a different shampoo or something? You smell different. A bit frostier, I guess."

That'd make sense with Saint's winter berry scent. When mates bond, their scents change and mix together.

"Maybe it's all the hotel products I've been using?" While I brought my own hairstyling products and conditioner, I've been using the hotels' provided shampoo and soap. I'm not sure Bastian will buy that excuse, but it's all I've got right now.

"Huh." Bastian looks at me quizzically for a second before dropping the topic.

I glance over at Saint, and he's staring at the ground, guilt radiating from his slumped posture and bowed head. Once we're done in the cathedral, I need to talk to him about what he wants to tell the Wyldharts. But, as usual, I have to tackle the most pressing problem first, and hope I can get to the rest of them at some point.

"You ready to go in?" Malachi asks.

I gaze up at the church before answering. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux is even more spectacular in person than in a trippy mage vision spell.

It has a massive curving fa?ade with a large apse, two ornate towers, and a soaring green copper capped crossing tower. While the towering limestone cathedral has Gothic elements, it started as a Romanesque cathedral. All that survives of the church's early construction is the crypt underneath the choir. I'm betting that'll be where we find what we're looking for.

"Yeah, I guess so. But, Saint, what happened with my magic yesterday?" We still haven't gotten a chance to talk about it, since we've been constantly moving from one problem to the next. And the absolute last thing I want to do is accidentally explode this beautiful cathedral. It survived the Hundred Years War and the bombings in WWII. I refuse to be what finally takes it down after a millennia.

"I don't really know, little shadow. Your magic exploded out of you in a wave. It formed a defensive dome over your wolves and me while tearing through Patrick like a detonated brick of C-4. If you're worried about the church, I think it'll be fine. Your magic very specifically targeted only the person who was trying to hurt you, not the surrounding area."

I breathe out a slightly relieved breath. While that's not assurance that I won't destroy the church, it also sounds like I'm not a ticking time bomb. Here's hoping we don't encounter anything wild in the cathedral that could provoke my magic.

Giving Saint a small nod, I head over to the west entrance. Malachi brushes past me to heave open the heavy red door, unwilling to let me go first. I can't help but stare in awe at the soaring rib vault, stained glass windows, and intricately carved Caen stone. As we walk down the still and silent nave, our boots echo on the stone floor, creating an eerie atmosphere. While I had hoped it wouldn't be busy, I didn't expect that we would be the only ones here.

"Well, this is fucking creepy." Bastian's voice echoes in the empty cathedral as we make our way to the transept.

I snort. "I mean, you're not wrong. I wonder why it's so empty. There's still half an hour until it closes."

"It's a Thursday evening in mid-December, not the height of tourist season. I bet the cathedral just has less traffic on the offseason," Xander explains.

I guess that makes sense, but it's still weird being the only ones in the massive Gothic church. When we walk under the crossing tower, I pull out the map that's tucked in my peacoat pocket. Even though I have it memorized at this point, I still check that the same northern part of the choir is circled.

The choir is dominated by dark wood choir stalls with intricate carvings, a checkered floor, and small paintings of previous bishops on the ceiling. We spend a few minutes poking around the space to make sure we don't miss anything important.

When we don't find anything, the four of us head over to the stone steps on the left side of the choir. Malachi goes down first, and I follow him. Xander, Bastian, and Saint trail behind us. I have a death grip on the handrail as I try not to trip on the roughhewn steps. I breathe out a sigh of relief once I get to the bottom.

The thousand-year-old space has a subtle vaulted ceiling, Corinthian columns decorated with angels playing musical instruments, and a stone altar in the middle. At one end of the crypt is a tomb with a mural of Saint Michael and the Virgin Mary.

We split up to check the area faster. There's only twenty minutes until closing time, so we have to hurry. I'm in charge of searching around the plain stone altar. It's made of the same Norman Caen stone as the rest of the cathedral. Even after going over it multiple times, I can't find any secret compartment or hidden message.

As I'm starting to think this whole trip was for nothing, Saint calls, "I think I found something." He's standing by the furthest column from me and staring up at the ornate leaves toward the top of it.

I rush over to him, eager to see what he found. Saint waits until we're all gathered behind him before pointing up at one leaf. "See that oval indent? Anything about it look familiar?" I move closer so I can see it better. I gasp when I realize it's the same wolfsbane design as my mom's gold locket, only it's inverted and inset.

I look at Saint in confusion. There's no way this is a coincidence. "That's Mama's locket design."

"The prophecy mentioned something about a necklace of gold in it. Maybe that was a clue?" He's probably right. While prophecies are cryptic, every word and sentence are included for a reason.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." I reach behind me and unclasp the necklace. I trace my fingers over the wolfsbane engraving one last time in case whatever this is destroys it. Mama's locket is one of the last pieces of her I have. Yeah, I have our old house, but she brought most of her treasured possessions with us to Wolves Hollow. Patrick took great pleasure in destroying her things one by one. Her locket is the only thing I managed to save.

With shaking fingers, I reach up and press the locket into the perfectly sized indent. I hold my breath as the seconds tick by and nothing happens. Suddenly, with a loud grinding sound, the top of the column splits apart.

The old limestone moving after however many hundreds of years sends a plume of dust and debris straight into my face. I cover my eyes and cough to clear my lungs, and I can hear my mates hacking as well. It takes a few passes of the back of my hand to clear my vision enough to focus on the small opening.

I'd kill for a flashlight because I can't see anything in the dark crack. Like he can read my mind, Saint's hand glows with a gentle red flame. It provides just enough illumination to see the folded-up papers, brass key, and rough fire quartz stone.

What an odd collection of items.

After inspecting the space for any creepy crawlies looking for their next meal, I tentatively reach inside the narrow opening. My slender hands only just fit, so I'm the only one who can retrieve the items.

Carefully gathering the papers, I pull those out first. I hand them off to Malachi who's watching anxiously from my right. Then I'm able to grab both the key and quartz and remove those from the opening. As soon as the last objects leave the space, the stone slams together with a loud bang.

With wide eyes, I look at the nonexistent crack my hand was just in.

Jesus fucking Christ. Well, that could've turned out horribly. Whoever created that spell should've included a time delay. Trying to calm my racing heart, I stare down at the engraved key and the pyramid-shaped quartz, wondering what they go to.

"Can I see those?" Saint asks after he plucks the locket from where it sank into the stone and shoves it in his pocket. Shrugging, I hand them over to him. Maybe he'll know something I don't.

Moving over to Malachi, I watch him shuffle through the five pieces of aged parchment paper. Noticing me staring, he hands the papers over to me. "These are all written in Latin. I'll need some time to translate them."

Three of the pages have blueprints to what looks like the same structure, just different floors. One parchment piece has a list of something, and the other has what looks like a letter written to someone or a diary entry. If Malachi can't understand it immediately, there's no chance I'll be able to. I give him back the papers, which he hands off to Xander.

We spend a few minutes examining the artifacts we found. Saint looks up from the papers he's now studying. "I think the best course of action is to take these back to Hawthorne Grove or Wolves Hollow and investigate them further."

"I agree," Malachi rumbles. Bastian and Xander nod their approval, so Malachi turns to me with his eyebrows raised.

"Sounds good." I sweep my gaze along the crypt, looking for anything we might've missed. "I'd like to walk through the cathedral once more just to be sure."

"That's good with me. We better get going before they close." Malachi shoves the quartz and key in the inside pocket of his wool coat. Saint does the same with the papers after carefully folding them along the existing creases.

Before we can even make it to the crypt stairs, thundering steps sound above us. With each pounding footfall that reverberates through the ceiling, the footsteps move closer.

Oh shit. I'm pretty sure we're in trouble. I wonder if something from the column alerted the cathedral authorities. We need a way out of here. Now.

As if summoned by my thoughts alone, a portal ringed with my ice-blue magic winks into existence in my peripheral vision. It's to our right, directly in front of the tomb. I stare at it dumbfounded for a second, wondering how the hell I did that. Portal magic is pretty complex. If I can't even do a defensive spell on demand, there's no way I should be able to create a portal without even a single focus word.

"Uh, I think my magic is trying to tell us that we need to go," I whisper-shout, not wanting to draw any more attention to us than there already is.

The Wyldharts look at the portal in slight confusion, but Saint is gaping open-mouthed at it. "What? How?" He shakes his head to clear it. "You know what? It doesn't matter. Briar's right, we do need to go. I can feel magic above us, and it feels… malevolent. We don't want to be here when they come down."

Saint puts one hand on my back and pushes me toward the portal. Malachi rushes to walk in front of me, with Bastian and Xander flanking me. We're in the middle of the crypt when something tumbles down the stairs, clanking as it goes. When it falls on the ground, it rolls slowly toward us.

I only have a moment to register that it looks like a long grenade with holes in it before I'm blinded by a bright flash of light and hear a deafening explosion.