Chapter Twenty-Seven

I started up the stairs and finally pushed out of the tunnel into what I could only describe as a shallow cave. It was cut into a cliff, but there were no cliffs by my father’s pack.

“Where are we?” My flashlight cut across the stone, and I moved out toward the entrance. I slid out and, somehow, I was at the edge of the sea. Waves crashed before the lip of the cliff, and I could see stairs cut into the left side heading up. So I followed. I walked up slowly and carefully, mist hitting my face. I screamed as my foot slipped on some slick moss, and I windmilled my arms to catch my balance. I pulled myself up to the top of the cliff, and there, at the edge of a clearing, was a small cottage that faced the sky.

It was stunning.

“This is impossible.”

“Only if you think magic is a thing of myth.” Megan’s voice sounded, and I nodded. We followed the short path to the door, and I pushed it open. The world shifted, and it was like I was seeing one thing with one eye and something different with the other.

On one hand, the cabin looked perfect. Everything was intact. I could walk in and see every piece of furniture and every dust mote as it danced by. On the other, the cabin was a burnt shell of its former glory. The runes that lay tattered were charcoal black and crumbling. I pushed through the wood door with a soft creak and kicked up a cloud of smoke and debris.

This dual vision was splitting my mind. “What’s going on? How is this possible?” I pushed my way through the front room, feet squeaking on clean floors and stumbling over rocks. “If either of you says magic again, I might scream.” Two sets of laughter followed my threat, and I knocked my hand against my temple. And the clean, perfect, homey cabin disappeared, leaving behind the burnt shell of a home.

“For that, I think you will have to ask the woman that sent you here. Only she will tell you.” Nix settled as the air wavered in front of me, and the homey, plush living room was back. Only this time, there was laughter.

“Come, my darling boy, where did you go? Gran has you.” A dark-haired, blue-eyed boy with two missing front teeth ran into the room from the kitchen, and a stunningly beautiful woman followed.

Her face held no wrinkles, but her hair was turning gray. I was looking at how I would have looked after I made it a few hundred years. Her eyes met mine, and she froze. The boy disappeared up the stairs, but she walked closer and raised her hand to cup my face. “How?”

“Places hold memories.” Her voice wavered. “You are stunning, my girl. I’m sorry I won’t be able to meet you in person, but I want you to know I love you with everything I am.”

“You know who I am?”

“You think I wouldn’t recognize my babe? Children of my line have my spark, and like recognizes like.” She leaned in. “You have had a hard road so far, but everything can be remade stronger. Roots can grow deeper. Paths change and grow.”

“Your home is…”

“Gone but not gone. What you see now is just a memory burned into the very ground I worked with my blood and tears. The runes, the husk, are what is truly left—a sad testament to the love that burned here.”

“What happened to it? How am I on a cliff by the sea, hundreds of miles away from the pack house?”

“I was never a pack animal, preferring my solitude. But magic can fold the very fabric of space, connecting one spot to another. I was able to have my solitude, but also my family.” She turned away and trailed her hands along the furniture, and it all flickered, turning to ash in her wake. She twirled, kicking up a cloud of dust.

She placed her hand over my mouth to breathe. “As to what happened here? It was the night of the attack. I felt wolves breach our borders, and I ran to save them. I fought to keep this space closed off, but as I fell, so did my defenses, and someone found my tunnel.” She walked over and sat at the fireplace. The cabin flickered back into life, fire roaring and laughter coming from the stairs. “I watched as the person ransacked this home, and while your father was taking care of the pack, my house was burned.”

I watched a tear fall. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, darling girl. They didn’t find what they were looking for, what you are looking for. Now come, time is short, and you have too much to learn.” She waved me over and patted a stone. I placed my hand on it, and there was a flash. The stone was gone, and under it was a book. “Hurry, someone is hunting you, and I can’t block him for long. You need to protect yourself.” Then, once again, I was alone, and the cabin that was once so full of love was just a crumbling ruin.