Destiny Gift (23 page)

“We’re on it,” Micah said.

We wished him good luck, and he wished us the same after asking to be called and informed of any changes.

“Morgan is alive,” I whispered, resting back on my seat. At least there was one piece of good news among so many tragedies. “But Omi is after us.”

***

The parking lot of the Back O’Beyond trail seemed as if it had been abandoned for many years. The grass surrounding the dirt lot was dead and the low wooden fence that delineated the place was cracked, brittle.

“Now for the bad part,” Micah said as he examined the rotten board covered with a map of the trail. He had my bag over his shoulders. Before we left the car, he’d shoved some survival stuff into it, like extra water and power bars, and offered to carry it up the steep climb. I stared upward at the towering spires and was grateful he was playing pack mule.

I approached him. “What?”

“We have to walk almost a mile up the trail to reach Cathedral Rock.” He pointed to the trailhead. “And it’s steep. Not even bikes or horses can be used for this part.”

“You’re kidding,” Victor said. “It’ll take hours to reach the top.”

Micah beckoned toward the trail, inviting us to follow him. “Better we start soon, then.”

I turned to the trail and almost bumped into Victor. He looked down at me and my breath caught.

“Excuse me,” I whispered as I walked past him.

I saw, from the corner of my eye, his hand stretching, coming toward me, but then he pulled it back and, with a sigh, followed me to the trail.

The path was marked by small piles of stone, showing us where to go. Despite the darkness from the sky and the death-defying situation, every once in a while I looked back, amazed by the gorgeous view. After forty minutes, the trail became unbelievably steeper and trickier; I was thankful for the footholds carved into the stone.

I wasn’t a good hiker. My palms sweated, my breathing and my pulse sped up, and occasionally dizziness and nausea overwhelmed me. It wasn’t easy to keep up with the guys, and being so near Victor didn’t help me. He kept looking over at me, which caused my heart to skip some precious beats.

Once, when I caught him shooting me a sidelong look, I missed a foothold and slid a few feet down the rocks on my knees. He caught me and held my arm, saving my slippery mishap from becoming a bloody accident. Under Micah’s observation, Victor hauled me up and, feeling my scraped knee, I bumped into him.

“Are you okay?” he asked. His hands snaked around my waist, steadying me, but I was determined to ignore his touch.

“Yes.” I glanced down my leg. “Just my knee, but I think it’s nothing.”

“Let me see.” He knelt and leaned against the steep rock.

I felt stupid as my cheeks warmed. He touched the scratch through the tear in the jeans and I winced. Victor tugged me down to sit beside him. “It’s not much, but you should be more careful.” He put his finger under my chin and forced me to look at him. “I know I’m distant and on the defensive sometimes, bu—”

“Sometimes?” I interrupted him without meaning to, but the words were out of my mouth before I could think.

His lips curled up in a faint smile, and I dreamed of kissing him again. “Most of the time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.” Hmm, I was hooked. Maybe I’d been too hasty back at the diner when I’d shut him out. “It’s hard for me to—”

“Hey, pretty boy and vision girl,” Micah shouted from above the rise, interrupting the words I was now dying to hear. “Pause the melodrama and drag your butts over here. We don’t have much time.”

He glared at us, and I noticed the mood was now dead. Victor was back on the defensive. Clearing his throat and extending his hand to me, he helped me up. However, this time he sent me ahead in case I slipped again.

I returned my attention to the trek. Well, sort of, because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. What had I learned about this Victor so far? Was he the same Victor from my dreams or not? There were times when I simply didn’t know. There were times my heart beat for him the way it had for my vision Victor. Or was I imagining that too?

According to Micah, we had reached Grandmother Rock, which was the name of the saddle between two rising spires on top of Cathedral Rock. The splendid view amazed me.

“So, where to now?” Victor asked.

“No idea.” Micah shrugged. “We’re at the top, and I can’t see anything around us. No aura, no signature. Maybe we’re at the wrong place.”

Victor scowled. “Yeah, that would be perfect.”

Then it came. I felt it. The same vortex of spirits the tourists came here to feel. I sensed it and it was strong. However, what I sensed wasn’t the energy of spirits. It was pure energy, pure life, pure power.

Victor was about to say something, but Micah shushed him, his gaze on me.

Smiling, I closed my eyes and let the vortex wrap around me. The energy touched my skin. I gasped as its current ran through my veins, lifting me into the air. A vision took over, and I saw the place we were in. The Everlasting Circle symbol was drawn on the floor with seven circular signs I didn’t recognize drawn tangent to it; each of us stepped into one of those signs.

The vortex died out and, in slow motion, I dropped down to where the center of the Everlasting Circle sign should be.

Victor stepped toward me. “What the hell was that?”

“Do tell,” Micah asked, serious and unmoving. “I felt it too and, damn, it was strong.”

“It’s here,” I whispered. “We need to draw some symbols.”

“With what?” Victor asked, sounding irritated. “A red pen? Perhaps a marker?”

I glared at him. God, I hated his mood swings. At least they served to remind me he wasn’t the Victor I thought he was—the Victor I wanted him to be.

“With this.” Micah produced white chalk from my bag. “During the rite Morgan performed, I felt this chalk was different and … I ended up grabbing some.” He didn’t seem too embarrassed for it. “I wanted to examine it better.”

I grabbed the chalk from him. A shock ran through my fingers. This was the right tool to draw the symbol with. “In other circumstances, I would reprimand you for stealing.”

The guys stood still, Micah smiling and Victor glaring, while I knelt down and drew the Everlasting Circle symbol and the other six smaller signs around it. I didn’t know them, but I could still see them clearly in my mind. Some had wavy lines, another had spirals, and others had hard lines, and all of them were enclosed in a circle.

When I finished, the jolt ran through my fingers once more and the lines shone a faint white light.

“That’s it?” Victor asked, crossing his arms.

Pure energy flowed inside my chest and I smiled as I said, “Now, we step in.”

Chapter Twenty Five

I told Victor and Micah which sign they should step into, then said, “But wait. We have to get in the circle at the same time.”

“In your vision, did you see what would happen?” Micah asked, eyeing the symbol before him. It had sharp lines, each one pointing to a different side.

I halted in front of my sign. It had curly lines. “Nope.”

“Morgan said this is the gateway to the Clarity Castle,” Micah said. “Perhaps it’ll take us there.”

And what would we do? Declare war on Imha just like that? I hoped that if the gateway took us somewhere, it was to a place far away from her.

“I don’t like this,” Victor argued. I rolled my eyes. At least he was already positioned beside his sign. It was composed of long, rounded lines and circles, similar to the Everlasting Circle symbol.

“Ready?” Both guys nodded. I took a deep breath and braced myself. “All right. Let’s do this.”

We stepped into the signs.

And an immense vortex of colors and power wrapped around us.

I saw a fourth figure approaching the circle and heard the guys’ grunts, then everything went gray.

***

I was surrounded by revolving smoke. It choked me and I gagged, nearly vomiting. Just when I began praying for it to stop, the smoke swirled into the shape of a room. A crystal room. With a crystal bed. Ceris sprawled on the bed, her body in a seductive curve. I looked around. Levi stood by the window, next to me, but obviously unaware of my presence.

“After thousands of years, you’re telling me you don’t love me anymore?” Ceris asked, an amused smile playing over her gorgeous features.

Levi shifted. His jaw went tight before he said, “You’ve changed. For many years now, you’ve been changing. Sometimes, I think I don’t know you anymore.”

Ceris laughed. “Love, you know me well. We’ve been together since the beginning of time.”

“You’ve changed.”

“But you saw my changes. You were with me through them.”

“But I don’t like
how
you’ve changed.” Levi turned to her, his clear eyes filled with disappointment. “You aren’t the sweet, selfless, and caring woman I fell in love with. Now, everything you do is motivated by self-interest. By the Everlast, there are occasions when you’re even cruel.”

Ceris got up from the bed. “Cruel, love? Me?”

Levi grunted. “Don’t pretend you don’t know. I see in your eyes when you’re pretending.”

“I’ve changed. So what? Everyone does.”

“We are not
everyone
. Our personalities and the way we live are the main rulers of our properties. You’re the patron of love, family, beauty, and marriage. But you’re not living by love, family, beauty, and marriage anymore.”

“A mother can fight for her family!” Ceris’s melodious voice gave out to a croaked shout.

Shaking his long, golden hair, Levi walked to the door. “A mother guided by love would find less destructive ways to fight for her family.”

The god left the room and Ceris wept.

The walls melted and were replaced by smoke. After a few seconds, the swirls of dark mist formed another image.

This time, I was in the crystal throne room. Ceris screamed. Imha and Omi stood still, as if paralyzed, on the other side of the room. The other gods cowered in the back. Shock crawled up my spine. I knew what I was witnessing. This was the moment right after Levi and Mitrus died.

“You!” Ceris spat out, pointing a finger at Imha. “You killed my love! You will pay for this!” Her eyes glowed red as she lunged at Imha, but she halted when the goddess of chaos pulled out a spike from behind her.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Imha snarled. “Or you will have the same fate as your lover.”

Ceris’s eyes went from red to blue to dull gray. “By the Everlast, you planned this so they would kill themselves.”

Imha’s hysterical laugh raised the hair on my arms and the back of my neck. “Yes, dear Ceris, I did. And, you might say this was a good plan, wasn’t it?”

Ceris wobbled as if she were about to fall or faint. She reached behind her, but there was nothing to keep her up. Tears streamed down her face. “The Black Thorn. Are you insane?”

Imha tsked. “No, my friend, I’m just greedy, and I’ll go to any lengths to get what I want.”

“What is it you desire so much to kill for?” Ceris wiped away the tears. Her knuckles grew white from grasping her scepter so tight. To me, she seemed to be struggling not to cast a bolt at Imha.

“Power. Chaos. The world has been so calm lately.” Imha’s smile was intimidating. “Are you on my side?”

Gaping, Ceris turned to Omi, who remained standing, stiff and still, beside the delusional goddess. “You agreed to this? Are you on her side?”

Like the few times I had seen him, Omi’s clothes were crumpled and smeared with dirt and blood, and he ambled as if he walked on the deck of a ship being tossed by waves. He turned to Ceris, half of a smile covering his thick lips. “I’m with her.”

Ceris shook her head and retreated a few steps.

“Are you on my side?” Imha repeated her question, her voice resonating through the crystal walls. “I won’t ask again, Ceris, so be smart.”

“I’m smart. And I’ll never join you.” With that, she cast a magic wall before her and ran to the exit.

The wall crumbled when multiple purple and red bolts hit it, but she was already gone.

“After her,” Imha shouted.

Dozens of demons appeared from the shadows of the room. With piercing shrieks, they set out after the goddess of love. Giant bats flew out with the demons. One soared over my hiding spot and I looked up, suddenly seeing the creature as I’d never seen them before. These weren’t bats. Demonic faces were hidden behind a bat disguise.

Before I could see more, the scene changed.

I was inside a dark cave and I could hear heavy rain falling outside. Ceris was beside me, kneeling before a pink bonfire. Her tears mixed with the dampness of her hair and clothes. Her pain was visible through her eyes and in her shaking body.

Poor Ceris. She had lost the man she loved and now was on the run from a powerful and mad goddess. Despite my ghost state, I reached out to her.

Everything turned to clouds again. Seconds later, the fig cleared away, and I was in a dark and noisy bar, filled with several men whose narrowed eyes glanced sideways every few seconds, who laughed and clanked loudly for nothing more than a poorly told joke.

In the corner behind me, Ceris was seated at a table across from the Fates.

“I felt it,” she said, as quietly as she could with the loud sounds around them. “I felt this immense power, like an explosion of pure life.” Her blue eyes were huge and gleaming. I could see a smile ready to burst out of her lips. Her hands moved as if by their own volition. “Please, please tell me.”

“Tell you what, child?” one of the Fates asked.

“I’ve been crying for seven years,” Ceris almost shouted. “Please tell me I can stop crying.”

“Why were you crying, child?” another one asked.

“Stop it,” she hissed, clenching her fists. “Why do you take me for stupid? You know exactly what I’m asking.”

“Please, Ceris, make your question clear so we can decide if we’ll answer it or not.”

Ceris took a deep breath, as if getting ready to step onto a stage. “Is Levi alive?”

The Fates united their right hands and closed their eyes. A few seconds later, one of them answered, “Yes.”

She put her hand over her chest, and she started panting.