It smelled of old rock and earth and mineral-filled water, smells I was used to from my home belowground in Otherworld.
When we reached the room, we walked over the threshold. My lips parted in surprise. Steps led down into a huge cavern filled with hundreds of thousands of stones with hundreds of candles lit among them.
Due to the imprint of Bryna’s essence, I shouldn’t have been surprised at the immensity of the cavern, but for some reason I was. Seeing it for myself as opposed to her memories was like the difference between a dream and reality.
“Amory calls this the Room of Life.” My heart sank as I walked down the steps into the cavern. “How will we ever find Angel, Olivia, and Lawan here?” Or Tristan. What about my brother?
An overwhelming feeling of helplessness made my human body feel even weaker and more impotent than it already was. I glanced behind me and saw that Colin had dropped his glamour. His blond hair shown in the flickering light of the candles.
“For that matter,” I added, “what about the Paranorm Council members and anyone else we know? Bryna has no idea. How will we find them?”
Colin rested his hand on my shoulder and warmth from his palm caused a small shiver to run through me. “We’ll figure it out, Nyx,” he said in his deep, compelling voice.
“One way or another.” I responded with a firm nod, trying to add conviction to my tone.
Colin let his hand slide away from my shoulder as we walked through rows of stones and stones and more stones. I missed the warmth of his touch and had the entirely irrational desire for him to hold me.
My focus needed to shift completely to the job at hand. Why was I having such strange thoughts now? It must have been the Host body or Bryna making me feel that way.
Throughout the room the candles were too many to count. Their flames danced and bobbed and caused the stones to glitter like Christmas lights woven through tree branches in New York City.
I paused and started to pick up a stone before I snatched my hand back. “Don’t touch,” I said. “Bryna doesn’t think anything would happen, but she doesn’t know for sure.”
We both stared at the stone that I’d almost picked up. A well-built man who could have been an athlete was staring out at us. I wondered how long he’d been in the stone. Who he was. How he’d gotten there.
I tore my gaze away from the image of the man and Colin and I kept walking and looking. Some of the stones looked dark, empty.
“If the stone doesn’t have a face in it, that means the Host body died.” My voice echoed in the cavern. I felt a twist in my belly at the thought that maybe that had happened to one of my friends or Tristan, and Bryna just didn’t know about it.
My search through the room for stones with the essences of people I cared about grew more and more frantic. “Where are they?” I whispered to Colin. “How are we ever going to find anyone we know here?”
“We will be able to return and locate all of them.” Colin’s tone was so positive, so confident that I paused to look up at him. Determination was etched on his strong features.
The sense of urgency I felt only increased as I went up one aisle of stones and down another. My hip brushed a stand and the stones on it rocked. One of them threatened to roll off and I caught my breath.
As the stone came to a rest in an indentation of the granite stand, my breath left me in a rush. The face inside the stone was of a young woman with long blond hair and wide brown eyes, like she was perpetually surprised. I’d almost killed her with my carelessness in this Host body. Yes, Candace wasn’t graceful like the Elves, but that only meant I needed to be more careful.
It made my heart twist to see someone so young trapped like that. Unless we found her Host body, she would be inside the stone forever.
The prickling sensation behind my Host’s eyes was familiar, but then the sensation of something on my face made me pause. I touched my cheek. It was damp. In surprise I drew my hand away and looked at my fingertips. They glistened with moisture in the candlelight.
“A tear.” I looked up at Colin in shock. “I have tears.”
“You’re crying.” He reached up and brushed wetness across my opposite cheek with his thumb with concern in his eyes. “Are you all right?”
I gave a slow nod and touched my face again. “Dark Elves don’t have tear ducts. We can’t cry.”
“I think you can cry, Nyx.” Colin pushed hair behind my ear. “You simply cry without tears.”
“It’s not the same.” I wiped the moisture from beneath my eyes. “It feels almost freeing to be able to cry with tears.”
Colin gave me a gentle smile, then surprised me by kissing my forehead. He let his lips linger for a moment before he drew away. “Come.” He took my hand. “We should hurry if we are going to find your friends.”
Warmth from his hand spread throughout me and I still felt the imprint of his lips on my forehead. A tickle grew in my belly, a feeling of awareness of him not only as a friend, but as an entirely desirable male.
Keeping Adam out of my mind wasn’t easy at all. Just finding Colin attractive made me think about Adam.
I needed focus and I needed it now.
“I wish I had my Drow senses to search for them.” I released Colin’s hand. “And my command of the elements.”
“My Dragon senses will help.” Colin ran his gaze over the enormous cavern. “I’ve met Olivia, Lawan, and Angel, which will make it feasible.”
“Let’s split up,” I said and we started searching in earnest for my friends.
I wondered how impossible it might be to find my brother among the countless stones around us without my senses or magic on my side. I doubted Colin could find Tristan since they’d never met.
We must have been searching for over an hour when Colin caught my attention with a wave. “I think I found your partner.”
“Olivia?” I rushed toward Colin then had to slow down because my clumsy human Host body nearly knocked a couple of stones off their perches.
When I reached Colin, who was in a crouch, I knelt before the stone he was studying.
“You found Olivia.” My heart pounded and I stared at my friend whose face looked out from the stone. Not surprisingly, she looked pissed. For some reason that made me smile a little. As if that meant she was all right and that she’d be okay.
I dug in my pocket and pulled out one of the cloths Desmond had given me. I almost touched the stone, then remembered I was supposed to trap it in the cloth without touching it. I managed to do it and gripped it tight in my hand, so afraid to drop it that the fear was almost immobilizing.
“Thank you.” I tucked the stone into my pocket and then reached up and kissed Colin on the cheek. “Thank you for finding her.”
His skin was warm against my lips and I drew in the smoky sandalwood scent of him. My face went hot when I realized what I’d just done and I backed away. Colin was smiling and I turned away, hoping my Host’s face wasn’t too red.
We continued searching. And searching. And searching. Having found Olivia made me feel a little lighter in spirit, but really not much. We may have located her stone, but it was a long road to get her essence back into her own body, and to solve this whole Zombie mess.
At least an hour later, Colin said, “Here is Angel.” His voice had made my heart jump and I turned to see him beside a stand of several stones. I hurried to him and saw that it included one with Angel in it and her distinctive corkscrew curls around her face.
A huge measure of relief poured through me as I handed Colin a cloth. “Two. You found two.”
He eased the cloth over Angel’s stone, then wrapped the stone safely inside it. He slipped it into his pocket. I took Olivia’s out of my own pocket and handed it to him. “It’s too dangerous for Amory to catch his niece with stones belonging to Earth Otherworlders,” I said. He took it and put hers away, as well.
With more hope than I’d had before, I turned to continue looking.
Colin grabbed my upper arm and jerke
d me to a stop. “My Dragon senses tell me someone is coming,” he said as I brought my gaze around to look at him.
“It’s the Sorcerer Amory,” Colin added before he slipped into a glamour and faded away.
THIRTY-FIVE
Friday, December 31
Afternoon
My heart pounded harder. Blood rushed in my ears. I whirled to face the doorway.
I drew from Bryna’s essence and straightened in my Host body. I pulled back my shoulders, forced a smile, and prayed that he couldn’t tell that Colin and I had taken Olivia’s and Angel’s stones.
“Uncle Amory,” I said the moment the big male walked through the archway, and I started toward him, making my way down the rows and rows of stones. My body grew hot as I hoped he had no way of sensing that two stones had been removed.
Then I realized I’d just spoken in the French-sounding language without even thinking about it. What came naturally to Bryna must come naturally to me.
It was interesting, feeling like I did in Bryna’s world. I didn’t have to try and be her, it just came to me, as though it was who I was. As Nyx I could control it, but it came naturally, like someone almost acting in character. An actor becomes the character and in a scene doesn’t just become himself. He knows he can control it. This was similar. Only I didn’t have to try to act. It just happened. Although I controlled Bryna, I could come out of character at any time.
The Sorcerer hadn’t looked surprised to see a stranger in his Room of Life. He came to a stop, clearly waiting for me. “Bryna,” he said as if he’d already known who I was before calling him uncle.
Had the guards told him? Or had he known in some magical way?
Amory’s power was so palpable that even my human Host body recognized his magical strength. Bryna’s essence backed up that awareness, telling me that the Sorcerer’s power went beyond what most beings could imagine.
However, I was used to the Great Guardian, so I could imagine a lot.
When I reached him, the Sorcerer engulfed me in a strong embrace. His arms felt like steel bands around me and I winced from the pain he caused my Host body’s scrapes and bruises when he squeezed.
“Bryna,” Amory said. “I am most grateful to have you back with me.” His voice was a low growl as he added, “Una and Tieve almost paid with their lives when they gave me the news that you had been injured and taken to an infirmary.”
“It is good to be back,” I said as my stomach twisted, knowing that his powerful Host could physically crush mine. I hoped Amory wouldn’t sense me inside of Candace’s mind and body. The fact that Colin was near in his Dragon glamour made me feel slightly more at ease. Only slightly because I knew Colin was no match for the Sorcerer magically.
Amory was so tall his roughly woven tunic scratched the side of my face. At least it was the side not scraped up from Bryna’s tumble onto the asphalt when she was hit.
Bryna’s essence relayed how strange it still was to see him this way when she was used to a frail, brittle-looking old man. Her essence also told me that despite her close relationship with her uncle, his power and his bursts of anger sometimes frightened her. She would never show that he scared her, but the fact was he did.
Amory kissed my cheek and I tried not to shudder because the monster was touching me. I tilted my head and gave his jaw a light kiss like Bryna always did. My stomach churned the moment my lips touched his face.
The Sorcerer drew away. “I am so pleased to see you, niece.” He smiled, his straight, perfect teeth white against his dark complexion, and Bryna recalled how yellowed and crooked his teeth had been in his old body. She much preferred this Host body he was now in.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about his new Host. He was so incredibly physically strong that he could easily crush this human Host that I was in. He wouldn’t even need magic to hurt me.
All I had was Bryna’s knowledge and my own wits to get me through this. Which I was seriously beginning to doubt after my lack of focus so far today.
“Did Una and Tieve come back with you?” Amory asked as he patted my shoulders then released me.
I shook my head. “I haven’t seen them.”
The Sorcerer frowned. “They did not recover you from the Earth Otherworld? Then how did you escape?”
He could have looked into my mind but Bryna’s essence told me that he respected his niece enough to not do that. At least most of the time.
“It was uneventful. When I recovered, I found an opportune time to escape.” I’d already rehearsed this part. “This Host’s clothing was in the room and I changed into it then slipped away when no one was looking,” I said. “Then I went to the portal as fast as I could.”
Amory’s callused fingers were warm as he touched the side of my face. A frown crossed his strong features. “You were injured.”
I nodded. “This Host body is bruised and scraped, but I am well.”
“Una and Tieve are at fault for this.” Amory’s words were harsh, angry.
My natural inclination to protect almost overrode Bryna’s much less caring essence. “Tieve almost lost my stone.” I brushed my hand over my pocket, hoping Amory didn’t sense the keystone, too. “I almost died to save it.”
“What were you doing in the Room of Life, Bryna?” the Sorcerer asked in a soft, firm tone that had an edge of warning to it. And suspicion?
Even without magic I thought I felt Colin stiffen beside me while still in his Dragon’s glamour.
“After my near-death experience in the Earth Otherworld,” I said, carefully drawing upon Bryna’s essence, “I felt the need to be among life. I thought of the Room of Life and how you find solace in it, and came here to renew myself before locating you.”
“Your Host must be sealed soon.” Amory met my gaze and a sick feeling dropped to my toes. “It is dangerous to be amongst occupied stones when you have not been sealed. You know this, Bryna.”
The thumping of my heart and the perspiration breaking out along my skin was going to give me away if it didn’t slow down. This was happening too fast. I couldn’t let him seal me into this Host and it was too soon to leave. It created too much risk to transfer back later.
I took a huge inward sigh of relief when Amory added, “However, it must wait until after the meeting with my Inner Circle. I am pleased you shall make it this time. I have much to tell you all that is of great importance.”
“Of course, Uncle Amory.” I gave a low bow of my head. “Not only are you my favorite uncle, but I am ever at your service.”
The Sorcerer put his hand on my shoulder and started to guide me out of the enormous cavern. He paused to look down at me. “It is good to see you before you return to the Earth Otherworld, Bryna, to serve in your new Host’s position.”
“It is good to be home,” I replied before he led me up the stairs and over the threshold, back into the manor. “As much of a home as we could call Doran after twenty years,” I added and when Amory nodded in knew I’d said the right thing.
Bryna’s confidence in herself made it easier to hide my unease at being in the Sorcerer’s company. Knowing Colin was nearby helped immeasurably.
We walked across the great hall, rounded a corner, and headed down another hallway. Everything was familiar thanks to Bryna.
When we entered the Inner Circle chamber we went down several steps. The sheer size of the enormous round room amazed me despite having Bryna’s knowledge of it. The chamber was at least the size of a basketball court.
Eleven faces stared back at me from a round table. I offered a haughty expression. It was expected in keeping with Bryna’s attitude and her position as Amory’s niece and confidante as well as an advisor.
Like we’d seen in the detention center, all of the Kerran Sentients who had not taken Host bodies had long, delicate fingers, small ears, and petite noses.
Present was the obnoxious Jalen in his new Host body that Bryna had seen only once on the day she’d departed. Also in their new Hosts were Fala, L
eeLa, and Xella.
Most of the other advisors were still in their old Host bodies but preparing for their trip to the Earth Otherworld to secure their new ones.
Not if I could help it.
“Bryna is back in our Inner Circle.” Amory presented me to the group with a genuine smile. “Her new Host is Candace Moreno, and she is the CEO of a brokerage house in the Earth Otherworld’s Manhattan.”
The advisors each gave me a nod. Bryna knew she wasn’t popular among the advisors. The real Bryna didn’t care if she was accepted by any one of them, or not.
I took one of the two empty chairs that were side-by-side at the circular table. Bryna always sat beside Amory at the meetings. All of the advisors seated themselves, including me, when Amory made a slight gesture with his hands.
The wooden chair was hard and I winced from the press of it against the back of my bruised thigh.
Amory’s voice boomed throughout the room. “All of the Hosts brought over after the mass takeover at the theater have been sealed and returned to the Earth Otherworld.”
My stomach flipped and my throat and mouth felt dry. Angel. Angel must have been sealed. Had her Host body returned with the others?
The Sorcerer gave a sardonic nod to Jalen. “This was accomplished thanks in great part to Advisor Jalen who worked tirelessly until the very last of our people were sealed into their new Hosts.”
Jalen scowled and I hid a smile that Bryna would have given. She despised Jalen and it was obvious that whatever it was he’d had to do hadn’t been enjoyable by any means.
One thing was true—Bryna loved her uncle even though she feared him, and she didn’t like how Jalen normally spoke to him.
Jalen’s Host’s face grew red with anger and it was easy to see that he wanted to say something. For once the big ass kept his mouth shut. At least that was Bryna’s opinion of the scowling male—an ass.
I turned my attention to Amory as he said, “As we have planned, and you are just now hearing, Bryna, we will be able to take as many as half a million Hosts in one night.”
The statement slammed me with the force of a tsunami that made my head swim and my mind whirl.
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