Page 81 of Gift from the Source
Picking the book back up, instead of my magic, I call my gift forward and lay my hand against the pages.
My eyes close as the darkness leaks from my fingers and enters the parchment. Now that the dragon has said it, I see it clearly and it maps out easily for my shadows to follow.
It isn’t a wall or a solid block. It’s a maze that leads to the heart of the tangled web.
This is a path I’ve already memorized. It’s the exact one he built when he taught me how to shift through my shadows.
Fuck. It’s moments like this I wish I could go back in time and knock myself upside the head.
As cautiously as I can, I command them to move. I’m steady and careful not to hit a dead end. I know if I do, I’ll be shoved out and whatever my uncle has set for an alarm will go off.
In practice, it would literally fling me to my ass.
In this case, I haven’t a clue. I fear I’ll destroy the book and whatever he’s hidden in it.
The metaphorical walls grow so slim, it’s like pushing a piece of paper through the crack in a doorframe. When they make it through the last corner of the maze and enter into the opening, I push my magic through the path they left behind.
The tangled web is an intricate mess of knots, but I pluck them all precisely. I don’t let myself second-guess my choices and just do what feels right.
Magic sizzles out around me with a wave of heat that caresses my face. I don’t release my breath until the cool breeze in my room chills my skin once again.
“Cas,” Willow whispers beside me.
Her bond tenses, causing mine to react the same.
Peeling my eyes open, I stare down at what’s left in front of me.
Caspian.
My name written across that envelope in his script makes my throat close up. Again, my hands shake with nerves as I reach over to the side table and grip the other letter, then pass it to Willow.
“That was just a teaser. Telling me to let go of my bullshit.”
She’s silent as she reads, although the humor she’s finding in his words bleeds into my chest. It’s a welcome reprieve from the stampede beating away in my ribcage.
“I’ll step out if you’d like for me to,” she says as she hands me the gag note back.
“I want to read it first, but I’d like for you to stay. Just be here,” I admit.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I nod without looking at her for the simple fact that those understanding eyes may break the restraint I’m holding onto. The fear of what may come next is making the darkness rise in me.
I want nothing more than to ignore the goodbye I know I’m about to find.
It’s time. I need to face it.
It’s almost impossible to lift the envelope out of the seam of the book. It’s as though the weight of the responsibilities on his shoulders carried over into the words he inked on the parchment.
My magic coats my fingertips, freeing the paper and trapping me in the words that appear.
As I sit here, nephew, I can’t help but to think back to when you were a child. So free, curious, and full of loving mischief.
Nothing would’ve prepared me for the turn your life would take.
The day you were kidnapped…
I was in the nonmagical realm telling Willow about her mom for the first time.
