Vanquished Gods (Hallowed Games #2)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

I climbed the hill, my legs aching with exhaustion. Leo walked by my side. I’d refused to let him out of my sight until I could personally see where he was going. Oaks lined one side of the path, but through them, I could still see the foggy ocean.

With one gloved hand, I clung to Leo’s hand as we climbed the slope. At the top of the hill, the sleek-walled castle loomed over us with darkened windows that seemed as if they watched the sea.

“Where are we going, exactly?” I asked.

“To see the Keeper of Relics,” Sion said without looking behind.

He walked before us, his large frame taking up most of the narrow path that carved around the sides of the rocky hill.

The stately trees arched over our path, and mist slipped between the boughs.

“Can I stay in the castle?” Leo asked, staring up at it. “It looks amazing. I want to be with the vampires.”

Sion quirked a smile. “A boy with good taste.”

“No,” I said sharply.

“I want fangs,” Leo added. He prodded at his tooth with his tongue. “Look! My tooth is ready to come out. Do child vampires lose their teeth?”

Sion whirled, and his gold eyes danced with amusement. “See? It’s fate. I can see it already.” He pulled what looked like a large adult tooth from his pocket. “It seems I didn’t even need to pull this tooth from the thrall.”

He tossed it into the air. Instinctively, I caught it before looking down with horror at the molar in my hand. “What the hell , Sion?”

He turned, marching again, leaving me standing with a freaking tooth in my hand. “It’s payment for the Keeper of Relics. These are the remnants she keeps. She’s a fae. You know how they are.”

My blood roared. I aways thought fae were mythical. But what the hell did I know? Because I’d been completely oblivious about the vampires all this time. Who knew what else I believed to be myth was, in reality, true. “I have no idea what fae are like. Merry and tempting?”

He huffed a laugh. “Not exactly. They always tell the truth, but they are generally revolting, grotesque creatures. She’s going to ask if you are, in fact, the very Underworld Queen she’s been banging on about, and the fae always demand some kind of payment for their truth telling. And this fae likes to keep teeth.”

“Right.”

He cut me a sharp look. “You don’t have any iron on you, do you? She will try to murder us all if she senses iron. It’s poison to the fae.”

“I left my iron battleaxe back in the cottage.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking.” He glanced at me again. “And I can’t tell if I like the thought of you with a battleaxe.”

The mist thinned, and a ray of light burst through the clouds overhead.

At last, I saw where we were heading: a crooked cottage made of ivory, nestled onto a rocky promontory overlooking the sea. It gleamed with a faint golden sheen in the light. Something about the look of it made the hairs rise on the back of my neck.

Only as we walked closer did I realize what unsettled me about it.

The entire cottage was made of human teeth.

Curling my lip, I looked down at the molar I still held in my palm. “You pulled this out of a thrall? How many times have you done this, Sion?”

He gave a lazy shrug. “You needn’t worry about that. I assure you, we don’t need to compel our thralls. They do what we ask willingly.”

“And why is that, exactly?”

He glanced at me, gold eyes piercing. “Because they worship us, of course. And they want to be us.” His glanced at Leo. “Isn’t that right?”

“Don’t talk to him.” My fingers tightened around the tooth in my hand.

Sion used humans like toys.

He led us to an arched black door inset into the tooth house, and he turned back to look at me. “No sudden movements around the Keeper of Relics. And be respectful. She can be unpredictable.”

He pushed the heavy door open. The scent hit me first, like heavy soil, smoke, and rot. Then I saw a white-haired woman sitting at the table, and her milky-eyed expression sent a shudder over my skin. Pointed ears rose from her long, white hair, and she wore a silver crown to match her metallic robes. Littering the dirt floor were toothless skulls and silver coins. The fae’s skin was smooth as bone—all sharp cheekbones—and her black eyes made my heart skip a beat. I had a feeling she was as old as the island.

I tightened my grip on Leo’s hand, though I didn’t get the sense that he was scared of the Keeper of Relics. As she flashed me a toothless grin, she held out a hand. I took a step forward and dropped the molar in her palm. She clutched it tightly and pressed it against her chest.

“Let go of the child’s hand,” she said. Her voice was shockingly girlish, like a child speaking from an ancient body. “It’s not safe for you to hold his hand. Not with what might happen.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, but I dropped Leo’s hand.

She rose from her chair with a wry smile, picking up a pipe from the table. “The threads of fate weave our world. I will uncoil yours, yes?” She struck a match, and the embers in her pipe burned bright orange. She inhaled deeply, then blew acrid smoke in my face.

As the smoke stung my eyes, she grabbed my hands and dragged me outside, moving with the speed of a vampire. I half stumbled after her onto the path, and she continued to drag me around to the other side of her cottage. There, the jagged slope sheared off sharply to the churning sea below. On the narrow path overlooking the water, the marine winds whipped at me, chilling me through my cloak.

“What are we doing here?” I shouted into the wind. “What is the point of this?”

She smiled, a gaping grin. Then, she pointed down the cliffside. When I looked down, my heart skipped a beat. Leo was hanging off the side of a cliff ten feet below, his fingers losing their grip.

“Leo!” I shouted.

The fae gripped me by the hair, her fingers digging into my scalp. “I require a life. His or yours. Will you make the sacrifice in his stead?”

I closed my eyes. “Yes, yes, let him live!”

I ripped myself away from her grip, hurling myself over the side. I plunged through the air, and my vision went dark. I felt as if I were falling through an ice-cold void, until I landed in a foggy battlefield. The dead lay all around me, their Luminari armor dully gleaming. Crows pecked at the eyes of the Pater’s dead soldiers. Joy coursed through my veins, and I looked down at my fingertips, ecstatic with the euphoria.

The vision thinned, and I found myself staring up at the bright blue sky. I was back on the cliffside, staring down—with no sign of Leo. My heart slammed against my ribs, and it took me a few moments to realize what was stopping me from toppling over the edge.

A powerful arm wrapped around my waist, and the scent of firewood and jasmine coiled around me. Sion was pulling me tightly against his muscled body.

“Careful,” he murmured. “You nearly went over.”

“Where’s Leo?” I asked sharply.

“Still in the cottage. He’s fine. It was just a vision. Did you throw yourself off the cliff in the vision?”

I steadied myself on the path by the cliffside, and Sion released his grip on me. Breathing hard, I smoothed down my hair.

“It’s her.” The Keeper of Relics leaned against the cottage wall, watching, as she puffed a ring of smoke into the air. “I can’t say for certain how the Pater will be defeated.” She pointed a bony finger at me. “I can say for certain that this is the one who can help to bring him down, yes. She has been touched by the Morrigan. She will give herself for her cause.”

Dread slithered over my skin. How many people would I kill—and would I ever recover my sanity?

“Can’t say.” Embers in the Keeper of Relics’ pipe glowed orange, and she blew another puff of smoke in my face. “Perhaps that’s what will happen if you try to fight your own fate,” she said, answering the thought I hadn’t even said out loud.

“You’re holding my hand too tightly,” said Leo.

“Sorry.” I loosened my grip on him, but I kept leading him between the thatched-roof cottages and crooked stone towers of Veilcross Haven. The sun was fully out, bathing the village in gold. The deeper we walked into the little walled city, the more I liked the winding cobblestone streets.

My gaze wandered over the shops with gold-lettered signs. We passed windows crammed with spell books, colorful elixirs, cauldrons, dried herbs, floating lanterns, and enchanted mirrors. We passed a bakery on Pudding Lane, its windows stuffed with breads and iced cakes. The scent of it was so utterly enchanting, it had to be magic. Or maybe I was just starving after living on a diet of acorn mush.

My eyes widened as I took in the strange, bustling beauty of this place touched with magic. Cobbled alleys curved around steeply peaked wooden and stone buildings. After so much gray, this place seemed awash with color. Blue- and gold-capped turrets rose high into the clouds. Stained glass windows were inset into stones. Witches in vibrant shades sat out on balconies overhanging the streets, drinking from brightly colored teacups. A woman dressed in bright pink waved down at us as we walked. Tentatively, I found myself smiling.

Smiling. At a stranger. What sort of world was this?

As we turned a corner, a river carved through the city, and toy sailboats floated down it toward a clocktower on an island. Lanterns hung from the boughs of gnarled trees, their beaming light reflecting off a clear blue river.

This was what life could be like without the Order, wasn’t it? Witches, living freely, practicing magic, making the world more beautiful and magic-touched.

This wasn’t a curse at all.

I found myself so distracted by the enchantment of the place that I nearly missed the street sign carved into the stone at an intersection— Twilight Thicket . This was where I’d been told I’d find my friends.

We turned onto a street where the windows of homes glowed with shades of periwinkle and violet. A cottage with warmly lit gabled windows and a grassy roof overlooked the road, and gold paint marked it with a fire rune.

Percival shoved the door open, and he beamed at me. “Elowen! We’ve been waiting for you.” He nodded inside, clearly an invitation to come in. “Anyone hungry?”

From behind him, Lydia pushed past and onto the crooked front steps. “Took you long enough. Honestly. I sent so many letters.” She frowned at me. “Have you not been eating? Get inside.”

The moment I did, I knew I wanted to stay there. Hugo sat contentedly in the warm firelight, steam curling from his mug. Light radiated in through large windows overlooking a garden. Godric was already handing Leo a small steak pie. A large bread pudding sat on the table, and the scent of all the food made my mouth water.

“I didn’t realize there were so many witches here,” I said.

“They need us.” Lydia held up a butterfly pendant, and it gleamed in the rays of sunlight. “They have us making these for their vampires. It’s really not easy, but if we’re going to war with the Luminari someday, the vampires will need to be able to walk in the sunlight without igniting.”

I shuddered. I had one more butterfly pendant to add to their pile, but I couldn’t explain to anyone how I’d gotten it. “Right.”

Godric handed me a meat pie, and a ravenous hunger carved through my stomach. The moment I took a bite, I lost myself in the taste of rich meat and flaky crust. Archon above , I didn’t want to leave this place.

“So, how many pendants have you made?” I asked.

“Not many,” said Lydia. “Especially since almost none of us have been trained in using magic for a specific purpose before. We were simply born with a skill we never wanted. Now, we’re trying to learn how to use magic properly for the first time.”

This looked like the sort of normal, cozy life I’d been dreaming of for Leo.

Maybe a place like this was worth fighting for.

As I took another bite of the pie, a distant scream wended through the air, raising goosebumps on my skin.

Lydia went still, her eyes shifting from side to side. “Nothing to worry about. That’s from the vampire castle. We’re perfectly safe here.”

Except this wasn’t where I was staying.

I was supposed to head toward the sharp-spired stone castle and the harrowing wail of screaming.