Page 13 of Stolen Oath
I felt the cold dread of resignation settle in my stomach. Nothing in the world of magic came without a price and I knew this wouldn’t come for free either. Swallowing hard, I asked "What would be my price?"
"An offering," the voice replied simply, all remnants of cozying up to me gone.
"What kind of an offering?" I challenged, unwilling to give away something that meant a lot to me so easily. Although what that would be I still had not even the slightest idea.
"It has to be something of great personal value to you," the grimoire said, its tone never wavering as if it already knew I had nothing to offer and what my answer would be. If I didn’t know better I would’ve thought it didn’t want me to go looking for the woman that came to my store by asking for something I can’t give.
My heart ached as I tried to recall a memory of my mother in my mind’s eye and kept coming up with a black void staring at me from a vast distance – she had already been taken away from me before I was old enough to be able to remember her face, but I still desperately tried to picture something. Anything.
Char was all I had in life and there was no way in this world or another that I'd ever offer her up for anything. My gaze instinctively settled on Dimitri who was watching me intently with an unreadable expression. He had one hand gripping Damian’s shoulder and the other curled around Char’s upper arm. It was a very strange positioning of his body but I’d have to ask him later about it.
I paused for a moment, considering my options. There was nothing else left for me to offer - not even myself - and certainly not Dimitri who wasn't mine in any capacity besides our unlikely alliance. We both had our own motives pushing us to stick together, it wasn’t like he woke up one morning and said ‘you know what? I think I’ll go help Alaska with her crap because she deserves it.’ Yeah, Dimitri watched out for his own perky ass alright.
I took a deep breath before snorting softly to myself.
"Anything specific in mind?" I prompted the book, trying to mask the fear in my voice with a hint of sass. “Because I’ll tell you now the only thing I have of value is my best friend and…well, you. And I won’t offer you Char, she’s off limits. Not even at the cost of my own life.”
If I stopped to think about that whole situation, I would’ve wondered why the book I’ve had my entire life decided that very day to speak up when it had never done so before. Or why it felt okay to sit on the floor of my bedroom with three other people hovering over me and watching whatever exchange I had going on. But I didn’t; so it continued spiraling my life down into a rabbit hole way too deep to ever escape from.
“You can offer something that is of personal value in the future but has not yet revealed itself.” The voice offered softly and thoughtfully.
“How very nice of you to try and help.” I was pretty sure my face expressed my aggravation more than my tone.
Again, my gaze darted to Dimitri for a split second, long enough for my heart to skip a beat when our eyes locked. Quickly, I dropped it to my lap where he won’t notice how flustered he made me feel. Or so I hoped anyway. I’d stay away from Dimitri Bell if I knew what was good for me. Nothing worth my sanity or my life will come out of it.
“Okay.” I finally said on a heavy sigh. “When I have something of personal value in the future I will give it to you as an offering. I have no idea how you’ll take it but I’ll worry about it when the time comes.”
I was getting tired. Drained was more like it judging by the way my body was hunching over, almost folding in on itself. A strange thought came to mind that it was so weird to have Char stay silent for that long but I brushed it off. She hadn’t said a word since I touched the grimoire and that was beginning to worry me. Usually, my friend had a lot to say when faced with difficult situations like this one. But, it could be that we were all weirded out, tired and bruised from the ordeal that morning. Who am I to judge her if she needed some space and had no desire to talk?
Excited energy thrummed under my fingertips that were pressed on the weathered leather. If there was any ominous vibe coming from it, it must’ve been masked well because it almost felt like the book was sighing too as if a heavy burden was lifted off of it. The scent of old tomes and mildew saturated the air and filled my nostrils. Like the history and knowledge the book harbored, my nose detected a strong and pungent odor that smacked me in the face so unexpectedly I recoiled from it, losing the connection as my hand lifted off the cover.
My mouth opened on a silent scream when suddenly everything around me came to life. Lights flickered in the background, knickknacks seemed to be floating in mid-air and the grimoire’s pages shifted as if they were being flipped through before slamming the book shut with a loud smack. So enthralled with the alluring tone of the voice, I never noticed that every other sound ceased to exist around me. It was like time had stopped, just for a moment, while everyone's attention was focused on me. As if waking up from a daunting nightmare, I gasped and dropped forward, holding myself up with my arms while fighting for breath.
"Allie." Char shouted and jerking away from Dimitri's hold, she crawled to me and gathered me in her arms. "Breathe, woman. Just breathe." My friend kept repeating.
My head ached and throbbed with stabbing pain as I stubbornly fought for consciousness. Everything around me was blurring and becoming disorienting, like a thick fog had suddenly descended into my bedroom. I heard my friend's voice but it was muffled, like she was talking from the other end of a long tunnel. The next thing I knew, her arms tightened around me as my body started shuddering uncontrollably.
Through the fog of confusion, I could hear the alpha and Damian saying something, their voices urgent but I couldn't understand a word they were saying. A train was thudding in my ears, the horn screaming so loud that I felt a trickle of warm liquid slide down the side of my face. It was then that I realized what was happening – they were trying to pull me back from some kind of trance-like state induced by the grimoire's power. How I didn't realize what was going on as it happened was beyond me.
Char kept whispering calming words in my ear, her hands rubbing my back and arms in even, soothing strokes. Meanwhile, Dimitri's lips were moving as if he was casting spells in an attempt to break any kind of magical connection that might have remained between me and the leather tome.
Suddenly, a voice broke through all the chaos surrounding us. It belonged to a mysterious, shadowy figure whose presence none of us noticed until now. He introduced himself as Zin and speaking urgently he explained that he was responsible for activating this special ability within me – an ability that would allow me access the realms beyond that what other of my kind have accomplished. Zin warned us of great risks involved in going forward and suggested that we take great care to keep it a secret.
Then he was gone and I wondered if maybe I was in a delirium and I imagined him. A hysterical giggle built in my throat because it almost sounded like the shadowy male said his name was Sin. Then nausea hit me again doubling the sound of the shrieking horn and I doubled over in Char’s hold.
"Give me my purse." Char was yelling at one of them over my head where I was pressed to her chest since I was clinging to her torso like a drowning man would clutch a straw. "Hurry up!"
"Char." My lips moved but I had no clue if I whispered it or screamed it. No one paid me any attention so I tried again. "Char."
"Throw it at me damn you." She snarled at someone and both of us swayed when something hit us from the side.
"Char?" With great effort I lifted my face and blinked up at my friend when she glanced down at me.
"Breathe, Allie." Her voice broke and I frowned at the anguished expression she wore.
"I'm okay." My attempt to reassure her seemed it made it worse because fat tears rolled down her face and my heart begun to gallop. The horn was getting louder to a point of driving me insane. "Make it stop...please."
"I got you, Allie." Char choked out and pressed a potion bottle to my lips.
