She smiled back at me, and the three of us stepped inside the cave to continue down the path.
39
Gemma
Our cats disappeared into the night, just like the horses.
As we walked deeper into the cave, crystals grew out of the ground, getting thicker and taller. Purple and blue magic swirled inside them, the colors bright like the night sky.
Eventually, we reached a large, crystal door. It was slightly translucent, but not enough to see what was on the other side.
“How do we get inside?” Mira asked, since unlike a door, the smooth crystal had no handles.
I placed my torch on the ground—making sure to dig it into the dirt enough that it would remain upright—stood back up, and touched the crystal.
My hand passed through it, and was surrounded by magic. I gasped at how warm and welcoming it felt. A breeze stirred around me and caressed my skin.
Welcome, the crystal seemed to say. Come inside.
But I couldn’t go without the others. We’d started this together, and we’d go through the crystal together, too.
So I pulled my hand back.
Mira and Harper crowded around me and examined my hand. Luckily, it looked no different than it had before I’d touched the crystal.
“You should have tested that out first,” Mira said. “With a stone, or with your sword. Not with yourself.”
“I knew it would be okay,” I said.
“With what?”
“My intuition.”
We glared at each other, locked in a standstill. Mira would never understand my magical intuition, just like I’d never understand her lack of one.
“What’s done is done,” Harper said. “The crystal door is our only way forward. And we didn’t come all this way to stop now.”
“Hell no, we didn’t,” I said, and I held my hands out for them to take. “Are you both coming or what?”
Harper stepped up and took my hand.
Mira stayed stubbornly in place.
“Come on,” I told my twin. “Do you really want to stay here alone in this cave?”
“You wouldn’t leave me here.”
“I wouldn’t,” I agreed. “But where would that get us?”
“Nowhere,” Harper said.
“Exactly.”
We both stood strong, our eyes locked on Mira’s big blue eyes. She looked so scared and small. Like the cave was about to swallow her whole.
“I know this is hard for you,” I continued, speaking softer now. “Earth’s my element—not yours. But it’s safe. I promise.”
“Says what? Your intuition?” she said, like it was a dirty word.
“Says the fact that I stuck my hand through the crystal and was fine.”
She glanced at the hand I was holding out to her. The same hand I’d pulled out of the crystal unharmed.
Mira never denied cold, hard logic.
“Fine.” She stepped up and took my hand. “I’ll come.”
“I knew you would.” It took all of my effort not to stick my tongue out at her, like I’d done when we were kids.
We counted down to three, and then we glided inside the crystal. It was like stepping into pure, warm light.
I wasn’t sure if seconds or minutes passed before we stepped out of the warmth and into a massive, ivory hall. The ceiling had been carved to look like beautiful upside-down flowers that reminded me of the nightshade, and wood benches lined the marble floor.
The breathtaking architecture would have stolen my attention if not for the stunning, dark-haired woman at the opposite end of the hall.
Her deep purple gown flared out and gathered at the floor, and keys dangled from a chain wound loosely around her waist. Her eyes shined with moonlight, and the mark of the triple goddess glowed on her forehead.
Hecate.
“Gemma, Mira, and Harper.” Her voice was like music, and her eyes dimmed out until they looked relatively normal—although her irises were a dark shade of purple that sparkled with the occasional tiny star. “Welcome to my Eternal Library.”
40
Gemma
Thank you?
It’s an honor to be here?
Is this real?
I had no idea how to respond. All I could do was stare as I searched for the proper first words to say to the goddess of witchcraft.
“Does this mean we passed the roadblocks?” Harper was the first to speak.
“With flying colors.” Hecate smiled. “Minus that unfortunate run-in with nightshade.” She glanced at me, and disappointment flared in my chest.
“I know.” I lowered my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” she said, and when I looked back up at her, the corners of her lips turned up in a small smile. “There’s a reason why witches work in threes. When one messes up—and mortals always make mistakes—they have two others ready to help them back on their feet. Just like Harper and Mira did for you.”
“And like Mira did when she helped us beat that monster,” I said.
Hecate bristled. “That monster was a version of me,” she said. “But yes, I placed myself in your path to ensure that all three of you were brave enough to gain entrance to my library.”
“I thought so.” Harper perked up with curiosity. “What about the horses? And the cats? And the wolf?”
“We could discuss your journey here for days.” Hecate brushed off Harper’s questions. “However, that’s not why you came. So tell me—what knowledge do you seek to gain?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she continued before I could.
“Be careful, because each of you can only ask me one question per visit,” she said. “After that, you’re on your own. And visitors have been known to get stuck in my library for years—or longer—if they try to find information without my guidance. So I recommend you make your questions good ones.”
No pressure or anything.
“Think as we walk.” Hecate turned and glided toward the door at the end of the hall.
The door opened without her touching it, and she led us into a room completely opposite of the ivory one we’d just left. Rows and rows of dark, wooden bookshelves lined the red-carpeted hall.
In the center of the hall, a banquet table covered with food and drink extended as far out as I could see. An old woman in a poodle skirt emerged from behind one of the bookshelves and walked slowly toward the table. She didn’t acknowledge us standing nearby. Instead, she reached forward, picked up a sandwich, and started to eat.
“Remember my warning,” Hecate said.
My heart plummeted into my stomach, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask how long the woman had been wandering around the library, searching for information amongst its many shelves.
“Does the hall ever end?” I asked instead.
Hecate raised an eyebrow. “Is that your one question? The one you ventured all the way here to ask?”
“No.” I pressed my lips together and tried again. “I meant to simply observe that the hallway doesn’t appear to end.”
The goddess nodded, like she was proud of me. “It’s called the Eternal Library for a reason,” she said. “As you noted, the hall has no end in sight. And the books are organized in a way that only I understand. Thus, it’s imperative that you have my help while searching for information.” She glanced sadly at the old woman, who finished her sandwich and walked away from the table to continue her futile search through the library’s endless shelves.
“She should give up and go home,” Mira said.
“She can go home at any time she pleases,” Hecate said. “She chose to stay. By now, she’s been wandering the library for so long that she likely doesn’t remember the information she sought in the first place.”
I swallowed down a lump in my throat. Because what could this woman have needed to know so badly that she thought it worth getting stuck in limbo for the rest of her life?
Farther out in the distance, a man wandered to
the table and helped himself to food and drink.
Chills ran up and down my spine.
How many of them were there? Were they as endless as the library’s hall? Was there any way to help them?
But as important as those questions were, they weren’t answers I immediately needed to know. I’d ask eventually—but not now.
So I shook myself out of it and remembered why I was there.
Three questions. One each.
How was I supposed to only pick one?
“Can the three of us discuss—” Harper stopped speaking and clamped her hand over her mouth. Then she lowered her hand and continued, “What I meant to say was that the three of us are going to step aside to discuss what we’re going to ask, to make sure we get the information we need.”
“Very wise, young witch,” Hecate said. “But don’t take too long. The sooner you return to your realm, the better.”
Goosebumps rose along my arms at the knowing way she said it.
The three of us huddled next to one of the columns and discussed what we were going to ask.
As we talked, I looked at the spines of the books. None of them were titled. No wonder it was nearly impossible to find one without Hecate’s help.
We reached a decision, then rejoined Hecate.
“What do you wish to learn?” she asked.
Harper and Mira looked to me. Hecate did, too.
“Who—or what—can sense my and Mira’s dragon magic?” I asked.
Hecate stared forward, and her eyes glowed again. Swirling, sparkly smoke drifted out of them and down the hall, filling the library with its magical mist. A breeze circled around us, and the mist tingled against my skin, cooling my lungs as I breathed it in.
Five minutes passed before Hecate’s eyes sucked the mist back inside them, like a vacuum. A plain, red book floated into her hands, and opened to a page about two-thirds of the way in.
I leaned forward to get a better look, but Hecate pulled the book closer to her chest and angled it so I couldn’t see the pages. “You ask the question,” she said. “I find the book, I read the information, and then, you listen. I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
What we need to know.
Not what we wanted to know.
There was a difference.
But we didn’t have any other options right now, and Hecate was helping us, so I’d take what we could get.
“This book contains a list of the gifted vampires that were turned in the last century,” she said. “One of them—Jamie Stevens—is a distant relative of yours. Her gift is the ability to feel when dragon magic is being used, and to locate where the magic is coming from.”
“So she’s the one who’s after us.”
“It seems so.”
“Why?” I asked, since it didn’t make sense. Why would a relative of ours—one who was clearly attuned with dragon magic—want to hurt us?
“You’ve already asked your question.” Hecate slammed the book shut, and it disappeared into starry purple mist. “Who’s next?”
“Me.” Harper looked as fierce as ever, and Hecate nodded for her to proceed. “The demons destroyed my home. They killed my family. They never should have gotten past Utopia’s boundary. So I need to know—how did they do it?”
It was a tough one for her, because she also wanted to know which demon—or dark witch—had done it. But everyone in every vampire kingdom was already trying to figure that out. The thing that baffled them was how they’d pulled it off.
If Harper could get that information, it would be a game changer.
Hecate’s eyes glowed again, her mist filled the library, and another book flew into her hands. The book was thick and dark gray—it had probably been black when it was new. Something evil leaked out of its pages, and I shivered in its presence.
It opened itself, and its pages flipped to the center.
Hecate’s eyes widened.
“What is it?” Harper asked.
“The Dark Wand,” she said, and when she looked back up at Harper, it was with sorrow—and with fear.
“What’s the Dark Wand?”
“It’s one of the four Dark Objects,” the goddess explained. “As you know, magic always balances itself. Light and dark. One can’t exist without the other. There are the four Holy Objects—the Holy Grail, the Holy Sword, the Holy Wand, and a final object that will reveal itself in time. Each of those objects has a dark counterpart that can only be used by a demon or dark witch. They were buried away thousands of years ago, but it seems they’re back. The Dark Wand—which is the specific object in question—allows its wielder to use an unnatural amount of dark magic. Whoever broke past Utopia’s boundary dome did so with the Dark Wand.”
Harper cursed. “Shouldn’t a prophet somewhere have picked up on this and warned us?” she asked.
“I’m sorry,” Hecate said. “I can only answer one question.”
“I didn’t expect you to answer,” Harper said. “But at least now we know what we’re up against.”
“You do.” Hecate nodded, then turned to Mira. “Twin of Ice and Air,” she said. “Tell me—what is your question?”
41
Gemma
My twin looked up at Hecate, took a deep breath, and froze.
Come on, Mira, I thought. You know what to ask.
She swallowed and composed herself. “Where can we find the gifted vampire who’s hunting us?” she asked. “Jamie Stevens.”
Hecate called another book into her hands. It was dark like the previous one, and just as thick. It also had that sludgy feel of evilness leaking out of it.
It flipped open and settled on a page near the front.
Concern crossed Hecate’s eyes. “Lilith,” the goddess said softly.
Harper swallowed. “What about her?”
“The gifted vampire is with her,” Hecate said. “Either by choice, or as a captive. Find Lilith, and you’ll find Jamie Stevens.”
“But Lilith is impossible to find,” Harper said. “The Nephilim army has been trying and failing to find her for years.”
“Lilith is using extremely dark magic to remain hidden,” Hecate said. “Even I don’t know where she is.”
Dread swept from my head to my toes. Because I’d been prepared for us to go against nearly any type of monster out there.
Lilith was a whole other ballgame. I’d learned about her during my studies in Utopia. She was a greater demon, which meant only a Nephilim could kill her.
“How are we supposed to kill Lilith?” I asked, mainly to myself, since we’d already used our three questions for Hecate.
“We can’t,” Harper said. “But we don’t have to kill Lilith to stop that gifted vampire from tracking your dragon magic. We just have to locate her… even though the Nephilim army has been failing at that for nearly two decades.”
“We don’t have to do anything except bring this information back to the Haven,” Mira said. “They’re the ones with experience. They can handle it from here.”
I startled at my twin’s response. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re the ones they’re after. If not for us, the others in our circle would still be alive. Everyone in Utopia would still be alive. Mary’s risking her people and her kingdom by allowing us to stay in the Haven. We owe it to them to help.”
Mira glanced at the floor and pressed her lips together. “How are we supposed to do that if we can’t use our elemental magic?” she asked.
“My moon realm is spelled so only witch magic can be used by those who enter,” Hecate replied. “All other types of magic are muted the moment a person crosses the bridge. Your dragon magic will return once you’re back in your realm.”
“And this vampire is tracking that magic…” Harper trailed off, looking like she was onto something.
“What’re you getting at?” I asked.
“Nothing. At least, nothing yet,” she said, and then she looked b
ack to Hecate. “Thank you for answering our questions. Now, we need return to the Haven to share what we’ve learned. Mary said the way out of the library is far more simple than the way in?”
“I assume you mean that as a statement, not a question,” Hecate said with a knowing smile.
“Of course.”
The goddess unclasped the chain belt around her waist and held it out so the keys dangling from it were displayed in front of us.
The keys were about the height of my palm, and each one was unique. There must have been thirty of them in all, in metals like silver, bronze, copper, and gold. Intricate designs decorated each one, complete with crystals and symbols, and they each pulsed with magic.
“These keys take their owner from the library to any place they’ve been before,” she said. “They also work the opposite way—you can use them in any door, and that door will open into the library. No one will be able to follow you. And you can’t take anyone with you, either. One key, one person.”
I itched to reach for a key—I’d always liked pretty things—but forced myself to resist.
Mira’s eyes sparkled as much as the crystals.
Harper was more focused on Hecate than on the keys. “Are you giving us a key?” she asked.
“Each key is magically bound to its owner,” she said. “The owner is the only one who can use the key. And I’m giving each of you a key. I’ll be giving you a key to bring back to Ethan, too.”
“I thought only witches could come to the Eternal Library,” I said.
“Ethan has a trace of witch magic in his soul,” she said simply. “Not enough to use, but it’s there.”
I glanced at Harper and Mira, but they looked just as confused as I felt.
“He has no idea that he’s descended from witches,” I said, sure of it. If he’d known, he would have insisted on coming with us to Moon Mountain.
“He doesn’t have a witch ancestor,” Hecate said.
“Then how does he have witch magic?”
“I’ve already answered your three questions,” she said. “Now, do you want your keys, or not?”
The Dragon Twins (Dark World: The Dragon Twins Book 1) Page 15