128
David
My lips twitched. “We… assembled puzzles when I was sick.”
I remember sniffling a lot but being so happy to have some of my father’s attention. It was the only kindness, the only softness, he ever showed me.
“It’s… odd to think of him now and not feel… furious, I guess.”
Trent pat me on the shoulder. “So often is it that we only find peace after our aggressors are dead. What are you thinking?”
“These blocks need to be in a specific order.” I pushed the black wolf blocks to the bottom right since it seemed to be a corner. “It’s supposed to tell a story.”
Amos hummed. “There’s something about the sea. The heart of the sea? The waves of the sea?”
I scanned the door looking for something that looked like waves or water related, then, I saw the symbol of a shell.
“To the east, the cove of shells… A treasure to those below.”
Amos snapped his fingers. “Beware the furious seat, where brave hearts dare to go.”
I moved the shell down towards the bottom and started to assemble the pieces that looked like waves and pushed it to the right.
“The center is a compass,” I said, laughing a little as I realize that the image was supposed to be in four quadrants. I pushed the wave pictures and the shell to the east. Then, I separated some of the other pieces to different quadrants based on the way the pieces were shaped. When I finished most of the east, the edge of the frame runed gold and the edges of other pieces turned gold. The black wolf was in the wrong place since the entire thing was outline in gold, but it wasn’t big enough be an entire quadrant. I shifted it up, but when I pushed it into the middle, it locked in place, that the wolf’s eyes turned purple like glowing purple gems had been embedded in it.
“Holy shit…” Trent whispered.
The more lines of the poem I or Amos remembered, the easier assembling and moving the pieces around came. To the east, was the image of Shell Cove. Beneath that sections waves went a gilded, sparkling image of Atlantis and a swimming figure of Poseidon and his son, Triton. Above that was an image of the sky, complete with each phase of the moon. Each piece looked like it had been carved from moonstone.
To the west, were images of dragons in the sky and tall mountains. The dragons flapped their wings and blew fire every once in a while. Below them, there were the forests where elves and fairies seemed to peak from around the trees. Further down the shore line was a witch’s coven gathered around a cauldron that smoked. As soon as I slid the last block into place. Every image stared to move and golden trim, grew and merged together into a solid double door.
“Well, hell, kid,” Amos said. “I didn’t know you were good at puzzles.”
“Another thing… we did when I was sick,” I said.
The wolf turned again and walked to the edge of the shore. A witch followed, an elf followed, a dragon landed beside them and a merman walked out of the water. Slowly, two doorknobs seemed to melt and form out of the gold.
With a trembling hand, I carefully reached out to turn one of the doors, but it didn’t turn.
“Something’s missing,” I said, looking at the door. I stepped back looking for some clue about what it was.
“I think I know,” Trent said. He turned out the lights and cast a spell like a small moon in the room. The moonstone crystals flashed and began to draw the light in.
The wolf lifted its head as if it howled. The witch lifted her hands. The dragon blew fire into the sky. The elf lifted her glowing staff. The fairy sent up a bolt of sparkling light, and the merman lifted his trident with another bolt of light.
Then, a soft click filled the air from the door and the doors creaked open.
I could barely breathe. A surge of anticipation washed through me. It was dark beyond the door. Nothing but humid air came out, but I could feel energy, old magic, wafting out from the crack between the two doors.
I looked at Trent as he conjured another orb of light and nodded. “Ready when you are.”
I nodded and pushed the doors open. The light barely illuminated the space. He sent it ahead and made it bigger until it casting shadows across the walls. I walked inside, looking around. It was mostly paved with old stone. The same old stone the door had been made of. The air smelled ancient as if no one had been down here in years.
“It reminds me of the forest behind the house,” Trent said. “Without the pine.”
“How far do you think it goes?” Amos said. “I can’t see the end.
“I don’t know,” I said.
As we ventured further into the room, the stone gave way. It looked less like a room and more like a tunnel of some sort. My stomach knotted as I felt the air shifting around us.
“A draft means an entrance on the other side,” I said.
“Or a caved in area,” Amos said.
Suddenly, the tunnel opened up to a large room like a catacomb. I could smell the faintest scent of blood lingering. Trent crouched near a large stain on the ground.
“Someone died here,” he said softly. He reached out hesitantly, before trailing his fingers along the edge of it. He went pale as his eyes flashed.
I turned as I felt something pulling my attention.
“Trent?” Amos asked.
“He’s in a trance,” I said. “Leave him for now… What is that?”
My eyes caught a glimmer in the shadows. I squinted and moved closer to the shining object. It looked like a barrier, but one that was barely holding on. I couldn’t see beyond it, but it was too small to be hiding another passage way. I cautiously reached out, my fingertips brushing against the barrier.
It melted and dissolved like mist revealing a familiar crystal necklace resting on the alcove’s ledge, still smeared with blood. I picked it up. My blood went cold for a moment as I felt it. Rage and sorrow filled me. There was regret and anguish coming off this necklace, and it felt familiar.
It felt like my father.
I turned back.
“Isn’t that…” Amos started.
I nodded. “I think so…”
“Th-The records said…” Amos shook his head. “There’s no good reason for that to be here.”
“No… but there are a lot of bad ones.” I closed my hand over it. “I—”
Trent stood up slowly. His hand clenched at his side.
“The other side is closed,” Trent whispered. “The… The person who d-died here… She closed it when they escaped.”
He came close to me and looked at the necklace. “The real mystery is why she felt it so important to make sure it made it here… And why your father left it here.”
I looked at him. “You… saw him in the vision?”
Trent nodded. I looked down at the necklace. “My father… used to talk about unifying the packs under Blood Moon.”
“We talked about it pretty frequently.”
“Did you… Do you think that he has it because of that plan?” I asked. “I… I don’t think I can really believe that. It didn’t feel like that.”
“You had got an impression from it?”
I nodded. “The last person to touch it was my father. I could almost hear the words…”
I frowned, reaching for them.
“I should have…”
“What?” Amos asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Your empathetic powers aren’t fully developed yet,” Trent said. “It will come to you eventually.”
As I stood there, gazing at the necklace, I had a feeling that Trent was right and that once they were, I wouldn’t like what I found out, yet I knew that if I ran from it, everything I had ever wanted and loved would slip out of my grip.
The chain glinted strangely, and the large crystal in the center seemed dull compared to what I imagined the famous crystal necklace would look like. I offered it to Trent.
“What do you think?”
Trent wrinkled his nose. “That I don’t want to touch it.”
“Why?”
He shook his head. “The woman who died… There was something about the way she died that threw me off, and the energy coming off that thing is freaking me out.”
“It’s beautiful,” Amos said, his voice a little daze. I frown and looked at him.
“It just looks like a clear rock.”
“What are you talking about? Can’t you see how bright it is?”
Then, Trent looked at me, and I looked at him. I closed my hand and returned it to the alcove before putting another barrier over it. Amos blinked as if he was shaking himself awake.
“We’ll leave it here for now.” I glanced back at it. “For now, let’s deal with the Council.”
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