Rivers of blood and sand
Chapter 24

“Starling,” Ander said, his voice raspy with emotion.

“I’m okay,” I whispered, my voice breathless as I tried sitting up, but Ander’s arms tightened around me, preventing me from moving. “Ander, I’m alright. Nothing bad happened to me, it was actually a good thing.”

The look Ander gave me could only be described as incredulous. “Nothing bad? I heard you scream and found you crying when I came in here. You stared off into space for almost a minute, not moving or responding to anything I said. What part of that is nothing bad?”

I pressed my lips together, having not known I cried or how I must’ve appeared to him when I was talking to the royals. Logically I knew I hadn’t physically left the mirrored dimension, but I hadn’t given it much thought until now. My cheeks were dry when I subtly wiped at them. I gently stroked Ander’s jaw, feeling the lightest traces of stubble. A muscle feathered in his jaw under my fingers, and for a moment, I thought he’d remove my hand, but he didn’t.

I couldn’t understand how it was only a minute, I knew for certain I’d been in that strange, but beautiful world for at least ten minutes. Then again, time seemed to work differently here. Maybe this was just one of those things where logic didn’t fit into the equation.

Ander frowned when I told him what I saw and everything I learned. During my explanation, my hand slipped from his face and settled in my lap. He still hadn’t released me, sitting on the floor with his back against the counter. Not that I’d complain, it was nice being able to absorb the warmth and comfort of being in his arms. His eyes never left my face the entire time I spoke. I wasn’t sure if he knew it or not, but his thumbs traced light patterns on my skin as he held me.

“I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do that,” Ander murmured after almost a full minute of silence. His hand flexed against my hip and all my focus went to the weight of his hands and how his fingers dug into my jeans.

“The way they made it sound, it seems like this knowledge is rare.”

We lapsed into silence again and I didn’t press or interrupt Ander’s thoughts. There was a lot of information being thrown our way at once. Hell, I was there, and I was still struggling to wrap my mind around everything.

“Shouldn’t this dimension be a reflection of our realm since the portals connect the two?” Ander finally asked, a crease forming between his eyebrows as his eyes took a far-off look.

Now it was my turn to frown as I stared down at my hands. My train of thought immediately derailed when I caught sight of my left wrist. Thankfully, it was no longer glowing, but I swore I could still see the symbol. The mark was subtle, my skin paler where the glow once was. If you weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t notice it.

“I don’t think so, if that were the case, I feel like they would’ve mentioned it,” I said once I remembered Ander’s question.

“There’s a lot Roman should’ve told us, and yet he didn’t,” Ander grumbled, grabbing my left wrist and turning it so he could look at the symbol. His thumb swiped over the pale skin, inciting shivers and goosebumps. “The nerve of him, thinking he could mark you.”

I don’t know why, but for some reason, his quiet words had me thinking about Harmony and how he neglected to mention her. “Why didn’t you tell me Harmony was there in the forest?” I asked before I could talk myself out of it.

He didn’t respond at first, looking away for the first time since I woke up. My stomach pitched. Not because I was jealous of Harmony or some insecure shit like that. Anyone that spent more than ten minutes with the group of friends could see it was all completely platonic. Well, anyone in a rational state of mind, unlike how Koa was during our first trip to the creature’s realm. It spoke of his self-control that he hadn’t killed Ander multiple times over.

I could practically feel Ander’s defenses rising as his hold began feeling less comforting. He was going to downplay the reason she was there or would flat-out not tell me anything. Which was complete bullshit, because I knew Harmony, and she wasn’t the type to needlessly panic. If she went all the way to the Aurora court, something important was going on. So important, she didn’t contact him through normal means.

Maybe that was why I said my next words. “Well, while you were hanging out, I was getting attacked for being associated with you.” Even though she attacked me for knowing Ander, I didn’t actually blame him. But I was so annoyed and frustrated with how hot and cold he’d been playing lately. I couldn't handle the thought of him going back to being a dick. Why I thought blaming him would help, I’d never know.

His grip on my body tightened when I tried wiggling from his hold again. He grabbed my chin and turned my head so my gaze met his again. “Who was she?” His voice was low and full of promises of torture and death. I’d never seen such cold rage in his expression before. The anger he’d always sent my way was nothing compared to this.

“I never said it was a woman,” I whispered.

Ander didn’t give a reaction to my statement, waiting for me to answer his question when he refused to answer mine. Fucking hypocrite. Two could play this game. It seemed he’d forgotten who he was dealing with. I could sit here in tension-filled silence for a long time.

And that’s what we did until Ander broke the silence, saying that we’d been here too long and needed to find the portal out of this dimension. The only indication of his anger or possible frustration was the muscle feathering in his jaw.

* * * * * * * *

We came across several more buildings as we followed the maze, which hopefully took us straight to the portal and not any dead ends. Neither of us slowed as we passed the houses, figuring it would be similar layouts, and full of furniture you couldn’t use.

It was hard to know how much time had passed with the lack of change in the sky and my wristband being of no help. According to the damn thing, only another half hour had passed. It was probably for the best if time ran faster here than in our realm, I didn’t want my family to worry about me.

In hindsight, I should’ve alerted Koa to the situation when I was at Roman’s house, but I thought I could handle it. I had yet to realize the true gravity of the situation. That it indeed was connected to the rift in the creature’s realm; the one the necromancers had been prying open until we put a temporary patch on it. They still needed the three reamining keys to fully unlock the prison realm, unleashing who knew what other horrors into our worlds. One of those keys was mine, the one my mother had slipped into my pocket before she told me to run the day she died. The one Emmy—that’s what Jade said the woman called herself—stole from me in the human realm all those months ago.

I had a lot of time to think since Ander and I hadn’t spoken a word. Not even when we came across forks in the path. Ander would just choose the one he wanted, and I was forced to follow. Well, not necessarily forced, I could’ve acted like a childish brat and taken the other path, but what would be the point in that? To show him he wasn’t in charge of me? Even if I was pissed that he refused to tell me why Harmony was in the Aurora court, I wouldn’t purposely put myself in danger to give him the proverbial middle finger.

Occasionally we heard a rustle in the bramble that lasted a minute or so until it faded away. One time, the rustling had been particularly loud and as a result, Ander grabbed my arm, pulling me behind his back until I was firmly pressed against him. We stayed in this position, staring at the wall of thorns for several minutes until the sounds once again faded.

I assumed it was some type of animal moving around in the bushes, most likely not normal ones. I was proven right when eventually, an animal emerged from the bramble. Ander once again stepped in front of me, but this time I wasn’t annoyed, not when I caught sight of the hideous thing.

It was supposed to be a rabbit, I think, or something akin to that. The damn thing was at least twice the size of the normal animal. Its brown fur that matched the bramble perfectly, stood on end and appeared to be coarse like a wire brush. Jagged holes were bitten out of its long ears, and by ears, I meant all three of them. The third sat on top of its head in between the other two. A line of sharp spikes ran across its forehead, along with between each of its ears.

Blood-red eyes watched us as it crouched close to the ground. When it opened its mouth to make an ear-splitting roar, it revealed surprisingly large and serrated teeth that had no business being on a herbivore.

With how everything was flipped around, I wasn’t sure if that somehow applied to the animals or not. Ander must’ve felt the same way, because he never loosened his tense position as he continued watching the animal’s every movement.

Us being unnerved by a rabbit might seem ridiculous to others, but this was far from the normal animal, and not just the physical changes. There was an undercurrent of wrongness radiating from the damn thing. It was different from the summoner we encountered.

Faster than I would’ve thought possible, the rabbit leaped at Ander, jumping several feet in the air. Ander’s reflexes were faster than mine, and he managed to catch it by the throat. He swore under his breath before flinging the damn thing to the side. The scent of Ander’s blood filled the air, spurring me into action. Unsheathing my push dagger, I stabbed the damn thing through the skull when it leaped at me.

Ashe had been right, living things could die here.

The blood that poured from the dead animal was the same color as old blood and had a slightly stale smell.

My focus immediately shot to Ander noting the blood on his left hand, the very hand that had touched its fur. I guess my thoughts on the fur looking like a wire brush were correct. I tried offering him something to clean up the blood, but he waved away my worry, grabbing my hand with his non-bleeding one. His pace was way faster than before and I had to run to keep up with him.

After what felt like twenty minutes of this ridiculous pace, I tugged on his hand, hard enough to dislocate a human’s shoulder. “Ander, slow down, I can’t keep up with you. Why are we moving so fast?”

It was almost surprising he listened to me and slowed to a normal pace. His head was on a near-constant swivel as he checked the surrounding bramble, even though it was eerily silent. “We’re close.”

I didn’t play dumb and ask what he meant. I knew he meant the portal out of here. Anticipation buzzed in my blood, sending adrenaline throughout my entire body. I was equal parts excited to get the hell out of this damn dimension, and terrified at the prospect of exiting into the offering site. At least we now knew the horrid blood’s weakness: dragon fire.

“How close?” My voice was barely a whisper, as if I thought something was nearby eavesdropping.

Ander didn’t say anything for several moments, but I could tell he wasn’t blowing me off, he was considering his answer before he spoke. “I’d say around two miles, maybe a little more.” He didn’t sound fully confident like usual, but I couldn’t blame him, not when we were going through a damn maze.

Luck wasn’t on our side in those next two miles. We came across multiple dead ends, along with several brave animals that tried to attack us. Each was as ugly and twisted as the last. They were warped versions of the animals in our realm, only more deadly: with sharper teeth, claws, and random horns scattered on their bodies. We only earned minor scrapes and bruises from dealing with them.

Eventually, we came across a wide open space that had been created in the bramble maze, making room for the wide circle of black blood. The cleared space was wide enough for a path of dirt to surround the circle, allowing us to walk around it without coming into contact with the bramble or the puddle of blood.

I hadn’t sensed the twisted energy or sickly sweet rotten smell until we were a minute away from this. Maybe it was because the air here was full of dark energy and had a hint of staleness mixed with rot. Another thing I hadn’t noticed right away, was that we weren’t alone.

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