Page 10 of Shadowed Spirits

Onyx snorts. “Well, this should be interesting. Can I watch?”

With a shrug, Levi grabs my hand and starts leading me to the boat behind Onyx. “Sure. But who’s going to cross people while you’re loitering in court?”

The ferryman’s shoulders slump. “No one. Ves and Nico are busy right now. When the hell did you become the responsible one?”

“Fuck if I know.” Levi flashes him a wry grin before he steps into the longboat and offers me a hand to help me in. I grasp his warm palm and pull myself up over the edge.

Glancing around the vessel, I don’t know if I dig it or if I’m creeped out. The bow and the stern are curved up at the end, standing almost as tall as me. Both ends are topped with a skeletal, clawed hand holding a square lantern. Skulls line the sides of the boat, and the vessel seems to be made entirely of blackened bone. It’s definitely the most hardcore ship I’ve ever been in.

The wolves and Bishop follow me aboard. All their heads are on swivel as they take in the strange world we’ve found ourselves in. Since I’ve been to the spirit realm so many times, the crazy colors don’t phase me. The demons, minotaurs, and other creatures I thought were just myths, on the other hand? Those are throwing me for a loop.

I plop down on the matte black bench in the middle of the boat. Since I can still hear the faint whispering of the river, I’m trying to stay as far away from it as possible. While Onyx says it won’t hurt me, I’m still wary of the river that’s trying its hardest to draw me in.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Bishop asks as he sits down next to me. He slings his arm over my shoulders and pulls me into his side. I do my best not to melt into him, but it’s a losing battle.

Stupid sappy heart.

I shrug and look over at the castle, so Bishop doesn’t see the worry I’m sure is written all over my face. Everyone I care about is in danger as long as Doyle has the mutant crystal from this realm. Levi also said his memory erasing isn’t perfect, so there’s a chance Doyle, the guards, or people from school could remember what I am. We don’t even know if Levi’s brother canactually help or not. Everything feels out of control, so I don’t know how to be anything other than worried out of my mind.

The boat moving forward yanks me out of my thoughts. Onyx is standing at the bow and looks to be using a long oar, slicing through the river’s black depths, to move the boat. I’m mildly impressed that he can move this whole boat himself with a single oar. No wonder he’s jacked. That’s one intense workout.

We sit in silence for the ride, which only takes a minute or two. Once we reach the other bank, Onyx ties the boat off to a wooden pier. Levi is the first to disembark. When he’s on solid ground, he holds his hand out. I take it and ungracefully clamber over the side of the vessel. This is why I don’t wear skirts. With as incredibly uncoordinated as I am, I would flash people multiple times a day if I did.

After everyone else gets off the boat, Onyx grins at Levi. “Good luck with your brother, Leviathan. If you’re still alive tonight, we should all have dinner together. I know Ves and Nico will be thrilled to see you.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “He’s not that bad. I’ll let you know if we have time.”

Onyx nods at all of us before rowing away. After a few seconds, he vanishes into a mist that I swear wasn’t there before. It’s probably some sort of cool, useful magic of this realm, like Levi has.

He leads us up the cobblestone path to the jagged castle entrance, which looks like someone haphazardly hacked it out of the obsidian. The castle has jagged edges everywhere, instead of smooth blocks and round corners. It makes the structure feel brutal and intimidating, which I’m sure was the goal. I wonder what his brother does that we’re meeting him here, of all places.

As we pick our way up the winding walkway, the silence stretches on seemingly forever. Needing something to take my mind off everything that could go wrong, I blurt out the firstquestion that comes to mind. “I take it Levi is short for Leviathan, but why doesn’t anyone call you that here?”

He shrugs. “I never went by Levi until I spent such a long stretch in your world. Levi is a normal enough name to humans, while Leviathan got me many wary looks and surprised comments.”

“Oh.” I guess he wasn’t planning to stay for almost a year when he came to Earth to find the mysterious woman he mentioned looking for. “Do you want me to call you Leviathan, then?”

One side of his mouth tilts up in a crooked smile that makes my heart skip a beat. “You can call me whatever you want, little raven. I don’t mind either way.”

While Leviathan is metal as hell, I’ll probably keep calling him Levi. That’s what I know him as, so it’s hard to switch up the name in my mind. Speaking of names, he still hasn’t explained why he had a nickname for me on day one of meeting me. “Will you ever tell me why you call me little raven?”

We approach the entrance to the obsidian castle. I’m expecting a guard even fiercer than Terminus here, but there’s no one. We walk through the doors and straight into a surprisingly modern space, with clean lines and simple architecture. A dramatic staircase with black, blocky railings and dark purple stair treads dominates the cavernous entrance. Overhead is a massive chandelier that casts a purple glow.

While the walls are the same faintly glowing polished black stone, the floors are a matte-black and white-checkered tile. Five hallways branch from the castle entrance. Levi heads to the second from the left before he answers. “I always knew you had magic and were a spirit mage. Ravens are said to escort spirits from your realm to their resting place. With your particular magic and affinity for spirits, it seemed especially fitting.”

Something like betrayal stirs in my gut, souring my stomach and making me feel ill. “You knew? And you didn’t say anything?”

Levi closes his eyes in resignation when he hears the hurt in my voice. When he blinks open his eyes, he stares at me with regret. “What was I supposed to say, little raven? You didn’t know me, so I doubt you would’ve taken it well if I revealed that I knew the massive amount of magic you were hiding.”

I clench my jaw and look away from his earnest gaze. While he has a point, I’m too hurt to acknowledge it right now. I don’t even know why it hurts so much that he kept things from me, when I was definitely keeping stuff from him. Maybe it’s because I had no choice. Telling him everything would’ve put him in danger. He didn’t tell me because he didn’t think I could handle knowing, which stings.

We walk in tense silence, the only sound in the hallway the clicking of our shoes on the checkered tile. After a few minutes, Levi slows his pace, stopping before we pass a doorway that’s more ornate than the rest. The doorframe is intricately carved cypress trees entangled with pomegranate flowers and fruit. Like the rest of the obsidian in this castle, it has a faint purple glow that’s more pronounced around the pomegranates.

Levi looks down at me, sadness shining in his eyes. Hating to see him looking so down, I rush over to him and give him a quick hug. He holds me to him tightly until I step back. I’m still hurt, but I’m not a complete asshole. I don’t want Levi to feel like I’m angry at him.

Blowing out a breath, Levi tears his gaze away from me to look at the rest of my mates behind us. “My brother’s just inside here. Before we go in, I want to warn all of you that he’s kind of… an asshole, for lack of a better word. Don’t take it personally.”

“I can hear you, little brother,” a deep voice booms from inside the doorway.

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