The door to Shadow’s destiny.
4
I’d known Shadow for an indeterminate amount of time, but it was at least a year in Earth days, and I’d never seen him move as fast as he did in that moment.
He was literally here one second and gone the next, leaving behind nothing much more than a puff of smoke. If I had to guess, the shadows he controlled had absorbed him and were about to spit him out in the Library of Knowledge.
Lucien and Reece disappeared as well, and almost as quickly, while I was still staring open-jawed at the spot they had all been standing a micro-second earlier.
Angel didn’t leave me, tightening her hold around my body as I began hobbling toward the door. “Go,” I said, waving my hand forward. “Go and help them. I’ll get there in a minute.”
“No.” Her reply was short and not-that-sweet.
“Angel,” I said, forcing my legs to move faster. “You’re a warrior. Go battle or whatever you do. I’m holding you back.”
She snorted, some of the tension in her tight shoulders easing. “Side by side, girl. We fight side by side, remember? I would never leave a friend behind. And you don’t have to worry. The spell on the door has been broken for more than a few minutes, and so far nothing has walked through. They’re quite possibly not even aware in the realm that they’re free.”
One person would be aware, though. The one who’d cast the spell.
“I did this,” I admitted, needing her to know that I probably wasn’t worthy of her epic-as-fuck friendship. “I thought they’d killed Dannie, the woman who half-raised me, and I lost my shit. I might have possiblycalledthemistsandabillionshadowcreatures.” In shame, I ran all the words together, but Angel’s quick mind followed along with ease.
“You did nothing wrong, Mera. Your life has been controlled by forces beyond you for a long time now. You’re reacting to the pressure cooker you’ve been placed under. No one should be surprised when you finally burst into flames.”
Wait?Did she know about that?
“Uh, so yeah. I kind ofdidburst into flames,” I admitted. “Fire raced across my skin, the same way Shadow’s power often reacts.”
She blinked at me, and it was clear that her previous comment hadn’t actually been a literal reference to the events on Earth.
“You and Shadow have a similar energy,” she finally said, her surprise fading as she thought it through. “Not like you’re related,” she added quickly, knowing me well enough by now to know that my mind immediately went there. “Your powers are compatible. It’s interesting, and… it makes sense that you ended up calling the shadows and the flames.”
I stumbled. “Seriously? You don’t think my reaction was a little excessive? I’m full on kicking my own ass at the moment over how I acted.”
She shrugged. “When my family was destroyed, I went on a destructive campaign that lasted sixty years. You got yourself together pretty fast, in my opinion.”
Sixty. Years.
Yeah, okay, so maybe she did get it and wasn’t judging me at all. It was actually nice to have someone in my corner, and maybe when we got to the bottom of the mystery ofwhat the actual fuck I was,Angel and I could spend some time working on our bond. I’d like to see it step up to the next level, just in case she ever needed me for the same support she always offered me.
For now, though, we had far greater concerns tooverthink and unnecessarily stress about.
“What do you expect will happen now that the Shadow Realm door is no longer barred?” I asked when we reached the veil leading into the library.
Angel didn’t answer until we’d stepped through to the other side. “No one has any idea. It’s been barred longer than most have lived, and for the rest of us, only time will tell what has changed in that realm.”
Well, damn. That was legitimately not even a tiny bit reassuring.
Just as she walked toward the crowds gathered near the Shadow Realm door, I had a sudden thought. Turning to the magical white button, I slapped my hand against it. “Directory.”
When the blueprint of the library appeared, I wasted no time pressing the Shadow Realm door. Angel returned to my side, and if her expression was any indication, she was as curious as I was to see if it said the same thing as last time:Shadow Realm: Information unknown. Critical error.
There was a ding, and we both stared in silence.
“That’s new,” she breathed.
Shadow Realm: Built on the ancient mists of yin and yang energy. The royals are the supreme rulers, keeping under their control the creatures, except those that roam in The Grey Lands.
“Holy shit,” I said, eyeballing the directory like it held all the answers. “The doorway is really open.”
