by LJ Rivers
We stepped through the veil and into the darkness.
I didn’t lose myself this time. Instead, I held both darkness and light inside me and used it to guide me through. My feet touched the ground as we entered another cave. I let go of Erica and Brendan, both thankfully awake, and turned back to the portal. It was still very much alive. A magical waterfall separating one world from another. Something stirred in my veins, and it was as if I could feel Rowan with me. Our blood bond was strong, even worlds apart.
I’m safe, I thought, not knowing if he would get the message. Somehow, he did.
The tip of a curved blade protruded through the light of the portal, slowly slashing down the length of it. It left a crimson vein in the blueish veil. The vein cracked, creating more veins, as if the portal was bleeding. The shimmering air turned entirely crimson, before a blinding white light appeared at the edges. A rush of wind ruffled my hair, and Brendan yanked me backwards. The three of us hurried across the space of the cave, my eyes still fixed on the portal.
It was dead quiet for a moment before the blast came. It roared like a hungry beast, and the ground shook. The three of us held onto each other as we watched the light in the portal expand into a ball of flames. It crackled and sputtered, then imploded, every strand of light and fire rushing into the centre of the portal.
It was gone.
All that remained was a frame and a stone wall. I carefully approached it and placed my palm on the cold, hard stone. Nothing. Not even a whisper. I couldn’t feel Rowan either. Every drop of the magic the portal had held was simply gone.
“Want to get out of here?” Brendan asked.
“I have to get one thing first.” I crossed the space of the cave and reached into one of the cracks between a cluster of stalagmites. The smooth touch of leather touched my fingertips. I grabbed the book and pulled it out. “Still safe.”
“What?” Erica asked.
My lips quirked up. “Thou Shalt Not Tell.”
“Huh?”
“Book of the Phoenix,” Brendan assisted.
I hugged the book to me as the three of us started to move out of the cave. The salty scents of the sea tickled my nose, and the sound of seagulls was like a song to my ears as we journeyed across Bardsey Island. The afternoon sun hung low over the western horizon. However sad I was about leaving people behind, I felt strong. As if I could take any punches coming my way. I couldn’t wait to get back to reality.
“What time is it, you think?” Brendan asked, slipping one hand around my waist.
I tilted my head, pondering the height of the sun above the water. “I’d guess the sun sets at what, 7 p.m. this time of year? So maybe around 5—5.30?”
He let out a tiny snicker. “You know what I’m really asking.”
“I do. Something tells me we made it back to our own time. Plus a few months, obviously. This feels more like mid-October than a day or two past summer solstice, don’t you think?”
“Crossing my fingers.”
Erica strode past us, arms wide. “Earth!” She sat down and fell to her back, then rolled around for a while, laughing and throwing dirt around. “I love this place.”
“It’s good to be back,” I said.
After a while, Erica found her feet again, patches of grass clinging to her silky black hair. “So, how do we get off this island?”
“Ebrill would have been collected by Travers’ guys not long after we moored her by the beach,” Brendan said.
I recalled noticing the sign on Rhys Wogan’s boat as we fled Perllanafal and the murderous Reeve Yeats. I had sent a prayer to Nimue, hoping beyond hope the bear Shifter and his lovely Goblin wife, Mari, would find Ebrill, their daughter.
“Can you do that shadow thingy of yours?” Erica asked.
“I don’t know if it will work the same way here, away from the Enchantium core in Avalon. Besides, even if I could, it’s too far. I can’t risk running out of juice midway across the sea. But I’ve got other tricks up my sleeve.”
I gave her a quick hug, then strolled to the edge of the hill. With one deep breath, I called upon my magic and raised my hand to the sky. A single red orb flew from my palm and fizzled in the air above us, perfectly mimicking an emergency flare.
“Let’s hope there are still some nice fishermen in the area.”
We sat down in the grass to wait. In silence. Because what was there to say? As we watched the sun setting the sky ablaze with its red, orange, and purple hues, it felt as though we were all at peace.
Finally, when the last edge of the life-giving disc vanished, and I had released four more magical flares, I got up, stretching my arms over my head. “Seems we might have to spend—”
“Shh!” Erica said, her ears pricking. “An engine.” She sprang to her feet and craned her neck to look north. “Chopper.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Then look. See the searchlights?”
A white cone swept left and right over the darkening sea, and the distant flap flap of the rotor blades filled the air.
Erica leapt forward, much like a wolf, though she was still human. At least on the outside. “I think we know who it is.”
The wind picked up as the chopper came down. The doors opened, and a familiar face appeared, before the man jumped to the ground.
“We’ve been looking all over for you!” he called.
I squinted, finally able to read the logo on the side of the chopper. TMCPG, Tactical Mag-related Crime Prevention Group, more popularly known as Mag-Ops. Seemed they were still operational, which meant there was still some use for them.
“How?” I hurried closer until I stood toe-to-toe with Paddock.
“One of the locals. Sorry it took a while, but they still don’t want phones down in Perllanafal. Had to wait until they drove to Pwllheli—Mag-Ops Wales, so to speak.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Someday I might tell you where that town got its name.” I gave him a hug. “You look good.”
If there had been any doubt, him looking exactly as he had when I last saw him, wiped it away. Four months might have passed, not two hundred years.
It took Paddock a moment before returning the gesture. “Well, I’m glad you’re all in one piece.”
I grinned as Brendan, Erica, and I followed him back to the chopper and got inside.
Another man sat in the co-pilot seat and turned his head to us when we entered. “Now there’s someone I didn’t think I’d see again.”
“Travers!”
He chuckled. “Welcome aboard, Miss Morgan. Where to?”
I hadn’t thought that far. “Chester, I think. For starters.”
“You got it.”
It only took three or four minutes before we passed over Perllanafal. It seemed empty, save for the flickering lights of the lampposts. My ancestors had come here, fifteen hundred years ago, saved by their queen. How scared they must have been. And all they dreamed of was to return to Avalon someday. Instead, they had built the first Mag settlement on Earth, and thus sown the seeds of my existence.
As we soared over the Welsh countryside, I leaned closer to Brendan to get a better view.
“Strange,” I said through the microphone on my headset, “to think that the sun will rise again tomorrow.”
I had meant it for Brendan, as he would understand. But the intercom apparently reached all the other headsets, too. Travers chuckled. “Never been much of a night owl, myself. Too many critters and gremlins come out when darkness falls.”
Outside, the stars dotted the black canvas of the night sky.
I smiled and closed my eyes. Magic tingled in my veins, and the two halves that made me whole simmered with anticipation at a new tomorrow.
“I don’t fear the darkness.”
THANK YOU FOR READING!
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THE VEILED WORLD CHRONICLES
1. Broad Daylight
2. Midnight Blues
THE LIBRARIAN CHRONICLES
1. This Fractured Mage
THE RUBYVERSE:
1. Essence of Magic
2. Sentries of Camelot
3. Virtues of Purity
4. Tears of Pestilence
5. Knights of Avalon
6. Blood of Morgana
7. Acolytes of Nimue
8. Son of Merlin
9. Lady of Avalon Part One
10. Lady of Avalon Part Two
OTHER WORKS IN THE RUBYVERSE
Harvester Academy – A Ruby Morgan Prequel
Scream of Death – A Ruby Morgan Novelette (for newsletter subscribers)
ANTHOLOGY
Acts of Divinity: The Otherworld Anthology
Features LJ’s story Hel on Earth, a tale connected to the Librarian Chronicles universe.
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