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“Imagine a very large card catalog at a vast library, and one of the drawers is full of hundreds of orphan cards that only list an obscure title. No other information. One day, someone mentions the obscure title. You dig through the entire card catalog looking for the title, find there is a card, then go looking for the book. It’s there, dusty and in cold storage. You update the card, put it with the rest of the active catalog, and return the book to circulation.”
“And I was asleep for a week,” I said under my breath, “and my brain was putting the knowledge into storage but didn’t know how to label it, so there’s just all these brown boxes in a warehouse in my head?”
“Without context or knowledge of practical application, your brain may contain the information, but had no idea how to utilize it,” Auryn replied. “When you saw the pictographs and tried to parse it as a language, your brain realized the corresponding data in the warehouse was language, and proceeded to process it.”
“Which is exactly what the grimoire was supposed to do,” Keon said under his breath. “It was intended to give experiential knowledge, not declarative. And she can read an old dialect. Specifically: EarthandHomeworld.”
“Becauseshewas from Homeworld,” Auryn whispered over the table.
“But not the modern dialect,” Keon whispered back.
Akoni gestured with his steamed bun. “It would be prudent to be very careful. We aren’t sure what’s being wired.”
“I’m notpossessed,” I hissed.
He took a bite of his bun. “I would laugh at the demon who tried to possess you.”
“He’s right,” Auryn murmured.
“Hmm.” Keon nodded.
I grumbled and tore my bun in half. K’Dolhadbeen able to knock Auryn’s human form off, give me an injury that resulted in a scar I still had around my hips,andthe shadows of K’Dol had sliced into my hand on the physical K’Dol structure. Technically, the physical K’Dol structure was an extension of the portal itself, and the wholethingwas the portal—hence the eeriness I’d sensed my first time there—and the “portal” everyone swam through was just the point of entry of a much larger and more complicated structure. That was why the K’Dol structure had survived, seemingly undamaged, for thousands of years.
Similarly, the “portal” on the Lemurian side had been much larger than the sizzling disc.
Still, K’Dol the Entity had acquired some tricks over the eons.
We finished breakfast and headed back to the roost, this time going in by the front door.
Dekka and Mahon were at the table. Dekka stood. “Since you have recovered, Lemuel has summoned all of us to his garden to discuss the collapse of the K’Dol portal. It is not a request.”
Oh dear.
Dekka put her hand over the thick keloid scar that sat around my hips. She pushed a finger into it. “I am not going to ask what happened in that portal. I know what Keon told me. I know I have been given a very edited version.”
“You told me to chase hope to the end,” I whispered.
“I know. And let me be clear, Helena. I do not want to know details. I am not immune to Lemuel or Mayriel’s magic. Icannotknow more than I already do.” Her finger dug into the keloid scar.
Dekka playing dumb?
Oh hell.
Twenty-Eight
Lemuel’s roost was in a busy part of West. The graceful, six-story tower bustled with activity and noise. Lemuel lived there with his consort, their two adult children and their consorts, and three grandchildren. The roost smelled of flowers, and was decorated with geometric carvings that had been expanded on over the generations, winding and twining their way along every surface. Even the stairs that wound up the tower had been carved to look like intricate tiles, then painted varying natural shades to mimic marble and wood.
Lemuel’s rooftop garden was a profusion of flowers—mostly roses and jasmine—and even some ancient flowering trees. A water feature built of stones had metallic chimes suspended over the tiers of water, sending a very light tinkling sound across the garden. Simple divans had been set out in a circle, with half of the Wyrms already present. Hekon was there with A’ka, but Assal and Sorren had come without their consorts.
Petrarchyan and Mayriel arrived, each taking a separate spot, and it was time for the party to begin.
Lemuel focused his attention on Dekka. “Your roost daughter collapsed the K’Dol portal.”
Dekka shifted to sit on her knees, hands in her lap. “So it would seem, yes.”
“Dekka. I take this to mean she has fully molted and her Affinity is known to you.”
“Yes.”
