Page 18

18

FELIX

Slamming my hand against Dante’s chest, I push him back with more magick behind me than was strictly necessary. “Get off me.”

Dante’s eyes flash with warning, but he holds his hands up, knowing this fight will be interesting but destructive to both of us. He growls a warning, his fangs extending. I bring sparks of pure darkness to my fingertips, ready to start if he is, despite knowing it would be a bad idea.

“Both of you stand down,” Gaida interrupts, marching over and shoving us apart with her vampire strength. “Felix? Care to share why you didn’t melt into a puddle of goo when you stepped into that pool? What theory were you testing?”

I force my gaze away from Dante’s burning glare and breathe in deeply. I haven’t had time to process this yet, and I’m being forced to explain, to think, to act. Focusing on her blue eyes, I exhale slowly. “I’m not of this world. I know that much. I think I’m from the same world as Luke.”

Her mouth drops open, and Dante grunts. “What?” she asks. “What?”

I shrug. “It was a theory I had. It seems it was correct. The rest, I don’t know. I haven’t exactly had much time to think about it yet.”

“What made you think of this?” Dante asks stiffly.

“Luke and I… we are very much alike in many aspects. Too much. We think the same, we act the same, we have the same taste in women. Then there are deeper things…”

“Like what?” Dante snaps, digging deep, but I’ve thrown my mental shields up, and he won’t get past them unless I allow him to.

“Like none of your fucking business,” I snarl, not wanting to admit to him about my demisexuality or Luke’s apparent similarity. Not that it means we are from the same world, but I just feel connected to him on a weird level.

“That doesn’t mean you are from his world,” Gaida says. “That could just be compatible personalities.”

“I know it doesn’t sound like much to go on, and it makes no sense to you, but it’s just this feeling I have, okay? I wanted to test it further and see if there was some basis to it before I blurted it out. I didn’t expect to have to jump into a melting pool to prove it to anyone. At least not today.”

Gaida looks unconvinced. I don’t know why it bothers me. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t give a fuck what they believed, but it matters with her.

“I’ve been sensing these dimensional shifts for a while now. Seeing overlaps of other versions of MistHallow, or potentially another academy in the same location. I’ve always had the capability, but since coming here, it’s grown in ways that I’ve never experienced before.”

“So, how will you know for sure?” Gaida asks carefully.

I stare at the vial in my hands, turning it slowly to watch the Midnight Bloom’s petals shift and shimmer. “I don’t know if I can ever know for sure.”

“That’s rough,” she says. “There has to be a way, somehow.”

I shrug. “This is all secondary. There are more important things we need to be focusing on right now.”

A rumble echoes around the forest, making us stagger. “What. Was. That?” Dante grits out.

“That was your parents’ mages getting pissed off.”

“At least Luke hasn’t let them in yet,” Gaida says.

“No, but if they come into the forest, you are fair game,” I point out. “We need to hurry.”

“So what are we waiting for? Let’s move. We’ve got one more ingredient left to collect, and then we had better use those potions—” Dante starts, but Gaida cuts him off.

“No, we face them. We tell them we aren’t going anywhere, and they can try to get through the wards to us, but know that they will have a fight on their hands. We can’t run from this. They won’t just leave. They will increase their efforts to get through the wards. The longer Luke refuses them entry, the worse it will be for him further down the line. I’m not letting him take the brunt of this because we didn’t face this issue, which is ours, not his.”

I study her, impressed with her resolve but concerned about the practicality. “You’re willing to face them? Just like that?”

“They’re our parents, not demons,” she says, though her tone suggests the distinction might be minimal. “Besides, we are fucking adults, for fuck’s sake. I’ve spent my entire life being their perfect pureblood princess. It’s time they saw who I really am.”

“Which is?” Dante asks, a hint of challenge in his voice.

Her eyes flash with something ancient and powerful. “Someone who makes her own choices.”

I feel a surge of pride mixed with something deeper, more possessive. This fierce, determined vampire is part of my bond, my future. The intensity of that connection still startles me.

“First things first,” I say. “We still need the Voidroot. If we’re going to confront your parents, I want Luke at full strength beside us.”

“Did you mean to say that, or was it a slip?” Dante asks shrewdly.

I smirk. “I meant it. This potion is for him to stabilise him.”

“You can do that?” Gaida asks warily, even though I’m sure she had already figured it out, or at least part of it.

“Yes. He asked me to try, but I can do more than try. I can do. I just need the Voidroot, and it’s good to go. Trouble is, it’s not going to want to come with me. I have to make it.”

“By doing what?”

“Guess we’ll find out,” I mutter, and this is where things are about to get really dangerous. “The Voidroot only appears in dimensional tears,” I explain, checking my map again. “According to this, there’s a place deeper in the forest where such tears are most likely to occur. A natural weak point between worlds.”

“And where is that?” Gaida asks, her gaze drifting to the darkening forest around us.

I trace my finger along the map to a spot marked with an ominous black spiral. “Here. It’s called the Nexus. The forest’s heart, where all paths eventually lead.”

“That sounds friendly,” Dante mutters.

“It’s not,” I say bluntly. “The Nexus is dangerous even when dimensional barriers are stable. Now, with everything that’s happening...” I trail off, not wanting to frighten them more than necessary.

Gaida squares her shoulders. “Lead the way.”

We move deeper into the forest, following a path that seems to resist our presence. The trees lean inward, branches testing us, forcing us to backtrack or duck as they snap overhead. The ground becomes spongy underfoot, each step requiring more effort than the last.

“It’s like walking through molasses,” Dante complains, yanking his foot free from the clinging soil.

“The forest is trying to slow us down,” I say, focusing my magick into the ground before us, creating a firmer path. “It knows what we’re after.”

“And it doesn’t want us to have it?” Gaida asks.

“In a word, no.”

“Great.”

I push forward, concentrating on maintaining our path through the increasingly hostile terrain. The forest has shifted from merely resistant to actively malevolent, branches whipping at our faces, roots erupting from the ground to trip us. It’s taking more and more of my energy to keep us moving.

“Something’s watching us,” Dante mutters, his eyes scanning the darkness between the trees.

“Many things are watching us,” I correct him. “This close to the Nexus, we’re attracting attention from multiple dimensions.”

Gaida moves closer to me. “I can feel them. It’s like pressure against my skin, but from the inside.”

The path ahead suddenly opens into a circular clearing. The trees surrounding it are bent inward, their trunks twisted into spirals that all point toward the middle. The ground is bare earth, but it vibrates with veins of silvery light that converge in the middle, forming a pool similar to the one where we found the Midnight Bloom, but larger, deeper.

“The Nexus,” I whisper, feeling the power washing over me in waves. It’s intoxicating, this close convergence of realities, each one bleeding into the next.

“I don’t like this,” Dante says, his voice tight. “Can we be quick?”

“I’ll try.”

The air in the Nexus feels charged, like the moment before lightning strikes. I step closer to the silvery pool, my magick responding to its energy, reaching out instinctively to connect with it.

“What now?” Gaida asks, her voice hushed as if afraid to disturb the unnatural stillness.

“I need to find the Voidroot,” I explain, kneeling at the edge of the pool. “The Voidroot grows in the space between dimensions. There should be one here somewhere.”

I place my hands just above the surface of the pool. The silvery liquid responds immediately, rising up to meet my palms without touching them. I close my eyes, focusing my awareness on the dimensional barriers I can feel surrounding us.

They’re like layers of silk, each one representing a different reality, all overlapping here at the Nexus. I search for a weakness, a place where I can slip between without causing catastrophic damage.

“Is this safe?” Gaida whispers.

“No,” I admit, not opening my eyes. “But it’s necessary.”

The Nexus rises like a tide and slams me back to the ground, forcing me away from where I need to be.

“Dammit,” I rasp, trying to catch my breath,

“Felix,” Gaida murmurs. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I grit out, sitting up. “Pissed off but fine. I need a different tactic.” I assess the silvery pool with narrowed eyes. The dimensional energies here are stronger than I anticipated, less cooperative than I’d hoped.

Gaida kneels beside me, her blue eyes reflecting the shimmering light. “What can we do to help?”

An idea forms, dangerous but potentially effective. “The bond,” I say, meeting her gaze. “Our soul bond. It might be strong enough to stabilise the dimensional tear long enough for me to reach through.”

“How?” she asks, no hesitation in her voice.

“Give me your hand,” I instruct, extending mine toward her. “Dante, I need your connection with Gaida. Take her other hand.”

Dante grimaces but moves in next to Gaida, gripping her hand tightly. The silvery surface calms and becomes mirror-like.

“I can feel it,” Gaida whispers, her eyes widening. “The bond is amplifying.”

“Focus on it,” I instruct. “Channel what you’re getting from Dante into me.”

The bond crackles between us, creating a current of power unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It flows through our joined hands, cycling around us with increasing intensity. The silvery pool responds, rising in a slow spiral in the middle. If I didn’t already know that the three of us, the four of us, even, was fate. I do now. We are all connected through Gaida.

“Now,” I murmur, releasing their hands and plunging mine into the silvery spiral. The sensation is beyond description, like simultaneously plunging my hands into liquid fire and ice. Every nerve ending screams in protest, but I push deeper, searching.

“Felix!” Gaida cries out, her voice sounding distant despite her proximity.

I ignore the pain, focusing on what I can feel beneath the surface. At the convergence point of multiple realities, I sense it. The Voidroot thumps with ancient power, its consciousness brushing against mine as I reach for it.

You seek me, dark one? The Voidroot’s Guardian echoes in my mind, ancient and curious. Why let you take what’s mine?

“To heal,” I reply. “To restore balance in the protector.”

There is no balance in a broken world . The protector you seek to save has made his choice. The path he walks is of his own making.

“He protects what matters,” I argue, my arms now submerged to the elbows in the silvery substance. “He shields those who cannot shield themselves.”

The Guardian chuckles with amusement. And you? What do you protect, child of two worlds?

The question hits me with unexpected force. What do I protect? Until recently, the answer would have been simple: myself. But now...

“Them,” I say, glancing back at Gaida and Dante. “And him. And everything they stand for. They are important to this world.”

“And you?”

“Me what?”

“Are you important to this world?”

I look up as I realise the voice is now out loud, coming from a shimmering, dark figure floating above the pool.

“Who knows?” I say honestly. “I don’t even know where I come from or how I ended up here.”

“Fate,” the Guardian grits out. “You are where the universe wants you to be.”

“Why?” I ask, getting off-topic, but desperate for answers. “How?”

“Your parents came here seeking something they weren’t worthy to access. You, on the other hand…” The Guardian gestures to Gaida and Dante, still as statues by my side. “Your motives aren’t selfish.”

“No?” I remark. “Up until a few days ago, I was the most selfish creature you could’ve imagined.”

“No, you think that, but you are wrong. Your parents were selfish. They sought power they couldn’t have. They died trying to access that of which they were not worthy. They left you to flounder in a world where you were an outsider.”

Wow. Okay. This thing doesn’t hold back.

“I’m not an outsider,” I protest weakly, the hurt snapping through my chest like wildfire. It’s exactly how I’ve felt my entire life.

“You are,” the Guardian insists, its form shifting like smoke. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t belong. You’ve found your place, haven’t you? With them.”

I feel Gaida move closer to me, her presence warm and solid at my back. She places her hand on my shoulder, and the contact sends a surge of energy through our bond.

“Yes. He belongs with us,” she states firmly. “Now give him what he came for.”

The Guardian’s form ripples with laughter. “The Blood Queen speaks. So be it.”

The silvery pool parts, and from its depths rises a twisting, serpentine root. It glows with an inner light that shifts between midnight blue and deepest violet. Its surface is covered in tiny filaments that wave like underwater plants, each tipped with a droplet of luminescent sap.

“Take what you need,” the Guardian says.

“What do you know about the Blood Queen?” I ask before I reach out to grab the Voidroot.

“Only that she is here, now, where she should be with those who will further the agenda.”

“What agenda?” Gaida asks stiffly. “I have no agenda.”

“You do not, child, but others require more power. They think they will get this through you.”

“Who is Mashtar?”

The Guardian hisses, and Gaida takes a step back. “Stay away from the one who seeks to rise. Mashtar is the one who will destroy all if given the chance. The sword is the key to everything. The sword is the link to the other world. The sword summons those who would not be summoned.”

“What, not Draken?” Gaida asks carefully.

The Guardian hisses again.

“Thank you,” I say to the Guardian, hastily. “We will leave you in peace now.”

He turns back to me. “One who knows when to stop asking questions. I will leave you with this. Your blood will bind.”

“Bind what?”

“You’ll see.” The Guardian disappears, and we are left on the side of the pool, reeling from everything we have learned.

The howls return, growing closer, and then all hell breaks loose.