“Let none who value their lives enter here. This place is shielded by the Sacred Seven aspects. All who enter shall perish from the earth.”
My eyes meet Ronan’s as he finishes reading. “What do you think?”
Ronan shrugs. “All of the tombs say something like that. It’s just meant to warn off grave robbers. And judging by the complete lack of disturbance here, it worked.”
I shouldn’t be surprised that this is his reaction. He’s never been very superstitious.
But even with his nonchalance, I’m not completely convinced. “Maybe you two should stay behind,” I say to Quinn and Seth, raising my voice over their protests. “You can wait here and then enter if we need help.”
“Not a chance,” says Quinn. “I didn’t come this far for nothing.”
Even Seth, the king of self-preservation himself, isn’t deterred. “I’ve spent twenty years thinking of this mystery. If you don’t want to go, give me that sickle, sister. I’ll take that extraordinary power for myself.”
The torch flares menacingly, the shadows on the walls stretching into monstrous forms.
“Alright, alright,” says Seth. “I was kidding. Letthemhave the incredible destiny, fuck.”
The torch calms, its light practically purring, inviting me to step forward.
“Well, here goes nothing.” I wedge the sickle into the groove, and an image flashes into my mind: Ronan hovering over me on the altar, the sky red and filled with fire behind him.
It isn’t like the other visions. It’s over in a moment, but the feel of it—the feel of Ronan inside of me—lingers.
“Did you just…?”
“Yes,” says Ronan, his face flushed. “I saw it.”
“Saw what?” asks Seth.
“Nothing important.” The sickle stirs in my hand, the almost magnetic pull tilting it to the side. I turn it, and a latch clicks.
One side of the door snaps back half an inch, opening.
“We’re in,” says Quinn, pushing the cracked door with her cane.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The shadows dance down the stairs beyond the door, vanishing after a couple dozen steps into inky darkness.
“I can’t see what’s down there,” I say. The feeling is alarming. I’ve been able to see in total darkness for years. What I can see is not always detailed, but I should be able to see the steps and walls, at least.
“I’ll go first,” says Ronan, leading the way with the torch.
We descend the steps slowly, the air cooling and shifting as we delve deeper into the earth. I look back once we’re ten steps down, and I can’t see the doorway behind us either.
Is my magic not working? I reach out with my shadow tendrils, and they form without issue. If anything, they’re stronger here, easier to summon, splitting without being forced or requiring me to pull on Ronan’s magic.
“Everything alright?” asks Ronan as I touch his arm with a tendril.
“Just testing.”
Quinn ignites a flame on her fingertip, and Seth lights a larger flame in his palm. “Show off,” she mutters as both of their flames extinguish once they’re out of the torchlight.
Ronan sends forth an orb of light into the darkness, but it, too, goes out the moment it’s outside of the torch’s range.
“So the torch is the only thing that can cut through this darkness,” I say.
“We’ll have to stay close,” says Ronan, pulling me to him by the waist.
