Page 33 of Tangled Fates

We finally made our way down to the workshop, seeing some water in a basin, vials were set up next to it and an array of items were on shelves by a wall with a window. We found a lot of moon objects, along with rare metals, gems and more water in jars and basins.

“Is this the Oria?” Soren said, looking over the basin.

“Smells like it, but it might not be done,” I said, looking over his shoulder.

“You think the woman makes it? Or possibly the other woman?” He studied the water like it held secrets.

“The people outside of this felt powerful, it might be her and she left this woman here to protect it?” As I said it, it felt wrong because why wouldn’t she stay, and the girl go.

“I don’t know, everything just feels really weird,” Soren said, looking through boxes. “If this is where it's made, why have a frying pan-wielding girl protecting it by herself?”

“That gorge is unforgiving, maybe they assumed no one would find this place,” I said, looking at an old iPod.

“And that no one would have a necklace to get through it,” Soren said, looking out the window.

“We can dig a little deeper later when we check the other two floors,” I said, leaving the room, knowing I would feel less anxious when we made sure the place was secure.

The storage room was empty and when we ran outside, it was the same thing. Other than a garden, a few places they had for gems and other magical items, there was no one else here.

“I can’t believe they left a girl and a cat to guard the Oria,” Soren said, as we made our way inside.

“Maybe they were banking on no one surviving that hellish gorge,” I said, thinking about it. “And if they did survive, no one would be able to get in if they didn’t have a necklace. They would be stuck down here.”

I shivered realizing that we were lucky.

“Either we are incredibly lucky or—” he chuckled. “Who am I kidding? We are incredibly lucky. If we hadn’t seen those people leave and if we didn’t have that damn necklace, we would have been fucked.”

“It is all luck,” I said, wondering if it might have been fate too.

Sunshine felt familiar, she felt like mine and just being away from her for a short amount of time, I felt itchy and anxious. Once we arrived into the main living area, my uneasiness was a little more manageable.

“So, what now?” I asked, sitting on the sofa to keep myself from going to Sunshine.

This might be the start of an obsession.

“I figured we would wait here for Ryder, he said he would be back in a day, but I think it might be more like a few days,” he said, sitting on the other sofa.

“What if that woman and men come back?” I said, thinking we needed to be prepared for the worst.

“We grab as much shit as we can and we run,” he said, shrugging. “I hadn’t planned on getting to you so quickly, so my main goal was just you.”

Soren, my protector. He had always felt so responsible for me and I loved it and hated it sometimes at the same time.

“Thank you,” I said. “Thanks for coming back for me.”

“Always. Life wouldn’t be the same without you.” He nodded.

I felt guilty that while he was worried about me, my mind was glued to the woman upstairs, who felt like mine.

14

ORIA

Iturned onto my side feeling a twinge of pain in my head, wincing when the throbbing got worse. My eyes fluttered open, closing immediately when the sun was too bright. I rolled onto my stomach to cover my eyes even more. The throbbing intensified as I groaned from the pain.

Meow.

Loki kneaded my back, then laid himself on it while I tried to go back to sleep, but my pain was too annoying. My body protested when I sat up, squinting at the sunlight until my eyes adjusted.

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