A Shade of Vampire 43: A House of Mysteries(34)

As soon as we were outside, I felt better. The air seemed a bit fresher today, and I was glad that we would be outside in the sunshine rather than cooped up in the airless and damp basement.

I watched Draven and Bijarki as they emptied the contents of the bags on the grass. There were six copper balls, each with small holes in the top of them, with a solid base. Next, they pulled out clumps of dried herbs—the herbs smelled earthy and sweet, but I didn’t recognize them at all. Draven opened up the balls, unscrewing the top from the bottom. Inside each he stuffed handfuls of the herbs and then lit a match, enflaming them before screwing the two parts back together.

“What are those?” I asked curiously.

“They are censers. Used to burn herbs and incense so that it flows directly upward,” he replied, screwing the top onto the last ball. I peered over them, instantly hit with an almost intoxicating wave of smoke and the herbs’ heady fragrance.

“Stand back for now,” the Druid warned me. “I need to explain first.”

He called the others over, and we gathered around the copper spheres.

“You already know what it’s like to slip into the semi-conscious state,” Draven began, addressing Aida, Phoenix and me. “Now that you know what it feels like, we’re going to try a different, less invasive method, which will guide you into that state, rather than force you to be in it. So you will need to do the work.”

“And we couldn’t do this before because…” Aida asked sarcastically.

“Because you weren’t ready,” Draven snapped back. “The fumes of the herbs will help you. All that’s required is that you inhale them, and try to ease your mind into a meditative state.”

“Hang on a second,” Serena asked, interrupting, “these herbs—they’re not hallucinogens or anything like that, right?”

The Druid frowned. “No, of course not. The herbs actually produce their own energy. They’re called Taqa, and the plant they’re derived from is very rare and much sought-after. The energy will help focus your abilities, almost as if you are inhaling a botanical life force.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. If the herbs were that potent, no wonder they were heavily sought after. It was starting to look like I could learn a lot from Draven, and the idea pleased me. It would be good to learn while I was here—take some of the mysteries of the In-Between home with me, when the time came.

If it ever comes.

I shoved the bleak thought aside, and refocused on Draven and the herbs.

“Sit on the ground,” he informed us, “and inhale. Your bodies will do the rest.”

I did as I was asked, slowly moving into a cross-legged position and breathing in as much as I could of the steady wisp of smoke that emanated from the spheres. Instantly I started to feel drowsy, my mind foggy as if I was in a deep sleep—but, strangely, remaining fully conscious. I supposed the closest thing I could compare it to was having a particularly lucid dream.

I watched as Phoenix’s eyelids closed, and he dropped backward into the grass. It alarmed me slightly, but didn’t break the hold the herbs had over me, and soon I felt my own eyelids growing heavy. I submitted to the effects, and felt my body fall backwards in the same manner. It was strange. Where the ground was meant to hit my back, there was an absence of solidness, so I felt like I was falling backward through the earth, tumbling down, down, further into a dark void of nothing.



I landed on something hard, the back of my skull slamming against it, making my head ring. I immediately sat up and looked around. I was in exactly the same place as I was in my previous vision, the sky around me star-studded and endless, with its glowing cosmos. I looked behind me, seeing the Oracle in her sphere of water—her eyes wide with warning as they had been before. I quickly turned, looking ahead, just in time to see my friends running down the pathway, heading straight for the Oracle.

I stood up instinctively, waving my arms around for them to stop, before reminding myself that they couldn’t see me, and no matter how loud I screamed and yelled, it wouldn’t stop what would come next.

Sure enough, the Destroyers appeared over the edge of the cliff. Their horses’ wings beat furiously in the night’s sky, their black eyes fixed on the rescue party. The spear was thrown. I watched in slow motion as it soared straight through the air—smashing into Jovi and running through him till his body arched backward, impaled on its wooden shaft.

I turned my head away, cursing the vision for showing me this again. I didn’t want to see it—I’d never wanted to see it.

Screams erupted, and I looked up to see Serena and Aida both launching themselves toward Jovi. I felt like I was underwater, every sound muffled, every movement heavy and labored. I saw, with complete clarity, the pain, shock and surprise on my friends’ faces.