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“Shit!” Macy shot up from her seat and ran around us, stomping on the fuse to try and put it out, but the flame wouldn’t die.
“Alright, let’s go,” Caleb said, grabbing my hand and pulling me around the desk and down the hall of white marble. “Before she realizes it’s an illusion.”
“I know I say it all the time but you’re really a damn genius.”
“If it wasn’t for your encouragement, I wouldn’t have even been able to conjure up a fart, much less a full-on illusion.” Caleb stopped at a split in the hall. “This way. Let’s go.”
We ran down the hall, past a few Center members who recognized and waved at us. We waved back but kept our pace, reaching an unmarked door with a key card next to it.
“Is this it?” I asked.
“Yes,” Caleb said. He took out the key card from his pocket and pressed it against the scanner. I held my breath. If they had changed the key cards after the first time we’d been here, then we really would be royally fucked.
It didn’t open. I readied myself to break down the door, but Caleb tapped the card again, and a loud beep sounded. The door slid open, bright red light spilling out of the room.
This was it. It was time to destroy those paintings and end this saga.
Chapter 31
Under Water
Caleb
The Ruby Room was exactly how I remembered it: a dome-shape space with no windows and only a single door, a massive chunk of glowing crimson red ruby set in the center. It looked like it was rising up out of the ground, taller than even Maddox by about another five feet to his six three. There were cushions set all around the floor, the only light in the room supplied by the ruby itself. Its surface was smooth, with some natural striations that added to its depths. I could stare at it all day and find an interesting new facet to the rare gem.
“Alright, how do we use this shit?” Maddox said, knocking his knuckles against the crystal as if it were a door ready to be open.
I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “You’re so delicate with things,” I said sarcastically, walking around the ruby. We didn’t have much time before Macy realized we were gone, and this would likely be the first place she’d check for us.
We had to be quick.
“Alright, put your hands back on it.”
“See, so I was getting somewhere.”
“I guess,” I said, chuckling. It was weird seeing Maddox looking like a balding older man, but his bravado and charisma still shone through my illusion. He may have looked like an overweight slob, but he still held his chin high and chest proud. He stood with a wide but firm stance, hands in his pockets. If he was concerned about what we were about to do, he certainly didn’t show it.
Fuck, I loved this man, no matter what form he took.
Maddox did as I said, both palms flat on the ruby.
“Now, close your eyes, and I want you to envision what you want the most in life. Got it?”
He gave an affirmative nod.
“Okay, now I want you to say it out loud and explain why it’s me.”
He cracked an eye open. More laughter escaped from me, sounding slightly nervous. “Sorry, I had to. To use the teleporter, all we need to do is think about the linked destination, which should be the Glass Auditorium. Just use the images we pulled up on Google earlier. Keep your hands on the ruby and just think. Imagine the glass dome, the wooden stage, the fish.”
The picture became clear in my head. My eyes remained shut as my body suddenly felt yanked forward. A whoosh of wind and a sound that resembled nothing a human could make filled my ears. I tried opening my ears, but the pressure against my face didn’t allow me to. And then the momentum and pressure all came to a screeching halt, the sound of wind and whirs no longer in the air.
I fell to my knees, hitting hard stone. I coughed and shook my shoulders and head as if I’d just downed three consecutive Fireball shots.
Maddox dropped next to me only a few moments later. He broke his fall with his side, grunting as he hit the ground.
“Fucking hell,” Madds said. I helped him onto his feet.
“You okay?”
“I think so. I’ve never taken a portal stone before. That shit’s weird.” He looked back at the identical ruby stone jutting up from a room that wasn’t all quite different from the one we’d just teleported from.
Well, except for one major difference: we were underwater.
The meditative room we were in was a recently constructed space that allowed the Crimson Ring access to the Glass Auditorium whenever they wanted. It was like a clay-and-stone igloo underwater, with various long and tall windows that looked out to the ocean, the front yard being landscaped with sand and seaweed. The mixture of the light from the ruby and the refracted beams of blue from the sunlight added a hallucinogenic effect to the space.
