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I came to regret calling upon her. Again.
“I have a piece of advice for you, Jak. Forget the small details and focus on why you are there. I can see that the creature has wormed his way into your mind. Making you ask questions that you would never have uttered before you entered his domain. Keep focused. Not just for our sake, but for your own.”
Mother must have knocked the bowl from the table, for the vision of her vanished after one sudden movement. I hardly caught what had caused it. One moment she looked at me, the next the water in the bowl was still and… empty.
In a rage of emotion, I kicked out at the sheets, sending the bowl across the floor in a crash.
Frustration not only caused by her, but what she said. Perhaps she was right about Marius worming his way into my mind. Just thinking of him caused my lips to tingle as though his kiss had lingered. I did have to focus. This was my fault, allowing Marius to soften me with his words. Work me down with his intense presence and reaching hands.Strong hands.Yet I had to get close to him, enough to get him at his most vulnerable. Whatever that meant in the end.
Mother’s lingering presence made the room feel unbearably cold. I pulled the sheets over my legs, fending off the shakes that caused me to tremble like a leaf in a billowing storm.
Who was the first person to die by his hands? Where was the book? Why did my mother and Marius want to hide it from me?
I sat like that for a while, skimming through the questions only to add more as I went. Sleep was impossible, and the usual hunger I felt non-existent.
Over and over I went through the events of the day, trying to find a reason for the need for secrecy. Marius would be hidden in whatever dark hole he retreated to during the day. Even if I wanted to find him, he would be in…
The undercroft.
The word sang true as it rattled across my storming mind. It was a place, deep in the pits of the castle, far below the very chamber I sulked in. A place vacant of daylight. Perfect for Marius to dwell in until night fell again.
I bolted up in bed, knowing exactly where I had to go for answers. And I had an inkling where I would find the entrance.
16
The door at the back of the dining hall was still left unlocked. It took all my will power to walk past the deliciously presented food that was waiting upon the long, oak table. Instead, I kept my focus on the task at hand.
To find the book.
As I entered the dark halls beyond the door, I felt a presence around me. In my haste I had not brought a source of light with me. Although it was early morning I didn’t have a clue what Marius did during his time away. Did he sleep like I did? Or wait the day out until he made his way back up to the surface of the castle?
The deeper I walked, the more the walls around me closed in. The ceiling seemed to shrink down upon me, and the smell of damp rock and moss only grew more intense with each step. Without light to guide me I had to use my hands to trail along the slick walls. Using my touch and slow, careful footing to make sure I did not fall on some unseen object.
It was not long until the strange foreboding of presence was justified. A kiss of a gaze furrowed into the back of my neck. I slowed, hands falling to my side, as a chill caused my skin to erupt in goosebumps.
“I know you are here,” I spoke quietly, although it did nothing to stop the echoing of my voice across the enclosed corridor of stone.
“You should not be down here,” Victorya said from before me. Not caring if she witnessed my magic, I lifted a hand in front of me and called upon my favourite element. Fire.
It sprung to life across my open palm. A curling of orange and gold that haloed the strange corridor in warmth and light. Victorya floated in the air, face pinched and arms folded over her see-through body.
“Because Marius is lurking somewhere far down here? Or because it is out of bounds for some other undisclosed reason? I will let you pick your answer.”
Victorya hunched her small shoulders. “It would seem that youalsoare in a foul mood.”
“You’ve seen him then?”
The conjured flame illuminated her pale form. I looked to the ground to see that only my shadow lay upon it.
“I have. And if he sees you down here then your chance of… you will not get far.”
“If he did not want me to come here he would have locked the door behind him. Shutting me out. He is rather good at that.”
“It is habit,” Victorya said. “It has been many a year since a Claim dared venture to find Marius during the hours of the living. This would usually be a time that they longed to be uninterrupted. Free of his company… when he was willing to share it.”
I hesitated before taking a step to walk past her. Victorya made no move or indication that she would get out of my way.
“You will let me pass,” I said. I could walk through her, just waltz between her spectral form as she had with the wall of my bedroom.
