Page 47 of In the Dark

“So what?”

Her words hung tensely in the air. The den filled with heavy silence.

At last, Morgan spoke. “Let’s table our conversation for later, shall we? I took care of those few people, the Claddium members, right?” He looked to Astix for approval. “I left them sleeping on the sidewalk before anyone could get hurt. But when they wake up, they will come for her.”

“Nothing new.” Astix’s eyes tightened at the corners. “Never a moment’s peace with those guys. How long do you think we’ll have?”

“Who’s to say? It could be hours or minutes.”

“Why didn’t I think about this sooner? Orestes will definitely be gunning for us now. It doesn’t give us a lot of time to prepare.” Astix glanced around the room, once a physical reminder of the vast separation between her and her family. That time seemed like it had happened to a different person. She had a whole new life to plan, and she hoped, when the battle was won, she would be able to come back to her family and feel whole. It had taken too long to feel comfortable again. She would be damn sure to make up for lost time if she had the opportunity.

“I brought him here to help me find a way to push Darkness out of me,” Karsia said of Morgan. She sat next to Astix, perched on the edge of the lounge cushions, eyes round in zealous fervor. “But let me use it! This power. I can use it to avenge the wrongs and to save our asses. To get Orestes to leave us alone.”

“You can’t use it, Karsia,” Astix said.

“Mom is barely hanging on. We’re alive and so are the people responsible. Use me to punish them. Then we’ll find a way to fix me.”

If I want to be fixed.

“No. It’s wrong and you know it. Or rather, you used to know it.” Astix tried to think logically. She tended to go off at the mouth for no reason without regard to the consequences. Leo was much better equipped for diplomacy, and she wished desperately for him to be there. To guide her.

Karsia got to her feet with a snigger. “You’re weak. All of you. To think any of this is going to stop once I’m back to normal. I’m the only one who can go up against these people and come out unscathed. What do you think you can do? With your piddling magic?”

“Aren’t these people your governing body? Are you sure you want to start a war with them?” Morgan asked.

“I’ll start a war with whomever I please. I’m more than capable.”

Astix bristled. “You better stop right there.”

“Stop what? Telling the truth?” Karsia waved her arms dramatically. “You want me to stop because you can’t handle it. You’ve always been—”

Astix raised an arm and in the blink of an eye, purple light surrounded Karsia, pinning her in place with arms splayed to the side.

Her black gaze swept violently over them as she fought against the hold.

Morgan jolted and fell back against the bookshelf. “What the shit?” The glow from several spheres of black obsidian and amethyst around the room caught his attention.

Astix approached her sister until they were a breath apart. “Do not mistake my compassion for weakness. I am not afraid to get nasty if it’s for your own good. We are getting this thing out of you.” She leaned in closer. “Tonight.”

Her fingers snapped and she whipped around toward Morgan. “Professor, with me.”

“What are you two going to do? Fuck?” Karsia laughed maniacally. She tested the invisible restraints and found them strong. “Take him, I don’t care. I don’t care what you do! I’m the only one with enough balls to follow through with anything meaningful. You’re weak. Weak!”

Morgan ignored the harsh words and followed Astix to the corner of the room. She drew on more gemstones to surround them with a partial barrier no sound could penetrate.

“Are you—” he began.

She shushed him until she completed the spell and let out a breath of air. “Anything you can remember about the tablet you found, you need to tell me now,” Astix told him in a hushed whisper. “I can’t go off half-cocked when I don’t have all the information.”

“I’ve been looking,” he insisted quietly. “I haven’t found anything so far.” He wished he had better news for her. “There’s nothing written about a reversal. Once two people take up the position it seems to be permanent until another takes their place. It’s dependent on free will. The stone merely retells the details of the story hundreds of years after it actually happened. It’s not like we’re talking about a first-hand account.”

Astix blinked rapidly. “Would it help if I took you there? To the stone?”

At once he focused his full attention on her. “You know where it is?” Morgan’s heart fluttered and he looked down at the small woman with a new respect. She seemed too young to have such weight on her.

“Yes. Will it help? You’re clearly more than you appear. I’m not sure what you are, man or god or somewhere in between. But I can recognize the bigger picture and a far greater power at work here. What do you need from me?”

He considered the possibilities. The tablet he’d helped translate mentioned the stone as part of a story. A key component too fantastical to be real. The possibility of seeing it now…it was better than the best Christmas present.

---