The man turned his back as Athela crossed the cold floor, a flimsy nightgown flowing around her legs and her blond hair swaying against her waist. She grabbed a thick, red robe from a chair and slipped it on.
"What have you heard?" she asked, her voice shivering a little in the cold.
"Taurin's sons have been murdered. The whereabouts of the Chiavi are unknown. Mykyl-" The man cleared his throat. "Your father's body rots while the people of Esteril celebrate his crucifixion. Shall I send an army to retrieve it for burial?"
"No." Athela tied a gold rope around her waist and stared into a distorted mirror. She was older than the last time I was in her body, most likely in her forties. "All is how it should be. My father betrayed our people. Betrayed me. Let them have their revenge."
The anger Athela had for her father mixed with my sadness for her. She never felt the love from her father that I had from Pop. It must have been hard growing up with a father as cruel as Mykyl.
Why am I here? I thought. What does she want me to know?
The man kept looking back at the door. "As you wish, Your Highness. We must leave. You are no longer safe here. The uprising sends an assassin to your door as we speak."
"Very well," she said, turning from the mirror. "Alert Cadby. We leave tonight."
His eyes went back to the door. "The council has sent Cadby to a Somnium for your son's murder."
She covered her mouth with a shaky hand. "He was wrongly accused. My son is not dead."
"There is no reasoning with the Wizard Council," the man said. "They fear the uprising. Those who want to overtake the human world won't stop until you are dead. Taurin's vision of two separate worlds won't last. It is only a matter of time before those who want to rule all will rise."
"My death will shock them all. It will cause the people to vote for a just high wizard to lead the council." Athela grabbed bottles filled with what looked like insects and herbs. She opened a leather-bound book that I recognized. It was the ancient spell book that Nana had found and Emily now used.
It was her book.
"Taurin's sons and daughters will keep the peace for many generations." She read one of the pages of the book. "But it cannot last. His or her time will end, and another ruler will take over. The council will want to use the Tetrad to bring the Mystik world out of hiding. To enslave humans." She dumped the contents of the bottles into a mortar bowl and worked at grinding them with a pestle.
A loud thump sounded somewhere in the castle, and the table shook.
The man adjusted his stance, his eyes darting to the door. "The assassins are ramming the door."
She lit a match and set the crushed items in the bowl on fire. "They may kill me, but my spirit will not leave. I will send my own assassin. An assassin of their false truths."
Her eyes closed and darkness overtook me. She chanted something, and a brightness lit the back of her eyelids. A loud boom resounded through the room, and her eyes flew open. The man lay unmoving under rubble from the ceiling, blood staining his beard and the candle by his hand snuffed out.
"Daughter of the Seventh, you are my chosen one."
Is she talking to me? A chill ran through my thoughts.
"I've waited hundreds of years for you," she continued. "I've cried thousands of tears for peace. It is up to you to guide my son in achieving what he is meant to do. You are the Assassin of Truths. Expose the evil choking the Mystik world. Destroy the weapon they mean to use."
The roof collapsed, crushing Athela. A tugging sensation overcame me as her soul departed her body. It was as if someone had pulled a plug and everything suddenly turned dark. I was left there alone and cold within her mind.
Sadness hit me, so painful it cut through my soul. She was dead. And without doubt, I knew she would never enter my dreams again. She had shown me all I needed to know. It was her way of connecting with me, touching my heart so that I would understand her cause. So that I would do what she wanted. To expose the truth. To destroy the Tetrad. To finish what Taurin believed was the only way for the Mystik and human worlds to exist. One without the other. Separate. Because those with magic could control those without.
"Gia, wake up." A whisper tickled my ear.
I opened my eyes. Emily leaned over me. Her pasty, heart-shaped face glowed in the spotlight of the moon coming in through a nearby window. It was warm again. Colorful crystals hung from the ceiling, and white sandstone walls surrounded me. The cushions on the chairs and bedcovers were various shades of blue. I was back in the bedchamber in the Fey realm.
I hadn't seen much of her the last two days. She had been locked up in her room studying the ancient spell book.
"You're crying."
"Bad dream," I said and noticed my messenger bag on the bed. "Thanks for keeping my bag safe."
"No problem." She smiled. "Anyway, I found something cool in here." She flipped open the ancient spell book to a page she'd dog-eared. "This is going to sound awful and somewhat barbaric, but hear me out. I found a charm that can hide things on a person's body. Wizards used it to keep thieves from stealing precious gems and other stuff. It's going to get tough carrying around the Chiavi everywhere without someone noticing. And considering both worlds depend on them not falling into the wrong hands, I think we should try it."
I sat up. "Go back to the part where you mention it's somewhat barbaric."
She exaggerated a breath. "I have to brand them into your skin."
"What?"
"That's just a response, right? You did hear what I said."
"Yeah, I heard you." My fingers went to the crescent moon scar on my chest. Nana Kearns had branded the charm on me when I was a baby. It shielded me from the Monitors. I could jump through any gateway book unnoticed. "My nana branded me once. She used a numbing spell on the area before doing it. Do you know how to do one?"
The apologetic look on Emily's face told me she didn't know. "I'm not even sure I can do the branding spell. We can try one in a place not visible. See how it goes."
"How about some of Nana's elixir?"
She shook her head. "The lab was locked, and Nana didn't answer when I knocked on her bedroom door."
Nana used earplugs while she slept. Even the smallest noise would keep her up.
I stared at my hands.
Come on, Gia. Toughen up. It would be hard to travel with a bag full of Chiavi clinking on my side. And it was better if they were hidden.
"Okay, let's do it."
She nodded and placed the book on the bed. "Where do you want me to put them?"
Where do I want them? Not the arms. Someone would notice. Stomach? No. Someplace it was easy to hide. "My side. How do I get them off when needed?"
"I'll teach you the charm for removing them. We'll practice."
I turned my side toward her and removed my shirt. Thankfully, I still had my sports bra on. "Okay. Let's get this over with."
She passed me a thick piece of leather.
I took it. "What's this for?"
"You know, to put between your teeth and bite down on so you don't scream or bite off your tongue or something."
"You've seen too many movies." I turned the tan piece over in my hands, inspecting it. "Where did you get this? Is it clean?" There was no telling where that thing had been or what germs were on it.
"I washed it. I cut it out of a chair in my room." She looked over her shoulder at the door. "Let's get this done before someone comes."
"Okay. Torture me."
"Funny," she said, adjusting her position in front of me.
The leather was stiff between my teeth and tasted like my sweaty kickboxing gloves. Emily opened my messenger bag to retrieve one of the Chiavi. She pulled out the cross and placed it on the bedding in front of her. It was the size of her palm, made out of silver, decorated with gemstones, and attached to a chain. After reading over the spell in the book, she held one of her palms over the cross, placed one hand on my side and said, "Abscondere."
"Nothing's happening," I said around the leather piece in my mouth.
"Hush. Let me concentrate." She lowered her head and mumbled to herself.
Still nothing.
"Abscondere," she said in a forceful voice. It didn't even sound like her. There was a darkness to it.
A burning pain hit my rib cage, and I bit down hard on the leather, groaning. It was more like a guttural screech. I slumped forward, leaning over my lap and holding back my screams. Tears stung my eyes. My skin was on fire. I took several deep breaths, releasing each slowly.
"Are you okay?" The worried look on Emily's face scared me.
"What does it look like?" I strained to view the brand on my side. A cross the size of a thumbprint was burned into my skin. As I stared at it, the angry red mark faded until it was a white scar. "It's really small."
"And it healed fast." Emily flipped the page in the spell book. "Do you want to try and remove it?"
"I don't know if I can do this six more times," I said.
"Maybe it won't hurt as much the next time. You know, as they say, the body gets used to pain."
I doubted it. "Okay, how do I get it off me?"