Releasing a breath, I closed my eyes and added a second hand to the wall. The vibrations increased, little jolts of electricity shooting up my arms and making my hair stand on end. Searing heat replaced the electricity, and I had to grit my teeth against the burn. I had no idea what was happening, only that something was.
Opening my eyes, I watched as two glowing fissures spread from under my palms, splintering and spiderwebbing out like a pane of glass cracking under dramatic temperature shifts. I barely had the chance to shout, “Watch out,” before the stone exploded inward. Large plumes of dust had all of us coughing as the contents of the mass grave were reunited with the living.
“Oh, I hate it here, Lilypad. My suit is ruined.”
Lilith smirked as she wiped at a smudge on his cheek with her thumb. “You could always take it off, poppet.”
“Not here,” Pan grumbled. “Please, not here.”
I didn’t even look back at them as I waited for the dust to clear. Kai shook out his hair and asked, “Is there supposed to be something inside this tomb? I don’t see anything other than dust and rubble.”
A heavy weight that wasn’t there before filled my still outstretched palm, and when I pulled it back, a glowing arrowhead sat where nothing had been moments ago.
“Fuck me,” Kai whispered.
“An arrow. How appropriate.” Pan’s voice was laced with amusement.
“Why is it glowing like that?” Kai asked.
“It’s already attuned,” I answered, feeling the truth of my assertion in my bones.
“Well, that’s convenient,” Crombie said. “I do love a twofer.”
Pan reached for the arrowhead, but I jerked my hand away, instinctively guarding my precious weapon. “Okay, then. You keep it. But how is it already attuned? I thought there was a whole ritual we needed to figure out.”
“I suppose it stands to reason this weapon was already washed in the power of its circumstance. At Notre Dame, there was no power. In Khan’s tomb, no ley lines. But here...”
“All the echoes of death and disease never left.”
“Exactly.”
“As I already said, convenient. Can we go now?”
I glared at Crombie, not appreciating his interruption. The fae prince’s nostrils flared, and Kai stiffened at the same time.
“Are there booby traps set in this place?” Kai asked.
“Not that I can see. Why?”
“Something is coming. Can’t you sense it?”
I frowned and looked to my son, who shook his head. Lilith’s attention, however, was locked solely on her pet.
“Drystan?” she asked, voice low so as not to startle him.
His eyes were wild, dare I say panicked, as his entire body went rigid. The scent of ozone rolled through the tight space.
“We should go. Now,” Lilith urged.
“It’s too late,” Crombie countered in a voice filled with dread. “They’re already here.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
CROMBIE
“Who the fuck is it now?” Pan asked on a weary sigh.