Page 13 of Shield of Fire

A wave of weakness washed through my non-existent body; it was a warning I could not ignore. I needed to finish this and get out of here—especially if I wanted any hope of having enough strength left to use the Eye.

I swallowed heavily and said, Can the shield be destroyed?

Another book spun to a halt in front of me, this time revealing a mountain shrouded in fog and a ghostly, glowing arched gateway.

I didn’t recognize the arch, but the mountain was Ben Nevis. Its peak stood at the junction of earth and sky, and it was a gateway to the gods themselves.

Meaning, obviously, that the shield had to be returned rather than destroyed in the godly furnace we’d discovered deep underground. Except for one point—the keeper of that gate had already told me no evil could ever enter, and the power within the rubies held a decided darkness. I had no doubt the shield would too.

The last thing I wanted was to be trekking up that goddamn mountain in the middle of winter, only to be turned away again.

Is that all, young Aodhán?

Yes. Thank you for your help.

It has been my pleasure. There was a slight pause. It is good that the library is once again in use. Time passes too slowly in this place otherwise.

How can you be bored when you have a library such as this at your fingertips?

A thin stream of amusement spun briefly around me. A library such as this is not for the likes of me.

I wanted to ask what he was if not a god, but I was pushed back through the maelstrom before I could, and my consciousness or spirit or whatever the hell went into that place returned to my body.

I gasped, dropped the triune into my lap, then hugged my body and rocked back and forth, trying to control the quivering ache that ran through my entire being. I’d been in the library far longer than it had seemed and I was now paying the price.

I forced myself to take deeper, slower breaths, but it still took a good five or so minutes before the desperate racing of heart and pulse eased.

I leaned sideways, and with still shaking fingers, picked up my mug of now lukewarm tea. And wished I’d thought to bring a block of chocolate up with me. Chocolate was my go-to cure-all for these sorts of situations, so maybe I need to keep a stash up here for emergencies such as this.

I slowly sipped my tea, but it took another ten minutes before I approached anything close to normality. I returned the empty cup to the side table and glanced down at the Eye.

It glimmered back at me almost impatiently.

I really, really didn’t want to use it right now, but the ghosts were growing stronger.

I didn’t know what would happen if I completely ignored them, but I couldn’t remember Mom ever doing it, so it was probably best I followed her example.

I drew in another of those steadying breaths that didn’t do a whole lot, then picked up the Eye by its chain and wrapped my fingers around the stone.

The minute it touched my skin, it came to full life, flooding my senses with power as it swept me away. This time it wasn't distant places that I saw or distant voices to be heard. This time, it showed me a place I loved—Deva itself. Not my street but another, one lined with lovely old two-story red-brick terraces that were a mix of retail and residential properties. A white-painted betting shop dominated the corner opposite them, its doors open and a steady stream of customers going in and out. In the shadows of an old chimney onto which several antennae clung, air shimmered brightly. Red sparked within that turbulence, and tendrils of fire flickered. An explosion. A building destroyed and the terraces on either side alight with an unearthly green fire. A dark-skinned woman with sharp elven features buried beneath the remnants of the building, lifeless eyes staring up in shock. Bodies strewn over all the street, one of them horribly, shockingly familiar. Then finally, a clock, counting down.

And if that clock were to be believed, then I had little more than an hour to stop destruction.

Chapter

Four

The visions faded. I released the Eye, then closed my eyes and let my head drop against the back of the sofa.

As much as urgency pulsed through me, I simply didn’t have the strength to move. Would using the Eye ever get any easier for me? Mom had never seemed to suffer these sorts of consequences, but maybe she’d been made of sterner stuff.

After wasting several precious minutes doing nothing but deep breathing to regain some sense of normality, I undid the Eye’s chain and put it on. Then I picked up the Codex and my knives and carefully pushed upright. The loft spun briefly around me, and I had to lock my knees to remain upright.

What I needed was food and sleep, but that clock was ticking.

I walked a little unsteadily over to the woodfire, placed the Codex in its hidey hole, and then strapped on my knives. It felt ridiculously safer with their weight against my thighs, making me wonder just how badly things might go in the next hour.

By all rights, I should contact Sgott and tell him that Kaitlyn—the woman I’d seen so briefly in the vision—was about to be attacked, but the person I’d seen lying in the street, bloody and broken, had been him, and there was no fucking way I was ever going to risk that.

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