Raul elbows his brother in the ribs. “I thought you’d be a lot happier,” he teases.
“Now is not the time for jokes,” Phillip says.
Raul holds both hands up in apology. “You’re right.”
“So what has been happening?” April asks. “The Haven seems so… quiet. Everybody is so subdued.”
Raul looks at her… and then at me. “Right now?” he says. “It’s the calm before the storm. And trust you me—this storm is going to be the largest one we’ve ever seen.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
JAMES
The world spins as I throttle though the blue vortex. I cannot tell up from down or left from right. There’s pressure, an enormous pressure, inside of my head, and it’s pressing against my body, making me feel like I’m being flattened, like I’m being crushed, like it will never relent, like—
Without warning the torrent of sensation stops. I land on my feet and stagger forward a few steps, surprised to be upright. I hear the snickers from the vampires around me.
Somebody grabs my shoulder and yanks me out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by Dagan. He apparates in the spot I was in, out of the other end of the portal above my head. Next comes Riyu, and then the portal winks shut.
We’re in a spectacular crystal cave. That same magical blue glow is imbued in all the semi-transparent surfaces I see around me. The walls are glowing with it. Jagged shards of crystal ebb with the light.
I’ve never seen a place like this.
I turn my head up. The top of the cave seems to go on forever. There is a mystical beauty here. It’s almost like standing in the pits of a great cathedral and looking up at all the images of the human’s false gods.
They are false, of course, because my immortality has shown me the truth of the world.
The only beings who deserve such reverence are my brothers of the night.
It’s a conviction I’ve not forgotten, despite what these last few weeks have put me through.
“What is this place?” I wonder aloud.
“These,” Dagan grips my shoulder, “are called the Paths. They are a relic of an ancient time, when magic was not forgotten, nor feared, in the world. The only way in, or out, is through the use of a portal such as Riyu summoned.”
“We’re… underground?” I ask, thankful Dagan is feeling talkative.
“You could say that. The Paths were created as a secure, covert way for witches and warlocks to travel. Without arousing suspicion from the outside world. They are beneath ground… but exist on a parallel plane. You cannot simply dig your way here. Magic must be used to enter.”
“Who uses the Paths now?”
If Mother knew about such magnificence…
But then the glitter of the crystals catch my eye. In a flash, I realize I’ve seen the same sort of stone before.
Mother’s crystal throne is made of the same stuff.
Dagan grins, almost like a proud father. “None but those granted permission by our King. Knowledge of the Paths has been eradicated from the world. The only ones to still know of them are members of The Crypts. The Paths are a closely guarded secret. Now that you’ve seen them?” he smiles a cruel smile. “You are bound to us for life.”
So that’s why he’s so willing to divulge information. He wants to trap me.
“I already made my allegiance known to Father,” I tell him. “My loyalty is only with your coven.”
Dagan scoffs. “We’ll see about that.” He looks at Riyu. “Ready?”
The weaker vampire nods.
Dagan gestures for him to move. “So lead the way.”
***
We journey slowly through the interconnected network of tunnels that make up the Paths.
After leaving the monstrous cave we arrived in, the space becomes significantly tighter. There were parts where we had to squeeze through gaps in the crystals with our shoulders rubbing against the walls.
The deference these vampires give Riyu is strange. He’s so weak. But they obviously respect his knowledge of magic.
After hours and hours of walking, we squeeze through a narrow chasm, and I find myself in…
A cavern that looks exactly like the one where we first arrived.
It’s identical. Down to the very last fleck of crystal on the ground, it’s the same.
I spin around in confusion. Have we turned around? No, we only went straight. We only went one way.
Riyu walks to the middle of the cavern. The other vampires form a tight circle around him. No words amongst us are spoken as Riyu begins to chant in that other-worldly tongue.
Another burst of light, another blue sphere. Riyu brings it close to the ground. The spinning globe does not take away the light in here. If anything, it seems to make the cavern glow brighter.