Chapter 21
Eilee guided Kinzer, Hayde, and Quintz into a cave. Her guards had followed them through the forests at the edge of the innerlands, but she urged them to wait outside.
“I only disclose the portals to a select few. It is my duty to keep this secret. It has always been my duty.” She didn’t say that as though she were talking directly to anyone in particular, but rather to an audience, like even the walls of the cave were awaiting an explanation from her.
Eilee approached a nook in the wall, where a small bird was perched on a wooden post inside a cage. She opened the cage and reached her hand inside. The bird flapped its wings and landed on her finger before pecking at her hand.
“Ow,” she said, and as the creature continued its aggressive assault, its feathers illuminated, spreading light across the dark walls.
Eilee guided them along a path with various twists and turns. It was a labyrinth, seemingly intentionally designed to confuse immortals, keep them from locating the portals.
“What is that bird?” Hayde asked as it continued pecking at her hand, biting into her fingers until they bled.
“A hoffrey,” Eilee explained. “They’re very rare immortal birds that nest in one spot for their lives and give off a very powerful light.”
“Surely there has to be a less painful way of lighting your way,” Hayde said.
“Yes, but I wanted it to be fun for me too,” Eilee said, looking to Hayde, a smile across her face.
Quintz couldn’t help but smile at Eilee’s candid attitude about her appreciation of pain.
She continued guiding them, her silk dress shining in the light coming from the hoffrey.
Soon they came to a cavern. Water spewed from an opening in the rocks on the opposite side of the space, sliding down through the rocky crevices into a pool of water that took up half the cavern.
Eilee put the bird into a cage beside the water—one that resembled the cage they’d found at the entrance. She approached the water and squatted beside it, placing her hand on it.
“You say we need to go to Washington State?” she asked. “There’s a portal to Northern California, but that’s as close as I can get us.”
“Wait. You can choose which portal we enter?” Kinzer asked.
“It’s a malleable portal,” Quintz explained. “Unlike static portals, these can be used to go to a variety of portals.”
“They’re limited,” Eilee added, “but this one covers much of the West Coast. I was hoping we might be able to get closer, but it will have to do.”
She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. Sweat collected on her forehead as a blue light from the bottom of the pool of water shot out and emanated all around them. She turned to them, her eyes bright and her smile wide.
“It’s time to go, my new friends.” She winked, and it was as charming a gesture as it would have been back in the day when she was known for such pleasant exchanges between all immortals.
***
When they finished eating, Treycore, Aerysn, and Kid headed back into the main warehouse. Yorro stood in a corner, chatting with several guys in matching leather jackets with the emblem of wings on the backs. Treycore figured these were the members of Yorro’s gang.
Treycore approached Yorro from the side, the other members eyeing him so that Yorro turned to him, his beard shifting as a warm smile spread across his face. “Yes, Treycore?”
“Do you mind if I talk with you in private?”
Yorro shrugged. “Anything you say you can say in front of my team.”
“That’s fair. I have a proposition for you. What if I were to tell you my friends and I had a way to stop all this?”
“Then I’d say I’m listening.”
“We know where the Christ is.”
“The Christ?”
“That’s where these things are coming from,” Aerysn explained. “These things you call dogs are grundars. They’re being created by the monster that is the Christ.”
