A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,37
so I’ve learned to work with a handful of minutes in everything I do. That being said, I’ve developed some spells that can target one or a few people at once, lasting beyond my natural abilities, which is what I’ll be using in Soul’s interdimensional pockets.”
“Right, so slowing time down for Kalon, speeding time up for Tristan and Valaine, those are such spells,” I said, drawing my conclusion and hoping I’d gotten it right.
“Yes.”
“My brother and I will split our duties between the protection of Soul’s pockets and the protection of the city,” Dream said, hooking an arm around Nightmare’s. “Provided, of course, you don’t have any more stupidly suicidal missions like Dieffen in mind. Because I’ll want to be there to watch your asses get kicked again.”
Her snicker got on my nerves, but she was right. We needed to bring a new game to the table where the Darklings were concerned. While Valaine and Tristan worked on finding the Unending, the rest of us would have to find another approach to our enemy. The Darklings were determined and armed with unknown levels of death magic, which they would gladly use against us the first chance they got.
I didn’t even realize there were tears in my eyes until Time revealed Kalon, who was still sleeping soundly over his shoulder. “I’m going to slow time down for him,” Time said, putting Kalon down for a moment. He whispered a string of words into the blade of his scythe, which he then pressed against Kalon’s temple.
Soul picked Kalon up and carried him downstairs. I heard a door open and close, then Soul came back up with a flat smile. “It’s done. He’s tucked away. All good.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I murmured.
“It’s not. You will all have to watch my back going forward,” Soul warned me. “If I get severely injured or knocked out by death magic or another scythe, my hold on these interdimensional pockets will weaken. I might even lose them altogether, and chances are I won’t be able to find them again.”
“Wait, what?” I croaked, suddenly alarmed.
Soul shot me a cold grin. “The void between dimensions is fluid. The pockets I open are like bubbles in water. They keep moving, but I’m connected to them while conscious. If I lose the connection, they slip away. And the void is endless.”
“You’re putting a lot of responsibility on our shoulders,” Tristan muttered.
“It is what it is. As unstable as they might be in my absence, they’re still the safest place to be for the likes of Kalon,” Soul insisted. “Which is why protection from the outside is paramount, because that’s still a risk.”
“Ugh… how’s that a risk?” I asked, groaning with frustration. “Can a Darkling get into the pockets?” It seemed to amuse Soul, yet it irked me beyond any tolerance limit I had left.
“A skilled one? Sure,” Soul replied with a cold grin. He had a weird way of coping with trouble, I realized. He didn’t take it in stride, but rather laughed in its face. “Since we don’t know what type of spells the Darklings learned from Spirit, I can’t exclude that possibility. Knowing my deceased brother well, I imagine he’d have cooked up formulas to mess with all of us First Tenners, not just Unending. A fact further evidenced by Time, Morning, and Night’s capture.”
The Night Bringer scoffed. “Thanks for the reminder.”
At least Kalon was safe for now, and I’d do my best to make sure no one got to him. Looking at Tristan, I noticed the concern embedded in his expression as he stole glances at Valaine. “How are you two holding up?” I asked.
“Eager to get moving with the whole remembrance thing,” Valaine said. “I’m done watching the people closest to me suffer and die.”
Soul clapped his hands once. “Well, then—let’s go.”
“Where, exactly?” Tristan replied.
“Into an interdimensional pocket,” Soul shot back. “Wasn’t that part clear already?”
“Yes, I got that. But where is it? I don’t see it,” Tristan said.
The Soul Crusher smirked, wiggling his scythe as he drew an invisible line in the space between them. A faint shimmer persisted in its wake, like a suspended thread of silvery snowflakes trembling in the wind. “After you,” Soul said, motioning for Valaine to go through it first.
Tristan followed, as did Phantom and Morning. They’d stuck with Valaine until now, and they seemed determined to see this through to the end. Time offered me his arm.
“Would you like to see it?” he asked, and I nodded slowly.