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“I feel the need to warn you there’s more evidence of the slaughter in this direction. A hand. Part of a leg. And then the head and body. He was the strongest in the pack, and he put up quite the struggle.”
“Do we have to go this way?” Ro motions to the trail of carnage. “Where are we even going?”
“The temple,” I reply. “Before we seek out the next challenge, I thought you might want to see it, even if it is in ruins. Once we turn this corner, it’s a short walk away.”
“Oh.” She perks up, seeming to forget about the gory mess now that she has something to look forward to. “I’d like that.”
We continue on, letting the tall belltower peeking above rooftops lead us.
In just a few minutes, we’ve made it to the temple without incident.
As we approach it, Ro observes, “It’s more rustic than I thought it’d be. The shape of it reminds me of a one-room schoolhouse in the old-fashioned times of the Earth realm. Very cottage-slash-church chic.”
“Don’t let the humble craftsmanship fool you. See this?” I wipe a path in the dust on the oval window on the door, revealing sparkling colors. “This isn’t stained glass. It’s all giant gems that have been melded together. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts. And it’s true that the structure appears unpretentious, but an artist sculpted the building from matter taken from the floor of Issika Lake. Iridescent scales can be seen in some places because it was a mermaid cemetery.”
“They dug up dead mermaids to build this?” Ro sounds appalled. “Isn’t that sacred ground?”
I shrug. “The mermaids are not known for their compassion toward each other or anyone else. They’re the ones who traded the clay. That’s how they gained control of the canal leading to the Endless Sea.”
“Oh. Morbid.”
“I’m sorry if the dark history taints your opinion of the building, but it really is beautiful inside.” I reach for the handle to show her, but when I’m a few inches away from the shiny silver, I pause.
I frown.
That frown morphs into a scowl.
“What’s wrong?” Ro glances around, paranoid.
“The knob. There’s hardly any dust on it, which means it’s been used recently.”
“The lycans?” Ro guesses. “Maybe when they were searching for us, they came here.”
Tipping my head back and forth, I half-heartedly concur, “Perhaps.”
But I don’t really think that’s the case.
The lycans would’ve been following our smell, and we weren’t anywhere near the temple. They would’ve had no reason to go inside, and the one I was chasing never made it this far.
Pulling out my sword, I put my arm in front of Ro as I tug at the door. It opens easily, and no dirt puffs out because it’s not clogged up with debris.
For certain, someone’s been in here, and my skin prickles as I come to a realization: We’re probably encountering the second challenge.
Silently, Ro and I make eye contact, and the concern on her face mirrors mine “I’ll go in first.”
Nodding, she gets behind me and slips her fingers into the waistband of my pants. It’s an intimate action where she’s skin-on-skin with some of the worst scars on my lower back, but she’s not singling out the textured stripes. She’s just doing what I asked her to do—she’s touching me as often as possible, and it feels incredibly right to me.
We enter the building with the tiniest steps, glancing from left to right. Right to left.
Once the door is closed, it’s dim but not too dark for me to make an additional shocking assessment. “It’s so… clean.”
The white marble floors are scrubbed of any filth, and they’re actually gleaming. Cathedral ceilings come to a high point overhead, and there’s no dust on the wooden support beams. The oval windows at intervals on the walls are coated with layers of dirt on the outside, but in here the jewels are shining.
The candles are the most obvious clue that this space has been used. All the wall sconces have half-burnt sticks with wax pooled around the bottoms.
“This place has been kept up by someone,” I say, ruling out the lycans as the intruders.
“Armand?” Ro suggests the possibility. “Maybe it’s another illusion?”
