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“So, that’s it?” Wrath asked, glancing around. “We give up? We let darkness take over? Hell, who else is going to be coming out of the veil to seek vengeance?”
“It was easy for me to slip through,” my father answered. “I had a hold on this side. I’d assume anyone else with blood or loyalties over here could slip through as well.”
Natalie nodded. “Okay, how many people have you all killed that would be looking for revenge? Is it even safe to be in this bar anymore? Or are we sitting here waiting for your enemies to come attack?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the floor began to shake. Not just the floor, either, but the walls, the tables, the glass behind the bar. The entire room shook, growing more and more angry with every second. A squeal of terror escaped Natalie. Alek’s hands flew up to wrap around my waist, pulling me to him.
“Get down!” Wrath yelled.
Alek didn’t hesitate for a single second before hauling me off my feet and ducking us beneath one of the bar tables on the side of the room.
Earthquakes?
Here?
No, between the shaking last night and this, it was no coincidence. This was more of the balance being disrupted. This was our doing.
“What is that?” Natalie yelled.
“I don’t know!” Alek yelled back. “But it can’t be good!”
He pulled me tight against him, desperately clutching me as if he could protect me from this darkness, like if he held me tightly enough, I could be hidden from the tragedy playing out around us.
From the basement of Night Raven, we couldn’t see outside. Not that I would have been able to see anything, though, with my eyes squeezed shut as I let Alek protect me.
I pressed my face against his chest, burying myself in him as the shaking continued. It felt like a lifetime, felt like it would never rest, like we would never get out of this basement.
And if I died in the confines of a dark basement, next to Marcus, of all people, I was going to be pissed.
But as soon as I thought the shaking would never stop, as soon as I thought the earth was about to open up and swallow us whole into the oblivion, it began to settle.
Alek still held me, his fingers digging into my waist from the strength of his grasp, our hitched breaths mixing together in the safety of our small bubble, until we were sure the shaking was done.
I blinked my eyes open.
Natalie and Wrath were hidden too, her body crushed against his in a similar manner to my own. Marcus and my father stood from their protected positions on the other side of the room.
“This,” my father said, his voice shaking with adrenaline, “is why we need to do something.”
“I’m open to ideas,” Wrath retorted, standing up and pulling Natalie with him.
Alek’s fingers grazed my side, the only distraction from the absolute chaos unfolding around us. I leaned my head against him as I tried to settle my breathing.
“I know what we have to do,” I said with newfound resolution. “We need to find Theia.”
CHAPTER 4
Lyra
Theia had tracked me ruthlessly for twenty-two years, knowing my every movement, my every decision. She controlled who I saw, where I went when I left my apartment, what I was exposed to.
I had spent the last two weeks enjoying the freedom I had, or the illusion of freedom that was given to me by her absence. I didn’t know where she went; I didn’t know why she gave up on her job of protecting the veil when she spent her entire life ensuring it could never be opened.
Keeping secrets.
Telling lies.
Now it was time to find her, and I had no clue where to start.
