Together, we moved across the dirt and rocks covering the road.As if the town had been kept in a protective bubble, the debris ended at the edge of the street.
I tentatively stretched out my fingers in anticipation of some barrier, but my hand went through and didn’t erupt into flames.Holding my breath, I edged my foot onto the cobblestones.
Ryker wasn’t as cautious as he stepped onto the road.I almost grabbed him back but stopped myself; we’d come down here to enter the town.
The first few buildings along this section of road had collapsed into crumpled heaps.Shattered glass crunched beneath my boots as we passed the broken remnants of someone’s home.
Had the owners been driven from these homes before they fell, or were they still inside, trapped beneath the rubble?
I shuddered at the idea of bodies lying only feet away, but while the town smelled of rich earth and rocks, it didn’t hold the aroma of death.Besides, if amsirah lived here, they would have eventually dug their way out of the debris, so there wouldn’t be any bodies.That realization wasn’t as relaxing as it should have been.
With no weather conditions down here, the temperature hovered somewhere in the upper sixties or low seventies.Because of the lack of changing conditions and the perfect temperature, the elements hadn’t weathered the buildings.
Instead, they’d been preserved in a time capsule that could be fifty years old or fifty thousand.Judging by the thatched roofs with dried mud holding them together, the buildings were built before all those in Tempest.
The glass in the windows was thicker than I’d ever seen before and so wavy it was difficult to see through them, even with the curtains open.The robin’s egg blue color of the first home was cheerful, especially when paired with their neighbor’s sunny orange.
Tucker stopped outside the first home and rested his fingers against one of the panes.“They haven’t made windows like this in millennia.”Placing his hands against the sides of his face, he leaned closer to peer through the thick glass.“I don’t see anyone in there, but thereisfurniture.”
“We should check inside,” Callan said.
Gripping the knob, he turned it and pushed the door open.After who knew how many years of nonuse, I’d expected a creak of hinges, but the door noiselessly swung inward.
Not only did no sunlight penetrate this town, but neither did rust.Callan rested his hand on the hilt of the sword strapped to his side as we leaned forward to peer inside.
CHAPTERFORTY-EIGHT
Ellery
“Hello,”Ianto called out.
Ryker and Tucker both lifted their eyebrows at him.“What are you going to do if someone answers you?”Ryker asked.
“I’m letting them know we’re here; it’s the polite thing to do.”
“Announcing your presence, when we have no idea what’s inside, is also the crazy thing to do.Unless you don’t like your head attached to your body.”
When Ianto scowled, Ryker grinned back at him.Removing his sword from his scabbard, Ryker nudged Callan out of the way and entered the home.I followed him into the gloomy interior of the neat living room.
Beyond the windows, the light had faded to a dim pink that barely lit the residence.With every pulse, more of the room was revealed until the dazzling red erupted again and bathed the home in light.
A thin layer of dust coated the furniture within.The couch was a delicate, yellow thing with spindly legs, and I was sure it would shatter under Ianto if he tried to sit on it.
A matching chair and ottoman sat beside it; both were angled to face the piano in the corner.Scarlet walked over to the instrument and trailed her fingers across its top while examining the keys.
The pulled-out piano bench sat waiting for someone to settle onto it.A heavy air of anticipation hung over the room, but I didn’t know what it expected; I suspected it was music.
It was as if this home had spent thousands of years waiting for someone to fill it with joy and laughter again.I itched to touch the keys but could never produce anything more than awkward noise.
I’d never seen anything quite like the piano.It was the size of a baby grand piano, and instead of being black, it was the bright blue of the house.Yellow keys had replaced the white ones, and the typically black keys were red.
A sideboard near the doorway was covered in plates neatly organized to reveal their contents.If anything was once on those plates, it was gone; all that remained was a faint, black stain.
Scarlet lifted a yellow dress from the bench seat.Something rattled against the bench and piano before settling on the wood floor.
“What was that?”Callan asked.
Scarlet frowned at whatever had fallen from the dress.“I think… I think they’re… ashes.”
