Page 45 of Shadows of Light
“What is this?” Kaylia inquired.
Lexi gestured helplessly over the documents scattered around her. Some of them were scrolls, but most were broken. She’d spotted the word arach on some, but she had no idea what they were about.
“I think it’s answers,” she said and then admitted, “or maybe it was. I think it was once the arach history.”
“Oh,” Sahira breathed. “Okay then. You need help; thankfully, you have a couple of witches to give it.”
“Your powers can help with this?”
“We might be able to piece some of this back together,” Kaylia said. “First, we’ll have to get the debris out of here.”
The dragons helped by carrying off the shattered chairs, trunks, and cloth. As the day wore on, exhaustion battered Lexi, and her neck and shoulders ached.
When the sun set and night descended, she told the others to go to sleep, but they remained to help her. As the night wore on, Brokk, Varo, and Maverick joined to help them.
She had no idea where Orin was, but he’d been scarce lately. She suspected he was searching for Cole, but the one time she saw him over the week, she didn’t ask. It was a much happier life when she didn’t have to talk to him.
As the night started to spin toward day again, they finally declared a break, and Lexi agreed to retreat for some rest. She was too tired for nightmares.
She didn’t sleep much, and when she woke, she returned to the room. All the debris had been cleared away, and remnants of the scrolls, papers, and parchment were sorted into different piles. More still littered the floor, and she got to work separating them.
A couple of hours later, the others had all rejoined her, and by the time lunch rolled around, the floor was clear.
“Okay,” Kaylia said. “Let’s see what we can do.”
She and Sahira each grabbed a section of parchment and set it on the floor. They whispered a few words over their pieces, and the others watched as, in the piles, pieces of parchment started rattling.
Lexi held her breath as the piles shook before more pieces broke free. Those pieces flew across the room to the witches.
The two of them fit the pieces together before saying the words again. Over the next few hours, Sahira and Kaylia worked diligently together. Sometimes they found matching sections, and at others, nothing would happen, but over time, some things started coming together.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN
Over the next week,they worked to piece together what they could of the Lord’s mess. As Sahira and Kaylia worked, the rest read through the restored writings.
When Sahira or Kaylia started to burn out, they would stop and help them with the reading or retreat to rest. Unfortunately, much of what they repaired was simply the arach history.
While some of it was fascinating, and Lexi enjoyed learning about her ancestors, it didn’t help her learn more about her abilities or how to save Cole. Despair grew with every passing day, but she wouldn’t quit until she’d read everything they managed to piece back together.
On the sixth day, slumped against the wall and looking like he hadn’t changed, showered, or shaved in days, Brokk suddenly shot upright. “Here!”
Lexi lowered the parchment with the cramped, nearly indecipherable writing she’d been cursing for the past hour and scrambled over to him. “What is it?”
“It’s about the Shadow Reaver.”
Lexi’s heart fell before crashing against her ribs. She collapsed against the wall beside him and leaned over his shoulder to look at the parchment he held.
“Shit,” he breathed through his teeth.
“What is it?” Lexi breathed.
When Brokk lifted his head and their eyes met, distress and something more radiated from them…. Was it anger? Confusion? Then an unseen fist hit her in the chest as she recognized what it was… resignation.
She didn’t like that at all. What had he discovered?
And then, he held the piece of parchment out to her. Lexi steadied the small tremor in her hands before taking it from him.
The others gathered closer while she held Brokk’s gaze a moment longer before turning her attention to the parchment. Beneath her fingers, the parchment was brittle, yellowed, and far older than anyone in this room, including Kaylia.
