The Last Daughter of Elysia

Chapter 35

"Are you ready?" Caliath held Morgana's clammy hand. She took a deep breath and nodded. Then they stepped forward and fell into the willow tree's shadow. Morgana stifled a scream as cold washed over her like water from the deepest part of the Undine Ocean. Pitch black swallowed her vision, and the smell of the damp garden disappeared. The drip of rain on leaves was replaced with silence.

"Caliath?" Morgana tightened her grip on his hand.

"I'm here." His voice was like a warm beacon.

"I can't see anything." Her blood pounded beneath her skin like a drum. The absence of sight and smell was overwhelming. It felt like the darkness was suffocating her like a thick blanket.

"Once we start walking, you'll be able to see."

"Okay... My room is on the seventh floor, near the East Wing."

"I've been to the sixth floor before, for meetings. You can guide me from there."

"Okay." Morgana's arm tugged forward, she stumbled, and inhaled sharply. Caliath led her through the strange darkness, and after a beat, a patch of light appeared up ahead. As they got closer Morgana could make out a dimly lit corridor with a flight of stairs that was staffed by two guards.

"My room's up those stairs and it's the third door on the right," Morgana whispered.

"Got it."

Morgana held her breath as they closed in on the guards and slipped into the shadow of a gigantic urn painted with grapevines. Caliath squeezed her hand then tugged her up the stairs. The weightlessness made her feel like she was tumbling inside a wave.

They landed in a door's shadow at the top of the staircase and a whiff of peonies coiled through the darkness. Morgana gasped as rough hands hurled her into the brightly lit hallway. She stumbled and fell back, the air knocked out of her lungs. An arm pinned her neck to the ground and a spy blocked the chandelier's light. The fae who was squashing her had indigo hair and wore black leathers. His brows furrowed. "Lady Morgana?"

Caliath stepped out of the shadow and attacked the spy with earth magic. His head jolted back, and a thin trickle of blood dribbled out his nose. The spy wilted to the floor and Caliath dragged him back into the shadow with his earth magic as if he were sweeping dust into a pan.

Morgana stared at the door's shadow. Caliath had knocked him out so quickly it was as if nothing had happened.

"He saw me," panic laced Morgana's voice.

"Then we'll have to get rid of him." Caliath bent down and helped Morgana to her feet.

"How?"

Make the spy forget he ever saw you, sister, came the disembodied voice of the grimoire.

Caliath and Morgana shared a look. The voice was inside both their heads, a howl and a whisper that scraped like shattered glass.

"Can you do that?" Caliath asked.

"I've never done it before. But I created storm clouds today, so I guess anything's possible."

Will your magic into his mind and once you find the memory, you must eat it.

"Eat his memory?" Morgana's mouth twisted. "What happens if I don't?"

Then the spy will tell King Erik that you shadow walked, and you'll be imprisoned for the rest of your days. It's either that, or kill him. Let your instincts guide you.

A silence passed where Morgana gritted her teeth. "Fine." She closed her eyes and followed her instincts, gathering her magic, and molding it into a glowing worm. She floated it through the air and into the door's shadow, where it latched onto the spy's cheek and crawled to the side of his head. It slid over his ear and burrowed inside, like a termite tunnelling through wood. Sourness surged into Morgana's mouth, but she swallowed it down. An array of images, sounds, smells and sensations flashed before her. Morgana gasped from the onslaught of his memories and her knees buckled.