Page 40 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

A small penance for what I did in the past.

“I believe you, Fifi, that this is Lasting.” Charlie gazed around them. “It does have that feel. Not that I traipsed out in the wilderness. I stayed in the city, of course, far from all of… this.” Charlie flapped a handkerchief that he’d fished out of the inside coat pocket at their surroundings as if he found them vaguely unclean. “But something is odd about it. Even I can tell that.”

“If it is Lasting then maybe we won’t be harmed by the army. Maybe if we reveal ourselves,” Fiona began, “Caemorn will know we’re here and–”

“I’m an idiot! Balthazar! We just need to contact him and it will be sorted,” Ryder said.

“I have tried already,” Fiona admitted.

“You–”

“Of course. First thing,” she said.

“Of course, you thought of him.” Ryder felt a swelling of shame he hadn’t. “I’m just not used to having other Immortals to count on. But then why didn’t you say–”

“Because I didn’t hear anything! I felt like I was talking into a vacuum, but maybe if one of you tried it would work. The structure might have harmed more than my ability to teleport,” she said. “I was going to mention it, but the teleportation problem just sent it from my mind.”

“Right, no worries. I’ll call him. I’m surprised he hasn’t been asking for an update,” Ryder admitted with uneasiness. Why hadn’t the Eyros Vampire contacted them?

He reached for Balthazar’s mind. Balthazar! Balthazar, we need your help! Things have gone sideways.

Silence.

No, it was more than silence or maybe less. It was like a vacuum was present in his mind as if all the mental air was missing. With Balthazar connected to him, it always seemed as if there were live wires surrounding his mental space, but there was nothing now. Almost like a room where all the doors and windows had been shut and sealed.

“I don’t hear him either. I feel almost as if I’m blocked from reaching him,” Ryder admitted.

“Blocked? Yes.” Fiona nodded. “That’s exactly what it feels like. Ever since Balthazar has known he’s Eyros, my head has always felt filled with energy.”

“It feels much like when Eyros…” Charlie drifted off, his brows furrowing.

“Like when, Charlie?” Ryder asked.

“Ah, well, during the War when Eyros withdrew,” Charlie said.

So he is that old. Interesting.

“Withdrew?” Fiona asked.

“Eyros used to spread out a mental net that allowed all of us to communicate telepathically,” Charlie said with evident longing. “It was so very convenient. Makes cell phones look like ancient technology in comparison.”

“All of us?” Ryder blinked. “Not just the Eyros?”

“I know that Balky is quite impressive as he is now, but he doesn’t remember all he could do! I can’t wait for him to… well, that doesn’t matter. The thing is that there was a connection between all of us that he facilitated back in the day,” Charlie explained. “It’s starting now with Balky, but… but it’s definitely shut down at the moment.”

“Balthazar would never do that.” Fiona shook her head violently. “Even if he was in dire danger, we’d be hearing him swearing and complaining and asking us for help, but he would never leave us in the lurch. He knew that this thing with Grayson was going to be hard. He wouldn’t shut us out.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” Ryder agreed. “It’s almost like…”

“Like what, Ryder?” Charlie asked as if he really wanted to know, as if Ryder would have some insight that none of them did.

“It feels like he’s gone,” Ryder explained and felt his stomach curdle at the thought. “Or not here. I don’t know what I’m saying. We’re shut out, but I don’t sense… don’t sense Balthazar at all. Not like he’s dead. Not that. I can’t explain it except to say it doesn’t feel like he’s here at all. But this does feel… feel familiar.”

“Like the War?” Charlie offered again softly.

Ryder forced himself to go back to those times. He’d shut his mind down tightly back then so that Eyros couldn’t read his intentions; it was hard to say at first. But Charlie was right. Because there were moments when he’d reach out to Eyros–to brag or taunt or even commiserate the loss of his beloved Ashyr–and the sparkly sense of energy that had been present for all time before that had been gone. He’d been cut adrift. He’d been alone but for his pack and animal senses. He who had always thought that was enough, had mourned the much greater loss.

Just like now.