CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

 

 

Crane treated us like lepers in class, but he couldn’t fault my work. I studied my ass off all week, blitzing every assignment and discovering a wealth of information in the process.

Amethysts were good, but a chevron amethyst, a beautiful deep mauve, was best for third eye stimulation, enhancing intuitive vision and out-of-body journeys. They could powerfully focus energy and repel negativity, as well as cleanse auras. And the biggie? They helped the user find positive answers to any problem.

I could use that right about now.

The other vital snippet of information I’d gleaned from my all-night reading sessions was that the shape of a crystal determined its powers. The one that snagged my attention was the gateway—or aperture—shape, a cup-shaped depression within a crystal large enough to hold liquid. Gazing into the liquid center provided a gateway to other worlds and enabled the user to travel through past, present, and future.

After Beltane, with Joss’s help, I’d use them all and get the answers I so desperately craved. So I had to play all nice and sucky with Crane, asking pointed questions about chevron amethysts and seer stones and trans-channeling crystals. Crane hated my guts, but he had to answer my questions, and surprisingly, he didn’t freak out when I asked if I could obtain three crystals, one an aperture amethyst, to practice.

In addition to busting my ass in divination, I also spent some serious time in the evenings training my third eye. Guided meditations, visualization techniques, you name it, I tried it. I didn’t spontaneously create any enlightening visions, but I developed a feel for journeying with my mind. It was like an out-of-body experience, a weird, light, floaty feeling that made everything around me sharper, clearer, and faded once I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on the floor in the middle of my dorm room.

It felt good to be doing something proactive, something that took me closer to gaining control when I traveled to Eiros.

When Dyfan had originally recited the tasks I’d have to master, they seemed impossible. But since I’d managed a decent scrying with Lia, had become one with the Arwen Triple Flame (however inadvertently), could teleport with the aid of a crystal and the sun, and was another step closer to gaining control over my visions, I was hopeful that maybe I could succeed on this ludicrous mission after all.

If I hadn’t been studying so hard, the days would’ve dragged toward Sunday. Of course, Beltane wasn’t the only reason I wanted to return.

I missed Joss. Big time.

It wasn’t just that he was so hot—I mean, he was, but I missed the reassurance he gave me just by being there. I felt truly safe with him, something I valued more and more the closer I got to discovering Arwen. Besides, it sucked not being able to confide in my friends, and he was the only other person I truly trusted; I was desperate to tell him what had been going on. He got me, really got me, and that kind of trust was what I really needed right now.

I was getting closer. I’d mulled my first amethyst-induced vision at length and knew that confronting Cadifor and my mom in that cave would be our final battle over Arwen.

Call it intuition, call it whatever you liked, I knew. Which made telling Joss and the Sorority about it all the more important.

So there I sat, Saturday night, alone in my room, cradling the trans-channeling crystal in my palm, desperate to see if I could communicate with Joss, yet terrified I might screw up and fry my brain.

I took a deep breath, rolled my shoulders, and stretched my neck like a boxer about to enter the ring. Holding up the crystal to the light, I rotated it slowly. How could something so small, so insignificant, hold so much power?

I lay on my bed, closed my eyes, and started meditating. Nothing too heavy, just a general relaxation technique, a simple visualization that had me chatting to Joss as if he were right beside me, making small talk, asking questions about school, that sort of thing.

I could see it so clearly in my mind. It had to work. Taking a slow, deep breath, I pressed the crystal to my forehead.

Hey, you out there. Warrior Boy. I’ve got news. Big news. It can’t wait.

Silence. A long, deafening, disappointing silence. I pressed the crystal so hard into my forehead I’d probably walk around with a weird indentation for a week.

So much for our bond. I need you. Now.

Where are you and why are you yelling?

I almost fainted at his response, his voice so clear in my head it was like he was sitting on the bed. A tempting thought … I resisted the urge to peek and make sure he wasn’t actually there.

I thought I told you to stay away from Eiros ’til Beltane? His tone held so much disapproval I could imagine his matching glower. Tell me where you are right this minute. I need to be there, damn it!

Chill. I’m at school.

What?

I still couldn’t quite believe this had worked. I’m using a trans-channeling crystal.

Your powers aren’t that advanced yet.

Wrong again, Warrior Boy. Oops, hadn’t meant for that to transfer across our neurons.

Warrior Boy?

I chuckled. Term of endearment.

Like Dream Boy?

A million miles away, I blushed. Isn’t this cool? We can talk anytime we like.

Yeah, cool. The edge to his voice was unmistakable.

What’s up?

I’d rather you were here.

My heart did a weird little jive and I almost dropped the crystal.

He clarified. So we could talk strategies.

Riiiight, strategies …

He cleared his throat. Had any visions?

Not a spontaneous vision, but I used an amethyst wand in divination class and I think I know where Arwen might be.

Where?

In an underground cave, where the sun comes through a small hole in the roof and moves along the floor to an altar covered in spiral symbols. Sound like the Cave of the Sun you described to me?

He paused. We thought it could be the place, but it seems too obvious.

There’s something else.

He waited and I suppressed a shudder at the memory of Cadifor and my mom, their maliciousness in the vision hanging over me like a malignant cloud.

You and I were there. Cadifor and my mom too. I had to tell him the rest. It felt like a final confrontation. There was an explosion. I could smell …

What?

I shivered. Death.

We didn’t speak after that, gathering our thoughts. When he finally spoke, it didn’t reassure me. If we’re to succeed, you may have to initiate this confrontation.

And how do I do that? Find another crystal that lets me chat to bad dudes and say, “Hey, buttface, you down there, let’s meet.”

This isn’t going to be easy, Holly.

Don’t you think I know that? Why was it I ended up losing it with the only person I truly trusted every time this subject came up?

Here are the facts. Winter solstice is December twenty-second, when we celebrate the birth of the Unconquered Sun, a huge festival on a par with Beltane. It’s the day the sun enters the Cave of the Sun in the Eiros stone complex.

December? But that’s eight months away.

I think the confrontation will be sooner.

Oh, fabulous.

Summer solstice is June twenty-second, the festival of fire. That’s our day, because during winter solstice the sun hits the altar first, then travels toward the cave’s entrance. You described the opposite, so it has to be summer solstice.

Less than two months? While I wanted to find Arwen, find my mom and get this whole thing over with, confronting Cadifor so soon was seriously scary.

Why so soon?

Because things are escalating here.

What things?

Bad things.

I could imagine. I didn’t want to know what Cadifor was capable of, not when I had to confront him to end this thing. We need to be prepared. I’ll confer with the Sorority and we’ll lay out the plan after Beltane tomorrow.

Okay.

But it wasn’t, none of this was. Fear clawed at my insides, dying to escape in a screeching scream.

It’s okay to be scared.

Freaking great. Even at a distance he could do the mind-reading thing.

Petrified, actually.

Fear is good. Fear keeps you alert and focused. His voice lowered to a whisper, a soothing caress for my frayed nerves. Fear is what will keep you alive.

My hand trembled and the crystal slipped. Quickly realigning it, I pulled myself together. Joss was right. Fear was normal, and if it kept me one step ahead of Cadifor, bring it on.

Holly? You’re doing brilliantly.

Glad one of us thought so.

Let’s concentrate on celebrating Beltane tomorrow and we’ll talk afterward, okay?

Yeah, sure.

See you in the morning.

’Night. I removed the crystal quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Less painful that way. The crystal pulsed with a pale golden glow in my hand.

I should have been glad. The trans-channeling had worked and I hadn’t given myself brain damage in the process.

But I couldn’t forget what Joss had said.

Summer solstice, the festival of fire.

As long as Cadifor was the one burning in the eternal flames of hell and not me.