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I’m looking out at them, wearing this exact crown, with eight… nine… men at my sides. Eight clear faces, belonging to the men I’ve already started to bond with, even slightly, but the ninth is hiding from view.
Then it’s gone, and I’m looking back at myself.
ThisHarry Potterstuff is freaky.
My grandma has gone by the time I’m done, and Mael lazily raises an eyebrow my way. “You finished talking to ghosts, Ellie baby? We’ve got a battle brewing outside these doors.”
“Sorry,” I say, shaking my head. My hair falls backwards, cascading past my shoulders, and they all lock in on the movement. “I was just talking to M… my grandma.”
“I wish we could see her,” Ryes says, and Zohar nods. That gives me an idea. For later, though, since we’ve got important things to happen now.
“Back to the crown,” Zohar says, hearing my thoughts and doing his best to keep us on track.
I lift it off my head, the magicae that was racing through me settling, and I’m disappointed to see my dress return to normal. The simplicity of my outfit was appealing, but now, I know what I was missing.
It’s not something Owlyn could’ve given me, though, no matter how talented she is.
Ciar gives me a sympathetic look as he hands me my other crown, the one I love because it comes from Etrix’s family. I gently put that back into place before giving them all a grim smile.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“It’s quite simple, really,” Mael says, and in the moment it takes for me to blink, he lights himself on fire. The golden runes are visible underneath it all, but I know that I’m the only one who can see them.
He’s ready for a fight, and honestly, it looks like he’s going to get one.
“We can’t just portal there,” Etrix tells me, and I sigh.Of course it’s not going to be that simple.“They’ll have warded the rooms off to try and limit the attacks from the rebels. You’ve got to remember, we’re witches fighting with magicae…”
“But they also have their own,” I finish, and he nods.
“So, we’ll be going from here to there, and doing what we can to keep each other safe,” Etrix says.
It seems that without Eirik here, Etrix has taken charge. I like it, and none of the others seem to care to fight him on it. It gives me hope for our future, knowing that Etrix is slowly being accepted back into their group.
Then we just need to work on Jasper, and Necos.If we ever get to that point.
“Then what?” I ask, cutting Ryes off before he can say something about my thoughts. Besides, it seems smart to try and prepare for the oncoming warzone we’re about to enter, right?
“We go in, and we kill everyone,” Ryes says, winking at Mael, who grins.
Nobody argues, so it seems like that’s really the plan.
Etrix quickly puts everything back to how it was, including securing my…thecrown into the smaller vault, and then we head out of there. I cast a sad look back at the treasury, shaking off the mournful feelings from my magicae.
It’s silly. It’s just a crown.
But deep down, I know it’s more than that.
“Stick close to us,” Ciar repeats, and I nod. It’s hard not to stick close when the five of them have me barricaded between them as we walk.
We’re going at a slow and steady pace, and despite the magicae thrumming in the air, it’s more peaceful than tense.
But, of course, that doesn’t last long. There’s a commotion in front of us, and I immediately stop moving forward when Ryes does some kind of frog-jump over us, using his magicae to lift himself in the air. Ciar turns, almost as if they’ve practiced this, and shoots a beam of dark energy.
I gasp as Etrix’s magicae mixes with it, and the swirls of light and dark energy are hypnotising.
You know, for me, who finds them pretty.
But probably not for the man who was just splatted by that lethal combination of energy, and now resembles brain matter.
