Page 120 of Anathema

“I see …. Then, I will stay in the dungeons, as well.”

“No, no, dear.” Dolion patted her arm. “Zevander offered a room in the tower to me, perhaps you could take that one.” He nodded toward me. “And you, Maevyth, I’m certain he’d provide much better accommodations now that he’s a bit more comfortable with you.”

“I’m fine where I’m at.” Though, I hoped never to see that spider again.

“Very good. Well, what do you say we go and read some bones!” Again, he shook them, stirring a peculiar feeling about the fact that they had once belonged to actual beings.

“Dolion … will you still try to reach my sister?”

The excitement in his expression from moments before darkened to something more earnest. “Of course. But, Maevyth … understand, without a personal object, it’s far more difficult to reach the other person.” His lips thinned. “Try not to get your hopes too high.”

“I won’t.” Any semblance of hope had already faded, the moment I’d watched Moros grab Aleysia.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

MAEVYTH

Istared down at the shadowy mirror, the reflection of myself a haunting, ghostly appearance, in spite of the firelamp that illuminated Dolion’s cell. Allura, Dolion, and I sat around a small wooden table in the center of the cramped space, as Dolion burned a savory smelling herb in a black crucible, its white smoke drifting over the top as he wafted it over the mirror.

“Vetusza deosium invocasteus visionestaz.” He repeated the phrase a half-dozen times, only pausing to blow the white smoke over the top of the scrying mirror.

A strange, anxious sensation curled in my stomach, and my pulse hastened, as if I were nervous. Or antsy. It made sense, I supposed. He was calling on a vision of my sister, and the possibility of seeing her dead sat heavy in my heart.

Breathing through my nose, I pushed the sensation away, but it lingered, scratching at my chest like something inside of me trying to get out.

“Vetusza deosium invocasteus visionestaz e sapientaz.”

Ancient gods, we call upon your vision and wisdom, a feminine voice whispered in my head.

I frowned, my heart pounding in my chest, and I looked around, searching for who’d said it. Allura sat beside me, her eyes closed, as she rolled her head on her shoulders. As if drawn by my staring, she opened her eyes, flashing me a quick smile.

“Did you say something to me?” I whispered in a volume faint enough to keep from disturbing Dolion.

A look of confusion crossed her face, and she shook her head.

What was it, then? I surely wouldn’t have understood those words, spoken in a language I’d never heard.

As Dolion kept on with the smoke and the chanting, I caught the trembling of my hands against the table.

“Vetusza deosium invocasteus visionestaz e sapientaz.” His voice morphed into a deep, terrifying tone, as if he spoke from inside the chasm of a monster’s belly. “Vetusza deosium invocasteus visionestaz e sapientaz.”

Panic gripped my lungs, my breaths shaky and uneven. My head commanded me to say something, to make him stop, but my lips refused to obey.

My muscles jolted, locked up into a tight knot, and I kicked my head back. The ceiling faded beneath a bright flash of light. Through it, I could see Aleysia, her closely-shorn hair, the cuts and nicks above her ear. Bruised, pale skin. A fire burning in a hearth behind her. Whether she was alive, or dead, I couldn’t tell, until she shifted beneath the blanket that covered her body.

The vision snapped to blackness, and my body jostled with a rough shake of my arm.

“Maevyth!”

I snapped my eyes open to two figures standing over me, a blur at first, but they sharpened into the concerned expressions of Dolion and Allura.

My mind scrambled to make sense of the view, my thoughts spinning, winding, tumbling out of control. Behind them were the table and chairs where I’d sat moments before. A sharp pain hammered at my skull, and had me wincing and rubbing the most painful side of my head. “What happened?”

Dolion hooked his arm in mine, lifting me up from where I’d apparently crashed to the floor. “I was summoning the aid of the gods, and all of a sudden, your eyes rolled back into your head and you fell from the chair.”

Once upright, I climbed back into my seat and noticed the glass on the mirror had cracked. “Did you see anything about my sister?”

“Unfortunately, no. The summoning stopped before it even began.”

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