Page 49 of Between Soul and Vessel
“This is an energy stone, in particular, a travel stone, and it is how my kind travel from realm to realm. Shortly after I arrived here, it quit working.” She removed it from her neck and placed it in her palm, studying it. “For centuries, I have waited to see it glow once more, so that I can return home.”
“Do you know why it quit?” I inquired curiously.
“It’s a question I’ve wondered many times, but I don’t have an answer,” she replied. “All I know is that it hasn’t worked for a very long time and I’m starting to think it never will.” She reached forward, dangling it before me, the stone larger than my head. “Do you want it?”
I raised a brow. “What do you want in return?”
“A simple exchange. If you figure out a way to make it work, you let me use it to get home.”
I nodded in agreement. “Alright.”
“Good,” she stated. “Hold out your hand.”
I did. The necklace shrank, and she dropped it in mypalm.
I surveyed it for a moment before I handed it to Ezra. “What do you think? Could you get it to work?”
She raised it to her ear, listening for a moment, then said, “I can take it to my sisters, but it could be a while before we discover anything.Ifwe discover anything. And even if we do, there is no guarantee we can fix it.”
“How long isa while?” I asked, peering down at her.
“Days. Months. Years.” She handed the stone back. “Time we don’t have.”
My shadows swam around it, dissolving it and placing it in their storage.
I crossed my arms over my chest, mulling things over. I could wait for Ezra to take the travel stone to her sisters, but, as Ezra pointed out, there was no guarantee they could get it to work.
I thought of Sage, and I knew what I had to do.
Not that I was going to like it.
I loosed a breath.
“It’s a good choice,” Ezra said before her face swiveled in the giant’s direction. “Would you like him salted or unsalted?”
Of course, she grinned.
Von
“Don’t worry, Von.I’ll look after it,” Dameon reassured me as he, Zahra, Folkoln, and I left my council room—the voices of the conversing immortals inside cut off as the door closed behind us. After Ezra and I returned to the castle, I’d called a meeting, assigning my council members various tasks to take care of in the wake of my absence. Some weren’t qualified for half the jobs I had handed over to them, but desperate times called for desperate measures or some bullshit like that.
I had no idea how long I would be gone for, no idea how I planned to get back, and for all I knew, time could move differently in the Mother Realm.
But the one thing I did know with every fiber of my stubborn, bastard self?
I was going to get Sage back.
“I appreciate it,” I answered Dameon as the four of usbegan to walk down the hallway. There was one last thing I needed to do.
From behind us, flapping wings sounded, followed by a flash of light. “Wait!” Kaleb called out, his voice echoing off the glass walls.
Ignoring him, I continued forward.
Kaleb jogged up beside me and opened his mouth to speak—
“No,” I stated firmly, already knowing what he was going to ask.
“I didn’t even say anything,” he protested.
