Seventy-Five
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Dianna
N everra used a bit of her energy to open the front door, and we snuck
in. We didn’t see a security guard as we made our way down to the
lower levels, but when we reached the bottom floor, we heard a whistle and the jingle of keys. We ducked around the corner, hugging the wall as the guard passed. His head remained down, focused on some game on his tablet, the multi-color display lighting up from a win. Neverra smiled and shrugged at me as we darted past him and hurried down the hall, obviously having fun in our little adventure.
We stopped at another large door, and Neverra kicked it, nearly knocking it from its hinges. Dim yellow light spilled from the empty room.
“Neverra! It’s called breaking and entering, but you don’t actually have to break things,” I hissed.
She turned, the tip of her long ponytail swinging across her leather jacket. “What? It was locked, and we already disarmed the security system.
Vincent is truly paranoid. I think he has a problem.”
I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I held the flashlight a little tighter, half expecting the blare of an alarm and the pounding of feet, but nothing came. If Samkiel found out I’d gone back to Onuna without him, he would be upset. But I had to know, and I didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing in case I was wrong.
We stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind us. Gloom filled the warehouse over half of the overhead lights burned out.
“Thanks for sneaking away with me,” I whispered as we took in the rows of boxes and filing cabinets.
She smiled. “Thanks for calling. I’m surprised you had time since Logan said you and Samkiel had been going at it like beasts in heat.”
I turned the flashlight on her, nearly blinding her. “How does he know that?”
She covered her eyes and grinned. “He went with Cameron the other day to check on Samkiel. You two had been missing for three days, and they
got worried.”
“Three days?” I nearly squeaked.
“You know what you are doing is good if you lose track of time.”
Neverra laughed and started down the aisle formed by the shelves.
I stood, trying to grasp the fact I had lost so much time. That had never happened to me, but even as I felt my face flush, I had no regrets.
Good didn’t come close. Good was a nice and cozy feeling afterward.
What Samkiel and I had done was not so easily described. Samkiel’s body on mine was like air in my lungs. Not a want, but a need, and I knew he felt it too. Over and over, we came together, drawn by something primal, unable to get enough of each other. It was a frenzy of need, and no matter how sore I was or how often he healed me, I couldn’t stop. We couldn’t stop and struggled to untangle ourselves to even eat. I blamed it on all the pent-up tension we had carried for so long.
I shook my head, dislodging the images sweeping through my brain, and followed after Neverra, the flashlight illuminating the boxes on the shelves. “Thank you for that, by the way. The clothes and you all keeping the council busy.”
Neverra smiled. “That’s what friends are for, to help their friends get laid.”
My laugh escaped before I could stop it, and I covered my mouth to muffle the sound.
Neverra beamed as I struggled to control my laughter. “Why did you
want to do this?” she asked.
“I had a dream.”
“A dream?” Neverra whispered. “We are breaking the law because of a dream?”
“It wasn’t just any dream. Tobias said something when we were in Yejedin, and in the dream, there was this chant, over and over, and… It felt so real.”
Neverra stopped, bristling with protective energy. “What did he say?” she asked, her voice taking on a steely edge.
I swallowed, not meeting her gaze even if I could feel it boring into me.
“That Gabby is not my sister.”
Neverra appeared at my side, but I didn’t look at her. I started shifting boxes, looking for my family’s surname.
“Oh, Dianna. You know he was evil. Evil bad guys say stuff to distract us all the time.”
I kept searching. “Tobias hated me. Truly hated me. He would use anything he could to throw words at me. He considered it a bonus if he could harm me with the truth.”
I was quiet for a moment. I just needed to find my family’s name in these archives. My fingers skimmed over the last names on the front of some boxes.
“I am sorry for all you had to endure, Dianna,” Neverra said. I didn’t hear pity in her voice, just compassion, care, and her own pain at Gabby’s loss.
“It’s fine. I’d do it again for her if I had to. It was worth it for the time we had together, but more than that, Gabby made the world better. She made me better.”
“You know you will always have a family with us,” she said gently as if afraid I would rebuff her. “If you want it.”
I turned toward her, shining the flashlight in her direction so I could see her face. I opened my mouth to respond but snapped it closed when the beam of light landed on the name written neatly on the box above her
shoulder.
Essam.
She caught my pause and looked behind her, pointing at the box. “Is that it?”
I nodded and stepped forward to pull it down from the shelf. We knelt, and I lifted the lid. Neverra held her light steady over the box as I dug through the worn pages.
“My mom and dad worked in a lot of the temples. They were both healers, but my dad also dabbled in a few extra businesses on the side to help. One was supplying weapons to the royal guards. He showed me how to hold my first dagger. I’m not surprised so many files still exist, but what I need is—”
A scream split the hushed silence of the warehouse a moment before the door flew off its hinges and crashed against the wall. Talons tapped on the floor, and I didn’t need Otherworld senses to smell them.
Irvikuva
We turned our flashlights off, and Neverra brushed her hand against my
wrist.
“Hold on to my hand. We are leaving.”
I clasped her hand and rose to my feet, hearing more and more feet shuffling across the stone floor.
Neverra backed us slowly into a small alcove. “There’s too many of
them,” Neverra whispered.
“How many? I can’t see.”
“Twelve. And they are huge.”
I swallowed and peered into the darkened corners of the warehouse. The yellow lights flickered, and I saw a tail whip to the side. Yup, definitely bigger. A phantom chill went through me as I remembered those claws and fangs ripping into me, dragging me back to Kaden.
One of them chortled, a hysterical, almost laugh that made me want to flee. I heard a crash as something was thrown, followed by a chorus of hisses—the box. I’d touched it, and they smelled it. Now those papers I so desperately needed were scattered beneath their feet.
“I can distract them long enough—”
“No.” I swallowed, the chattering noises they made growing louder.
“We have to leave.”
“Wait,” Neverra whispered.
“No, I don’t care. I’m not risking you.” I meant every word. He could summon a portal and drag us both back. I wouldn’t let Kaden take her back to Yejedin. I wouldn’t put her at risk for my own selfish reasons.
Not like I had Gabby.
Her eyes softened as if she saw everything I thought.
She nodded. “Toward the back, I saw an exit. We can make it once the biggest one passes the third shelf over there.”
I looked around the corner, seeing what she meant as the swinging yellow light flashed between the darkness and monsters.
“Okay. Tell me when.”
We watched and waited. As soon as those clawed feet passed, we darted
out and ran for the exit.
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