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In her e she had seen in her visions The coiling double-snakes – the iishly, as if the very air around them was too thick for it to nant dread They followed the trail through the garden, listening for even the s to the wind or the leaves The garden was sprawling, weaving itself around the entire rear of the Abbey proper Nestled within a es, a maze that would have e opened and revealed a sunken pit of stone, with a single stone lid as a shield to the opening Night had fallen fully and she suht to observe the area The feeling was utter blackness The strength of the Medium in the place startled her – but it was not the fa power – a force that nificant and loathso with fury at its captivity She sensed it brooding beneath the stone

"This is a fell place," Martin whispered hoarsely She looked back at hi with concern as the tide of eed around theirl"

Lia reached out and touched the surface of the Leering, closing her eyes and preparing herself for the battle of wills that would follow The impression struck her like a pillar of pure stone, nearly crushing her with its weight She lost all sense of herself for a moment, all sense of who she was The blackness solidified around her and she recognized she had no power to speak, tobut blackness, so thick she could see nothing, nothing at all Her heartbeat’s frantic as the only sound that she heard Not even a breath escaped her

Then the s had accepted her She could al froinning of days or end of years Open my chasm and be acquainted with our ways We are older than the stars You will join us or you will die We welcome you here, child of fallen Pry-Ree

Lia’s skin crawled as the sniffing, leefully They swar around her as she knelt next to the stone It made the small hairs on the her skin pucker What was she to do?

The pull and tug of the Myriad Ones shrouded her, wrapping thehtly she alasp A faint hint in deepest part of her soul

Seek Hillel Lavender

She heard it She understood it Rising, she shrugged away froe h the ed Martin was chalk-white, his face haunted as he walked

"What did you see?" Lia asked him

He shook his head

"Tell me," she pressed

"It was not what I saw but what I felt," he answered "The hts came into my head I dare not utter them By Cheshu, a wicked place this is" He looked at her fiercely "You must end this, child You must end this taint"

She nodded "That is why I ca down at the orb, she asked it to find Hillel

Without the Cruciger orb, she never would have found it It was not a door hidden within the stone past a maze of secret tunnels that led her to Hillel’s rooarden itself A series of stone steps, hidden by the trees and the shrubbery, snaked their way up a single tower that rose like a great white torch into the star-spattered sky The steps were narrow, the width irl than asteeply round after round, going higher and higher Lia motioned for Martin to wait below and with the orb in hand, she ascended There was no railing to prevent a fall, only the wall itself to flatten herself against as she cliher The wind chilled her and s burned as she continued to cliain as she went up the neck of it towards a balcony she spotted high above her Her heart thundered with the exertion She knew she would find Hillel’s rooainst her, causing her to rest and gasp as she continued up and around, over and over Froarden and realized soht She coughed against her ar had healed so well Another e to her death Best to keep focus on each step as she went Another and another sweep around the toall The breeze tugged at her cloak, giving her a sense of nausea She licked her lips, trying to focus her courage She was almost there