Page 91 of Rites of Passage

There was a moment of breathless stillness. The pressure inside the catacombs dropped, tugging at Oscar’s stomach and making his ears pop.

The grimoire imploded with savage silence.

TheBook of Lightwas now an intangible, bubbling mass, magic arcing through its shifting eruptions with a brightness that scored their shadows on the walls of the crypt. A pale sphere emerged from within the crackling storm cloud. It contracted down into a circular object.

Farago’s eyes shone with a zealous light where he stood staring at the transmuted artifact from beyond the circle.

It was a metal compass covered in complex runes. One without a needle.

A keyhole opened up in the center of the smooth surface.

The ground started to shake. Barquiel flinched.

Oscar’s pulse stuttered.This isn’t part of the spell!

Dust rained down upon their heads, the particles igniting before darkening to ash as they struck the magic circle. They looked up.

Pale cracks were forming in the ceiling of the catacombs. Oscar’s eyes rounded. The lines smelled of white magic and his brother’s powers.

Rage tightened his chest and flooded his mouth with bitter acid.How?!

“The key!” Barquiel barked. He spread his wings and shot up into the air. “Use the key!Now!”

He indicated the levitating compass above the altar. A rift opened beside him. He drew his sword from within it.

Oscar unfroze. He snatched the skeleton key from inside his coat and stormed the dais. The artifact felt cold to the touch when he grabbed it, the metal smoother than he’d thought it would be. He jammed the key inside its matching opening just as a section of the roof collapsed.

* * *

Blood roaredin Nikolai’s ears as the ground gave way beneath them, forming a fifty-foot-wide crevasse in the middle of the park. The world tilted around him.

Mae grabbed his arm as he started to fall. She clocked the sweat beading his forehead and his ashen face with a worried frown.

“Are you gonna be okay?!”

Nikolai nodded weakly, nausea churning his stomach. He raised a trembling hand to Alastair where the crow drooped on his shoulder.

This was the worst either of them had felt after using a ley line.

Is it because we had to navigate Reveal and that portal?!

Somehow, he sensed there was another reason why his magic core felt so depleted. One that had to do with theBook of Lightand what he’d experienced when his powers had connected to it.

“I’ll be fine,” he mumbled. “Go!”

His words failed to reassure Mae. She lowered her brows. “Alicia, guard him!”

The reaper hooked a bony arm around Nikolai where they floated above the chasm. Mae let go and drifted off to join Vlad and the others.

Surprise jolted Nikolai when she returned, a determined expression on her face. She clasped his face and kissed him, her fingers hot against his cheeks and her lips scorching his.

Fire filled his belly. He tugged her close and deepened the kiss. She matched him beat for beat, body shuddering as she pressed against him.

Alicia cleared her throat discreetly. Mae blinked and ended the kiss. She stared into his eyes, the emotions in them so strong and clear he didn’t think he would be able to let her go. Though it was difficult to tell in the shadows, he was certain her cheeks were flushed.

“You did good,” Mae mumbled.

She twisted around and darted to their waiting forces, leaving him to press his fingers dazedly to his tingling lips.

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