Reading my mind, Knots leans over and whispers, “He often just wanted bragging rights and more land for his subjects.”
“Hmm. He sounded amazing,” I said sarcastically.
“He was,” he snarked back before booping me on the nose.
“So, are you saying we should keep our status on the DL for now?” Zeke chips in.
“How can you when apparently anyone can tell?” Lynx answers instead.
“No, Son, that’s not it at all.” Lennox chuckles. “We can feel it”—he motions to Sierra and himself—“because it’s our job. Storm Shifters can pick up the Horsemans’ energy and answer their call. But once they come into their full powers, everyone will be able to feel them unless they dampen or mask themselves.”
“Oh good, there are options out there,” Zeke mumbles.
“Yes, there are. The first is taking the positives from the originals and implementing them into your structure. It could work for you all,” Lennox confirms.
I flip through the rest of the book, scanning the pictures of the Four Horsemen and the things that they did—vampires ripping through women and kids, shifters running free through the woods, mages pulling energy from the ground, blackening it until nothing is left, and elves enslaving other creatures to them by thin golden chains.
According to these pages, I’m not sure anything good can come of the old ways, but I’m not Lennox, nor have I met the OGs, so I’ll leave my opinion out of it for now.
“I’ve seen this picture before,” Lynx says, pointing up to the picture frame above the mantel and pulling all of us out of our thoughts. It’s a simple print of a landscape with a moss-covered hill and a unique rock formation that defies the law of physics. Given how the colors are as brilliant as Purgatory, my guess is this was taken someplace in the Earth realm.
“I would hope it looks familiar since you’ve been there,” Lennox says with a smile and relief shining through his eyes.
“Really?”
“He has?” I ask, curious about Lynx’s life before I met him.
“Yes,” Lennox simply says before looking around the group once and focusing on Sierra.
“That’s Skellig Rock, our birthplace. We took you there twice. Once, right after you were born to receive your blessing, and again before you took off to seek out your mate,” Lennox explains as I pass the tome over to Levi’s beckoning hands.
“I’ve read about this painting,” Ryker says, giving the landscape a more detailed look. “Doesn’t it have some kind of magical property to the beholder?”
“A good guess,” Sierra says with laughter in her voice. “Since the Rock or Isle is almost impossible to travel to, the painting acts as a portal.”
“To where?” Chester asks, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger. He looks as if he’s solving a puzzle.
“Well, it used to be a simple one that would lead us to the Skellig Rock?—”
“Could we use that portal to get Knots out of Hell and to safety?” Chester asks, and I smile at him for his fast thinking. Hope blooms inside me, realizing we actually might be able to get Knots out of here without any more damage.
My smile falls when Sierra looks at me with sadness. “I’m sorry, but since the Walls’ painting went missing along with them, the council has wired all portals to be redirected totheir holding cells for questioning. And unfortunately, with how serious it is that the Walls have gone missing, you’re going to be considered guilty until proven innocent.”
“Well, dinglehopper,” Moni groans, leaning back and pouting, her blue bark making an appearance.
Lynx shifts between my legs and Sierra notices. “Is something wrong, sweetie?”
Lynx clears his throat and turns to face his mother, his face looking paler. “When I said I noticed that picture, I meant it. Not the place, but the picture. I saw the same one hanging in L.A.M.B.’s mansion.”
“Oh!” Sierra’s eyes go wide, and she immediately looks down at Lennox.
The only question is, why would L.A.M.B have a secret portal painting in their mansion when a Gatekeeper is missing, and did they have a hand in it?
CHAPTER 8
Closet Nymphs
Rez
