Page 58 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

“The gate is open,” Ra said. If he was the least bit phased to be talking to his dead ancestors, he didn’t show it. “Anyone can get out or come in.”

Ramses shook his head. “Not when he is restored to his throne.”

“Not to interrupt,” Rory said, “but who is‘he’?”

“His name should not be spoken, lest you draw his attention,” Ramses replied. Then he looked at Ra again. “You must leave. Take your female and stay far from here. Her soul still resides in the underworld. We vow to protect it, to hide it.”

“Wait,” Shelly said. “What happens if he, whoeverheis, finds my soul?”

The ancient pharaoh’s eyes softened slightly. “He will own you. He will torture you. And he will take pleasure in doing so. There is no mercy in him.”

Rory saw Shelly shudder.

“Thank you.” Ra looked at his ancestors. “I will not forget this.”

His ancestors all bowed, and then Ramses’ gaze slammed into Ra’s. He held out his hand, and Rory saw a stream of light hit Ra in the chest. “All that we have, we pass to you, protector of souls. The time for you to know what you really are is coming. Do not make the same mistake we did. Do not let the thirst for power blind you.”

Ra nodded to his ancestors, and then the Egyptians turned from the room. “To the gate,” Ramses yelled. “We have demons to vanquish.”

ChapterTwelve

“The devil you know? Turns out he’s not the devil at all.” ~Shelly

“We have a problem, my queen.” Resha, one of Dhara’s woodland fairies, stepped through a portal.

At the same time, a different portal opened, and another unexpected visitor emerged. “We have more than one problem,” The voice was that of Trill, a pixie spy assigned to monitor the dark fire king, Viscious—one of the many keeping eyes and ears on the dark royals.

Aviur was flipping through a stack of papers so ancient they looked as if they might fall apart at any moment. “More than oneis a bit of an understatement, Trill. The oldest of our kind, with the most knowledge of the soul bonded, died a week ago. We have problems up to our respective necks. He huffed and tossed the pages down, seemingly disregarding their fragile nature, and looked at the other royals in the room. “We’ve been searching this stuff for days, and we don’t know anything more than what we knew before Alaric died.”

“He did leave things a bit of a mess,” Kairi, the water queen, said.

“I don’t think he planned on leaving it this way,” Ecthelion, Kairi’s mate, said. “It’s not like he knew the hour of his death.”

“We just need to keep looking,” Dhara encouraged. “We have little time.”

Resha spoke up. “I’m afraid time has run out, Queen Dhara. I’ve been watching the Devil’s Heart forest, as you asked me to do.” The fairy wrung her hands while staring unblinkingly at the queen.

“What has happened, Resha?” Dhara gently set down an old book on the table in front of her. The contemplative look on her face changed to one of worry.

“The dragons emerged from their portal.” The fairy shifted its weight from one foot to another but said nothing more.

“And?” Aviur made a hand motion to continue.

“And that group of students you said to be watching for, well, they showed up.” Resha shifted on her feet again, and the lines on her forehead deepened. She licked her lips. “And, uh, the dragons…”

“Out with it,” barked Aviur.

“Well, the dragons opened the gate.”

Aviur saw every royal pair of eyes land on the fairy. “What?” Dhara’s voice was shrill.

“How long ago?” Ecthelion asked the fairy.

“About twenty minutes,” she answered. “I meant to come quicker, but I couldn’t tear myself away from what was happening. I think I was in shock.”

A few groans came from the group of royals, Aviur’s being the loudest.

“Understandably so,” Nasima, the air queen, told Resha. “The gate has never been opened, and for good reason.”

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