Page 60 of Shattered Darkness

We all study the picture closely, or at least I do. I’m trying to commit it to memory so that I don’t have to keep asking to see the image every time I find something that’s green. I try not to smirk when Ghost and Knot also start to study it closely, committing it to memory.

“And it's not going to be a vase, right?” Cole asks, clearly not quite fully awake yet and needing the coffee to kick in properly before his brain works the way it should.

Maverick nods, “Yeah, that’s right. We’re looking for the material, not the object.”

“Gotcha,” Cole says, saluting Mav with his coffee and then adding, “I definitely need some of this stuff. My brain is not firing on all cylinders this morning.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything but . . .” I reply with a smirk, leaving it open-ended and getting a playful glare from him.

“Before that devolves, do we have a starting point that we want to search?” Jax asks, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Mav nods, “Yeah, actually, I thought we’d try in the temple, which is on the left of the academy,” he pauses and looks around, turning in a circle as he frowns and adds, “But we’re going in the wrong direction, why are we here?”

Hunter chuckles, “Dude, we were following you. Next time, maybe you should tell us where you want us to go before we just start following you?”

Asher grins, “He’s got a point, man.”

Mav’s smile is slightly sheepish as he replies, “Yeah, that’s probably a good call. Anyway, we need to head back this way.”

I can’t wipe the amused smile off my face as we weave back through the corridors, stopping briefly in the thankfully almost empty cafeteria to grab some more coffee at Cole’s insistence, although I have to admit that I do help myself to another cup as well. It feels like a day when buckets of coffee are needed in order to function properly.

We then head out of the front of the property and follow the winding path around the side of the academy for quite a while before we move through a small area of trees, and then the grand temple comes into view. It’s enormous, exquisitely decorated, and as is always the way, the doors are always open. It’s not only Nyx that can be talked to here; it’s any of the Gods. Although, I have learned that these places are very rarely in use for anything like ceremonies or anything like that. Something that Cain said when he was explaining the Warrior Games pings in my brain: the temple at Black Onyx Academy obviously plays a big part in the games themselves, as that’s where the teams go to be judged.

I feel a wash of peace flood me as soon as we step through the doors, and I almost tell the others that there’s no point in us being here because all I can feel is peace.

Chapter Twenty

At least, I thought that was the case; as we move further over the pastel mosaic floor and into the round central part of the temple, I start to feel something beneath that, something slimy and unpleasant, and it makes my magic stir uneasily as the Darkness within perks up its interest.

That can’t be good.

“Guy’s, I’m fairly certain that the object is here somewhere; it's got that same feeling that it had in the library. Except here, it was almost completely covered up by the wave of peace that the temple gives you, that's part of its own magic.” I tell everyone.

Mav nods, his expression serious, “Okay, everyone needs to be incredibly cautious then. If you find anything made out of this material, for the love of the Gods do not touch it.”

“Good call,” Cole replies and makes me giggle.

“We’ll search in this main room first and then move to the smaller offshoots,” Hunter suggests.

“Sounds good. It will keep us all in each other's sight lines as well. The last thing we need is for one of us to go missing,” Jax adds.

“Or, to start a fight in the temple. I imagine that the Gods wouldn’t take kindly to that,” Asher adds.

Knot, in her fox form, yips in agreement, confirming that starting a fight here would not be a good idea. She lets me know that only if it’s absolutely necessary will it be allowed.

“Well, that confirms it then,” I smile.

After I have one last look at the picture to make sure that if I see it, I will recognize it, I move to one side of the room and start to comb through the area. There are only a few display cases in here, but there are various alcoves in the curved walls that are holding objects and it does occur to me that if I had to have an object that was capable of controlling many supernaturals but that needed to be hidden, then I would make sure that it was something small. Something that would be easy to hide, something that you could blend in, maybe with something else?

This line of thought makes my intuition ping, and because of that, I know that I’m on the right track. It’s also because of this revelation that I stop looking in the display alcoves and instead start looking at the seating, the walls, and even the floor, just trying to see if anything sets off my intuition or lets me know that I’m at least on the right track.

The room is silent as everyone looks for anything that could be it.

“I think I’ve found something made from the material,” Jax says, although he doesn’t seem too sure about whether he’s right or not.

We all quickly make our way over to him. He’s pointing at a green statue of one of the Gods, not Kronos, thank fuck, but one that I don’t recognize, as he studies it closely.

Maverick gets up close and personal with the statue, or at least as up close and personal as he can get without actually touching it and potentially triggering something that protects it if it is the object.

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