Page 32 of A Drink of Destiny
“Is this the Pit? Like Frost’s Pit?”
“Mori, life and death are more complicated than I can begin to explain to you. What I would like to ask you is do you think doing the right thing or the good thing is always easy on your soul? Do you think what is easy for the personality we slip into while we’re alive is also easy for the soul?”
“Uh… Maybe not but also some people are shitty. I’m asking because I’ll find a way to contact Frost and let him know this is a mistake if this is the Pit.”
Ormund let out an amused chuckle and ruffled my hair.
“Don’t do that,” I said, ducking his big hand when he tried to do it again.
“Dern is where he needs to be, Mori, and that’s the important thing. Back to why you jumped out of our mirror,” Ormund said as we turned into the kitchen. It was strangely empty without Dern sitting at his normal spot in the kitchen.
“I was talking to someone about making a very unique amulet. We got on the topic of her and he thinks… No, actually, I think she’s waiting for my nephew to grow up and then she’ll come back with a vengeance and try to sacrifice him. Like she’s giving up on being his teacher so that she can have something later because if she doesn’t stop what she’s doing right now someone is going to kill her.”
“It’s too bad her grandmother didn’t sacrifice her,” Ormund scoffed. “We can see some things about her but what you want to know is only knowable by her and by time. Fate and probability are bullshit. Everything changes all the time. You coming here through the mirror changes things. Our conversation is changing things. Oh! Wait! Don’t you make amulets and stuff?”
“I do. I do a lot of spells and--- Are you asking why I don’t know how to do what I need help doing?” I asked him, sliding in my normal seat at the kitchen table out of habit.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s easy to forget your natural strengths when you’re all caught up in something like this. Now isn’t the time for you to start doubting yourself.”
“I’m not. Between us, hell, between us and Dern because you two tell each other everything,” I sighed.
“As you’ll understand once you meet your mate,” he said, and it took all my might not to try to pump Ormund for information about my true-mate. Species? Eye color? Job? Sire’s name? What territory was he born in?
“Anyway,” I sighed. “I didn’t know how to leave my body when I was small. Some people are born doing it all willy-nilly but I had to learn to do it. It’s hard to say it even now, but I was afraid if I got out I wouldn’t be able to get back in. So I still read a lot about astral projection, spirit journeys, and the like – but mostly the parts about getting out. I’m not afraid of not getting back in anymore but I’ve never made something to keep me or anyone else inside our bodies. I don’t want to do it so well that I’m stuck inside my body forever either.”
“Makes sense,” Ormund said and turned toward the cabinets above the sink. I half expected him to come back with tea. Tea I wouldn’t drink because of the stunt his mate pulled not so long ago. Instead, he came back with a long, brown phoenix feather.
“What’s this for?” I asked him as he handed it to me.
“You’ll need something to carve with. You don’t have fangs, and I don’t want you to try to pull out your own teeth or claws. Use this instead.”
“Thanks, Ormund.”
“Have I answered enough of your questions now? Are you ready to go home? Preston is probably missing you by now. It’s nearly dinner time over there.”
“Shit,” I swore under my breath.
“I’ll let Dern know you stopped by and the new developments. We’ll be in touch. If you succeed at keeping him from calling you here whenever he wants, keep an eye out for a postcard. Why do you think the folks who pulled him into all this resorted to that method?” Ormund grinned.
His devious smile was almost boyish.
“Thanks, Ormund,” I grinned and started toward the backdoor.
Ormund grabbed my arm and wheeled me around back towards the hallway.
“Mori,” he said once we were inside the bathroom with the door shut tight. “You need to understand that you may come and go in spirit form or in your body, but you may only be inside the house. Going outside is off limits during this visit and all your future visits too.”
I blinked about to open my mouth and ask all the questions that had plagued me since the first time I saw Pit Hounds running around their backyard. Ormund was having none of it. He lifted me up and chucked me through the mirror. Thankfully, I didn’t come out the mirror at the guesthouse I entered through. No, Ormund tossed me out of the mirror above my bed at the house I shared with Preston and Baby Andy. The vampires who designed the place must’ve had some freaky guests in mind. Not that the mirror had gotten any use since we moved in.
“Mori? Is that you? If whoever’s in there isn’t my brother, you should know I haven’t eaten dinner yet and I’m about thirty seconds from shifting into a bear and pretending you’re a plate of chili fries!”
“Preston?” I called back.
“Thank the old bears!” Preston said, opening the door. “I thought I’d have to eat someone for a minute, and I am hungry, but could you imagine the headlines “DRAGON EATING BEAR!”?”
“Why would a dragon break into my bedroom? You know what? Never mind. Let’s just eat,” I said, laying the undamaged phoenix feather on my nightstand.
“I’m glad you’re hungry. I made about six pans of lasagna and a pot roast while I was waiting on you,” he sighed. “Baby Andy is sucking my nipples raw and it’s almost impossible to keep up with how much he’s eating. And before you start in – I don’t want to switch to formula.”
