The Calling (The Andovia Chronicles Book 1)

by Tiffany Shand

  “That…doesn’t sound helpful at all.” Nyx sighed.

  The Uriel laughed, the sound like nails scraping against rock. Nyx flinched. “You can move between places at will, girl. The veil is open, and many things can freely walk now.”

  “What do you know about that?” Nyx frowned.

  Another screech. “More than you, no doubt.”

  “Okay, why not enlighten me?” She flexed her fingers. One touch would be all it took, and the Uriel knew it.

  “I do not know who broke the veil. It’s not my concern.”

  “Do you know why they broke it?”

  “That’s not my concern.”

  “So, you don’t care if the world plunges into chaos? You must be an under fae then with no real power.”

  The Uriel screeched so loud Nyx had to cover her ears. “Do not call me under fae. I am as old as Erthea itself. You are only a child, soul seer. Run along and play.” The creature lunged for her.

  Nyx raised her hand. “I don’t have to touch you to release my power.” She loosened her hold on her magic. It roared to life like an overflowing river. With one strike, it could destroy everything in its wake.

  The Uriel froze. “I do not know anything.”

  How could she know this thing’s name but nothing about it? It made no sense how she could remember these things.

  “You seek answers,” the creature observed.

  “I want to know why the veil is breaking and how to fix it.”

  “Not about the veil. About yourself. Where you come from and who you are.”

  Nyx’s mouth fell open. “How – how do you know that?”

  “I hear the spirits. They talk of you often.”

  “What do they say?” Nyx didn’t know if she wanted to know or not. What if she didn’t like the answer?

  “You are fae born and of Andovia. You don’t remember your past.”

  Nyx narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about that?”

  “Like I said, the spirits talk. You can hear for yourself if you listen closely enough.”

  “I don’t want to listen.” Just thinking of Harland made her feel like she might conjure his presence. Seeing him again would scare her more than being stuck with this creature.

  “Or are you afraid of seeing a certain spirit?”

  “You know about that?” She furrowed her brow.

  “I hear things. That Harland likes to brag about how he possessed a mind whisperer for seven years. I’m surprised he didn’t use you for more than petty crime.”

  Nyx slumped onto a large rock. “Are you going to tell me how I can get out of here or not?” She rested her chin on her fist.

  “You can leave any time, girl.”

  “What if I end up in the grey mist where I just came from?”

  “That’s up to you. Will yourself to where you want to go.”

  Nyx rose again then hesitated. Uriel. Old fae, old as Erthea. They can see into the future and are known for their wisdom.

  “What do you know about me?” she asked it.

  Another screech. “You are more important than anything.”

  “I know things,” Nyx admitted. “Knowledge comes to me, but I don’t know why.” For a moment, she wondered why she had admitted that to a stranger of all people, but her instincts weren’t warning her of any danger like they usually did.

  The Uriel gnawed on a piece of bone. “That’s because you don’t remember who you were.”

  Nyx looked away to avoid showing the creature her disgust. “Who is that?” She had always wondered about her life before she ended up with Harland. Everything before then remained a mystery, even how she ended up in the forest under the Ashwood tree.

  “That I do not know. Perhaps you should dispose of his spirit if he bothers you so much.”

  “How?”

  “You have power, use it. Show him he has no hold over you.”

  Nyx hesitated. “Thanks.” She got up and turned to leave.

  “Darkness is coming. Stay close to that young Valeran druid. Your destinies are intertwined.”

  Nyx frowned then turned and stepped back through the darkness.

  Time to face her fears once and for all.

  Nyx blinked as she passed through the mist again, then stopped. The Uriel had told her she could go anywhere. This was what she had been longing to do for weeks. Freedom. The chance to finally escape from Andovia. Yet her escape had become less and less important; she had been too busy helping the druid and the others to think about it much. She did need to find her sisters though and make sure they were safe.

  Nyx raised her hand and pushed her way through the heavy mist. She gasped when she realised she now stood outside Farrell village – her former home.

  How had she got here?

  The Uriel must have been right. Nyx folded her wings back.

  “I am light, hide me from sight.”

  Light flashed around her as she took to the air and flew towards the tavern. It looked smaller than she remembered. Strange, this place had once been the centre of her life. So much had changed since the night Harland died, and she had been sentenced to death.

  Nyx landed outside and peered through the dirty window.

  Inside only the faint buzz of Mama Habrid’s thoughts came to her. Where were Domnu and Kyri? She didn’t feel their presences anywhere nearby.

  Nyx pushed the door open and dropped the glamour spell. There was no one around to see her here.

  A thick layer of dust covered the bar and the room stank of cheap ale.

  Nyx hurried into the kitchen where she found Mama Habrid sweeping the floor. She had never liked the crotchety old woman who had been so quick to blame her for Harland’s death.

  “Where are my sisters?” Nyx demanded.

  Habrid looked up and screamed at the sight of her. “You — you are dead! Demon! Unholy spirit!” She swung the broom at Nyx.

  Nyx ducked and avoided the blow. She waved her hand and incinerated the broom with her light. Habrid screamed. “Where my sisters?” Nyx grabbed the old woman by the throat and let her power burst free. It shook the air around them like thunder without sound and cut off Habrid’s cries. “Tell me.”

  Habrid blinked, dazed. “I — I sold them. Couldn’t afford to keep them no more.”

  Nyx’s heart lurched. “What?” She gasped. “Who did you sell them to? Where are they?”

  “Don’t know. Didn’t care to ask.”

  Nyx gritted her teeth. “Forget I was here. I am dead to you.” She hurried back outside. As much as she wanted to find her sisters, she knew she had to get back to Andovia.

  This place had never been her real home. She was dead to it and would never return.

  She did scan the old woman’s mind before she left, though. She only hoped the druid and his resistance contacts could help her find her sisters.

  Nyx found her way back to the spot she had arrived in and walked back into the heavy mist. The heavy mist surrounded her once more as she passed back into The Grey. She shivered. She had to get back to Migara now and focused her thoughts on the druid. Instead, she remained surrounded by mist. Why hadn’t it worked? She had gone to throughout without any problems.

  “Going somewhere, Nyxie?” Harland’s voice sent a chill down her spine.

  Not again.

  She knew she had to deal with him once and for all or he would never stop haunting her. Nyx took a deep breath and turned to face the spirit.

  “You can’t run any more, girl. You belong to me.”

  “I belong to no one but myself. Tell me what you know about my past.” She raised her hand and unleashed her power again. Thunder boomed around her, but Harland only chuckled.

  “That’s not how this works. I may not have had much power over you on Erthea, but I have power here.” His fingers wrapped around her throat. “You’re mine, and I will have you.”

  The light appeared again in her hands. “Wrong. I have the power, not you.” She gripped him, his spirit becoming corpore
al as her power flowed free.

  Thunder boomed around them. Nyx gasped as energy surged through her. Pain exploded inside her head. She stumbled back.

  Harland laughed and made a grab for her again. “You never could handle your curse.”

  “It’s not a curse. You only made me think that so I wouldn’t realise how powerless you were.” Nyx raised her hand again. “I banish you. You have no power over me.”

  Harland screamed as his spirit evaporated.

  Nyx breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he was gone.

  “Help,” a voice whispered in her ear.

  She jumped and raised a glowing hand. Now what? How could she get free of this place?

  “Help me,” the voice grew louder, and the figure of a blonde woman appeared.

  “Who are you?” Nyx’s senses reeled from the power she had used. “You look familiar. You were one of the victims of the darklings. What are you doing here?” Nyx frowned. She had no idea why the spirit thought she could help.

  “Stop it.”

  Nyx frowned. “What?”

  A shadow moved in the darkness, and something with glowing eyes came towards her.

  “Stop it before it kills anyone else,” the spirit said.

  Chapter 28

  Darius stared down the rift where Nyx had fallen in, unable to believe she had vanished.

  “How could you let her fall in?” Gideon demanded. “Why didn’t you use magic to save her?”

  “I didn’t get the chance to.” Darius glared at his brother. “Let’s not argue about whose fault this is and focus on how to fix it. Plus, since when do you care about her safety?”

  “I know she has power which you’ve somehow been hiding from me, brother. If she is part of the prophecy, then we can’t just let her die.”

  Darius opened his mouth to protest and closed it again. “She is not part of the prophecy.”

  “Then why have you been trying so hard to shield her powers?” Gideon narrowed his eyes.

  “Gideon, not now. Nyx will die if we don’t get her out of the rift.”

  Gideon scoffed. “She’s probably already dead.”

  Darius flinched. He might not have liked Nyx at first, but she had become his friend in the short time he had known her. He didn’t want to lose her.

  “Don’t say that. She’s strong – she can survive anything.” Then, turning away from his brother, he thought, Nyx? He reached out her with his mind, but her presence had vanished.

  Next, he tried a summoning spell, but that didn’t work either. “How else can we get her out?” Darius paced back and forth.

  “Why not just leave her? If she is not part of the prophecy, as you claim, this is not important.” Gideon had been trying spells too, but they hadn’t had any effect on the rift. “We need to focus on closing this before it reaches Avenia.”

  “We need to find Nyx too.”

  “Why? She’s a criminal. Or have you formed a romantic attachment to her?”

  That sounded so ridiculous Darius laughed. “Romantic? Spirits, no. I just don’t want her to die.”

  “Is she more important than closing the rift?”

  Darius considered this, then shook his head. No, just because she was a good friend didn’t mean he would sacrifice hundreds of lives to save hers.

  “Maybe there’s a way we can close the rift. I’m sure Father has something in his vault,” he added. “Maybe we can somehow channel his power.” He glanced down at the rift. If they closed it, Nyx would be gone forever, unless she somehow found a way out. Maybe they could find some way to save her in the vault before they closed the rift.

  Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know about the vault? Father —”

  “Father isn’t that good at keeping secrets and I’ve spent a lot of time travelling with him over the years.”

  Gideon glowered at him. Darius knew his brother had always resented him for that. He never understood why, though. Fergus was incapable of love and had never been a father to either of them.

  “Let’s go.” Gideon grabbed his arm and transported them out in a flash of light.

  They reappeared in an empty hallway back at the Crystal Palace. Darius shook off the feeling of dizziness. He had always wished he could transport himself from one place to another, but he’d never been blessed with that ability.

  Gideon let go of him. This hall seemed to end with an empty wall. No door or passageway lay beyond, or so it appeared.

  Even Isabella didn’t know about this place, or if she did Fergus would have made sure to seal it from her. The only person he shared it with was Mercury. Darius had only been able to sneak in a few times. One time his father had caught him and had beaten him so hard he hadn’t been able to move for days.

  Gideon pulled down one of the crystal torches attached to the wall, and Darius pulled the other.

  A door appeared etched with glowing symbols. Different runes flared to life, and only the right combination would allow anyone through. Fergus changed the combination on a regular basis.

  “I haven’t been able to get in here in months,” Gideon remarked. “Father will kill us if he —”

  Darius tapped different runes which glowed red for a moment before turning blue. The door creaked open. Darius headed in as a beam of energy shot down from the ceiling and advanced towards them. He pulled a crystal out from under his tunic and held it up, so the beam struck it, then winked out.

  “How did you do that?” Gideon demanded. “I’ve never been able to get in here without being caught. Father beat me within an inch of my life the last time I tried.”

  “I have my ways.” Darius wasn’t about to share one of his secrets with his brother.

  “Then why should I help you close the rift?”

  Darius sighed. “Because you don’t want to lose the realm you’re destined to rule, do you?”

  Gideon muttered an oath. “Fine, but I will find out how you did that.”

  They headed down the passageway which opened into a much larger room. Darius often wondered how something so vast could remain hidden within the palace itself. Perhaps it worked like the magic that kept the Hall of Knowledge secret.

  Inside the vault, the ceiling shimmered with crystal chandeliers, glittering like diamonds. Bookcases stood against almost every wall with shelves full of books, scrolls, crystals and other artefacts. It could take years to search through everything in here. Most of this had been passed down over thousands of years through different Archdruids.

  Darius hated the feeling of darkness that hung heavy on the air despite the room’s light and grandeur.

  “I don’t even know where to begin.” Gideon shook his head.

  “I know a way to find what we need.” Darius went over to a shelf and picked up a dark leather-bound book. It looked unremarkable and inside the pages were blank. “Show me how to seal a rift in the veil of existence.” Darius closed the book again.

  “What are you doing?” Gideon asked.

  “This book acts like a keystone. It’s spelled so it can show you what you’re looking for.” Darius flipped open the book, and the words appeared on the page. “Our father doesn’t have the patience to look for anything.”

  “He’s always disorganised.” Gideon looked amazed. “How do you know this, brother?”

  Darius shrugged. “I’ve spent a lot of time here.” His mother had brought him here for lessons too. Fergus only allowed Mercury in here, so it hadn’t been hard to use his parents’ magic to trick the sensor.

  Together the brothers sat and read through the book. It talked of the veil and how it separated the world of the living and the dead as well as different planes of existence.

  Gideon tossed the book aside in disgust. “There’s nothing in here on how to seal the rift.”

  “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Darius asked. Then, with his mind, he thought, Nyx, can you hear me?

  No response came. He had started to miss the feel of her presence – something he wou
ld never have thought possible. Nyx had to be somewhere. She wasn’t dead – or at least he didn’t think so.

  “Father should have something in here.” Gideon crossed his arms.

  “I doubt the veil has ever been damaged before.” Darius picked the book up. “Maybe we need to look for something else.”

  “Like what?” Gideon rose from his seat.

  “Maybe your mother could help.”

  Gideon laughed. “My mother couldn’t stop something like this. She has power, but not the skill or desire to use it. Your mother, on the other hand — it sounds like something she could do.”

  Darius scoured the book again. Maybe Gideon had a point about his mother. This would be something she might do. His stomach twisted into knots. What if she was a suspect? He and Ambrose had spent hours going over who might have damaged the rift and what their reasons for doing so might be His father seemed like the logical choice, but despite his mother’s lust for power, he had never thought she would resort to endangering Erthea itself.

  “Keep looking through this. Maybe you can spot something. Look for anything that mentions the Archdruid’s connection to Erthea.” Darius handed his brother the book and headed to another section of the vault. He moved past the different rows of shelves until he came to an area where he knew Mercury kept her books. The door to the vault could be accessed from anywhere even if the Archdruid was thousands of leagues away.

  Darius hesitated. His mother kept her things hidden in here – hidden even from Fergus. She would flay him alive if he revealed her secrets to Gideon. He moved along the shelves until he found a black book. He pulled it down. Magic burned his fingers from the magic Mercury had placed there to protect and shield it. Darius doubted even his father ever got to view the pages of this book.

  “Malchem,” he muttered the words he knew his mother used to unlock it. The book finally snapped open. Words flashed in and out of existence. Mercury wrote all of her knowledge of spirits and sorcery in here. She had done so since she was a child.

  Show me how to break the veil. He couldn’t risk saying the words out loud for fear Gideon might hear him. Words appeared across the page. Only blood magic is strong enough to break through the veil.