by Bonnie Lamer
Adriel considers. “Possibly Rashnu, I have seen her do it once. But, that is not going to happen.”
Kallen scowls. “Since light appears to be a moot point, are you saying we have no other way to fight this thing?”
I glance down to see how much progress the Shadow has made and am surprised to see that it has not made much. “I don’t think it’s totally immune to light. It’s not moving as quickly as the Shadows in the Shadow realm can.”
Josh whirls around to Eliana. “What about burying it deep under the sand? At the rate it is going, it would take centuries for it to free itself.”
“Except, then it would no longer be exposed to light and could probably move faster as it finds its way to the surface,” Eliana points out.
Josh’s face falls. “Right.”
One of Kallen’s hands falls on my shoulder and the other points to the sky above the temple. I look up and find the image of the crying Phoenix gone. The colors have stopped swirling and are forming words. We do not get a riddle this time. The message is perfectly clear. Only I can stop it.
Okay, guess that answers the question of whether or not we can be heard up here. “If you can stop it, then why don’t you?” I demand, super annoyed now.
The words change, spelling out the last thing we want to see. “It is too late.”
32 Chapter
Hands on my hips, I announce, “Yeah, I don’t buy it.”
Eliana looks at me in surprise. “You don’t?”
I shake my head, growing more certain by the moment. “Nope.”
Kallen eyes me curiously. “Why?”
“Because I feel like I have sand beetles crawling all over me,” I growl, trying very hard not to do my ‘someone’s telling a lie’ dance. I figure flailing about like a maniac would not strike confidence in the hearts of those we brought with us.
“What is going on?” the Centaur woman asks. She trots over to us followed by the others. They are tired of waiting for us to come back to them.
Can’t say that I blame them. Doesn’t make it any less annoying, though. “We’re trying to figure that out now.”
The Centaur narrows her eyes. “We were under the impression that you had this figured out already. Why did you insist we come with you if you had no idea how to handle the situation?”
Kallen takes as much offense to her tone as I do. “Because we were led to believe by the Phoenix that she would stop this nonsense if we did as she asked. It seems she lied.”
She lied. Wait a second. I can feel the Phoenix’s lie right now. In fact, I feel like I have bugs crawling in all kinds of uncomfortable places because her lie is so big. But, when she spoke to us before, I didn’t feel a thing. It could be because I was so focused on the Cosmic Fire threatening to consume us, but I don’t think so. So, why is she lying now?
Whipping around, I move close to Adriel and speak so only she can hear me. I hope, anyway. “Would the Phoenix know who I am?”
Adriel nods. “It is likely.”
“Then, she would probably know that I can detect lies, right?”
Adriel shrugs. “I do not know. Being aware of your existence and knowing the extent of your powers are not necessarily one in the same.”
She has a point. Lots of beings know who I am, but most of them don’t even know that I’m part Angel, let alone know that I am a walking lie detector. But, I have a feeling that the Phoenix knows more about me than I know about her. I glance at Eliana. Could Ra have communicated with the Phoenix when we were here last time without Eliana being aware of it? I have no idea how that would work, but I am not ruling out the possibility.
“What are you whispering about?” the Giant woman asks. She has joined the Centaur and is standing akimbo glowering at us. I guess her shyness is just around Quinn because she looks anything but shy at the moment.
“I demand to know what is going on,” the Sasquatch says, joining the growing crowd next to us.
“Is there anything I can do to assist you?” a soft voice asks. Surprised by the sincerity of it, I scan for the source. Just behind the Centaur is a Faun. Her delicate features are twisted with worry, but there is eagerness in her expression, as well. She truly wants to help. That is so sweet.
“Xandra, we should all be involved in your discussion,” Ari insists. Addylyn is standing next to her, and she nods in agreement.
“You’re right,” I admit. “This involves all of us. So, here’s what we know.” I fill them in on everything from our first visit to the temple below until now and our theory about the ashes.
“What was the riddle?” Ari asks.
Josh pulls out his phone and hands it to Eliana so she can read it to everyone.
“To pass through this wall:
She will come with a voice that lures but breath that repels.
She will come with eyes that reflect the grass but ears that hear the sky.
She will come with hooved feet but reptilian legs.
She will come with the shadow of a mammoth but the stature of one who strikes fear in those with magic.
She will come with skin of scales but hair of silk.
She will come with a scent sweeter than all in the universe but will reek to heaven.
She will come with the need to call upon the earth but will bend the laws of natural order.
She will come with two hearts of mortality but the souls of the eternal.
She will come with peace in her heart.”
When she is finished, Eliana hands Josh his phone, which he shoves back into his pocket.
Ari looks at me like I’m crazy. “Obviously, we need to enter the temple in the order laid out in the riddle.” When I give her a doubtful look, she smiles. “I know your proclivity for falling into dangerous, complicated situations may make this hard to believe, but sometimes, the simplest answer is the correct one.”
I am not the only one with doubts. Eliana cocks her head and asks, “What do you think that will accomplish?”
Ari shrugs. “I don’t know, but obviously, passing through whatever wall you ran into before is important.”
I think back to our most recent sojourn into the temple and frown. “The wall wasn’t there.”
“It was not there when we first entered before, either,” Kallen points out. “Only when we attempted to move in that direction did it appear.”
My frown turning into a scowl, I snark, “So, you think it’s an invisible wall that only appears when approached?”
Kallen raises a brow at my snark. “Would that be so unusual considering the extremes ancient Egyptians went to in order to guard their secrets?”
“Not really,” Eliana answers for me. “If this temple was built by Ra, it could have invisible walls.” He is a god, after all.
“Okay, say you’re right. How are we supposed to fit everyone inside? There was barely enough room for the four of us last time.” There’s no way the Dragon is going to fit in the narrow hallway. The Giant might if she crawled on her hands and knees. It’s pretty iffy for the Centaur and Sasquatch, as well.
Isla, who has warmed to the idea, smiles. “Magic, of course.”
“Like in Harry Potter?” Josh asks.
I smile when everyone except Eliana and I stare at him blankly. “Not a popular book in other realms,” I point out. To the others, I explain, “It’s a book about wizards and sometimes objects are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.”
Isla shakes her head. “I believe the temple is of the same proportions inside and out.”
She obviously didn’t understand what I was saying. “But, will it expand as we all enter to accommodate us?”
Isla considers this. Finally, she says, “I do not know.”
“Ra created the temple,” Eliana says. “I believe he controls its dimensions.”
My eyes widen. “So, you can make it bigger?”
“Would that not be considered help from a higher being?” Kallen asks.
Isla shakes her head. “The Phoen
ix already knows that Ra has instilled certain abilities in Eliana.”
“Then, I guess we give it a shot,” I say with a sigh. I am still far from convinced this is going to work. Glancing down again, I ask, “What about the Shadow?”
“We ignore it for now. If anything happens, I am certain between the lot of us we can handle it,” Addylyn says almost flippantly. On closer inspection, she is trying hard to conceal her own concerns about the situation. I give her a small smile for trying to be confident and encouraging for the others. She’s not all bad, I guess.
“How are we to get down there?” the Dragon asks. “I do not believe I would fare well if I must slide down.” An image of her doing somersaults in the sand and the cage with the Pixie going flying pops into my brain and I have to fight not to giggle.
Isla answers the question with action instead of words. Suddenly, there is a staircase wide enough for all of the larger beings to descend. The steps are a little too big for the rest of us, so Kallen makes another set next to Isla’s with normal sized stairs.
Josh shakes his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to your type of magic.”
“If you were around it long enough, you would,” I assure him. Then I think of Dad and how hard it is for him to be one of only a handful of beings without real magic in the Fairy realm. Josh probably wouldn’t be happy if they are ever forced to leave the Cowan realm.
Eliana and I lead the way down the stairs. Kallen, Isla, Adriel and Josh are right behind us. We are the first line of defense in case of an attack. Interestingly, the Shadow retreats as we approach the temple. Not without words, though.
“Fools,” it hisses. Several with us are shocked that something without a mouth can speak. I think the Giant is going to pass out. Giants hate spirits. They are one of the few things that truly scare the race of oversized beings.
It’s not the Shadow itself that is getting to me right now. It’s the maniacal laughing the thing is doing. A feeling of dread crawls up my spine. Are walking into some sort of trap? If so, Ari better not ever give me a hard time about the damage I caused in the Mermaid realm since this was her idea. Then again, if it is a trap, the universe will probably end and she won’t be able to say anything at all.
33 Chapter
At the bottom of the stairs, Josh hands Eliana his phone again. “Okay, everyone,” she begins, “line up as requested.”
She reads the first couple of lines. I expect to have to decode the riddle for everyone, but the Siren and the Dragon immediately step forward. Okay, I guess those were easy ones.
When Eliana reads the next couple of lines, I know something is going on. Isla is shocked when she finds herself moving forward. “It is like the pull of a magnet,” she tells us. Beside her, Addylyn nods in agreement.
This idea is reinforced when Eliana continues reading. We expected to have to lead the pterodactyl into place, but as soon as the Faun and the Centaur are positioned, the dinosaur moves into place on its own. Josh lets go of the leash and steps back, confident that it’s not going to fly away.
Next comes the Giant. When she takes her place, there is a loud ‘Oomph’ from low in the sand. I glance over to find the Pixie trying to move into position, but the metal bars of her cage are making that a bit difficult. All she managed to do was knock the cage over and fall face first into the hot sand. She comes up sputtering and spitting sand out of her mouth. “A little help here!” she exclaims. Kallen, the nice guy that he is, jogs over to her and lifts her cage. I guess he’s not too nice because the Pixie flops onto her back on the bottom of the cage when he rights it so quickly. I don’t miss the smirk on my husband’s face. The Pixie has said some rather cruel things about him in the past.
After Kallen hands the Pixie to the Giant, Ari and the Sasquatch move into place. Adriel and the Goblin are next. Adriel covers her nose and mouth to try to fend off the stench, but from her expression, it is obviously not helping. The desert heat is only making the stench worse. Regular Goblin sweat is disgusting. Roasted Goblin sweat is downright nauseating. If I am not mistaken, Adriel is trying hard not to lose her breakfast.
A sudden tug inside me makes me lurch forward. Jadyn and Eliana are right there with me. Because I represent both the Witch and one with a mortal heart and eternal soul, we are all pulled together. Leaning over to Eliana, I whisper, “I don’t like being in the back.”
She grimaces. “Neither do I.”
At the front of our parade, the Siren and the Dragon have continued to move forward. A high pitched squeal is followed by a burst of flame. I stretch up on my toes to try to see what is happening. Since I am never going to be able to see over the beings in front of me, I decide to teleport. Unfortunately, deciding to do it and actually doing it turn out to be at odds with one another. I can’t teleport. I try to move to the side but find that is impossible, too.
My eyes fly to Kallen. “I’m stuck.”
“I was afraid of that,” he says with a grimace.
Josh, who ran ahead to see what is going on comes jogging back. “They ran into the wall and can’t stop trying to move forward.”
“What?!” several beings exclaim. They begin to struggle against whatever hold has been put upon us, but to no avail.
I try to fight the urge to shuffle forward, but can’t. Soon, we are all piled on top of one another and being pressed against the wall like we’re in a trash compactor. Panic is spreading like juice from a crushed grape.
Isla, always with the cool head, shouts above the clamor, “Everyone touch the wall!”
Eliana and I exchange a glance. “That must be it,” Eliana nods.
I agree. “Do it! Touch the wall!” I reiterate.
Surprisingly, everyone obeys. Everyone except Josh and Kallen reach between the others and lay a hand, or a claw, or prehistoric fingers, against the temple wall. Eliana and I have to really squeeze in to reach it. I suspect the Phoenix put us in the back on purpose just to make it harder. I do not even want to think about the body parts my hand comes into contact with before I finally feel the brick beneath my fingers. I’m certain at least two beings thought I was making inappropriate advances.
Since Eliana is a bit taller than me, she touches the wall first. That makes me the last one to make contact. As soon as I do, I brace myself for the explosion. There’s always an explosion in situations like this. Except, when there’s not. In fact, imploding is the direct opposite of exploding.
With a whoosh, we are all sucked into the temple that seems to be shrinking, not expanding. I feel Kallen’s arms around my waist, trying to keep me from being pulled in. Even with his strength, he can’t stop it. Josh loses his grip on Eliana, as well. She and I follow the others into the imploding temple and once we are in, there is a loud pop.
Only, we aren’t in the temple. At least, I don’t remember there being trees, a crystal blue lake, or a bright sky with two suns and a moon visible inside the temple. Maybe we just hadn’t gone far in enough before? That’s probably not it.
34 Chapter
Stunned into silence, our group stares at our new surroundings. Gone is the desert sand and heat. They have been replaced by a refreshing breeze and lush, green grass beneath our feet. The water in the lake is so clear, you can see the smooth bottom. The afternoon light is not overwhelming like the Saharan desert sun, even though this place apparently is warmed by two suns. But, none of this is as surprising as the other sight before us. Wherever we are, we are not alone.
Excited shouts go up all around us. ‘They’re here!’ and ‘They did it!’ seem to be the most popular. Smiles radiate and shining eyes take us in. In the sky, a familiar sight dazzles us. Swirling hues of red, orange and yellow. They are being spread through the sky by large birds. Birds that sharply resemble the image of a Phoenix we saw earlier. Only, none of these are sad or crying. They definitely are not being tortured. In fact, everyone here seems as happy as can be. What the hell is going on?
I’m not certain if I said that aloud, or if Eliana
simply read my mind. Shaking her head, she replies, “I have no idea.”
It doesn’t take long to figure out that all the women here look alike. Everything about them – their hair, their skin, their eyes, their teeth, all identical. Even their bodies are the same size. No shifts in weight or height. A world of identical…what would be the word for twin multiplied by a hundred?
A voice behind us startles the heck out of me and I pull magic as I whirl around. The woman who spoke isn’t even phased by it. “Xandra, Eliana, welcome.”
Not surprising, she looks like all the other women here. “Welcome to where?” I ask.
The woman’s smile widens. “Why, to the Phoenix realm, of course.”
Seriously? Another realm no one knew about? Okay, that’s not the important thing right now, but seriously, how many realms are still out there undiscovered? Considering I am tasked with trying to make them all get along, it would be nice to have a solid number to work with. “Um, everyone believes there is only one of you,” I blurt out. Tact and I aren’t even on speaking terms anymore. We filed for a legal separation ages ago.
The woman nods. “Yes, we know.”
Tilting my head, I ask, “Is that the royal we, or are there really a ton of you?” Heck, maybe we’re having a group hallucination. That would make a lot more sense.
The woman looks puzzled for a second, but then her smile returns. “Ah, a Cowan colloquialism. No, that was not a royal we. There are many of us.”
Eliana is as confused as I am. “Then why does everyone believe there is only one of you?”
“Because that is what we wanted you to believe, of course,” the woman replies as if that is a perfectly normal thing to say.
I am about to point out that makes her and the others liars, but I decide to pick my battles more carefully this time. “Could you please start from the beginning before my head explodes?”