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Frowning, I move to see what he’s talking about and find a small hole in the wall that’s hidden by the shadows to our right. He’s already going through the gap without a backward glance, and I can’t utter a word of complaint because I did the same earlier and he blindly followed. Now it’s my turn.
I drop to my knees, cringing at the damp ground beneath me, but I usher through after him and the others follow after me. It’s a narrow tunnel that’s far longer than I’m expecting, but when Eldon reaches the end, he’s able to stand.
He reaches a hand down to me when I get to the end, and when he pulls me to my feet, I gasp.
Holy fuck.
Red shimmers everywhere. Large cuts, tiny jewels, and everything in between twinkles from the wall embedded with rubies.
It’s stunning.
“Holy fuck, that’s dazzling,” Zane says as he stands beside me, and I nod in agreement. It completely illuminates the room.
“This is where my vision led me. Now we need to find the ruby,” Eldon states, racking my body with nerves. We’re one step closer to putting a stop to Erikel. I can feel it.
Zane grabs a hold of my hand and pulls me toward the shimmering wall of uncut jewels, and I focus on finding one with black tendrils of magic swirling around inside of it. I sense the others join us, but it’s Eldon who gets closer to the wall first.
“In my vision, it was around here,” he explains, waving his hand around the shadowed area where the wall meets the ground, which is also embedded with pretty rubies. “Ah, shit. Here. It’s here,” he says with a scoff of disbelief, and a second later, he’s holding a red ruby with black tendrils inside.
I exhale, staring in shock.
We found it. We fucking found it. It feels too good to be true. It feels too good to be true. I repeat the thought for the third time when reality dawns on me.
If it feels too good to be true, it’s probably because it is.
“We need to destroy it. Now. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I admit, and Eldon looks at me with concern swirling in his blue eyes.
He stares down at the stone for a few moments before slowly spinning in a circle. He stops with his back to us and points to something in the distance. “Maybe my vision showed me the gate because that’s where it should be hidden,” he breathes, and when I step around him, I notice the green archway in the distance, just like he had described.
Holy fuck.
“Is that the gate to the Realm of Shadows?” Brax asks, awe in his voice as he blinks repeatedly at it. My heart races for him, remembering how much he’s been researching this in an attempt to see his parents again.
My hands shake with nerves as he turns those sweet fucking eyes my way. I see the hope there. A feeling I don’t imagine my gargoyle feels very often, if at all, and my heart swells.
“Let’s find out,” I breathe, a sense of excitement shimmering through us as we look at one another.
Zane claps, chuckling with excitement as we cut the distance to where the green arch stands tall. Eldon keeps a hold of the stone, but he pauses when we get closer. “Be careful, though. In my vision, there were shadows almost dancing over the emeralds,” he explains, leaving me breathless.
It sounds like bedtime to me, and just like then, I watch as the silhouettes swirl across the cave wall. I take that as my cue to step up to the door. The shadows have never made me feel unsafe or scared before, I don’t expect that to change now. Coming to a stop in front of the door, the dulled brass handle beckons me closer, but before I reach for it, I turn to Brax.
“Are you ready?” I ask, watching as he exhales slowly before giving me a nod.
I take my own deep breath as I latch on to the metal and twist. It swings open effortlessly and all of the shadows slip inside. I frown at first as only a bright light stands before me.A little like a gateway, it doesn’t offer me a glimpse of what’s inside. I just have to trust it.
A hand grabs mine and I know it’s Brax. Clasping on to him tightly, I place one foot in front of the other. My eyes fall closed as the world shifts around me so fast it feels like it takes my breath away.
The sound of birds tweeting in the distance is what greets me first, then a floral scent hits my nose a moment later and I feel like I’m going to drift, a sense of calm serenity washing through me like a gentle ocean wave.
It feels like I’m home.
Which is the weirdest fucking thing ever.
“That’s my family’s home,” Brax murmurs, pulling me from my thoughts, and as I blink my eyes open, I see the house come into view.
“I remember this,” Eldon adds, patting his friend on the shoulder as we all stand and stare in surprise.
“Brax? Brax, is that you?” My gargoyle’s chin falls to his chest and I watch the weight of the world leave his body at the sound of the woman’s voice. She appears a moment later, rushing down the pathway from the porch, both hope and sorrow marring her face as she looks us over. “Brax, honey, you’re not supposed to be here yet. What’s going on?” Her hand falls to her chest like she has to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.
