Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,44

the truth, but I could just tell that these ancient paintings meant something to him.

“You were the protector of Pandora’s Box in the eleventh century before the warlocks destroyed it. Right? I really think that’s it.”

“He’s a thousand years old?” Jake looked at him like he was completely weirded out and skeptical.

“Oh wow, you’re so beat,” Billie told Gaston.

“It’s not a contest,” Gaston said, arms crossed. He had not been helping with this, but just watched us the way I sometimes got sucked into DIY shows after a long day of work. (When I had a TV handy, which wasn’t often.)

“If you were protecting the box…” I put my chin in my hand, staring down both pictures.

“What fabric is as old as time, as fragile as glass, and that shall brush the face of rich man and poor man, man and woman?” Byron asked me.

The troll’s riddle. My eyes widened. “You were trying to tell me in the dream,” I said. “Your mind conjured the troll! If it’s not the fabric of time…it’s…the fabric of the world.”

A smile flicked across his face. “The fabric…between worlds.”

Now I understood.

We all understood.

I still had questions. Lots of them. But I was shaking with excitement, with sudden clarity. The maps. The trade language.

It was all clicking together.

“We thought the magical realms had always been separate,” I said. “But a thousand years ago, the magical realms were not closed to each other at all, were they?”

“Etherium must have put up some sort of wall around their world,” Jake said. “So they could keep us out.”

“All these pictures of battles probably explain what led to it,” Jasper said. “All the weird dogs are supposed to be us, I’ll bet.”

“We’re so much more handsome than that,” Jake said.

The man—or “creature”, or deity, or god—who had held the maps must have been very powerful. He must have had the ability to let the realms be free—or the power to separate them. And so, the Ethereal warlocks took them from him. They killed him. And they made sure that even his ghost would never speak.

My ghost.

Chapter Twenty

Helena

“So, if we put the maps together, it will join the worlds?” Jasper said. “Sort of like, the maps are the worlds and if their paths meet, people can travel between them? Something like that?”

“I thought it was supposed to destroy Etherium,” Jake said.

“Well, if Sinistrals could come into Etherium whenever, that would destroy Etherium as we know it,” Billie said. “Which is what Deveraux told me.”

“And Wyrd, too,” I said. “The faeries would no longer be isolated. It could get…complicated.”

“Chaos,” Gaston said. “As I said.”

“Who cares if we did cause chaos? Right now, Etherium is the magical world’s country club,” Jake said. “They’re the ones who decided to ban visitors who aren’t approved. Sure, it’s a great deal for them. They get to keep all the high demons out of their realm. But it’s not so great for werewolves, vampires, and rule-breaking wizards, is it? Hel, you don’t want to be banished to Sinistral, do you?”

“Well…not really…because it’s dangerous there.” I understood what he was saying. “Yeah, it’s just like you’re saying. Ethereal wizards have a gated community. If I was tossed out, I would be vulnerable, and Bevan would be in danger too. If the doors are open, the playing field levels out.”

“Well, I knew it was something like that,” Billie said. “I don’t really know who I believe, Gaston or Byron, as far as what Deveraux wanted. But I do know that even though I’m an Ethereal witch, the more powerful witches use the threat of banishment to keep the rest of us in line. My daddy was a Sinistral warlock, all because he dabbled in some dark magic when he was young, and they threatened my parents apart from each other. My mama still has feelings for him but she doesn’t dare so much as see him because she doesn’t want to get her and her familiar banished.”

“Billie, that sucks,” I said. “I can see why you want revenge on the council. They will retaliate, though.”

“I know. They always do.” Billie looked like she wasn’t planning on backing down.

Jasper’s arms were crossed on the table. Jake had just grabbed a beer and popped the cap off. “I don’t know where the hell this is all going,” he said. “But I can’t see stopping now.”

“So your friend Sam has the last piece, right?” I asked Byron. “He’s in California. But he isn’t dead yet, is he?”

“Not yet…,” Byron said.

“I know