by S. E. Akers
“Thank you,” I said. “That’s very kind.” I admired my new bling for a few more seconds and then started rolling up my sleeve.
“Only give me one because you want to, Shiloh,” Amando advised. “I promise, I will not be offended in the least.”
“It’s something I want to do. I’m grateful that you took the time to come here . . . and I don’t think for one second it was just to score a stone that would give your powers a boost. You seem to have carried on well enough without it,” I teased. With that, I dug my fingernails into my arm and carved out my new friend his very own diamond. I was taken aback by how clear this particular stone looked when I wiped away my blood. I’d never hacked one out with so few inclusions before.
“The clearer your soul, the clearer the stone,” Amando remarked. “This is all the evidence you need to confirm the trueness of your steps.”
He really was good at reading people. “I guess you’re right,” I said, feeling it in my heart as well. Then I cupped the little wonder in my hands and had it charged in a flash. “There you are,” I beamed and placed it in his hands.
“Grazie,” Amando replied and then rolled the diamond around in his hand. “You know, I can tell a lot about people and I believe that you are capable of much greater things than Adamas ever achieved.”
“I’ve only seen him in visions,” I said, reflecting on all the occasions. “But I’m nowhere near his warrior status.”
“Greatness doesn’t come strictly from brawn, Shiloh . . . nor is it only found in those bearing the sharpest of minds,” Amando stated confidently. “Never underestimate one with a pure heart. And personally, I think yours is much bigger.”
“I’ve never seen his sensitive-side,” I said. “He always seems so intimidating.”
“Yes . . . Adamas was extremely commanding,” he agreed. “But he was also very kind and generous. In fact, it was his compassion that unfortunately landed him into trouble. I hope yours never falls victim to the same thing.”
Now I was direly curious. It sure would explain the grave warning he’d given me. “How?” I asked.
“That is something the diamond will reveal if it chooses,” Amando assured. “But I get the sense that you are already aware of how important it is to keep a close watch over your heart.”
“Adamas mentioned something along those lines in a dream,” I confirmed uneasily.
“Then for now, that is all destiny requires you to know,” he vowed.
My stare fell to the flagstone pavers, feeling thwarted again.
“Is something wrong?” Amando asked.
“No. Not really,” I replied. “I’ve gotten so used to the diamond’s finicky ways and its need for discretion . . . but I guess I’ll never stop wondering about all the ‘whys’.”
Amando’s mouth slid into a comfortable smile. “That is something I have always wished my stone could do. Give people the definitive answers they seek. But I can only help light one’s path and nudge a person in the right direction,” he assured. “One must walk it for themselves and let the whys come on their own.”
My lips remained flat. One thing could be said about truth: more times than not it leaves you in search of an air pump.
My head fell into a thoughtful tilt. “Can I ask you something?”
“By all means,” Amando replied.
“What do you think the chances are that The Veil will rip open?” I posed. After hearing Silas’ gloomy outlook, I felt like I needed to start taking a poll to get a more positive average.
“The only way I see that happening in the near future would be if someone evil enough got their hands on all four Guardian stones. But the day everyone stops treating others with the same respect and compassion they desire, I’m afraid that would result in a gap incapable of being seamed.”
I hadn’t mentioned anything about the sunstone in my possession, and now I surely didn’t want to.
Amando glanced at his watch. “I wish I could stay and chat with you awhile longer, but I’m afraid I have a plane to catch.”
“Wouldn’t traveling via ground be quicker?” I posed to the Talisman who claimed an earth stone that afforded him the speedy luxury of doing just that.
“I could.” He rose to his feet and gave his pricey designer suit a frivolous dusting. “But I would never do something that unforgivable to an Armani.”
I walked him to the front door, officially seeing him off with a warm hug. He, in turn, planted a kiss on each of my cheeks. “Do not be a stranger, Shiloh. Please call me if you need anything . . . Day or night, I am at your disposal. And I am truly honored to have met the Diamond Talisman,” he added with a wink.
I felt so flattered I knew I had to be blushing. “I will . . . and thank you for everything, again.”
“My pleasure,” Amando said and then strutted down the steps and disappeared into his black stretch limousine.
I turned to head back inside to find Silas standing behind me, staring at the sparkly stone dangling from my ankle and studying it critically.
“I see long pants in your future, Ms. Wallace,” Silas assured with a hum. “And you had better thank your lucky stars that autumn is right around the corner. Those lingering lies can rest safe and undetected in the shroud of your boots.”
Once all the weapons that I’d hauled out had been returned to their rightful places, I sealed the vault and marched straight down to Silas’ lair, fully expecting an extra dose of his wrath. At least that’s what I was hoping for, needing to finally get his pout-fest over and done with. But I was ready to dub him a “big baby” and march right out of that room if I spied the first iron pounder dangling over my head just waiting to drop.
To my surprise, however, my afternoon session in the torture chamber took a peculiar twist from the start. It was just like any other day — without any disturbing additions at all. Silas simply had me dodging plain ole iron barbs while he sat silently on his stool and flipping the pages of his latest issue of Fine Cooking. That was it. It actually reminded me of the first time I was in here with him, less all the insults, and the feeling triggered a warm smile. Something bubbled inside me just before he launched his next barb. This time, I caught the harrowing spike instead of shifting, diving, or jumping out of its path. And then within five grueling seconds of bending, I had it tied off with one large knot in its center. Of course I was practically exhausted after handling the damn thing that long and barely got it pitched back to him. And honestly, I was just waiting for him to come back at me with a request that I untie the daggone thing only by using air. But instead of any snarky quips or condescending glares, I caught a proud flicker dancing in the house steward’s eyes when he shifted his stare to the floor, and it couldn’t have been a more surprising or sweeter sight even for the brief second it had lasted. Then he hopped off the stool and walked out of the room without saying a word, ending my training.
And that’s when I knew he thought I was ready. I, however, still had a couple of things that needed to be squared away before my heart could feel the same. But I planned on taking care of one of them tonight. Hopefully.
Later at dinner, I asked Silas if he would sit down and join me. And he did. He even moved Tanner’s chair down to my end of the table, which I found amusing. For some reason, I’d assumed the legs were super-glued to the floor. His only stipulation for accepting my invitation was that I carried on my conversation in Latin. I agreed but countered his demands with a request that he had to speak to me with a southern accent in turn, along with using a plethora of redneck words whenever he could fit some in. So now we had a friendly little dinner-contest to accompany our meal. Though regardless of how confident I was with respect to royally smoking his butt, it pained me to admit that between the two of us, he’d done a far better job. Local truckers at the Drive-In sounded more refined than the slang rolling off his hoity-toity tongue. The house steward never missed a beat throughout our entire meal when he used an unlimited number of “y’alls”, dropped every one of his
word-ending “g”s, and even worked in a few colorful “daggones”.
I tossed my napkin down onto my plate at the end of our meal and forced out a dry smile. What a total show-off!
I retired to my room after that upstaging and remained there for the rest of the evening. But that didn’t have anything to do with my need for seclusion. The isolation I craved was rooted in trying to come up with a solution to a swiftly approaching problem: bedtime.
It didn’t take much for the “knocks” pounding on my door to break my mediocre attempts at brainstorming. “Come in,” I called.
Silas stood in the doorway of my bedroom. “I was about to turn in for the evening. I thought I would stop by to see if you needed anything.”
“Nope,” I replied, though the fret on my face argued the contrary.
Judging by the fact that Silas didn’t turn around and strut straight off to bed, I knew my denial hadn’t fooled him. “Are you going to tell me if I can be of some assistance in scrubbing that frown off your face or must I go digging in that vacuum bag you call a brain?”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “I’ve been wanting to go back to The Darklands for weeks and the diamond hasn’t taken me since the night before I went to see Katie . . . not one single time.”
Silas stepped into the room. “And why do you think that is?”
My doubts had my stare searching the ceiling. “I’m not sure,” I sighed. “I’m hoping it’s because I’m not afraid of the creatures as I was in the beginning. The timing falls right around when I touched Bethesda’s shaman’s stone. That makes the most sense. But then there’s a small part of me that thinks the diamond doesn’t feel the need to send me back, and not because I’ve ‘graduated’, if you know what I mean.”
Silas’ eyes softened. “Well personally, I don’t believe for one second that your stone has given up on you, nor do I think any of your abated fears have a thing to do with it. The powers of a shaman’s stone are only guaranteed here, in this realm. Once you venture across The Veil and into The Darklands, then all bets are off. You could meet your end just as quickly as you take a breath,” he assured. “Does knowing that alarm you?”
“Well it’s not tickling my ears . . . But no, it doesn’t alarm me.” I exhaled a light sigh. “It just makes me want to go back even more.”
Silas peered into my eyes curiously. “Why?”
“Because I want to face a creature on my own, without anyone on standby to save me and not cloaked by any stones. I want to know that I can do this, especially in a place where I know they can be killed.” I plopped down on the edge of my bed, flashing him a defeated smile. “But even if I do find a way back, there’s the problem of not having a weapon to fight them with.” My stare fell to the floor. “My sword never makes the trip with me.”
Silas shook his head. “A sword doesn’t make the warrior, Ms. Wallace. The warrior makes the sword . . . or any other weapon they claim for that matter,” he chided. “You go in there carrying the most important things a combatant can bring to a fight — your strength, your resourcefulness, and your brain. And, if you can’t spill enough of the blood you’re craving with those, you can always draw upon your lightning.”
My head whipped up immediately. “I can?”
“Yes,” Silas insisted. “As well as the air abilities from your two topazes and your lapis lazuli. If you think those powers you wield are fierce here, where Earth magic reigns, just wait until you’ve conjured up a bolt or two in a place that’s ruled by Darklands magic.” Silas paused to ponder for a moment, tapping his finger against his chin. “I believe the expression the kiddies use is, ‘it’s like opening a can of whoop-ass’ — if memory serves me correctly.”
There wasn’t a single time I could ever recall seeing the former Diamond Talisman hailing a bolt. He only used his muscles and his sword, no matter what he was fighting. My stare returned to Silas. For someone who wasn’t an actual Talisman, he knew so much about that wretched wasteland — just as much as Tanner did, if not more.
“How do you know that?” I asked, my curiosity raging.
“I’ve read all the books on level nine,” he defended. “You should try a few of them in your spare time.”
Disbelief hardened my face. I wasn’t about to dignify that one with a comment.
“But be warned,” Silas added. “An anomaly like that will certainly draw some attention. You may kick up something more than a thunderstorm, so be wary with what powers you use and when. And above all, don’t succumb to the feelings they elicit. Your abilities will be more intense over there, raw at their core, and they will inevitably spawn some emotions that you may be uncomfortable with. The Veil magic in your diamond offers you some protection, as well as what’s contained in your other stones. However, it is called dark magic for a reason, and its lure can be extremely irresistible to those who are not strong enough.”
Well that went down about as cringing as a vomit-flavored milkshake.
“But look on the bright-side. You’ll be granted yet another opportune chance to practice blocking out all those pesky feelings,” he added with a bubbly nod.
“Silas, you’re a wealth of knowledge as usual, but it’s not of much help if the diamond won’t take me.”
Silas motioned me up off the bed directly. “I think I can offer you some assistance with that,” he announced and then reached in-between my mattress and box springs. After a few seconds of trawling, his hand emerged and resting in his palm lay an opaque lavender stone veined with darker shades of purple. He tossed it to me promptly. “That’s been your real problem. Professor Grey instructed me to put that sugilite there as an extra precaution.”
My pupils hardened as I stared at the stone. Sugilites warded your mind from all sorts of negative energies, whether they originated in this realm or beyond The Veil. I wasn’t even aware that he had any.
I started tossing it in my hand to fight off an angry twinge. “Naturally,” I grumbled.
“If it would help curb your anger a touch, we can play like it’s green and pretend it’s merely a pea?”
My eyes narrowed, unamused.
“Oh well,” he breathed. “You’ll find one hidden behind both the medallions on your headboard and footboard and then one tucked in the fabric rosette atop your canopy. One would have worked, but Professor Grey wanted to make sure you were grounded properly.” Then he pointed to the locations accordingly. “You’ll need to remove those as well before drifting off to your dark-dreamland is even possible.”
“Aren’t you as worried as Professor Grey?”
“Not at all,” Silas assured. “I’m not lucky enough to be rid of you just yet, Ms. Wallace. And besides, you wouldn’t allow yourself to go to your grave without figuring out what I am first.” He stepped closer, eyeing me intently. “I can feel it eating at you even now.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I laughed and initiated a stare-down. “You’ll slip up eventually.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Ms. Wallace,” Silas countered, glaring straight back at me. “I’m not that careless, and you’re not that patient.”
I shook off his latest quip and started rounding up the sugilites. The only thing that could have irritated me more was if all these purple stones had turned out to be amethysts. Sneaky bastard.
“You know,” Silas hummed curiously, “if you really want to entice the diamond, you might think about wearing the oculus when your eyes fall to a close. It contains an exorbitant source of Veil magic. It would make for an irresistible invitation to the type of party you’re seeking.”
I opened the bedside table drawer, pulled out my magic mirror, and had it dangling around my neck like a mystical backstage pass without further delay. Silas started to leave when I rushed over and gave his hand a tender squeeze. “Thank you, Silas . . . for everything. Whatever you stood to gain from helping me, you deserve it a thousand times over.”
The stiff & stuffy air that unswervingly swaddled his façade seemed to be unraveling a little a
s he shifted about. “Well, I may have gotten more benefit than I expected.”
I tilted my head, playfully twisting the oculus back and forth. “Have I grown on you?”
“Like mold on the finest of blue cheeses,” he avowed and then swiftly embraced his superior demeanor like a soldier returning home from war. Even the charcoal-colored silk tie plunging directly below that hoisted nose of his was looking an awful lot like a yellow ribbon right now.
“That’s something,” I shrugged proudly.
Silas was almost out the door when a question popped into my head. “Wait! Should I leave the oculus open?” I asked and commanded it to do just that.
Silas had no sooner turned to answer me when the bright glittery beam shining from its mirror struck the side of his face. He shirked back around and scolded harshly, “THAT’S NOT A TOY, Ms. Wallace!”
Stunned, I took a step back and lowered it immediately. Now that was a little too quick and curt. He’d never raised his voice to me that much before.
“Closed should work well enough,” he added on a much softer note, obviously trying to tone down his bark.
I closed the oculus straightaway and focused all of my mental efforts on blocking my thoughts, the same way I had with Katie when she was wearing the diamond I’d carved.
“I’m sorry, Silas,” I said casually. “I forget how blinding its light is.”
“That’s quite all right,” he insisted graciously, still only half-turned. “Good-night, Ms. Wallace. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Of course . . . Good-night, Silas,” I muttered and remained as still as a mouse until he’d pulled the door to a complete close.
My mouth dropped like an anchor, weighted by the heaviness of my suspicions. Talk about a major slip-up! My head started whirling like someone had punched a running timer on a TV game show. The only thing that had bothered him about that beam was the possibility of it sucking him up inside it — I was certain of it! Silas had to be from The Darklands, and not just half of him, somehow every daggone bit. But that was what had me stumped. I’d seen his normal human reflection countless times being cast in various mirrors throughout the house. A bona fide Darklands’ creature couldn’t hide their true appearance. There wasn’t a stone or even a spell that could pull that off. Now my synapses were really firing. Telepathy… Unfathomable magical powers of materialization… His vast knowledge about The Darklands creatures… From some of the things he’d written in his journal, you’d think he could somehow communicate with them. Though for whatever reason, I didn’t think for one second that he’d been birthed there. But that could have simply been his impeccable manners and good hygiene trying to fool me. What stuck in my mind the most was his admission that he would gain something by helping me. But what? I paced around the room for several minutes and the one thing I kept coming back to was how remorseful Kiera had been and her hopes that The Veil would show her human soul some mercy for sacrificing herself to The Darklands. Silas was essentially performing a good deed and had openly admitted that he was helping himself. Maybe as some sort of clemency? Then it totally hit me, ironically too, like the boom of fireworks exploding in my head.