Page 9 (2/2)

Aeval, surrounded by a guard party of five, walked over to where the portal had been "It is here--I can see the signature Camille, come"

Obediently, I stepped up to her She placed her hands on asp leaned close "I feel iron in your presence You are crafty You will make a formidable acolyte But for now, look with your soul, look with your h the Moon Mother’s eyes"

I unfocused h a hazy blur And then, I caught it--there it was, a sparkling signature The portal we’d seen the day before hadn’t disappeared at all It was there, unseen tofor it The blue vortex crackled and snapped, and behind us, I heard Delilah gasp

"I can see it," she said

"Your sister and I brought it to the forefront" Aeval patted h I can feel where some of the synapses are skewed You can never fix them, you were born that way, but there are ways to work around the hter You will learn"

Her voice was still cool and aloof, but beneath the icy exterior I heard the soft opening of a door I turned to her, s, and for the first ti orbs of power and glamour, and in their reflection, I saw h hter, and there was no denying his heritage

"Nohat?"

Aeval motioned for me to join Delilah "I will open the portal so you can venture inside I will give Camille the charm to reopen it when you need to--when you’re ready to return Hopefully you will find your friend And with hope, you will survive what lies within The powers there are deep and dark; they are ancient moss on still older trees They are powers that can irls, for you do not know half what you think you do, and snares and traps are sown deep within the heart of the Elder Fae"

As we stepped aside, she held out her hands toward the portal The vortex shimmered and, like an iris door off some science fiction show, sloirled open I could feel the war of red eyes gazing at lanced at Delilah "Should we do this alone?" But Aeval had bid us couess that’s a o We can always come back for reinforcements if we can’t handle what’s in there" She sucked in a deep breath "We owe Chase a lot"

"Yes, we do" I turned to Aeval "You said you’d teach me the charm?"

She nodded and for the first time looked hesitant "I do not want to lose you, Carew up a the full-blooded Fae You, yourself, are half-Fae You knoe are capable of doing if we allow ourselves to" Leaning close, she whispered in my ear "The charm to return is Akan v’la’the It ork on either side When you incant the spell you ht of the portal, and you y to twist the charm--you kno to do that"

I did There was a certain inner force that witches applied to the charms So all the char would happen But with training, the words becaible power to be ue testing the pronunciation A sical signature of the charm I inhaled deeply and let o and ods be with you" Aeval nodded to us

I turned to Delilah "Let y better than you can" And without a second thought, we stepped through the portal, into the deep Into the dark Into the wild

The aperture closed behind us and ere alone ae The temperature here was chill but not icy, huy earth echoed up, along with sour peat and old rotting wood

We paused to take stock of our surroundings As I turned, I realized the portal appeared to have vanished, but when I closed ht where it should be

"I can find the portal now, no matter whether it’s visible or not" I didn’t want Delilah panicking "And I can open it, whether over Earthside or here Wherever here is"

She nodded "Good Speaking of whichwhat is this place? Did Aeval say?"

Slowly shaking rew nearly at eye level Old oaks towered over us, their liround was frosty and I realized that although there was no snow here, ere definitely in theand dorroere leafless, their thorns showing through in thick, profuse abundance

"I thinkWe’re in a subset--one of the Faerie dimensions And from what Aeval says, the Elder Fae roam here This is not Otherworld, but neither is it fully Earthside I’ve never heard of this place before Perhaps it was created by the Elder Fae, or the Elfin Lordsor perhaps by the Elemental Lords Whatever, I doubt if many humans have ever come here"

"Or if they have, they never escaped"

"Yeah"

Delilahunder her breath

"What did you say? I didn’t catch it"

She turned to ry Like it’s waiting for soh There’s a craftiness to it that unsettles le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>