Torn Ivy (Thornfield Supernatural Academy #2)

4. Torin

4

TORIN

I watch intently as Tate’s fingers probe the rough stone wall, searching for whatever he’s found. My enhanced hearing picks up the faint scraping of his nails against the rock.

“What is it?” Bram asks impatiently.

“I’m not sure,” Tate murmurs, eyes closed to focus on his other senses. “There’s some kind of seam or crack here. It’s subtle, but...”

He trails off, pressing harder against the wall. Suddenly, there’s a soft click and a section of stone slides back, revealing a small alcove.

“What the fuck?” I shove him out of the way to peer inside. “Is it me, or was that way too easy to find?”

“Depends on who they usually lock up in here,” Bram remarks. “Vampires with enhanced hearing might not be the norm.”

“True,” I murmur and stoop down a bit so I can get a better look inside the hole in the wall.

Inside, there is a strange object. A sphere about the size of a cricket ball made of some kind of iridescent material that shifts and swirls as we look at it. Faint whispers are coming from it that are so subtle even my vampire hearing is struggling with it.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Bram asks, leaning in for a closer look.

“I have no idea,” Tate says. “But I bet it’s important.”

We all stare at the shifting, whispering orb for a long moment.

“Fuck it,” I finally say, making a decision. “We don’t have many other options. I say we grab it and see what happens.”

Tate looks uncertain. “Are you sure? This could go very badly.”

I shrug. “We’re already prisoners of Death. How much worse could it get?”

“Oh, you fucking had to, didn’t you?” Bram mutters, but he doesn’t argue further.

Taking a deep breath, I reach out and wrap my hand around the orb. The moment my skin makes contact, a jolt of energy surges through me. The whispers grow louder, becoming a swarm of voices in my head.

“Torin?” Tate mutters.

A door slides open behind us, making us spin rapidly, hands up, ready to fight, but nothing comes through.

“Did you do that?” Bram asks.

“Maybe,” I reply. “Who can tell?”

“Should we go through it?” Tate asks.

“Yeah, we aren’t sitting here with our dicks in our hands,” I snap, moving forward.

“Wait,” Bram says. “We need to talk. I’ve been keeping something from you guys. I’ve aligned myself with an organisation that reckons it wants to take out The Syndicate. I’ve done a couple of jobs for them. The goal was to see if I could move in the same circles as Poison. They want her. They said Ivy is special.”

I stare at him as he rambles on. “Special, how?” The rest doesn’t bother me. I don’t give a fuck what he does in his free time, and anything that takes down The Syndicate is fine by me. It’s my end game, after all. The less work I have to do in order to accomplish this task, the better.

He shrugs. “They didn’t say.”

“Who are they?” Tate asks carefully, less willing to let it go, it seems.

“Not really all that sure. They approached me one night in the forest. It was like they knew what I wanted. But apart from wanting The Syndicate out of the way, their motives are murky, at best.”

Tate runs a hand through his hair, frustration evident in every line of his body. “We don’t have time for this shit. We need to find Ivy before Death does whatever the fuck he’s planning.”

“Agreed,” I say, shoving the orb into my pocket. The voices in my head quiet to a dull murmur. “We can deal with Bram’s extracurricular activities later. Right now, we need to get the hell out of here.”

Without waiting for a response, I stride through the open doorway, senses on alert. The others follow close behind, Tate muttering curses under his breath.

The passage beyond is dark and narrow, the walls slick with moisture. The air is thick with the scent of decay and something else, something ancient and powerful that sets my teeth on edge. It twists and turns, leading us deeper into whatever realm we’ve found ourselves in. The darkness is absolute, but my vampire vision allows me to navigate without issue. Behind me, I hear Tate and Bram stumbling occasionally.

“Can you see anything?” Tate whispers.

“Not much,” I reply. “Just more tunnel. But there’s something off about this place.”

“No shit,” Bram mutters. “We’re in Death’s domain. Everything’s off.”

I ignore him, focusing on the strange energy I can feel pulsing through the air. It reminds me of the orb in my pocket, which has started to vibrate slightly.

Suddenly, the tunnel opens up into a vast cavern. The ceiling stretches impossibly high, lost in shadow. Massive pillars of bone and stone support the weight above, carved with intricate symbols that hurt my eyes to look at directly.

“Holy shit,” Bram breathes.

“The Underworld,” Tate states, far more calmly than I feel right now. “The realm of the dead.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” I ask, unable to tear my eyes away from the haunting beauty of the cavern.

“A fucking wild guess,” he growls, and I shrug.

“Fair enough.”

We stand at the edge of the vast cavern, taking in the impossible sight before us. The air is heavy and oppressive.

“So what now?” Bram whispers. “We’re in the Underworld. How the hell do we find Ivy in all this?”

I pull the orb from my pocket. It’s glowing faintly, the swirling colours moving more rapidly. The whispers in my head have grown louder and more insistent, though I still can’t make out any distinct words.

“I think this might be able to guide us,” I say, holding it up. “It seems to be reacting to something.”

Tate eyes it warily. “Are you sure we can trust that thing? For all we know, it could be leading us into a trap.”

I shrug. “You got a better idea?”

He scowls but doesn’t argue further.

“Right then,” I say, stepping forward. “Let’s see where this takes us.”

We make our way across the cavern floor, picking our way between the towering pillars and strange formations. The orb pulses in my hand, growing warmer as we move deeper into the Underworld.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoes through the cavern. We freeze, looking around wildly for the source.

“What the fuck was that?” Bram hisses, his eyes darting around.

“I don’t know,” I growl, “but I don’t like it.”

The shriek comes again, closer this time. In the shadows between the pillars, I catch glimpses of movement. Dark shapes flit just at the edge of my vision.

“We’re not alone,” Tate mutters, flicking his hand out to test if he has magick.

He doesn’t.

This is not good.

The orb in my hand pulses more urgently, growing almost painfully hot. I nearly drop it as a searing pain lances through my palm.

“Fuck!” I curse, juggling the orb between my hands. “This thing is going nuts.”

“Maybe we should—” Bram starts, but he’s cut off as a figure lunges out of the darkness at us.

It’s humanoid, but only barely. Its skin is grey and withered, stretched tight over an emaciated frame. Empty eye sockets stare at us from a skull-like face, and its mouth gapes open in another piercing shriek.

“Move!” Tate yells, shoving us forward.

We run, dodging between the pillars as more of the creatures emerge from the shadows. Their shrieks echo off the cavern walls, a racket of death and hunger that chills me to my dark core.

The orb pulses frantically in my hand, guiding us through the maze-like cavern. I have no idea if we’re running towards safety or deeper into danger, but we don’t have much choice. The creatures are gaining on us, their bony hands reaching out to grab at our clothes.

“What the fuck are these things?” Bram pants as we run.

“Lost souls,” Tate grunts. “The ones who never made it to their final rest.”

“How do you know all this shit?” I demand, ducking under a grasping hand.

“I read,” he snaps back. “Now shut up and run!”

We sprint through the twisting paths between the pillars, the shrieks of the lost souls growing ever louder behind us. The orb in my hand is vibrating, pulling me forward with an urgency I can’t ignore.

Suddenly, we burst out of the maze of pillars into a wide-open space. In the centre stands a massive structure that looks like a cross between a temple and a fortress. Black stone walls rise impossibly high, carved with the same eye-hurting symbols as the pillars. A set of enormous doors stands open before us, darkness spilling out like a physical force.

“In there!” I shout, pointing at the open doors.

We make a mad dash for the entrance, the howls of the lost souls right on our heels. Just as we cross the threshold, there is a blinding flash, and we are tumbling out onto the Thornfield campus around the back of the car park.

For a moment, we just lay there, gasping for breath and trying to process what just happened.

“What the actual fuck?” Bram groans, pushing himself up to sit and testing to see if his magick has returned. Dark swirls surround his hands, and he breathes out with relief.

I sit up slowly, my head spinning. The orb is still clutched tightly in my hand, but it’s gone cold and dark. The voices in my head have faded to silence.

“Are we back or in some sort of parallel universe?” Tate asks, looking around in disbelief.

I nod, taking in our surroundings. It’s still night. The car park is dimly lit by flickering streetlights. Everything looks normal, but after what we’ve just been through, I’m not sure I trust my senses anymore.

“How?” Bram demands. “How did we get from the Underworld to here?”

I hold up the now-inert orb. “I think this thing brought us back somehow. When we went through those doors...”

Tate frowns, reaching out to touch the orb. As soon as his fingers make contact, he jerks back with a hiss. “Fuck! It’s ice cold.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “It’s like all the energy just drained out of it.”

We sit in silence for a moment, trying to process everything that’s happened. Finally, Bram speaks up.

“I don’t like this.”

“Me either.”

“So what now?” Bram asks, pushing himself to his feet and brushing dirt off his clothes.

I stand as well, pocketing the now-useless orb. “We find Ivy. She’s still out there somewhere, and Death is after her.”

Tate nods grimly. “Agreed. But where do we even start looking? She could be anywhere.”

I close my eyes, focusing on my vampire senses, but there is nothing. I shake my head.

“Could be Death’s influence,” Bram suggests. “If he’s got her...”

“He doesn’t,” I growl, not wanting to even consider that possibility. “We’d know if he did.”

Tate huffs out a breath. “So we’re back where we started. No idea where Ivy is, Death after her, and now some mysterious organisation that wants her too.” He glares at Bram.

“Something bigger is going on here,” I mutter with a frown. “Everything from the last few weeks is leading up to something more.”

“What do you mean?” Tate asks.

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. I get the feeling that this is one giant game of Tetris that Death is playing. We just need to figure out how to start moving the pieces around ourselves.”

“No sweat,” Tate mutters. “Death Tetris, here we come.”