A Crown Of Shadows And Secrets - Sloane Murphy Page 0,16

or twice as Remy, but you always seemed… sadder? Like you were constantly searching for something. But you seem… happy,” he says and I smile.

“I am happy. I mean, I’m stressed as fuck, but I’m happy.” I shrug and he smiles back at me. A perfect set of shining white teeth. Because of course.

“Good. Now, where are these journals?” He asks, and the others groan.

“On that note, we’re going to go work out,” Roman says and I laugh.

“Of course you are. We’ll come find you if we find anything,” I tell him as he leans over for a kiss. It’s chaste, for Roman at least, and the others follow suit as they pass me on their way out of the room.

“Well, that’s new,” Nevin says, straightening his glasses with a blush on his cheeks.

“I’m happy,” I tell him simply. “Let me grab the journals.” I get up to grab the box from the laundry room where I stashed them for safe keeping and drop it on the table in front of us.

“So you said I can certainly do more than open the portal? Do you know much about Shadow Walkers?” I ask.

“I do. Back then, you were Leviathans right hand, and I was his left. It was a different time, but we spent a lot of time together. I heard all sorts of stories.”

“Okay, but who says I can still do any of that now? I’m not an Angel.”

“No, you’re not. But you’re still you. Everyone thinks it’s just the blood that opens the portal, and while that’s part of it, it’s your essence itself that is the key. You’re still you, even if you’re different. You’ll still be able to do now what you did back then, though maybe with less power. We just need to learn how you did what you did. Shutting the portal the way you did before was unheard of, and I’m just hoping you wrote it down before…”

“Before I died?”

“Yes. It was only earlier that day you sealed it so that no-one could pass back through to this plain. So that people could only go into the portal with an exceptional amount of sacrifice, unless they had the key. Do you know what is being used to fuel the portals currently?” He asks and I shake my head. “That’s a shame, we could’ve used it, or manipulated it somehow.”

“Honestly, knowing Archer, he’s probably sacrificing lives to open it each time. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

“Well, that isn’t an option,” he says, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “Let’s get started on these journals. Do you have coffee?”

“Oh my goodness, yeah of course, sorry. Everly would have my head for not offering already.” I stand up and start the coffee pot.

“The human woman who let me in?” He asks and I nod. “She seemed lovely. She was heading out though, so I think you’re safe.”

“Ha, you don’t know Everly. She might be human, but I’ve seen her take on a room of factions and not even blink. She had that lot scurrying for cover and apologizing.” I laugh and he joins in.

“Now that is something I’d like to see.”

“So, how are we going to do this, since I’m essentially useless to you.”

“Well, you see, actually you’re not. Amantara didn’t write these using the old language, it just looks like it,” he says looking up at me from the pages in front of him.

“What do you mean?” I ask, leaning over his shoulder to take a look at the pages as I place the mug of coffee on the table for him.

“Can you pass me a knife?” He says, and I look down at him skeptically, but remember that Levi trusts him, so I grab a knife and hand it to him.

He motions for my hand, so I place it in his. He grips my wrist and slices the knife across my palm. “What the fuck!” I hiss.

He doesn’t say a word, he just moves my bleeding hand over the pages, and I watch as the blood drops onto them, and then disappears. The letters swim on the pages then, after a minute, I can read the words.

“How?” I ask as he releases my wrist and I clench my fist, grabbing a towel to staunch the blood until I heal.

“Amantara had a ton of tricks, I wonder if there’s a way to restore those memories for you. Hmmm.” He looks at me curiously, before looking back down to the books. “That’s a question for