A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,41
odds that they might’ve overlooked something on the physical side of things?” I asked a rhetorical question, knowing Maya wouldn’t have the words to answer. I was only fooling myself. Danika was a stickler for details, that much I knew for sure. She would never leave a lock I might be able to break.
A single thud sounded outside. I stilled, and seconds later, I heard a second thud. Two bodies had fallen—likely the Darklings guarding my cell room. The iron door opened, and in walked Lumi and Sidyan.
The Reaper cast a delicate, shimmering spell across the room, and narrowed his eyes as he analyzed every corner carefully. “This place is clear, for now,” he muttered. The twinkling layer vanished, the dark stone returning to its original sleek sheen. “We must be careful with what we say, nonetheless. You never know.”
Relief washed over me with such a crippling intensity that I nearly lost the strength in my knees. I’d been worried sick, with several hours’ worth of time spent wondering what had been holding them back. All sorts of scenarios had crossed my mind, most of them dark and bloody and heartbreaking.
“Took you forever,” I muttered, unwilling to show my concern, since both Sidyan and Lumi appeared to be okay.
“I’m sorry,” Lumi replied as Sidyan closed the door behind them. “We couldn’t get to you sooner. We had to evacuate Orvis.”
“What?” I croaked, my blood running cold.
“Corbin showed up with a whole friggin’ army. They followed some of our people from Dieffen. It’s a long story—I’ll fill you in once we get you out of this place,” Lumi said.
“Right, speaking of… Danika plans to bring the Spirit Bender back,” I replied. It didn’t bear waiting. I’d been dying to tell them about this from the moment I’d first learned it myself. Sidyan froze, galaxy eyes wide as he gawked at me. Maya purred by his side, pleased to see him intact.
Lumi was as pale as a sheet of paper. “I’m confused.”
“The Spirit Bender took precautions,” I explained. “He made a copy of his soul and tucked it inside a crystal, which was fragmented into twelve pieces. One fragment was then implanted in each of the twelve Whips. If the pieces are reunited and his soul is extracted from the crystal, the Spirit Bender will return with all the memories he had up to the point he made the copy.”
“What in the ever-living—” Lumi was about to let out one hell of an expletive, but she stopped herself with a deep breath.
“I know. It’s insane. The pieces are passed on from one Whip to the next through some kind of ritual. But in order to bring the Spirit Bender back, the Whips have to be sacrificed, since the pieces are embedded in their hearts. The issue is that Danika and Petra found a loophole,” I added. “The shards can also be transferred from the Whip to a close blood relative. In Danika and Petra’s case, it’s their sons. Danika put hers in Thayen’s heart when he was just a babe. Petra has run off, stating she’ll do the same to one of her boys before Danika gets to her. I had to tell you this now before anything else happens. It’s important.”
“You’re absolutely right, it’s important,” Sidyan blurted. “I thought we’d gotten rid of that son of a…” His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes for a moment, keeping them tightly shut. He breathed out before looking my way again. “I’ve passed it on to the Reapers. They’ll disseminate the information accordingly.”
“We have to leave,” Lumi reiterated. “I’m sure the Darklings are just dying to get to us, and those guards outside couldn’t have been the only ones keeping you here.”
“Well, the cell is warded, so I need Sidyan here to work his magic,” I replied dryly.
The Reaper knelt before the lock and used the tip of his scythe to fiddle with its interior mechanism. I figured a professional tool of death magic would be infinitely more effective than the rusty old nail I’d been working with.
Lumi kept an eye on the door, her ears twitching as she listened to every sound.
“Is everybody okay?” I asked her while Sidyan kept working the lock, his lips moving in the utterance of a spell to assist him.
“Yeah. We all made it out of there,” Lumi replied. “It was a collective effort—we’ve got about two hundred Seniors on our side now. Esme and Kalon came through for us, big time.”