Page 13 of Forever Frenzy
Mercedes growled in frustration. “She’ll go after your mom.”
“She already has, but Mom’s fine.”
Mercedes’ lips pinched together into a tight line. “Be safe, Seth. Get Tage and destroy Sekhmet for good.”
He nodded once. “I plan to.”
Going to the Underworld was not something I’d ever read about. Tage never mentioned how to get there, so I was going into this completely blind. The one thing I did have was Tage’s book. Incantations, spells, divinations...
I waved my hand, his golden tent appearing in the pines. “I have to get something,” I said suddenly.
Mom and Dad followed me.
Jogging to get the book from its hiding place beneath the statue of a cheetah, I pulled it from its box. The book’s pages were falling apart, so I gently eased each delicate paper over until I found something that looked promising.
“I don’t want you to do this alone,” Mom said, worrying herhands, wringing them like a dish rag.
The more I read, the more I realized I couldn’t do it alone. She would have to take this journey with me if we wanted to find him fast. The text stated that the heart of the dead called to the heart of the living. ‘Departed’ didn’t mean that the tether between hearts was broken; most of the time, the tether was only strengthened by the loss.
I looked up at Mom. “I need you to go with me.”
“What?” Dad said, crossing his arms. “Absolutely not. She isn’t dead, and Tage isn’t worth her death!”
“This won’t kill her, Dad. I would never hurt Mom, or do anything to put her in danger. But I need her to find Tage.”
“Why her?” Dad bit out.
“Because he loves her.”
“He loves you, too,” he argued.
I shook my head and quietly told him, “Not in the same way.”
I knew this was difficult for him to hear. Mom loved Dad, but at one time, she and Tage had loved one another, too. Tage’s love for Mom never waned. No amount of time or distance managed to dull the pain he felt from knowing she was alive, married to another man, and was happy without him. He never spoke of it, but there was evidence of things unspoken. You only had to look for it.
“What about Sekhmet?” Mom asked.
“There is nothing anyone can do to stop her unless Tage helps us first. The quicker we find him, the quicker we can fight her. We can either bind her back into the Underworld or end her permanently, but she’s stronger than ever now and we have to do something.”
Dad wasn’t happy, but he nodded to Mom.
“I’ll be here when you get back.”
Mom looked to me. “Can you get us there?”
“I think so,” I said, tucking the book beneath my arm. “I have to protect you first. It’s a spell to keep you from being bound to the Underworld. I wouldn’t put it past Sekhmet to try to trap you there.”
She nodded. “I trust you, Seth.”
Somehow, she always had. The powers I had were inherited, but she never freaked out or treated me like I was a danger. She encouraged me to learn with Tage, to control the gifts I was given.
I spelled her, watching the protective cloak of magic fall over her, and then I reached for her hand, hoping she would be able to lead us to Tage quickly.
Suddenly, the sand at our feet began to fall away into an abyss and we fell fluidly with it. Our screams were eaten by the void and we landed in a heap of sand, surrounded by darkness. The book had fallen away, so I scooped it up and illuminated the space, only to show nothingness as far as the eye could see, save the small mound of sand at our feet. Nothing above. Nothing in any direction. Just darkness.
But the darkness felt alive.
It felt thick and dangerous.
