Page 58 of A Touch Enchanted

“I’ve been telling people for years how smart I am. No one believes me.” He took another bite of granola. Crumbs dotted his lips and he gave me a grin that reminded me of Sandy when she’d dump a chewed-up tennis ball she’d fetched at my feet.

I laughed. “Any other theories in that big brain of yours?”

“Tons.” He took my hand and pulled me over to the golden gate. “See this sun here?” He touched a finger to the pattern woven into the gate. “It matches the sun on Ceti’s tomb. And these metallic threads look just like the ones that flowed out of the cave when we stopped Nirah’s ability to produce poison.”

“You think Ceti sent those threads?” I glanced at the tomb. I really didn’t want to open that thing. No good came from messing with graves. “Like she’s trapped down here too?”

“No. She’s definitely dead. Thora and I had a look-see to be sure before you all got here. Nothing but a pile of bones in that tomb.”

I blanched. “Good to know.”

“But I do think the golden gate was hers to control. The symbols in these pictures suggest that she was responsible for the dawn, and he was responsible for twilight. They had to work together to keep the days turning. Her essence or spirit or soul, however you want to frame that, reached out one last time when she helped us with Nirah. The part of her that’s woven into that gate gave what it could.”

“So they were enemies? Not lovers?”

“Aww, small fry.” He slung his arm over my shoulders. “How sweet and innocent of you to think those two things can’t be the same.”

I rolled my eyes. “In my dream, they were lovers.” I felt that. Even as she was dying, she cared more about him than herself. “But then why would she help you hurt him?”

“Maybe she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Maybe she was trying to save him.”

I let that settle in my mind. Weighed it with the small wisps of memory I still had from my dream. I understood her. All of us did, in a way. Not only was she connected to Nirah in body, mind, and spirit, but also through their shared magic. She would’ve hated that he carried the curse, and done everything in her power to rid him of it.

Even at the expense of his life.

“I can agree with that,” I said.

“I figured you would, seeing as how I’d do anything I could, even from beyond the grave, if a curse had Thora the way it has Nirah.”

“Do you know how Nirah is able to lower the golden gate without Ceti?”

He shook his head. “Sadly, I can’t do all the thinking around here. That’s something we’ll have to figure out still.”

Donovan came up behind me and put his arms around my waist, pulling me against him. He rested his chin on the top of my head. “Is Finn sharing more of his wisdom with you?”

“He’s really smart.”

Donovan kissed my temple. “I know. It’s like spending years cleaning out a litter box, only to discover your cat has known how to use the toilet the whole time.”

Finn released an indignant huff. “Really trying not to take the fact that you seem to think I’m the village idiot personally.”

“No one thinks that. Most people just don’t realize that you’re so observant.” I patted his cheek. “That pretty face is misleading.”

“I can’t help that I’m pretty,” he grumbled. But the compliment perked him up. That was one of the things that made Finn awesome. He was easy to please.

“I have an idea.” Audrey dug around in her backpack and pulled out a Sharpie. “We should mark where the gate is now and come back tomorrow to see if it’s moved any.”

Wes’s lips thinned. “Baby, I love you, but I’m not fighting my way through the forest two days in a row. We can check it next week.”

“We might not have until next week.” She bent down and marked a line in the rock, just under where the gate currently rested. “Getting up here wasn’t even that bad.”

“Right,” Wes said. “The fifteen-foot snake wasn’t that bad.”

“Don’t worry.” She gave him a coy smile. “I’ll make the trip worth your while.”

The ground began to shake and Wes grabbed Audrey, pulling her away from the edge of the underground river. Just like last time, Donovan curled himself over me, protecting my head from any falling rocks. But unlike last time, the walls also shook and a horrible, unnatural screeching sound vibrated from the threads of the gate. Like the torturous death of a thousand living things. My teeth snapped together and I covered my ears, but I couldn’t block out the sound that made my bones rattle together.

“What the hell is that?” Finn shouted.

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