Phobia (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria) (31 page)

Enric
scowled. “Alba is my bloodline and she is all I have left, so cannot turn my back on her. I love her, but cannot help her. Felip has said he has undone what Coia did to her, but I am not certain.”

“
How did she even get out?”

“
Felip brought her, obviously, to try and get close to me, but they are risking their lives too. I have to believe she’s changed, but if she has not I will deal with her. Would you do any differently with Bach?”

“
I’d never bring Bach here and ask him to join us. Not while he’s still under his mother’s control.” Wisteria glanced at Alba and Felip who stood further back and lowered her voice. “I still think it’s a risk having them with us. Why exactly did Felip bring her?”

“
My father was training her to read First Pillar text and we need someone who can read it.”

“
Fine.” Wisteria still didn’t feel right about it. She went to the side of the building to climb down

“
You forgot this.” He handed her a sword.

It was
her
sword. “I thought I’d lost it.” Wisteria pulled the blade out of the sheath and examined it.

“
Let’s hope you don’t need it.” He walked over to the edge and jumped down the side of the building.

The others made the
ir way down after him.

By the time they reache
d the ground, Enric had the overland parked by the house.

They got in and
travelled through the desert city. Unlike her trip a few days ago, the streets were devoid of people or vehicles.

“
Where is everyone?” Wisteria wondered.

“
Hiding from the Dy’obeths or reapers.” Felip replied. “The last thing anyone wants to do is accidently offend a bloodthirsty and have your tongue ripped out.”

As the
y emerged from the city into the open desert, Wisteria noticed a black speck in the distance. Nearing it, she could see it was a series of asymmetrical shiny black towers. One of the towers was piping out white smoke. “That’s the Hall of Ages?”

“
Yeah,” Enric replied.

“
I thought it would be older,” Garfield remarked.

“
It is over two thousand years old,” Felip explained. “It is the oldest structure in the Moon Desert.”

“
Why is there smoke coming out of there if there is no one inside?” Garfield asked again. “Are you sure no one’s inside?”

“
The gates have been sealed for over a thousand years.” Enric shrugged his wide shoulders. “But fire keeps burning for some reason.”
He drove them through the lifeless desert, through dried up valleys, dead hillsides and majestic caves scattered with the bones of the dead animals and Famila who dared venture there.
After what seemed to be several hours, the overland reached the black walls that surrounded the Hall of Ages.

Looking up
, Wisteria saw a violet mist surrounding the compound.
“Some kind of piron net?”

“
The fog makes it impossible for anyone to enter from the air or scale the wall,” Alba informed them. “The First Pillar wanted to ensure no one got in after they left.”

Alighting from the vehicle, they headed to the black gate. Two
words were carved onto it.

“
What does is say?” Garfield asked.

“
Archive 486.” Wisteria knew.

“
You can read it?” Alba exclaimed.

“
I guess so.” Wisteria placed her hands on the gate. The metal felt warm. “How do we get in?” She searched for a handle or lock, but saw nothing.

“
Here.” Felip touched a small black orb halfway buried into the wall. “Breathe on it.”

Examining the orb,
it looked like an older version of the control orbs the Family used to open doors. Painted next to it was the symbol of an ebony figure.

Rolling her hand over the
orb, she blew on it.

Nothing happened.

“You are not doing it right—” Alba started.

A
loud hissing sound came from the gate and it jolted violently. Inexplicably, a small door appeared in front of Wisteria. Creaking, it slid to one side.

“
I knew it.” Enric exhaled in relief. “
Vadda
, this is going to work.”

Cautiously,
Wisteria walked in.

Th
e others hurried in after her, then the door slammed shut.

“
You did it.” Felip laughed. “You got us in here!”

When
Wisteria moved, lights came on revealing a lush garden that was a stark contrast to the wilderness outside. The row of lights led from where they stood to the entrance of a black tower.

Gazing
up at the three towers that seemed to vanish into the sky, she saw no sign of life in them.

They simply towered
cold and dead.

Cautiously
, she headed to the building. Reaching the entrance, she saw writing on the door in a variety of languages most she couldn’t discern, but she recognized the Family’s Dialect and one other.

“
Archive 486,” Garfield read. “Why is it in English? Who were these people?”

Again
, Wisteria noticed a black symbol of the ebony girl. Turning to Enric, she said, “Alba and Felip are to stay out here.”

“
My father was the Lord of Jarthan and I was studying to take his place, so I know the kinds of things we should be looking for. Plus, you will need to find a dord, so your friend will be able to read the various languages. I can easily find a dord for him,” Alba informed them in the Family dialect.

“
Let us find the dord and you will be able to fully understand everything in there. Then Alba and I will return out here,” Felip suggested.

Although he made a
good point, Wisteria couldn’t trust either of them. Still, what choice did she have?

Opening the doors to the tower the same
way she
’d opened the front gates, the black doors slid aside and it revealed nothing but more darkness. Seconds later, there was a flicker and then rows of lights came on that led to a glass corridor.

As W
isteria walked down the corridor, more lights came on in the surrounding room. She saw through the glass a massive chamber filled with hundreds rows of books, maps and pictures on one side and on the other, artifacts.

“
Wow,” Garfield remarked. “How are we going to find anything here?”

“
Even if I knew what I was looking for it could take years to get through every single item.” Wisteria realized. “Compared to the Room of Ages, this place is a city.”

“
It would take several lifetimes to get through this,” Enric said from behind her.

“
Good thing you brought me here to help you?” Alba gloated.

Not answering,
Wisteria kept going until she arrived at the transparent glass doors at the end of the corridor.

“
It’s that symbol
again.” Garfield pointed to the figure of the ebony girl painted on the door.

T
he door parted and she entered.

A
gust of cold air brushed against her face. “The air is so fresh.”
Ahead of her lay a large flight of immaculately clean stairs, leading down to tables in the center of the gigantic atrium. “Where on earth do we start?” She wondered as she descended.
Getting to a desk, she wiped it with her finger expecting to find dust, but there was none.

“
When I was in the Room of Ages, I picked up the layout of this building.” Producing a leather bound book from his jacket pocket, Felip laid it on the table in front of Wisteria. “This might tell us where to start.”

“
You had this and you said nothing?” Wisteria picked up the small book and leafed through the pages.

“
I was not trying to hide anything from you,” Felip maintained. “I brought this here to help.”

“
Sure you did,” Garfield remarked sarcastically.

“What else do you have?” Wisteria asked.

“Nothing,” Felip replied.

“
You keep anything like this from us again and it will be the last thing you do,” Enric threatened.

“
What does the book tell us?” Garfield asked.

It was
filled with text and sketches in the Family’s Dialect but there notes jotted in the margins and corners in the familiar language she’d seen on the outside of this building. Curiously, she could understand a bit of the new language, but reading it would take her a while.

“
Give it to me.” Alba snatched the book from her and flipped through all the pages before stopping at one near the back. “There, that is what you are looking for.” She showed Wisteria the sketching of what looked like a mechanical spider. “This is the dord, but the artifacts in this building is not catalogued in the book. These pages only tell us where the different sections are.”

“
But there are pages missing from it.” Wisteria could see where several pages were ripped out. “Felip, where are they?”

“
That was how the book was when I got it,” Felip replied.

“
Qwaynide, where are the pages?” Enric marched up to Felip, grabbing his shirt. “You have three seconds to tell us.”

The lights
in the atrium flickered. A loud rumbling sounded as the ground below shook violently.

“
What’s going on?” Wisteria looked around.

“
Felip, what is this?” Alba asked nervously.

A
heavy thud sounded from across the atrium, knocking Wisteria and Garfield down.

“
Felip.” Enric shook him.

There was another thud and then another.

“Tell me,” Enric demanded.

“
I—I do not know,” Felip stammered. “There should not—be anything in here.”

“
Well, whatever it is—” Wisteria drew out her sword. “It’s getting closer.”

“
We should leave.” Garfield pointed to the door as a large stone slid over the glass entrance, sealing them in. “Crap.”

“
Or hide.” Wisteria ran into the stacks.

“
Exactly.” Garfield darted after her. “Why aren’t they coming?”

“
Because they’re the Family and they think can do anything.” Wisteria sprinted toward the shelf of artifacts. Hiding behind some shelves, she saw a large figure moving toward t he group.

It
was made of pale stone, standing over twelve feet tall, with four arms and in each hand was a sword. The figure’s head was smooth and featureless with a clear gemstone in the center.

“
What is it?” Garfield asked.

“
I don’t know.” Flipping through the tiny book, she found the sketch of a person built of rock. She examined the rock entity depicted on the page called the avatar. The avatar in the book appeared female, with two hands, was made of black stone, but also had a gemstone in the center of its head. “That kind of looks like the avatar in this book.”

On the other side of the hall,
Felip screamed as the stone monster smashed his face.

Glancing out behind the shelves
, she saw Enric and Alba charge at the stone creature. They were flung aside like sticks. Then the stone figure turned in Wisteria’s direction and advanced.

Jumping up,
Wisteria and Garfield fled away, crashing into a box of scrolls.

Landing on top of
Garfield, she attempted to rise as a large shelf of metal contraptions fell, causing a loud crash that rang through the atrium.

A
nearby stone pillar split into two neat halves revealing another stone creature inside. It stood, head down, arms crossed with all four swords pressed against its chest.

Laying inches away from the thing, Wisteria tried to move
quietly, but each inch she moved, she caused more clanging from the metal artifacts lying on top of her.

T
he stone guard above her stirred and the gem on its head lit up. Its arms spread out, head lifting and the creature stepped forward causing a violent vibration along the ground.

Wisteria and Garfield
raced away as fast as they could.

The stone monster
followed, swiftly closing the gap.

“
This way.” She spotted a small stairwell. “The passage is too small for it to follow.”

Climbing over a
couple of shelves, the pair darted into the darkened stairway.