Sherus looked as surprised as the rest of us.
“I don’t understand,” the fae king probed. “Why would they guard something they knew nothing of?”
“It was in exchange for a gift,” another elder intoned.
“A gift from the jinn tribe that trapped the creatures in the first place,” another elder replied.
“Which jinn tribe?” Nuriya asked.
“One long before your time, daughter of the Nasiris.”
“What was the gift?” Sherus asked.
The elders all smiled at their king.
“The waters of immortalitatem,” they replied simultaneously.
Sherus nodded, understanding what the elders meant, but none of us did.
“The immortal waters, as they are now known, are a way of preserving life,” Sherus explained to us. “Few of the fae wish to use it—we live many years as it is. It is considered sacred…I did not realize it was a gift from the jinn.”
The elders nodded. I looked at Nuriya, who glanced back at me in confusion. Clearly she’d never heard of these waters either.
“It is strange that I have not heard of this,” the jinni replied slowly, looking at the elders with mistrust.
“It is a magic now lost to your people, I believe. The tribe that bestowed us with the gift died out long ago—they did not use the waters either, having no need to prolong their existence. Only one is reputed to remain alive…but she has not been seen for over a millennium.”
It was a lot to take in. Aside from the bizarre revelations that the elders were providing us with, it still didn’t seem to be getting us any closer to understanding what was in these stones. The only lead would be the long-lost jinni—but if she hadn’t been seen in so long, what would be our chances of finding her in a matter of hours?
My dad was clearly thinking along the same lines as I was, as in the next moment he changed his line of questioning.
“We were thinking of opening the stones, in a controlled environment,” he announced. “Enabling us to understand what they contain, as well as what our chances might be against them if this dimension is revealed to be populated by these mysterious creatures.”
“It is sheer madness!” Sherus replied, clearly still convinced that we should leave the portal shut for all time.
“It is risky,” one of the elders replied. “I would show more caution than that.”
I sighed inwardly. It seemed baffling to me that the fae didn’t want to get to the bottom of this mystery. They had been guarding these creatures for all time. Didn’t they want to know what they were?
My cellphone started buzzing. Making my apologies, I left the room. It was Mona, and I answered it immediately.
“Any news?” I asked.
“The portal’s moving…” Her voice came in ragged breaths. “You need to get down here… All of you.”
With that, Mona hung up.
I ran back into the room, my heart in my mouth as I announced the news to the group.
“We need to go—now,” my father said.
“What?” Sherus bellowed.
“It can’t open without us there!” my father replied impatiently. “There’s more danger that way—we don’t know what’s opening it.” My father turned to me, his eyes determined. “We need to gather everyone. You, Rose, fetch Kiev and his siblings, Brock, Vivienne and Xavier, Shayla and Eli—tell them to come at once. Get the rest of the parents together – Claudia, Yuri, Ashley and Landis. I know they’ll want to be there for this – but tell Claudia to keep her temper reigned in. Caleb, make sure Ibrahim and Arwen are on their way, I had asked them to meet us here after the meeting. Then speak to the werewolves, let’s take three—Micah, Kira, and Bastien. And we might need dragons—talk to Jeriad, Ridan and Azaiah, and whoever else they wish to bring. The more of us the better. I will fetch River, Grace and Lawrence. Corrine, ask the witches for help—there are plenty who will need to be vanished to the island.”
We all nodded, moving from the room as swiftly as we could. Before I left I turned to look at my husband in relief. We’re finally doing it. He returned a small smile, but his eyes were troubled. His look was a reminder that we still had a long way to go till our children were safe—this was just the beginning.
Benedict
The vulture soared across the sky, and I felt sicker and sicker with every passing second as we approached the cove. I had fought with Hazel to be allowed to come, and eventually Tejus had intervened on my behalf, saying that I was safest with them, and not riding with the others. She had eventually relented, letting me fly on the back of Tejus’s vulture. I was glad—he rode at the front of the line, faster and more furious than the others. I had to hang on tightly to his robe not to be swept off.