He finally stopped, abruptly swiveling towards her.
“This is why you’re the Mark Bearer. You were meant to save our world. To fix what your dad created.”
She leaned forward, her voice angry. “My dad didn’t create anything.”
“He left the Asperian Empire in the hands of Zara. Your aunt.” He paused as if just realizing something, his lips parting in surprise. “Evanora is your aunt, too. Does she know that?”
“Hell if I know.”
Rhys’ scowl was back. “Did you talk to her about it?”
“I didn’t talk to her about anything. She just—”
“Blayde.” I stroked the skin of her stomach with my thumb, trying to soothe her, while at the same time giving Rhys a look. He needed to calm the torch down on the interrogation. “Regardless of what’s happened in your past, in your family’s past, you can help us. I feel it. There must be something you have that can help us.”
Suddenly, she jerked towards me, her eyes wide. “You’re right.”
She leaped off my lap and ran off without a word. After staring at each other with confused looks, both Rhys and I took off after her, down the hallway to her room. Tuddle was asleep on a sunny spot on her windowsill, and when we rushed in, he lifted his head up.
For a brief moment, he looked at me with a hopeful face. When I shook my head, empty hands out, his face quickly turned to disappointment. He sighed heavily, flipping onto his back dramatically. “You’re no longer my favorite.”
Blayde ignored him and kneeled on her floor. She waved her hands around the air under her desk, her fingers flicking and mumbling the words to a spell. Magic shimmered and she suddenly pulled a backpack out of thin air.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Rhys crouched behind her, taking it all in. “Looks like Maverick and Nix didn’t do a very good job of searching your apartment.”
She flicked her blue hair in his face. “Nah. I’m just that good at hiding things.”
Rummaging through the backpack, she pulled out the Madavre bracelet and a pocket watch. It glimmered gold and silver, with traces of black and purple magic floating around it. It looked ancient and incredibly unique. She threw the backpack back and it disappeared into the empty air, flicking her fingers and mumbling again.
Her face flushed with excitement, she turned towards us and, holding the bracelet, she gently opened it, pulling out the corundum stone.
I held my breath and Rhys slowly took a step away from her. Careful to keep the stone in her hand, she pulled open the back of the watch. “I always wondered why the watch never worked. And yet, dad never went anywhere without it.” Pulling it close to inspect it, both Rhys and I cautiously but eagerly leaned forward to see exactly what she was doing. My heart was pounding so hard, it was going to leap out of my chest any moment. Was this the moment we would all know our destiny?
“When I opened the back to see if I could fix it,” she frowned, “I discovered there was a large round piece missing, which was strange for the intricacy of this watch.” She easily slid the stone into the empty hole in the watch, and goosebumps prickled my skin at the humming noise it made. Her eyes widened and she looked up at us, excitement on her face. “It fits.”
She shut the back of the watch with a click, and suddenly the room began to tremble. Rhys and I both jumped forward, grabbing Blayde and pulling her out of the way just in time as magic burst from the watch. We all flew backwards, then scrambled to clutch onto her bedposts as everything began to swirl through the room. Large, round glimmering swirls of magic filled the air, shimmering with a prism rainbow of colors and shooting lights. Rhys grabbed Blayde, one hand clutched around her stomach as the other held tightly to the bed post. He yelled into her ear. “This is a portal, a doorway to another world.”
She jerked her face to him, her mouth dropping open. “What?!”
Rhys nodded and there was a sudden whooshing sound as a hole appeared in the middle of the room, revealing a room on the other side. Without even pausing to take a breath, Blayde slipped out of Rhys’ hold and, taking only a second to grab the watch, she jumped through the portal.
We both gasped and my heart leapt in my throat. What the torch was she doing? Without hesitation, Rhys and I ran after her, leaping through the air and into the portal.
Tremendous energy buzzed through me, my whole body bursting like I was a shooting star flaming through the sky. A roar ripped from my mouth as I flew through the air then landed on top of Rhys with a crash. I heaved, sucking in several breaths as I stumbled to my feet. Rhys looked fine, only a little in shock, and I grabbed his hand. Heaving him upwards and onto his feet, I frantically looked around, searching for Blayde.
She was a few feet from me, standing with ease as if she was made to jump through portals. Her shoulders were back, her chest out and chin held high. The watch was clutched in her hands and she had a satisfied grin on her face.
We were standing on the balcony of a large, stone castle. White sand stretched out before us, disappearing into the blue waters of an enormous lake. I jolted, my eyes widening at the sight of a couple of dragons flying in the sky.
This was… this definitely wasn’t our world. Dragons weren’t known to exist anymore, one of the few shifter races that’d died out long ago.
On the balcony stood three girls around a wooden table. They looked like they’d just leapt to their feet. A chair lay tipped over and they huddled together, not in fear but staring at us in amazement. One of the girls had her hand out, blue magic flickering from it.
They were all wearing white bathrobes and a couple of them had eyes that were slightly glazed over, as if they were just a little bit drunk.
The only woman who didn’t look inebriated had soft, caramel skin and dark brown, wavy hair, with a large, round belly and a crooked tiara on her head. She turned toward the one with the blue magic. “Lizzy, I told you I wanted a day off, not some kind of crazy scheme.”
The girl with the blue magic flickering in her hand just stared at us in awe, her head shaking. “This isn’t me, Carrie.” She turned towards a woman with blond hair and purple highlights. “Riley?”
“A portal?” Purple Highlights snorted. “I haven’t seen one of those in forever.”
All three women turned towards the table, a questioning look on their faces. “Aria?”
That’s when I realized there was one other person on the balcony. She was still sitting at the table, her red hair glinting in the light of the morning sun. She didn’t answer them but instead, focused on Blayde. She had her feet up on one of the remaining chairs and was holding a cocktail topped with an orange slice in her hand. After giving us a small, mysterious smile, she tipped the glass forward in a toasting gesture. “Well, Blayde. It’s about time you showed up.”