Page 164 of Gift from the Wing

How in the world she drinks coffee all day and doesn’t jitter out of her skin is still a mystery to me.

“I could take it by IV injection and would still want more,”she says, grinning over at me.

“I’m going to show you rather than tell you. There’s importance to both visions.”

Wiping her hands off and sitting up straight in Corentin’s lap, she waits for everyone’s go-head before latching onto our minds. I hold in my groan at the gentle caress of her magic flowing through me because I’m sure our guests don’t want to know how fucking amazing it feels to have your Primary’s gift rub against your own.

Closing her eyes, her mind floods ours and she skips right to her visions rather than what she does when she walks in. I’m caught off guard when the first thing we see is the five families gathered around.

I can identify each Primary in that room and the men are recognizable although some, to my annoyance, I can’t put the names I know to the faces. This is definitely Corentin’s area of expertise and since it’s been so long since I’ve been around the lot of them, I’m no help with anything here.

Except for the fact that it’s glaringly clear they’re having a meeting without Aunt Rory and I’m proud my little warrior picked up on that sly tidbit as well.

Moving on, she skips to the next, and her shift in mood, thought process, everything changes as soon as the unidentifiable image shifts from the quivering person to the Summum-Master. This is the moment she lost the tranquility she thought she felt, and the sensations start in her body.

The confusion in a few of the people at our table, namely Oakly’s Nexus, is evident in how the connection all of us are sharing shudders slightly. It’s just a small vibration of what they’re feeling, but I can pinpoint it.

I don’t feel that same. I know when I see a powerful Illusionist and the most powerful one I’ve ever met, known, loved, is no longer with me, so that only leaves one I can identify.

As soon as Willow cuts my connection to her, I turn to observe Trex and I’m taken aback by the shattered look in his eyes. I was expecting to see something, but he looks on the verge of throwing up, possibly crying.

“That…he was only eighteen, maybe nineteen at most then. There’s no doubt he’s had to strengthen it.”

“Wait, that was…” Oakly says, trailing off as she puts it together first.

“Yeah. Xander, our brother. I told you all, his illusions are on another level. If he’s concealing the Summum-Master’s identity, no one will be able to break that illusion but him, and that’s what appears to be happening.” He grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut. The anger in him bleeds out all over the table, and Codi reaches his hand out, gripping his shoulder.

“We’re going to find them. I’ll keep trying to get through to him.”

“How have you been trying?” Willow asks Codi.

“Really, just trying to think about him constantly, putting myself in deep sleeps at night to see if he can come through. Nothing’s happened yet, but I’ll keep trying.”

“We’ll continue to look for ways to track or reach them as well. I need to let my mom know about this secret meeting of the five. Her decree is set to go out today, so it hasn’t happened yet,” Corentin says, pulling out his communicator and kissing Will on the top of the head before placing her back in his seat while he steps away.

“We’ve assumed the Summum-Master is a Fortifier based on what Keeper told us and I believe that vision confirms it, Primary. I’d hate to refer to a Fortifier as weak because their gift is honestly astonishing, but most of the time, without a form of defensive gift, they are lower on the power scale. So that black cloaked figure you saw, I think is the Summum-Master before he became the Summum-Master,” Caspian says with a faraway tone. His water twirls through his fingers as his shadows circle around him. He’s deep in his mind, trying to piece it all together.

“I thought the same thing, but I was more concerned about that weird feeling of his power. It didn’t feel…I don’t know, Elementrian, Elementrish. You know what I mean,” Will says.

“That’s because it wasn’t, child,” Gaster says quietly.

His pale face and glazed eyes silence everyone at the table as we take in the state of shock he’s currently in. He shakes himself out, but the seriousness that takes over his features makes us all hold our breaths and wait. Even Corentin notices and ends his call.

“When I was in the Valorian Veil, there was a being there that many feared. He’s one of the original Gods of the realm and his power was vicious, to say the least, if that’s how he wanted to wield it. The time I told you I sensed the realm was on a path to war, you remember?” he asks Willow gently, and she nods. “It was because I witnessed his gift. His name is Kirabaddon and he’s the God of Obliteration. I watched him lay his hand to the temple of the God of Boundaries and decimate it with one touch. In the Veil, an act like that is an act of war. That was his gift the Summum-Master was wielding.”

“But that’s impossible. He doesn’t have that capability from what we’ve seen and the portal to that realm is closed,” Nikoli says.

“It’s not impossible,” Willow whispers. A lone tear escapes her eye and she’s quick to wipe it away, then sniffles. “It’s not impossible to get into the Valorian Veil with my supply of blood.”

A muttering of fucks echoes around the table and I reach out to grip Will’s elbow, pulling her into my lap. There’s a rush of guilt washing through her as though she believes she is at fault for this, and I can’t stand the weight it’s bearing down on my chest. Nothing about any of this is her fault.

“Don’t blame yourself for this, little warrior. Any of it. You had no choice when your blood was stolen from you, and you have no control over what he does with it until we locate it,”I tell her softly but sternly.

She doesn’t respond, but instead, closes her eyes and lays her forehead to mine. I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, holding her to me, and I keep my breathing level until she mimics the steady flow.

“Caspian, Gaster, San, expand your searches to all known locations of the portals. We know the main five but find any mentions of secret or well-hidden ones. We need a count for as many or as little as you can find by the end of today. Tillman, be thinking about who you want to assign to those portals so we can post lookouts at each one for the time being. Princess…” Corentin softens his tone and kneels down in front of us, gripping her hands. “It’s time to open your Mom’s book.”

A shuddering breath falls from her lips and her fingers flinch against his, but nonetheless, she nods and cups his cheek.

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