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“What are we doing here?” Marieta asks, gripping Peta’s arm.
“This is where the emerald gate was. This is where we were with Erikel, searching for the ruby,” Creed states, and her eyes widen, but she nods in understanding.
“Are we?—”
“No,” Peta interjects, cutting Eldon off. “We’re still in the Realm of Shadows.” I want to ask how he knows that, but before I can question him, he points down at the shadows. “I think they want to show us something… listen.”
Pressing my lips together, I keep my mouth shut, doing as he says. It takes a few seconds, but I hear something in the distance. I can’t piece together what’s being said, but can sense them getting closer.
A moment later, a familiar fur cloak drags along the floor as a man trudges across the rocks and damp ground toward the gemstone-covered wall where we found the Potens Ruby.
“The Potens Ruby is here somewhere,” Erikel snarls, throwing his arms out wide. “I know it is,” he insists, continuing to talk to himself. “Whether that bitch knows how to speak with the shadows or not, I know she knows where the ruby is.”
His rambling makes my breath catch. I know he’s referring to Raven. He has to be.
Fucker.
I want to cut the distance between us and beat the shit out of him, but the shadows seem to be blocking us from moving. I can’t take a step over them.
“I want to pummel the fuck out of him,” Creed grinds out, his voice raspy as he keeps it low.
Erikel’s gaze whirls around in our direction and I freeze, thinking he heard my friend. But it’s as if he sees right through us—like we’re not here at all.
“Whatever he’s doing, the shadows want us to see,” Peta offers, sheathing the long blade he brought with him.
“But why?” Eldon asks, but no one can answer him because we’re all as clueless as one another.
“That scar,” Peta murmurs, pointing to Erikel’s side profile. I gave Erikel that scar.”
“Does that mean it’s him?” I ask, watching as the asshole continues to survey the wall of rubies.
“No,” Marieta answers. “We’re still in the Realm of Shadows here, remember?”
“How do you know?” I push, swiping a hand through my hair.
“The shadows are showing us this. They can only access the real world through a necromancer, and that’s only when summoned.”
I shake my head. “But Raven has mentioned before that she sees them in bed without having called for them.”
Marieta’s eyebrows rise, but she shrugs. “She’s calling for them somehow, even if subconsciously.”
I don’t have an answer for that, so I turn to focus on Erikel but instantly freeze. “So if he’s here, he’s either a necromancer or someone who has died and been brought back.”
“Yes,” Peta says with a heavy sigh.
My mind races, trying to put the final piece in place, but it’s as if I can’t speak it.
“They’re helping us,” Creed states, distracting me as he points down at the shadows on the ground. “They’re helping us see what they believe we need to see within the Realm of Shadows.”
How? Why?
“So if we’re able to see this, inside the Realm of Shadows, it’s like Zane said. He’s either a necromancer or someone brought back from the dead,” Eldon repeats as if his brain is short circuiting too.
It’s staring us straight in the face. We just have to speak it.
“It means our assumptions were correct and Erikel is…” Marieta’s words trail off as we gape at the scene before us, watching as the scarred face and long nose morph into another set of familiar features we know.
The fur cloak frames the shoulders of our true enemy.
