CHAPTER 14
ALLY
Hell. My sister is in Hell.
Ally struggled to breathe as the severity of the situation consumed her. She’d gotten mixed up in some war between the Raven and a pack of magical demons.
It figures. I mean, how much more screwed up can things get? This is what happens when I try to take charge. I just fuck it all up.
She struggled to pay attention to the conversation taking place in front of her. They were talking about some poem, some rhyme about a Gavor and a trap. It all sounded like nonsense. What even was a Gavor anyway?
Lyk cut off his sister, waving his hand for silence. “Forget the poem. Do the Seekers have any other hideouts besides Dazimin?”
Dazimin!
She suddenly remembered that the tall male had mentioned getting back there. Ally tried to open her mouth, fought to tell Lyk about the connection, but she still couldn’t speak. She started to shake, clenching her fists and willing her words to come out.
Lyk noticed her and, meeting her eyes, said one word that made it all stop. “Speak.”
Letting out a gasp, Ally’s mouth popped open.Thank the gods!“Dazimin. One of them mentioned getting back to Dazimin.”
“See?” the hologram of Lyk’s sister said. “They went home to Hell.” She craned her neck around, then frowned. “Who’s there with you, brother?”
“Come here,” he said to Ally, and she suddenly jumped up from the couch without hesitation, her body doing all the work without her mind giving the order. She walked around the table to stand in front of the hologram next to Lyk.
“Sit,” he said softly, and her body sat down next to him.
“You’ve got to stop doing that,” she growled. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you can’t control people without their permission.”
Kara laughed, looking at her brother. “She clearly hasn’t met our family before.” Looking at Ally, she cocked her head. “So much grief for someone so young. And so much responsibility.”
Ally hugged herself. What was it with these two? What sort of strange powers did they have? Then she remembered how Lyk had described her sister.A Territhian named Evie.
Did that mean…
“You’re not Territhian,” she blurted out, eyes wide.
“Guilty as charged,” Kara said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m speaking to you from a planet named Vartik, which is where my brother and I are from. We’re members of the royal family, along with six other very annoying brothers, each of whom has been blessed with several powers.”
Lyk turned to her, his expression neutral. “We resemble Territhians, so we pass as them because our species has been hunted for our special abilities. And our healing blood.”
Ally couldn’t believe she was in the clutches of some kind of alien mutant who could control her every move with a single command.
Get a hold of yourself. You’ve got to focus on getting Evie back.“These Seekers. They’re demons? Like, real actual demons?”
Kara nodded. “They serve the Crown Prince of Hell. He created them after the Goddess of Light granted special powers on seven Guardians from a race of spiritual beings to keep her twin children safe. The Seekers attacked these beings and scattered them to the winds, but we’ve managed to assemble them and are aiding them in their goal of reuniting the twins and defeating the Crown Prince during the Battle of the End.”
Ally sank back into the sofa. The info dump was too much for her fragile brain to process at the moment. It sounded like some kind of ridiculous fairy tale.
“Why did they want Evie? We don’t know anything about demons and goddesses and battles.”
“It sounds like they wanted the necklace. Describe it to me. Maybe it will ring a bell with Gemma.”
“Who’s Gemma?”
Lyk leaned in to answer her. “My brother, Calabez’s, wife. She’s one of the Guardians and supposedly the most brilliant being the seven known galaxies has ever seen.”
“It’s a simple necklace, with a silver chain and a charm on the end that lights up when you push a little button.”
