She was surrounded by decadence and sitting on a couch with deep gold cushions and red pillows. A matching chaise was across from it with a red lacquer table in between. The walls of the room were white and covered in glowing, golden words she couldn’t hope to read, but as she kept staring at them, something deep inside rejoiced.
She stood, slowly, and walked toward the walls, ignoring the Trinity standing in the room with her, and approached with one hand raised. The scrolling lettering was an odd mix of runes and written words similar to Sanskrit blended in between. One sentence stuck out.
Bransg micaloz.
She had no idea how she was able to read it or what it meant.
You know this.
It was the voice she’d heard inside the Chaos Realm. She jerked.
Do not fear me, child. We said we would be with you, the voice said.
Sure, and where were you when they scared the hell out of me and stole me from my store?
Sometimes, you need to be uncomfortable to grow. We will ensure you are not harmed. Trust us.
I trust no one.
You will.
“Who is she communicating with?”
“I don’t know, Lennox. Her mind is blocked from me. It’s a blank slate.” Amalia’s voice was filled with shock.
“Impossible,” Lennox protested.
“And yet true. She is one of the Old Ones,” Amalia argued.
Lennox hmphed. “We won’t know until she is properly tested.”
“We will get to that. Kalinda? That’s your name, right?” Amalia finally addressed Kalinda directly.
Kalinda forced herself to look away from the lettering on the walls. Now that she looked, she saw bransg micaloz everywhere, and the words formed into recognizable patterns. Protect light.
“Yes,” she answered after a moment.
“Please, sit. You’ve been through a lot,” Lennox offered.
Are you still here? She was talking to spirits, in her head, but that was better than being alone. No way she was going to get in touch with Romano now, and her spell phone was God only knew where.
Always, the spirits alerted her. Amalia will not read you within these walls where our words are written. She miscalculated.
Sweet.
Now she sounded like Giuliana.
She took a seat across from Amalia, Yon, and Lennox on the couch and waited for them to begin. The sooner she could get the information and say no, the better.
Amalia spoke first. “Do you know what the Old Ones are?”
Kalinda shook her head. “I’d never heard the phrase, but then I’m not high on the magical level.”
“Ah, but you are,” Amalia replied. “The Old Ones were from before there were Enchanted Zones, or even the Pendulum Swing of the 1950s. While many don’t understand this, magic has been around since the dawn of time, and humans have lost their connection with said magic over the millennia.”
“But before the loss, there were nine families who housed the magic within their bloodlines. These families were Valdi, Scetto, Riordan, Olfader, Tigris, Dinah, Ashur, Aegis, and Vasilios,” Yon continued. “Each family helped a particular form of magic sacred to their bloodlines, and from them, magic was passed on.”
“The family heads are considered the Old Ones,” Lennox finished.
