Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “How do we know that this isn’t just some scheme to get us out of the way, so then she can swoop right in there and play me, fooling him for the rest of his life?” Sophia took a deep breath and said,

  “Because she knows that you are the prophecy and without you to fulfil it the ‘rest of his life’ you speak of wouldn’t actually be that long. Not only that, the Oracle can’t lie and you know for yourself, as we all do, what she has foretold from her own lips.” Well I guessed this part was true.

  “Ranka knows this and doesn’t wish to risk his life, let alone the world she has sworn to protect, just for a night with my brother…who by the way, isn’t a fool and who knows you very well…well enough to know the difference from just one conversation with you.” Okay so she had a lot of massive points with this little speech and it hit its mark in making me feel better.

  “Alright, so what you’re saying is, she is on our side?”

  “Yes, that’s what I am saying.”

  For the rest of the way to Witley Court our conversation was mainly focused on the wild night Pip had with Adam, telling us both that we had been right. Well I wasn’t about to tell her that I asked him to show his wife an especially good time for the rest of the night because she was feeling left out. But I was happy that both Sophia and Pip’s last nights with their husbands were fulfilling and memorable. Although with poor Ari I couldn’t tell what was going on in that mind of hers as only her eyes gave her away.

  I’d tried once again to get something out of her but she was locked up tight. She told me not to worry and that she just needed space and time, two things she would most definitely get on this trip. In fact, out of us all, she seemed to be looking forward to this the most but this wasn’t surprising all things considered, not when we were all leaving behind men we loved. And Ari and Vincent, well right now I didn’t know what they were but after last night, I gathered annoyance played a bigger part than anything else.

  Getting to the venue didn’t take long and instead of going in through the main entrance we went along a dirt track and pulled up right outside the main building. I remembered both times arriving here before, once was with bitch face who ended up double crossing me by trying to get me imprisoned in Hell, and then I was here with a load of Hellhound bikers. Each one of those time had been nerve wracking, for different reasons but this time was a whole new ball game, one I didn’t particularly want to play.

  We all got out and the first thing I noticed was all the people rushing around. They were carrying stunning flower arrangements, piles of material, trays and other catering equipment and even instruments.

  “Won’t they see us when we…you know.” I asked nodding to all the people busying themselves.

  “Nope, I will be on the case!” Pip said so I reached back into the limo and grabbed my bag, knowing how important its contents were.

  “Right, it’s time to put this on.” Sophia said handing me a blindfold.

  “And why am I putting this on again?” I asked sceptically.

  “Because I want it to be a surprise and it’s only half done,” she told me and Pip added,

  “It will give you something to look forward to when you get back.” I laughed and replied,

  “Oh I think there will be quite a lot I will be looking forward to getting back to, Pip.”

  “Play nice.” She warned as she reached up and placed the black sash across my eyes. Then I felt each of my hands being held and I could tell one was Sophia’s and the other was Pip’s. I let them lead me further up towards the broken shell of the grand house with nothing to guide me but their hands and the crunch of gravel beneath my feet.

  “Let’s go around this way, no steps to contend with then. Ari are you alright with those bags?” Sophia said, instructing the others and I couldn’t help it but I started giggling.

  “Get a grip, Jim.” Pip told me and I had no idea this time what it was a reference to.

  “Are we nearly there yet?” I asked, this time making Pip giggle and it quickly became one of those moments where you would prefer to be laughing at nothing than crying at everything.

  “Okay we are here!” Sophia announced but then quickly added a rule.

  “You can’t look around okay, so no peeking.” I nodded and let them remove the blindfold, flooding my vision with light. I blinked a few times, looking up to see it was a beautiful sunny day and I found myself hoping that it stayed that way for when we got back.

  “Ranka, I see you made it.” Sophia said bringing attention to the fact it was no longer just the four of us. I looked at her sat on the small wall that circled the fountain and I wondered how long she had been there. She was dressed the same as I saw her the last time and she looked like she had just stepped out of a Robin Hood book before jumping straight into Arabian nights and out again.

  She stood and nodded in respect first to Sophia and then me.

  “Of course, for it is my duty,” she replied sternly giving nothing away and she reminded me very much of someone answering a Sargeant in the army.

  “Thank you for coming.” I told her and the look she gave me was one I couldn’t really say for sure but it looked close to shock. She nodded again, without saying anything.

  “Hi, I’m Ari.” Again this just prompted a nod from her with a curt,

  “Ranka.”

  “Okay.” Ari whispered looking back at me as if to say, ‘Jeez, hard work much?’

  “Rakshasi,” Pip said severely, which was a tone I wasn’t used to hearing coming from Pip.

  “Imp,” she replied just as harshly and that confirmed it, these two did not like each other.

  “Right, it’s show time girls, Keira, do your thing.” I nodded to Sophia, as she obviously could feel the tension mounting as much as I could. So I passed Pip my bag to hold as I dug through it. Then I pulled out the tender sweet gift Draven had given me and I felt a painful pull in my heart. Ari’s comforting hand squeezed my forearm bringing me back from the guilt trip and she said,

  “Do you want me to do it?” I nodded and said,

  “I just don’t think I can.”

  “We understand, don’t we girls?” I looked at each of them and they held sadness and understanding in their eyes for me…all but Ranka.

  I let Ari take the frame from me and because there was no other way of getting inside she held it high, closed her eyes and smashed it against the stone wall surround the fountain. She winced as we all did at the sound of glass shattering. I couldn’t help feel as though it was a symbolic moment, signifying what it was we were about to do. I couldn’t look at the broken pieces of Draven’s gift but instead just held my hand out for the coin. Then I looked up at the half-naked Andromeda, closed my eyes and said a silent prayer before throwing the coin into the fountain. When I opened them again I couldn’t help but notice the curious look Ranka was giving me.

  This time when it happened, I knew what to expect and when the water started to ripple and wave, it meant that the floor was moving underneath. What quickly followed were large stepping stones emerging from the murky water as they floated up one by one.

  “I knew I should have brought a damn umbrella.” I complained not even thinking back to last time.

  “Lucky then I didn’t forget!” Pip shouted as she pulled out four compact umbrellas for everyone, well everyone except Ranka.

  “Squeak, you’re a genius,” I told her and she just grinned back at me.

  “We will pass one back to you.” I said to Ranka, much to Pip’s annoyance. Oh yeah, I would be asking Pip about this at the first opportunity I got.

  Then one by one we all clicked our umbrellas up and I had to laugh when I saw they all read ‘Shit, it’s raining’ on the top. I went first, leading the way along the slippery wet stones until reaching the entrance at the end. Then I put mine down and passed it to Pip, who growled at having to pass it back to Sophia, then to Ari, who passed it to Ranka. The powerful spray battered down against our umbrellas and it was a deafening sound making us
all thankful to get inside.

  We set off down the tunnel and again I wanted to groan at the sight of so many stairs!

  “I forgot a flashlight.” I told them and Pip being Pip jumped and hopped past me, lighting the way with her phone. So far so good I thought, knowing we made a pretty good team. It didn’t take as long as I remembered last time but I was definitely putting it down to the difference in company.

  “Wow, what is this place?” Ari said as we walked through into the Janus Temple. It was an octagon shaped room that branched off in eight different directions.

  “This is home to all portal doors that lead into the various dimensions of our world.” Sophia told her.

  “Yeah, Heaven and Hell are pretty big places you know.” I grinned at Pip’s little addition to the conversation and I continued doing so when remembering back to my own reaction at first seeing this incredible place. It looked more like a giant’s library than a place used to travel back and to through dimensions.

  “What are all the markings above the doors?” Ari asked softly, almost as if scared that if she spoke too loud she would wake up that giant.

  “The Keystones…think of them as kind of addresses.”

  “Or funky place names.” Sophia and Pip answered one after the other, and both of them were being a lot more helpful than the cow bag I was in here with last time.

  “And here is what powers them all… The first Janus gate.” I said coming to stand in front of the magnificent sight of water defying gravity, which made sense when you thought about it, considering that going back in time was also defying the laws of nature.

  “It’s incredible,” Ari uttered and for a moment we all stood there watching it, giving it the time and respect it deserved. It was a huge circular fountain that flowed upwards and there was no explanation to where the water came from, or even travelled to. It reached the bottom of where we stood, all the way up to the mighty height of the ceilings above. It was big enough that it could fit my truck in the middle and it not even get wet.

  “So do we just jump in or…,” Ari’s question trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders when Pip and Sophia looked at her.

  “We don’t really know,” they replied.

  “You mean you guys never used this before?” Oh dear, I knew what was coming straight after this question but it surprised me who it came from.

  “The gate of gates has never been used before, not successfully.” I groaned out loud and said,

  “Okay, thank you Miss Positive. Let’s focus on the doing and not the terrifying.” I said making her actually smirk at me…wow, was that a hint of personality there?

  “When she says not successfully…she doesn’t mean…?” I heard Ari asking Sophia behind me and thankfully her reply had a bit more tact that Ranka’s had.

  “What time do you intend to travel back to?” Ranka asked me and I looked dumbfounded for a minute.

  “Uh…come again?” I said and she motioned me off to one side so we could speak privately.

  “You didn’t know that the first person to go inside determines what time they travel back to?” Okay so I was thinking this was something I should have been told, say a freakin week ago!

  “No, I didn’t know that.” I told her truthfully.

  “If I may offer some advice.” I nodded for her to continue and she looked touched that I was listening to her.

  “The further back you go the better.”

  “Why?” She took a moment as if trying to find the right words and then laid it out for me as honestly as she could without degrading the image she held of her master.

  “Because he cared little for consequences back then, not as he does now and therefore was more inclined to take what he wanted, without the restraints of what time can build…you understand?” I bit my lip and nodded slowly, knowing exactly what she meant and suddenly it all made sense why I had experienced that dream. I knew it wasn’t as if I could go back to a few years before I actually met Draven and before the Oracle told him that his actions would cause my death. Because even when we first met, the struggle Draven had with himself in what he wanted and what was right would only happen again the way it did.

  No, I knew Ranka was right, and as much as I hated to admit it, considering the version of Draven I had seen in my dreams scared me, I still knew that I needed to go back much further than what I would have liked.

  “Thank you for your advice,” I told her, giving her the benefit of the doubt.

  “You are welcome, my Queen.” She called me this as a statement of respect and I was touched by it as it couldn’t have been easy, not for someone who was in love with my husband.

  “Call me Keira.” I told her winking and I was shocked to see her blush.

  “So we gonna do this shit or what?!” Pip shouted obviously getting territorial with me talking to Ranka.

  “See you back here in a few minutes of your time.” I told her and she nodded telling me first,

  “Please be careful,” she told me, again shocking me with her concern that I could tell wasn’t at all faked.

  “Right, let’s do this.” I said pulling Pythia’s necklace out of my jeans pocket and putting it around my head.

  “Really Pip?” I said as she started playing ‘Highway to Hell’ by ‘ACDC.’

  “What? We needed a theme song for this trip,” she said in her defence. I shrugged my shoulders and thought, what the Hell, she had a point.

  “So what do we do, just step into the road?” Ari asked not knowing what else to call it.

  “Where we’re going, we don't need roads,” Pip said and Ari looked sideways at me looking confused,

  “It’s from another movie.” I told her forgetting that she wasn’t yet used to ‘Pip speak’.

  “It’s a bit like the Fellowship of the Ring, only we would have to rename it ‘Fellowship of the Baby Makers’ which I have to say, doesn’t sound that cool at all.” Sophia and I laughed at Pip, leaving poor Ari yet again confused.

  “Melon Mates it is then.” I joked then we all held hands.

  “I’m afraid I missed that conversation,” Ari said dryly and I smirked.

  “It’s okay, you can feel our tits on the other side, if we don’t get fried of course!” Sophia said and I shook my head wondering what I was getting myself into with this loving band of misfits, myself included.

  “Here’s to mission impossible!” Pip shouted and I jokingly said,

  “I think they’ve already made that movie.

  “What about Journey Impossible?” Ari asked getting into the flow.

  “Yeah, I like it…To Journey Impossible,” I said before holding my breath and being the first one to step forward…

  Into the past

  Chapter 36

  Unknown Arrows

  I don’t know what I was expecting but waking up with sand in my mouth and the baking sun on my back wasn’t it. I opened my eyes and it hurt, blinding me as though I was stood under the Spanish sun in August. My mind was blurry and still trying to piece together all that had just happened. I remembered holding hands, thinking back to my dream and being the first one to step in. But what about the rest of them…had they followed me?

  I pushed myself up and wiped the sand from my face. Then I looked round seeing the heat haze in the distance, rising up as if I was looking through fire. There was nothing for miles but sand and no sign of my friends. I got to my feet, not allowing myself to give in to panic and I dusted myself off creating clouds of sand to fall around me.

  “Sophia! Ari! Pip!” I shouted them one by one but heard nothing back. Had I been the only one to come through the gate?

  “Where is everyone?” I asked myself out loud. Again I squinted, looking out to the endless vast sands only to find myself nowhere. There were sand dunes to one side and I decided it best to climb one as my friends might have been on the other side, like me waking to find themselves alone. I started up the hill and walking in the soft sand wasn’t as easy as it looked. I liked warm we
ather but right now I think I would have given anything to swap this sand for snow.

  By the time I finally made it to the top I was gasping for breath and sweating a bucket load. But it had been worth it, for what I found might not have been my comrades, but it was the reason we had come here. It was a city…

  “Ctesiphon.” I remembered when Pythia had told me about this place. But more importantly who I would have to meet once inside it,

  “Arsaces of Parthia, the King of Kings.” It would be strange knowing him by this name but stranger still would be seeing him in this new unknown world. As I looked out to that sand coloured city I knew that the sooner I ventured into its high walls, the sooner I would be going back home.

  But first I needed to find my friends. So with this in mind I started walking and I did so cursing the damn Stairmaster that I never got around to ordering. I think it was time to admit that getting fit for my next adventure was going to have to be a priority because this was getting ridiculous. I wasn’t even a quarter way to its gigantic gates and I was out of breath, hot and sweaty and could have drunk a lake dry. But more than this my anxiety levels were through the roof considering I always thought I would be doing this with Sophia, Pip and Ari by my side. Now though, I wasn’t even sure they had made it through? What if the Janus gate would only let one of us in?

  Then what? What did that mean for the prophecy and what Pythia had told us of the Fates? It was all so confusing and this long walk ahead offered me too much time to get even more frustrated. The city still looked miles away and I could see shadowed images in the distance as the wind blew the sands into small tornados that caressed the ground.

  I untied the zip-up sweater I had around my waist to put over my head to shield me from the wild sands. What was that moving closer to me? In the end the wind dropped and I never got to find out as the sound of horses behind me drew my attention elsewhere. Suddenly there were six men on horseback surrounding me and I couldn’t be sure but they didn’t look like guards. They rode around me at speed, kicking up the sand in my face, telling me pretty quickly that they weren’t friendly.