Page 257 of The Sins of Silas

My heartbeat quickened, remembering the sight of so many deceased clerics. But I sighed in relief as we were met with many living ones this time.

We were led down to the altar room, and Merrick's hand anxiously went to the strap around his chest that held his crossbow.

Thankfully, the people here allowed us to bring our weapons, even though I assumed we wouldn't need them.

Once down in the altar room, we traveled through a hall located at the back of the room.

“Do all the temples have hidden passageways?” Elowen asked, her hand wrapped tightly around Edmund's enchanted one.

“All the temples look alike, but they all have their own unique features,” Valter explained from up ahead. “Passageways, perhaps not. But there is something special about them all.”

A little further down and the stone walls surrounding us turned to glass. I was in awe of the medley of colorful fish that swam by as we stood beneath the ocean.

“Oh, wow,” Dani whispered. “Amazing…”

My friends appreciated the view as we continued onward until we were brought to a large, circular room. Along the entirety of the floor was a pentagram glowing purple.

Dani frowned as she stared up at Kismet. “A pentagram?”

Kismet's brown eyes sharpened, but her smile remained light. “Is it such a surprise one would be here?”

I turned to Valter. “I'm confused. You seemed surprised by my ability to utilize Warlock magic yesterday.”

Kismet's brows furrowed, darting between the two of us. “You can utilize Warlock magic?”

I gestured to the pentagram. “Uh, yes? Pentagrams, incantations—all that jazz.”

“The pentagram belongs to the Mages,” Valter stated. “But the Titharan language…we've never known how to decipher it or speak it.”

“So, this Chamber,” Dani began, “doesn't utilize a spoken word spell?”

“No,”Kismet said, crossing her thin arms. “It requires a charge…and a memento.”

“The memento is the tether…” I fished out Igon's compass, my eyes flicking to the statues on either side of the rounded room. “As are the relics. An incantation isn't needed.”

Dani walked forward, examining the symbols above the statues. She was able to decipher the language without the grimoire. “Give us an object of value,” she read, then walked over to the other relic. “And the truth shall set you free.”

“What does the pentagram say, Dani?” Viola asked.

The Warlock knelt down, sliding her hands along the text engraved into the concrete. “Show me another time.”

“How does this work, exactly?” Merrick asked Kismet.

She was seemingly shocked by the Warlock being able to decipher the text. “You place a memento in the center of the pentagram, and the clerics will surge in their illusion magic. It will provide you with visions.”

Dani swallowed, her brows lowering as she stood. “I think…I think if we speak the incantation, it will be more than just visions.” Her pupilless, blue eyes searched the dome-like roof of this underwater room. “This room isn't made of glass, is it?”

“It is,” a cleric stated. “Glass infused with clear quartz.”

Dani swore, then apologized for using such language in front of a cleric. “Clear quartz is a master crystal, one that amplifies energy.” She focused her attention on me. “I believe the incantation won't just provide visions. I believe it will bounce off the quartz and show us the visions as if we were actually there.”

“That's ludicrous,” Kismet began, but when her gaze flitted down to the Titharan language etched into the pentagram, shesighed. “Very well. We can try it, so long as the clerics are okay with it.”

The clerics all stared at Dani with a look of respect. “You speak Tithara's language…words that have been lost to us Mages. If this works, we ask you to teach us.”

Dani agreed. “Of course.”

I was kneeling now, placing Igon's compass in the center of the pentagram, when a memory hit me—Kayin's words to me back on the mountaintop.

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