A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(23)

“Still weak?”

“It’s worth it,” she pointed out. “I’m not half crazy with the need to syphon off everyone in sight.”

It might be worth it within the confines of the palace, when she was around her family and friends, but taking her out into Nevertide suddenly didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“Fine,” I replied, not sharing my misgivings yet. She seemed more content this way, relaxed for the first time since she had acquired the powers. But today was the first time I couldn’t feel her energy, and that worried me. Normally it came off her in waves, unbelievably strong when she was a human, and stronger still since she became a sentry. I could recall my brothers occasionally being weakened by potions when they were younger, to prevent them from syphoning mindlessly—but I couldn’t remember them, or myself, losing the constant hum of energy that surrounded sentries. Perhaps it was because Hazel was an adult, and whatever herbs she needed to take were stronger than those given to children. I made a mental note to discuss the elixir with Abelle, to double check what she was feeding Hazel and the dosage…Was Hazel taking more than she should have been to ensure that her friends and family remained safe from her syphoning? I couldn’t believe that she’d do something so foolish, so I dismissed it.

“Let me know if it gets worse,” I added. “You need to be careful.”

“I know, I will,” she reassured me. “Maybe soon I can ask Abelle to lower the dosage or something – start weaning me off.”

I nodded, privately relived that Hazel was willing to accept a future as a fully active sentry – not one that was constantly repressing her powers.

Once Ash was ready, we left the grounds of the palace at a rapid pace. Hazel rode beside me, with Ash and Ruby following. I stuck mainly to the forests, though our trek would have been an easier one had we followed the main roads—but where there were roads, there would be sentries: lost, angry and eager for answers that neither Ash nor I could provide.





Ruby





“It’s so quiet,” I murmured to Ash, more to break the silence than anything. We’d been riding for about an hour, and the complete absence of any noise other than the cracks of twigs and dried leaves beneath the hooves of the bull-horses was starting to drive me crazy. We’d started the journey chatting among ourselves—well, Ash, Hazel and I had. Tejus had mostly remained his taciturn self. But as the journey progressed we’d grown quieter, the oppressive atmosphere sucking the conversation dry.

It was also difficult for me to even remotely try to focus on the task ahead. My mind was filled with images of last night, moments replaying over and over again on loop, warming the pit of my stomach as I replayed every touch and sigh, every feeling that I’d experienced—from complete ecstasy to the bittersweet disappointment of returning to reality, knowing that none of it had been physically real. This morning I had woken to find Ash already gone, and I had felt like I’d been robbed of something—that we both had. I wanted so badly for it to be real, and the idea scared me. I had some tough decisions ahead of me, decisions I didn’t feel like I was fully equipped to make. I was starting to realize that when it came to Ash I lost all sense of reason. Had the mind-meld broken at any point during the experience, I wouldn’t have stopped. I would have abandoned myself completely to the consequences, just to remain in his arms.

Careful, Ruby.

I felt dizzy, bowled over by the stark reality of the situation, of how close I was to following in the same footsteps as Hazel.

“I don’t get it,” Ash muttered, breaking through my reverie. “It’s weird. The birds at least should have survived.”

“I know, the vultures did…but I can’t hear a sound from anything else,” I replied, trying to bring myself back out of my head and focus on what Ash was saying.

Looking around, I was starting to get the feeling that we were being watched, that this silence was a pause before something happened—something terrible, waiting in the dark depths of the forests, where the morning sun couldn’t get to it. We were also starting to get closer to Ghouls’ Ridge—I could see the huge precipice towering ahead of us. I’d only seen it before from up above, where I could see the thick swirling mists that settled in the ravine. We were riding into the mists—a dense, heavy fog that made the air smell pungent and moldy.

“How far away are we?” Hazel asked Tejus. Our bull-horses had drawn closer together as we’d begun to enter the ravine, partly due to the narrowing of the path, and I thought partly because the animals seemed to be as spooked as we were. Their hooves took each step tentatively, and the great muscles on their bodies quivered, ready to cut and run at a moment’s notice.

“We’re not far. The monastery is built into the stone of the ridge, allegedly,” Tejus replied.

“What do you mean ‘allegedly?’ Haven’t you been here before?” I asked.

“No. No one other than ministers are permitted to enter the Impartial Ministers’ home.”

That news wasn’t comforting.

“What if we can’t get in—like it’s protected, or something?” I asked anxiously.

Tejus turned to glance over at me with a slightly bemused expression, and shrugged.

“Then we’ll face that problem when we come to it.”