19. Thorne

19

THORNE

As we walk back into the academy, my thoughts are all over the place. The encounter in Morgan's hidden library has left us all shaken, but Violet most of all. Her face is pale, her eyes wide with a fear I've never seen in her before. It's unsettling to see her so rattled. Whatever that thing was that only she could see, terrified her. Even more so than Nathaniel, which is saying something.

Leading us to my room, we know we need to regroup and process what just happened. Once inside, Violet collapses onto my bed, but she finally seems to be shaking off the incident. Caine and Flint take seats nearby, while I sit at my desk where the books are piled high.

"Well, that was a complete waste of fucking time," Violet snaps suddenly. "I'm sorry, guys. Seriously. We went through all of that just to be chased out by a fucking bogeyman! "

"Look, it's not ideal. I'll give you that, but I believe this creature is another piece of the puzzle. I think it might belong to the Order of the Shadows Descent. We need to break this down. Violet, you said this thing has been visiting you since you were a child?"

She nods, giving me a curious look tinged with a bit of awe. "You are a bit of a nerd, aren't you, with those big brains?"

I chuckle. "I see things no one else does."

She narrows her eyes. "Do you mean that literally?"

"Sometimes."

"Did you see this creature?"

"No."

She purses her lips. "Great."

"Back to my question."

"Yes. It would come at night, whispering things about darkness and power. I thought I'd imagined it all."

"But it was real," Caine says, his voice grim. "It's connected to Morgan le Fay somehow. So, not friend to Violet, but does that also mean foe to Morgan? We are very much in the dark here."

"Not just connected," I muse. "It seemed to be guarding the library. Or maybe claiming it? Either way, it didn't want us in there."

"No shit, Sherlock," Violet grumbles.

Flint leans forward, elbows on his knees. "What I don't understand is why only Violet could see it. We all felt its presence, or at least were affected by what it was doing, but none of us could actually see the thing. "

"If this entity is tied to Morgan's legacy somehow, then I'm fairly certain, if I weren't before, that it recognises Violet as the true heir."

Violet shudders visibly at that idea. "Lucky me," she mutters darkly.

"But what exactly was it?" Caine asks, tapping his cane thoughtfully against the floor. "A ghost? Some kind of guardian spirit? I can't fight what I don't know or can't see."

I shake my head. "I don't think it was anything so simple. The power it wielded, the way it could manipulate the environment, was something far more ancient and dangerous than a mere ghost."

"Whatever it is, it's been watching me my whole life," Violet says quietly. "Waiting."

"For this moment."

"But why? Why now? Why here? How did it know I would end up here?"

"Fate," I state simply. "If this arsehole knows you are the true heir, then it knew you would eventually end up here, drawn to it somehow. All of these events, from Nathaniel turning you, to Flint finding you, to Glacier dropping you off here, have all led to this one point."

She gulps but nods, taking it in. Then, she becomes quiet and climbs off the bed to stare out the window.

"We need more information," I say, turning to the pile of books on my desk. "We have to go back."

"What?" Flint snarls. "After that entire expedition nearly killed us? "

"But it didn't kill us, and nor do I think it would have. It was testing us. I have every confidence that if we go back, yes, we will face more tests, but we will also not be killed."

"That is a lot of faith to have in this place."

"I have faith in MistHallow. This is a sanctuary, not a place where people are picked off and killed in underground chambers. Whatever is going on under the academy, it is still part of MistHallow."

"God, you are so fucking preppy to go with that side of nerd," Violet says, turning back to me, but she is smiling wickedly. "I trust you. If you believe that, then I trust you. We'll go back."

My heart lurches at her words. She couldn't have said anything else that would make me feel like a god, not even that she loved me. Trust. Faith. It's everything. I beam at her shyly, and her smile turns seductive.

Clearing my throat before we get sidetracked, I turn back to the matter at hand.

"Right, so we go back. But we need to be better prepared this time. No more stumbling around in the dark."

Caine nods, his expression thoughtful. "You need to speak to your cousin again. Find out what else he knows."

"Way ahead of you."

"What about me?" Violet asks, moving away from the window to join us. "What can I do?"

I consider for a moment. "You're the only one who could see that entity. Maybe you could try to remember more details about your childhood encounters with it. Anything that might give us a clue about what it is."

"But I don't have a clue. To me, it's always been a ghost."

"Definitely not a ghost," Flint mutters. "If Thorne says it might be linked to this Order, what do we know about them?"

"The passage I found didn't say much, but it did say that the Order is in the habit of recruiting rogue supes, case and point, the feral weres we encountered."

"Fuck," Violet mutters. "That's what Nathaniel said as well."

"Exactly. So, while I hate that bastard and want to remove his head from his shoulders before I cut his heart out, we have to assume he is telling the truth about everything else."

She sighs and rolls her eyes in a seriously annoyed way. "Great. So, we have to take the word of my psychotic sire who's trying to kidnap me. That's just fantastic."

"I know it's not ideal," I say again, trying to keep my voice calm and reassuring. "But any information we can gather about the Order is valuable at this point. Even if it comes from less than savoury sources."

Caine nods in agreement. "Thorne's right. We need to compile everything we know, from every source available. No matter how unreliable they may seem. So back we go into the death chambers."

"Caine," Flint groans .

"Fine," Violet concedes, ignoring Caine's doom and gloom ‘tude, though she still looks unhappy about it. "So what's our next move, then?"

I turn to my desk, rifling through the stack of ancient tomes I've been pouring over. "I think our best bet is to try to find more information about Morgan le Fay herself. If this entity is connected to her legacy somehow, understanding her history might give us clues about what we're dealing with."

"How exactly do we do that?" Flint asks, his brow furrowed.

"MistHallow's regular library does have an extensive collection on magickal history. We will find something there."

"Back to the library then," Violet says.

"No, to lectures for you. As much as I hate to say it, but Glacier has vouched for you to be here. Regardless of anything else going on, you need to show appreciation for that."

"Yeah, I know," she says, casting a glance at Flint. "I am grateful."

"He knows," Flint says, squeezing her hand. "I'll walk you."

She nods, and they move towards the door. Caine stays where he is.

"You as well," I say, shooing him off. "I work better alone."

He rises with a sour expression. "Fine, get rid of me, but I'll be hovering. "

"I've no doubt." I wave them off and turn back to the book to get to work, remembering to send out a telepathic call to Zephyr to meet me as soon as possible.