Page 75 of Broken

Thanatos said, “There is one problem with that last scenario, which I see as the most likely. The Bright Fae might well attack us, and we might well have the magic to defeat them. And there is nothing I would like more than to see the destruction of the Bright Fae Council.”

Cole could hear the truth in his voice.

Thanatos went on, “But the Valley of Silence is ancient, and has its own powerful magic—magic of life and peace.”

“We’ve heard that before,” Sanchez muttered. “And it was bullshit.”

“Indeed. But the Valley is not a live being in the same sense as you or I—or the Bright Fae. It has a pure elemental power. The Bright Fae may have bent it to their purposes, in creating a prison at its heart—an act of violence, if you will—but its true nature will be uncomfortable with that state. If we perpetrate more violence there, the Valley may act to rid itself of all of us. Not in a vindictive or necessarily conscious manner, but more as a body rids itself of a disease or bacteria.”

“Great,” Boomer said. “We’re not just creatures of the Dark—now we’re bacteria.”

“Be careful,” Thanatos said ominously. “Or the mountain you call home may be persuaded to feel the same way.”

Meaning Thanatos, Cole realized with a shock. Sugar had said Thanatos was the protective spirit of a mountain. And when he’d been cast out of his homeland, he’d still needed a mountain to anchor him. He’d chosen this one. He drew his power from the whole fucking Ridge.

He was literally the heart of the mountain.

Mikey had been thinking, tapping her fingers on the desktop. Now she said, “I think I might have an idea about that. The problem, not the bacteria.” Boomer gave her the finger, but she ignored him. “I know some people who are really, really good at talking to rocks.”

No one had any clue what she was talking about, except DB. His eyebrows went up, and then he started to smile. “Do you think they’d do it?” he said to Mikey.

“Can’t hurt to ask,” she said. “Anyway, Mikah still owes me one.”