by LJ Rivers
“And if we need to contact him again?”
Charlie pointed back at the town. “He’ll be busy for a while. And besides, if we can’t open the portal—which, by the way, you can—we’ll simply go back to Perllanafal and meet up with him there.”
The choppers had reached the town and were hovering a few yards over the street while dozens of tiny black dots rappelled down from them. The faint popping sounds of gunshots ensued. As we drifted further away, we saw flames and explosions, not knowing if they were generated by Travers’ army or the Mags of Perllanafal.
Charlie’s confidence in her boss was well placed. He had pulled all his strings, all the way up to the Prime Minister, and actually brought an army. The reeve and his town council would face their judgement.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We arrived on Bardsey Island at twilight. The sky was coloured pink and amber, and the sea gently lapped the shore. Visibility was dwindling when Jack scooped Lili up and carried her off the boat. Jen took her wheelchair, and the rest of us followed, Kit prancing ahead of our entourage and Bailey still in my grandmother’s lap. The island wasn’t exactly made for a wheelchair, so Jack kept Lili in his arms as we trudged up the hill.
Brendan held my left hand, while Charlie held the other. Last came Erica, who helped support my grandfather, making sure he didn’t slip and fall. I was thankful that the two wolves had come. This would have been a lot more challenging without them.
“Where to, Red?” Jen asked once we stood on the wide grass field, her body silhouetted against the dim light.
“This way.” I took the lead and guided them to the entrance of the cave.
Kit bounced onto the rocks and disappeared between the cracks that were too small for anyone else in our group to enter. Like I had before, I rolled the stones away with a few gestures of my hands, exposing the gaping mouth of the cave.
“Marvellous,” my grandfather said. “It’s been a while since we were down there, but if memory serves, it used to be rather dark.” He went over to Jen and retrieved two torches from a bag attached to the wheelchair.
“Rhys had them in his boat. Figured they might come in handy.” He gave one to Brendan and kept the other himself. “Want to do the honours, Ruby?”
I smiled at him and snapped a flame from my fingers to each of the torches. They came to life in a matter of seconds. “No time like the present.” I stepped into the shadows, and the rest followed. It was a rocky downward path, but the torches helped, and so did the ball of fire I had flitting ahead of us. Eventually, the cave opened up, and the ground levelled out.
Kit sat by the water’s edge, gazing at his own reflection and cleaning his paw with his tongue.
Brendan fitted the torches between a cluster of stalagmites and placed an arm around my waist. “This place is ridiculous.”
I surveyed the space. The cave walls loomed around us, and the call of the shadows was as strong as ever. I moved into the light. Every bone in my body ached, but this was our only chance. My grandparents couldn’t go back to Perllanafal, and the world outside was no place for them either. This had to work. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
“Not as impressive as you,” Brendan said, his lips brushing against my earlobe, “but it certainly calls for attention.”
Jen put the wheelchair down next to Llewellyn, and Jack gently lowered Lili into it.
“Thank you, young man,” Lili said. “Such a strong and handsome young wolf.”
“Don’t even mention it.” Jack winked at her, and his face lit up. He had the kind of beauty that wasn’t obvious at first glance, but that came to life when he smiled. He wasn’t pretty in the traditional sense. His nose was a little too broad and his cheeks a little too rounded, but the effect when his lips parted in a grin was striking. He was bound to break some poor woman’s heart someday. Still, he was no Brendan.
I hugged my boyfriend to me, then let go and turned to Charlie. “You have the book?”
“Yep.” She retrieved William’s book from her backpack and handed it to me.
My grandfather raised an eyebrow at me when I sat on the stone that had become my go-to seat in this place and put the book in my lap. My lips curved up. If he only knew where it had come from. Kit stopped admiring himself and sauntered over to lie by my feet as I found the bright blue ribbon I had used to mark the page I wanted. I opened the book and read the passage aloud, sending a silent apology to the Phoenix. Though I had tried, I couldn’t interpret the meaning on my own. “For all to gather, all to see, the power of the trinity, the holder of sacred blood and key, shalt open the door of infinity.” I shook my head. “I’m still not sure what it means exactly.”
“Well, I figure it has to do with the trinity, right?” Charlie pointed at the symbol on the other side of the pool.
“The chalice, the well, and the key.” Kit meowed softly, and I cradled the book. “But Auberon has the chalice, and he has Excalibur. How am I supposed to open the portal without it?”
“I think,” Charlie said, “that Auberon has it wrong. It’s not as literal an interpretation. It’s the trinity that matters, especially the part about ‘the holder of sacred blood and key’.”
“Right, but I’m supposedly the key. Presumably, anyway. Doesn’t that mean that Auberon could be a key himself since we share blood?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think it has to do with your blood. Specifically.”
Llewellyn nodded. “According to the Perllanafal history, Morgana created the portal. It stands to reason that only one of Pure Morgana blood would be able to open it. But not just any Morgana. Merlin, Nimue, and Morgana all had a part to play. The symbol doesn’t just reflect on the chalice, the well, and the key, but on the old rulers themselves. And you, annwyl, you have a piece of all of them. You’re the key. I’ve never been as certain of anything in my entire life.”
“But what about the other components?” I looked around and found a cluster of stalagmites near the water. With great care, I slipped the book behind it, as far in and out of sight as I could manage.
Charlie sighed. “The trinity is in your blood, Ru. You already have everything you need.”
“I—” The cogwheels in my mind ground to a halt, and the pieces snapped together. That was it. Merlin, Nimue, and Morgana. They were all a part of me, and I wasn’t just one part Fae, one part Sorceress, I was fully both, and together that created something else entirely. I’d had the power in my blood all along. Or at least once my ruby ring had been destroyed by Auberon, and my powers had been unleashed. I rubbed my thumb on the sapphire ring on my finger, which Mum had given me as a replacement. Was that Auberon’s plan all along? He had deliberately sought out Mum, a Pure Morgana, with one purpose in mind. To create a child who held the key in her very being, in her blood, biding his time until that child—me—had realised her full potential and became the key he needed to return. It made sense, in a twisted kind of way. “I think you’re right.” I rose and stepped to the water’s edge. “But how?”
“Follow your gut,” Lili said decisively, an eager and new spark in her eye. “You’ll know.”
I stared at the liquid surface and sucked in a breath. I would have to step through to the other side.
“It’s only knee deep, remember,” Charlie said.
“We’ve got your back,” Brendan chimed in.
“Only knee deep,” I repeated. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I should be able to deal with my feet getting wet. “All right, I’m ready.” Inhaling sharply, as if ready to plunge into unknown depths, I put one foot forward and let it sink. The water was oddly warm. Another step, and I froze. The water only reached to my ankles, but my heart pounded excruciatingly fast, as if trying to barrel through my chest. Come on, Ru, you can do this. You’ve faced worse than a pool of water. I had survived Harvesters, Jarl Colburn, and even a freaking manticore. This fear was irrational, I knew that, but my body fought my every move. It only knew that this was a deathtrap, and I was about to drown. But I w
asn’t. Get a grip and keep going. Your grandmother is counting on you. Another step. Another. I steadied my breathing and pushed on. If I stopped again, I wouldn’t be able to get across. The warm water washed over my knees, soaking through my jeans. Another step and I was back on solid ground. The hard rock dug into my back as I leaned against the wall, sucking in air. I was OK, all in one piece.
In the light of the torches, I could see Charlie grin at me and give me a thumb up. The wolves had shifted for some reason, and were circling the space. Probably to make better use of their senses in case any of the townspeople had followed us here, though they should hopefully all be occupied with the police. Llewellyn held Lili’s hand, and their faces looked at me with so much anticipation and hope that my heart burst for them. I would do everything in my power to make their dream come true.
“Now what?” I called.
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. Put your hands on the symbol, maybe? Call upon your ancestors. Something magical.”
“Thanks. That clears everything up.”
“Happy to help.”
I turned and stared at the symbol. It was about as tall as I was, the ridges set deep into the wall. I traced my fingers along the carvings, then leaned on it and reached for the very core of my magic. It simmered, then bubbled to life. Every part of my power surged through my veins, my blood boiling with as much anticipation as those behind me. Light flowed from my palms and spread out like the wings of a butterfly, flooding the cave in luminescent waves. My skin glowed in golden hues, and I willed the portal to open. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt my powers tumbling over one another, eagerly tasting the air.
The wall, however, stayed shut. Nothing moved, apart from my magic in the air. My heart sank, and I was on the verge of tears. It didn’t work. I let my hands drop, and my finger caught on a spike in the wall.
Ouch.
I sucked on my finger for a moment, tasting the blood in my mouth, then turned. Light reflected on the walls, and I stood like a torch myself. But it was nothing more than a display of what lay inside me.
I shook my head and met my grandfather’s eyes. His eyebrows dropped at the edges, and his gaze shone with oncoming tears. I had failed him. I had failed my grandmother, who desperately wanted to return to the land where they both believed she could heal. Perhaps we were all fools to believe in legends. I took a step back into the water, and a drop of blood fell from my finger to the dark liquid.
I gasped and took another step, then stopped cold. The single drop expanded across the surface as if I had poured a continuous stream of blood into it. The blue turned purple at first, then scarlet. The golden hues surrounding me spun across the walls and swooped down like a bolt of lightning, blending with the surrounding liquid. The water cast a red glow back on the walls, drowning the cave in scarlet. The still water began to stir and ripple, washing against my feet, slowly trickling away from the group on the other side and past me, leaving wet and slippery rocks exposed on the ground.
The white wolf padded to the edge and raised her magnificent head to me, crimson shades dancing in the otherwise icy blue depths of her eyes. My grandmother tugged at my grandfather’s arm. He followed her line of sight, and his jaw slackened. He pointed a shaky finger at something behind me.
I turned where I was.
A stream of scarlet snaked over the ground and into the ridges of the symbol on the wall, filling every crevice. The stream parted and found new paths across, slowly but surely completing the outline of the trinity. When the last drops met, the red water stilled and stayed where it was, suspended in the wall. I held my breath. With a burst of energy, the water splashed along the lines of the symbol, swimming faster, turning into a tsunami. The roar of the waves filled the cave, though the waves never left the symbol or plunged outward. Instead, it expanded across the stone and changed to purple yet again. It filled the entire circle, continuing in expanding ripples until it was a maelstrom that carried on into the space beyond. The purple shifted to blue, and the water stilled into a quiet, veiled waterfall. In the end it looked like a window of liquid, bright blue glass, and it appeared the sun was shining through from the other side.
“Spectacular.” Llewellyn’s voice was next to me.
I looked down. The pool of water was gone, and my feet were dry. Not a single drop was left.
“Santa Maria and all things holy,” Charlie exclaimed. “You did it!”
“I guess I did.” I blinked. Was this another dream? “Pinch me.”
Charlie sauntered to me, and did as I requested.
“Ouch.”
“You’re wide awake, Ru.” She giggled.
My grandfather sighed contentedly and folded an arm around me. “You are truly remarkable. I thank you. If I have any regrets, it’s that I never got to watch you grow up.”
“We got some time together, at least. And I’ll cherish that for the rest of my life,” I told him. “You can go now. Go home.”
He inclined his head. “Yes, I think we would like that, wouldn’t we, Lili Helene?”
I crouched by my grandmother’s side and ran my fingers down her cheek. “I’m happy for you.”
She smiled at me with Mum’s smile, tears shining in the crooks of her eyes. “Stay safe, my Guinevere. We love you.”
I hugged her and inhaled her scent one final time. Just like Mum’s. I may not have got to say a proper goodbye to my mum, and I hadn’t got to know my grandparents until the end, but I had known Mum all my life, and now I got to say goodbye to Lili and Llewellyn before they would drift out of my life again. Maybe my grandmother really would find salvation on the other side of that porth.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
I scratched Bailey gently between the ears. The cat purred but didn’t stir, so I rose and hugged my grandfather next. He patted my shoulders and grabbed the wheelchair, then pushed my grandmother forward to the blue veil. And stepped through.
“Goodbye,” I said quietly.
The wolves howled behind me and I spun back. Kit yowled and dashed to my side, hissing at something. A shadow stretched into the cave, and a figure emerged from the darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The clopping of Gilroy Yeats’ hoofs echoed through the cave as he entered, horned and eight feet tall, eyes glowing red. The copper wolf growled, and his fur spiked as he set his sight on the reeve. They stared at one another as the creature that was Yeats the Satyr stepped to the side to let someone else pass.
My father strode into the cave, his cane swinging by his side. My breath hitched, and my nostrils flared. Next to him stood Gemma. My blood boiled at the sight of my mum’s killer. She wouldn’t escape me. Not again.
A feral snarl bounced off the walls as the white wolf caught sight of the fox. Jen leapt forward, teeth bared to strike. Gemma pivoted and swung her sword. My sword. Felicia. She cut through the air. Jen changed her course mid-leap, white fur spiralling everywhere as the blade slashed through it. She landed paws first on the reeve. They tumbled over each other while Gemma’s cackle filled my ears.
Jen broke free and lunged for Gemma again. Meanwhile, the other two wolves bounced forward. Yeats lowered his horned head and charged. The grey and black wolf that was Erica leapt sideways, but Jack wasn’t as fast. The Satyr slammed into the copper wolf and sent him flying. Jack hurled through the air, crashing through stalactites in his path before slamming into the wall. The copper wolf yelped and curled up.
Kit hissed again and started pacing in front of me, tail raised and back arched.
I sent a force field around the copper wolf, and Yeats bounced back when he attempted another strike. Low growls sounded from the mouth of the cave. Three wolves slinked inside, all silver-grey. Vaughn, the Hopkins alpha, and his beta, Rhod, as well as Osian.
Son of Merlin.
Jen and Erica snarled at the newcomers. Next to Hopkins himself, Gemma gestured for Jen to come closer. Outnumbered, however, Jen backed up, shielding her beta with her body.
> “What’s the matter, pup?” Gemma sneered. “Don’t you want to rip my throat out?”
Jen growled back but kept retreating.
“Get behind me,” I said to Brendan and Charlie.
Charlie grimaced. “No way. I’ve got my wand, and I won’t run and hide.”
“Nor will I,” Brendan said.
“But—” I shook my head. “B! You don’t even have a weapon.”
He kicked at a stalagmite protruding from the ground and grabbed it as it came loose. “I do now.”
“Be careful!”
My friends started forward when my father smashed his cane into the ground, commanding everyone to attention.
“Silence,” Auberon bellowed.
Gemma clamped her mouth shut, and Jen carefully continued her retreat, head low, eyes on her target, her attention firmly on the newcomers. Jack limped to his pack, and all three of them moved to my side. I put a hand on Jen’s head and looked into my father’s eyes.
“What is she doing by your side, wielding my sword?” I hissed, indicating Gemma.
My father squared his shoulders and patted Gemma on her head. “I would have liked it to be you standing in her place.”
Gemma narrowed her gaze at him, but said nothing.
“But while you’ve decided to be difficult, Gemma has proven her worth to me. She is loyal and follows my every demand, as a good soldier ought to, and I have promised her a place in my royal guard as captain.”
Gemma smiled then.
“She does whatever you say?” I bit back. “Why did you have her kill my mum?”
Auberon’s eyes blazed with fury. He grabbed Gemma by the throat and lifted her from the ground. “You did what?” His voice boomed, making me cringe.
“I saw an opportunity,” Gemma croaked. “She was a disruption, and I took her out of the equation.” She gasped for air. “Without Elaine, Ruby would only have you. I thought, perhaps then, that she would realise she belonged with you.”
