Page 101 of Ruby Red Sky

She turned to me and said, “His name is Squirrel. Super creative, I know.”

My friend seemed to be in a pretty decent mood, considering that we were likely under siege. I had no idea what to say so I didn’t. I just quietly followed them down yet another corridor, and then we were in the same underground chambers that Lukas had brought me to when we first arrived in this Realm.

Squirrel jumped off Selena’s shoulder and scaled a nearby wall to go and sit on a light fixture before it began chattering away again. She waved a hand at him and Elijah rolled his eyes. “Stupid rat,” he muttered.

Elijah walked off and stopped about twenty feet away from us. He flicked his hand at the wall and a panel opened. I saw him reach inside and I turned to face Selena.

“What are we going to do? Do you think they’re here?” I asked the questions, but I had to imagine if they were, they’d already be in the building. We wouldn’t be hanging out in this room.

She twisted in a circle, searching for her husband. He popped out of the hidden closet with multiple swords strapped to his back before he marched toward us. He looked terrifying, with his face set firmly and his blue eyes glowing. He was nearly as tall as Lukas, and he looked like a warlord.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do but we should be okay down here. We’d be better off if Lukas hadn’t killed all the wraiths,” Selena said, giving me a tight-lipped smile. She didn’t appear mad, just inconvenienced.

“There’s still magic here,” Elijah said. He fiddled with Selena’s belt, adding another dagger.

Still magic here. “You didn’t hear back from Kiam, did you?”

He slowly shook his head. “No.”

“So, what are we going to do?” I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t flick my fingers at stuff and make hearts stop or things float or anything else happen.

Another man walked in and Selena whispered in my ear, “That’s Markus, his advisor.”

I nodded and watched as the two men conversed. “Come on.” I tugged her arm and she followed me to the other side of the room. There was a shelf full of curiosities—little jars and pouches, a crystal ball and candles.

I lifted each item, examining it, while Selena watched my every move. “What are you going to do other than possibly blow yourself up?” She laughed a little.

Some of the stuff was labeled. Not that it helped me at all. The only thing I recognized was the Bloodmoon flower nectar.

“I don’t know but I can’t get rid of this feeling that Lukas won’t be coming back. I need to do something, even if it doesn’t work. Like, I need to have at least tried.”

“I get that. What are you thinking? Casting a spell, maybe? Elijah can do all that stuff.”

A huff left my chest. “He would have already. Plus, why’s he gonna help the guy that kicked him out of his own castle? I don’t really see him going out of his way.”

Selena sighed and pressed her fingers to the corners of her mouth before dropping her arms. “Point taken.”

With the crystal ball and its brass stand in hand, I brought it over to the altar. The same altar that Lukas... yeah, I didn’t want to think about that right now—but it was also why I was doing this. He’d said something about energy, and I needed as much of that as I could get. If the two of banging on a ceremonial chunk of quartz enhanced anything, I was going to do my best to try and take advantage.

My friend stepped beside me and laid her hands on the stone. “Do you guys clean this thing at all?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

I pressed my lips together. “No reason.”

Her brows furrowed, and she slowly slid her hands away, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “Uh huh. Do you want to tell me what you’re doing?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I can see that.”

“Shush—let me think for a minute.”

There were videos that would come on my social media feed every now and then, with this lady that could move things just by thinking about it. I had thought it was just silly stuff to garner views and comments but now I wasn’t so sure.

Since I’d been here, I’d seen magic in action. I’d seen the wavering in the air around people and animals. Around the doorways. A desk drawer.

The lady on my phone screen talked about auras and energy fields, about harnessing it. She said everything had its own energy field, and that fields could mingle and communicate. She said it was kind of like the internet—everything is connected.