I looked over my shoulder, then shuddered. No one had followed us here. In fact, the streets were empty. The lights started going out, one at a time. My instinct screamed at me to be careful, but I was so close to getting what we’d come here for that I couldn’t bother with the nagging feeling that someone was still watching us, somehow.
Varga must’ve noticed me looking, because he did a True Sight scan of the area, then gave me a brief shrug. He didn’t see anything.
Taeral and Raphael pushed open the jade doors. Inside, darkness prevailed, along with dry air and a tremendous amount of dust, judging by the tickling sensation in my nostrils. Taeral flicked his lighter open and produced a large ball of fire—enough to light up the entire place.
The interior was as simple as the exterior, just jade bricks meeting in a seemingly endless, mosaic-like pattern. Jade columns provided additional support to the roof, but, other than that, there was no other decorative element present. Not that this place would’ve needed it, anyway. It was gorgeous just like this.
Above us, sturdy brass chandeliers hung from thick chains, with candles still mounted on each arm. Taeral cast his flames out, lighting the place up so we could see everything.
“Sweet heaven…” Eva managed as she looked around.
There were dozens of wooden crates left in this place, most of them never opened. Some had their lids to the side, and we could see jars and jagged rocks poking out from their textile cradles—just layers of old beige linen meant to cushion the artifacts during their travel.
“This is a lot of stuff,” I said. “I’m going to be an optimist and assume the Druids labeled these accordingly.”
Raphael pointed at one of the crates closest to us. “I think your optimism is on point. There’s something written beneath that sigil.”
I narrowed my eyes as I approached the box. Indeed, there was a Persea symbol painted on the side of each crate. Beneath it, the ancient Druid language revealed the contents. I flashed Raphael a confident grin.
“On point, yes,” I said. “This one’s from Anthios, for example.”
Eva reached me first, lifting some of the jars to get a better look. I recognized the reddish soil and chunks of limestone collected from the Secean Valley, one of Anthios’s most populated areas—it was home to a mix of fae and incubi, like most of the planet, which was just five hundred light-years away from Eritopia, in a neighboring galaxy.
“Given that no one else here knows the ancient Druid language, Amelia, would you be so kind as to hurry up and tell us which one’s the Cerix box?” Taeral asked, his arms crossed.
I didn’t even look at him, understanding the urgency of our situation and, most importantly, acknowledging his personal anguish regarding this case. If there was anything I could do to ease his current state, I was on top of it.
I checked every crate over the course of what had to be minutes, while the others waited in the middle of the hall. The overhead lights cast an amber sheen across their faces, making them seem like statues, beautifully sculpted and placed smack in the middle of this simple, yet extraordinary jade building.
I recognized the letters forming the word “Cerix” in the far-right corner of the hall, close to one of the boarded-up windows.
“Found it!”
I bent down to pry the lid open, when I heard wood cracking and felt the air move just inches from my head.
“Amelia, get down!” Raphael shouted.
Boots thundered across the floor. Wood snapped. The ground began to shake, causing violent tears through the jade floor and practically breaking my heart. I looked up. Dread gripped my throat, as I watched tree branches breaking through the boarded-up windows and shooting straight toward my teammates. Spikes burst from their core, the tips black and dangerously sharp.
I was left cradling the Cerixian box, while Raphael jumped over and ducked multiple sentient branches at once. The entire forest outside seemed to be descending upon this jade building, and I had a feeling we would eventually get crushed in here, if we stayed much longer.
Taeral cast flames left and right, setting several branches alight. Riza teleported herself around the hall, cutting down incoming wooden arms. Herakles, Varga, and Eva drew their swords and tackled some spikes of their own, while simultaneously struggling to stay upright.
The southern walls began to crack. Something was gripping the building, much like a giant fist, and it was beginning to tighten its grip. The jade bricks caved in on the corners first. Some landed too close to me. I cursed under my breath, realizing that our time here was running out. I’d found the crate, and it was time to get the stuff out.
I pulled the top off with adrenaline-charged strength. The plywood snapped. Nails jumped out, curled up and bent out of shape. Inside, I found several jars filled with soil samples and pebbles. I grabbed the fullest one and shoved it into my backpack, then swerved around and tried to find the right moment to dart back to my group.
Raphael landed flat on his face, after a surprise attack from one of the branches. The hall was crowded with them now, and they snaked around and closed in on us. I rushed toward him just as the branches swelled with more black-tipped spikes. Herakles was pale and covered in sweat, barely standing at this point.
“Watch out, the spikes are poisoned,” he mumbled. He’d gotten stung.
My blood curdled as I bolted across the last twenty yards left between me and Raphael. I managed to grab him by the wrist and pull him up. We had another twenty yards to get to our group, in an increasingly hostile environment.
“Hurry!” Taeral shouted. “They’re about to blow!”
The spikes looked bigger. The image shook before me. Eva was on her knees. Riza appeared and helped Herakles stand, despite the ground trembling. We’d take care of him once we got out. Time was running out. The floor was broken up in so many places, it was harder for me to jump across.
Raphael grunted. His arm snaked around my waist. I yelped as he pulled me close—so close, I could feel every inch of his toned, Perfect body. His wings exploded behind him. I heard the air snap at his heels. The move was so quick, I didn’t even register it. One moment, I was marveling at how tall Raphael was from up close, and how many poisoned spikes were aimed at us, and in the next moment, we were both reunited with our group.
The entire building groaned, caving under tremendous pressure.
“Link hands!” Riza said.
We did, not wasting another second. The spikes were released, all at once, like oversized darts. The hall crumbled at the same time. The ceiling came down.
And we were out of there.
Taeral
Shaken and stirred, we were teleported back to the portal.
Only, there was a major problem.
“What the hell?!” Amelia blurted.
The portal had been destroyed. The gray mist had spread over the grassy ground, leaving a pile of stone rubble where our way out had been, until recently.
“How does one go about destroying a portal?” Herakles asked, equally befuddled, while Eva cut her wrist and gave him some blood to drink—it was the quickest way to counteract the poison from the spikes.
