Page 116 of The Spark that Ignites
“You took the words from my mouth.” Emmery traced the wall carvings depicting terrible stories of faceless creatures and shape shifting shadows. Atop each archway a man stood, accompanied by two lions like those on the Whispering Spring chalice. He watched—waiting eternally. It had to be Deimos.
At the end of the hall, a treasure trove hummed with magic. The ancient items rattled her bones in a strange, enchanted rhythm and they shimmied between the mountainous gold walls.
“How are we supposed to find the amulet?” Emmery whispered, coins tumbling to her feet. “We don’t have time to dig. Or be buried alive should this topple over.”
“It’s one of a kind. I doubt it’d be strewn amongst”—he gestured to the riches—“all this.”
A haggard wooden door with jagged claw marks waited at the room’s edge. Her stomach clenched as she recognized them as the same ones marring the trees in the Waking Wood. Emmery held her breath as Vesper turned the rusted handle and a vexed groan answered.
The room opened to a prolonged bridge, stagnant obsidian water bordering each side. Emmery lit the sconces, and they dodged suspicious tiles. She yanked Vesper aside as he nearly stumbled on one.
“Watch it. I don’t want to find out what those markings are,” she warned. Some were blood-red, others smudged black, but both prickled the back of her neck.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Decoration maybe.” Vesper waved her off, distracted by an eerily similar stained-glass window to Castle Dusk, though it served no purpose with not a lick of sunlight gracing the chamber. Emmery cocked her head at the pictures. In this depiction, Deimos danced with Kahlia, rather than standing backs turned. Which was the true story? Emmery supposed they would never know.
Glass pillars lined the window and inside were shiny things, jewellery, chalices, statues, books, and—
Oh gods, those werebones.
Vesper’s steps quickened and Emmery sprinted to keep pace, that damn ticking reverberating through her brain. She could barely think past it.
He stalked along the pillars, dragging his gloved hand across the invisible barrier. “This is it.” His voice was ravenous, fingers itching to retrieve the amulet. He stared at it like a man possessed, eyes glittering like luscious jewels. “Use your magic.”
Her stomach knotted as she surveyed the incongruous items locked away by the gods. Maybe this was a mistake. If they were buried in this godsforsaken crypt, it had to be for good reason. But her heart constricted as she pictured Maela’s face. There was no time to dwell on any of this. They’d come this far. And Maela was almost within reach.
So, Emmery squeezed her eyes shut and laid her hands on the barrier.
Herkhaosflame devoured it, hungry to see her sister again, and she released a jagged breath, scattering ash and a thick layer of dust. Vesper tore the lid aside and chucked it to the floor, not giving a damn as glass shards scattered everywhere. Emmery’s hand habitually flew to her chest, but her pocket watch was absent.
With quaking hands, Vesper cradled the amulet as if it were a delicate piece of art. It seemed to come to life, gazing curiously back. A magical bass boomed from it, like it could rattle the world, strip it of happiness and everything pure with a single eclipsing blink. Like it could tarnish every afterlife and laugh in Death’s face.
A cool wind kissed Emmery’s neck, and her fingers searched for the familiar groove, but the shooting star was gone. And so was Vesper’s.
Their pactum was complete.
She was free. But somehow, she didn’t feel it.
Emmery’s chest tightened as he handled the amulet, every fibre of her being cryingwrong, wrong, wrong.“That thing—” She shook her head. “I—I don’t like it.”
Unbothered, Vesper clasped it around his neck. “Serafelle likely forged it through some sick means, but we don’t have a choice. I haven’t a clue what Deimos was saving this for, but it calls a soul outside the Hollow.”
So, it would work on Maela. Her chest throbbed with anticipation and something else. Something like remorse.
He continued, “Zyphira said it breaks after one use, so we had better make this count.”
An eerie quiet settled in the motionless room. This seemed too easy.
Vesper turned from the glass case and a click reverberated through the chamber. The ticking intensified to a shrill blow and her stomach dropped as their gazes collided.
Howls obliterated the silence.
Chapter Forty-One
Kicking up dust, Emmery summoned every scrap of strength in her wobbly legs to match Vesper’s pace as they fled for the exit. Scraping claws on stone chased them, growing closer. She didn’t dare look back.
They had just set foot on the bridge when the first hound scurried from a tunnel, followed by several others.
Emmery’s heart thumped in her ears and the room twirled as she grasped for an escape.
