Page 7 of Torn Ivy
“Maybe we’re thinking about this wrong,” Torin says slowly. “We can’t use ourmagickalpowers, but what about our other abilities? Our strength, our senses? Fuck knows I can smell that damp at an enhanced level.” He scrunches his nose up.
I look at him sharply. “What are you thinking?”
Torin moves to the centre of the room, closing his eyes. “Let me try something. Everyone shut it.”
We watch as he stands perfectly still, head cocked slightly, as if listening for something. After a long moment, where I don’t think neither Bram nor I even breathed, his eyes snap open.
“There,” he says, pointing to a spot on the wall that looks no different from any other. “I can hear something. It’s like a faint humming.”
Moving quickly across the room, I press my ear to the wall, but I can’t hear fuck all.
“Do you hear it?” Torin asks.
“No, not a vampire,” I say, stepping back. “But I trust you.”
Bram joins us, his brow furrowed in concentration. “It could be the source of whatever’s blocking our powers. Or maybe...”
“Maybe what?” Torin presses.
“Maybe it’s not meant to keep us in,” Bram says slowly. “Maybe it’s meant to keep something else out.”
The implications of that sends a chill down my spine. What could be so terrible that even Death wants to keep it at bay?
“So you think we aren’t in the supernatural realm, but somewhere more sinister?”
“Yeah. My Fae senses are tingling.”
“Hmm. Either way, this is our best lead. Let’s focus on this spot. There has to be a way to use it to our advantage.”
Torin nods, running his hands over the stones. “If we can disrupt whatever’s causing that hum, maybe we can weaken the prison.”
“Or unleash something worse,” Bram mutters, but he joins us in examining the wall.
We search every inch of the humming section, looking for any crack or seam we can exploit. Just as I’m about to give up in frustration, my fingers catch on something.
“Wait,” I breathe. “I think I’ve found something.”
3
IVY
I storm away from Josh,Vex, and Cathy, my mind reeling from everything they’ve just told me. Chaos magick. Becoming the antithesis of Death. A Death rejection specialist. It’s all too much…. Wait.
Death rejection. That holds way more connotations than I’m comfortable with. Am I overthinking this?
Yeah, probably.
“Ivy, wait!” Josh calls after me.
I spin around, glaring at him.
“You can’t leave. Death will find you.”
“You can’t run from this, Ivy. Death will find you eventually,” Vex says.
“Maybe,” I snarl, “but you are trying to put me in the firing line when I want to do the exact opposite. I’m doing this to save my guys!”
“Are you, though?” he asks seriously. “The way I see it, if you run and don’t do what Death wants, he will kill them himself. If he hasn’t already.”
