The Familiars 4-Book Collection by Adam Jay Epstein

Author:Adam Jay Epstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter 17

Double Hex

Outside Necro’s Maze, the Beyond stretched to the north, a vast expanse of hills and trees. The crystal walls of the labyrinth had become lush green hedges again, and soon explorers from eras long past would be stumbling their way out of the maze, only to find themselves in a bewildering world that had changed forever. The storm clouds the familiars had seen over the Peaks of Kailasa had blown their way, the winds were picking up, and the time between each lightning flash and its corresponding clap of thunder was getting shorter. And none of it seemed to matter to Aldwyn.

He had walked ahead of the group so the others could not see the tears he was shedding. He wiped them away with the back of his paw, but the pain and hurt that he was feeling could not simply be brushed aside. What a strange few months it had been, from being an orphaned alley cat, with not a whisker of family to speak of, to discovering that not only was he magical, but he got that magic from his parents. Now he had come to discover that they were gone forever and he would never get to know them.

“I’m sorry, nephew,” said Malvern, catching up to him. “I know how difficult this must be for you. It’s hard for me, too. You don’t know the guilt I feel for having misjudged Baxley. And for not protecting your mother from her own sadness.”

“I heard her voice in one of my father’s whisper shells,” said Aldwyn. “She didn’t sound crazy to me.”

“None of us knew how unstable she truly was,” said Malvern. “Until it was too late.” Malvern laid a comforting paw on Aldwyn’s shoulder. “The best way to honor your father is to finish what he started. What the three of you started. We must find the Crown and stop Paksahara.”

“Without the Spheris or Baxley’s path, how are we supposed to know which way to go?” asked Gilbert.

“We still have the Song of the First Phylum,” said Skylar. “The next clue. At last the waking moth, Flies to the rising light.”

“What does it mean?” asked Malvern.

“We don’t know yet,” replied Skylar.

“Well, before the Spheris was destroyed, it seemed to be pulling to the north,” said Aldwyn.

“Then we’ll keep heading in that direction, until the clue reveals itself,” said Malvern.

Skylar, Gilbert, and Malvern continued on, but Aldwyn stayed behind for a moment. He opened his pouch and telekinetically lifted Baxley’s necklace—the string with the three tiny whisper shells on it—and placed it over his head. He would wear it the same way he imagined his father had, with his mother’s voice close to his heart.

Raindrops were falling. It was still a light drizzle, but the dampness in Aldwyn’s fur was becoming unpleasant. Ants and butterflies hid beneath mushroom caps, perhaps sensing worse things to come. Gilbert shot out his tongue and lapped up swallows of water. Shady was now walking on the ground beside them, splashing through puddles.

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