I paused to pay attention. There was a strange feeling tingling across my skin— and the faintest buzzing in my ears, calling me toward the unknown.
The gate. It was calling to us as demigods.
“Come on!” I increased my pace, and the others followed.
Relief— and awe— entered my veins as we reached the clearing where the gate was set. Now that we had more time and weren’t constrained under the pressure of the Darke Games, I could appreciate the majesty of the beautiful structure. The curved stone gate rose up to the sky, ascending to the treetops. The beautiful Elven runes were carved in a cursive, twirling fashion around the gate’s edge, creating an intricate design. The massive wooden door in the middle of the gate appeared like it’d barely been touched by time, save for the ivy vines crawling up the bottom of it. The seven keyholes in the door stood out sharply in the sunlight, uniform and expertly crafted.
“This is it,” I whispered.
Kallie and Marcus came beside me, craning their necks back to take in the majesty of the beautiful stone gate.
“Cool. We’re here.” Charlie crossed his arms. “Let’s do what we came for, so we can go.”
I frowned. This place wasspecial. It was where we’d had our first kiss. Why was he ruining it?
Kallie, Marcus and I took out our keys. We tried fitting them into the various key holes in the wooden door. Most didn’t fit, but my mouth fell open when my key slid into the first slot on the left. Kallie’s key fit beside mine, and Marcus’ key slid into the keyhole next to hers.
The three of us gasped as they keys began to glow. They shone with a white light that was almost blinding. When I touched my key, I found it was warm underneath my palm.
“Charlie, come here,” I said. I put his hand on the key, but he jerked his fingers back when he felt how warm it was. It wasn’t hot enough to burn him. He more acted like… I don’t know. Like he hadn’t been expecting the keys to react, and they did.
“These keys definitely fit this door,” Kallie insisted. “They were made for it.”
“This has to be a portal to Forevermore. There’s nothing else behind this gate,” Marcus insisted.
“So our original theory is right. We just need four more keys, and then the portal to Forevermore will open,” I said.
There was triumph in my voice. We were gettingso close.And if these keys were being drawn to Darke Island, like I predicted, it was only a matter of time before we found them all.
Charlie scoffed. “We know now that the keys fit the door. We don’t know if it’s really a portal to Forevermore.”
I yanked my key out of the keyhole and looped it back around my neck. “What other clues do we need? Our theory matches up!”
“Yourtheory,” Charlie emphasized. “We don’t have any proof. That door could lead toanywhere. It could let out someone— or something— we don’t want to tamper with.”
“The runes say that the door leads to Forevermore, pretty much,” Marcus offered. “Ieven think it’s safe to open.”
“Then you’re being an idiot,” Charlie shot at him.
Marcus blanched, and Kallie stepped in to defend him. “Don’t be like that,” she said. “Opening this door might mean avoiding another Great Supernatural War— which is what we’re trying toprevent, right?”
“You don’t know what’s behind it,” Charlie growled. “What if opening that door is whatstartsthe war?”
Charlie seemed firm in his viewpoint— but so was I.
“Look. Whatever’s behind that door, it links to my prophecy. My destiny,” I insisted. “Which means I have to open it, no matter what.”
“This isn’t a game, Ava!” Charlie shouted. “The prophecy says thata discovery of the ancient ones on the island of shadow will change the course of our universe.That sure sounds like opening that Elven gate— and if it is, do the four of us really have the right to change the course of the entireuniverse? What if it screws things up?”
My insides did loops. “Whatever the prophecy means, this door has to be opened,” I insisted. “Marcus, Kallie and I wouldn’t have keys if that wasn’t the case. It’s too much of a coincidence. Fate has led us here. We just have to have faith that opening the door is the right move.”
Charlie huffed. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anyway, because we don’t have the other keys,” Charlie said, and he crossed his arms. “Good luck finding them.”
My heart dropped right out of my chest and landed on the ground. He didn’t want to help me. If anything, he had me convinced that coming here today was a bad idea.
Marcus shifted anxiously. “We should get back, guys. Before the guards realize we’re gone.”
Kallie’s look grew mischievous. “You know… we’re free now… we could just… wander our way off of Darke Island, if we wanted to. There’s no wards stopping portals out here.”
