She said it belonged to my mother, as in Liliwen, the Fate. But what does this all mean?
“We’re never going to get out of here,” Moni whines and pulls out a coffee cup. “I’m going to run out of coffee pretty soon, and you all know how that will end.”
I shudder thinking about the story the guys told about Moni. I don’t want to be on the other side of that mess. But hearing Moni talk about being stuck here reminds me of our purpose, so I slip the necklace into my pocket and look at Knots.
“Thank you,” I whisper, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice, but I fail miserably. I choke, holding back tears, and Knots nods, thankfully not pushing for more than just the gesture.
Turning back to the portal, I address the elephant in the room. “Um, how do we get past that?” I ask, staring at the massive door with small white knots spaced randomly over it. Some of the knots are close together while others are spaced out, making this the most complicated puzzle I’ve faced down here.
JP and Ryker shrug and give me a frustrated look. “We can’t figure it out,” JP admits in defeat.
“Yeah. We can push in the knots, but I think it needs a pattern or a sequence to open it.
“Do you have any idea?” Moni asks as her bark turns dark gray, showing her nervousness before shrinking down and perching on my shoulder. “Your mother said your marks were the key, and the song opened it. Do you know what she meant by that?” she asks, kicking her legs against my shoulder.
Wracking it up to delusional talk, I shake my head, completely lost. “Let’s look around and see if we can find something that has this pattern. There has to be something close to it. A hint or something,” Levi says in an authoritative tone.
Grateful that someone is handling this, when I obviously can’t, I start looking around the cavern. I check the walls, floor, and even the door with the knots. Running my finger gently over them, I understand what Ryker was talking about. They aren’t knots but small buttons in the wood.
Frustrated, I turn, putting my back to the door, and glance around from the new position while everyone still looks. Moni zips by me once, then twice, and finally stops on the third run.
“Are you giving up?” she demands, her tiny hands on her hips.
I roll my eyes and lean my head back against the door, but only for a moment because Moni squeals and her bark goes neon green. “Rez! It’s you!”
My eyebrows furrow as I give her a confused look. “How many times have you hit your head while we’ve been down here? Do you need a safety helmet?” I ask, extremely worried about my friend.
“No!” she playfully slaps my shoulder and yells over her shoulder. “Guys, it’s REZ!” she calls out, and as I start to move away from her, she turns bright red and glares at me.
“Don’t you dare move, else you’ll ruin it,” she snaps, and I jerk back a moment at her shocking tone.
“Oookay,” I say, drawing out the word as I watch everyone converge on me.
“What do you mean by it being Rez?” Lynx asks first as he stares at me and back at Moni.
“Look!” she demands and flies next to my head. I go to watch her and she immediately growls out, “What did I say? Don’t move! This is life and death, and I need my sweet nectar of life.” She points her tiny hand in my face and makes a motion, telling me to turn my head back around.
Well damn.I’ve never seen this side of Moni, but given the goofy look on Chester’s face…he has.
Levi steps up and looks at my face and then over at Moni.
“See! Look at the knots and Rez’s cheek. This right here has two knots together, and then there’s one up here that matches above her eye,” Moni rambles off as she zips around my head. “Please tell me I’ve done it. Tell me I get my sweet coffee!” she says in fast succession and promptly faints into my hands as I grab her.
Chester quickly takes his mate and gently wakes her as all the guys around me move closer to study my face and the door behind me.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” I ask, finally getting weirded out and needing some answers. Plus, with them looking at me like I’m the damn puzzle, my anxiety is rocketing out of control. I need to move or something.
“She’s right, Rez. Yourbeautymarks are this pattern right here,” Levi tells me and gently pulls me beside him.
I squint at the door, trying to see what he is, and I shake my head. I know I have them, but I’m too tired to picture my beauty marks right now. “Yeah, no. I don’t see it.”
“Of course you don’t. It’s not like you look at yourself every day, but we do,” Ryker reassures me. “You have to trust us. We can see the pattern.”
“But now we need the key to know which order to push them,” Chester reminds us as Moni shoots up like a rocket.
“What did I miss?” she asks, darting around like a hummingbird.
“You’re right, Mo. She’s the pattern.” JP gives Moni a high-five, but Moni’s bark suddenly turns multiple shades of blue.
