I looked back at the grave I had just climbed out of. My voice caught in my throat as Lilith’s rotten face glared up at me, her beady black eyes gleaming through the darkness.
I sat bolt upright in bed, panting.
How could I have been so stupid? How could this not have been the first thing that occurred to me?
The graveyard.
When I had killed the Ageless, Lilith had taken me through some kind of portal connecting her rancid pool to a tombstone in The Sanctuary. A tombstone I now believed had been her tombstone. I couldn’t believe I’d had to take a memory potion to make me realize this. I supposed that this was an episode of my life that I had just driven deep into my subconscious and tried to forget.
Fighting off another bout of memories, I hurried to the kitchen and drank a large cup of water. This would help to dilute the potion in my system faster and return my mind to its normal state. I’d remembered enough, at least for now.
I entered the hallway outside the kitchen and stared at the front door.
I’m going to have to go back to The Sanctuary. And I’m going to have to go alone.
I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled a quick note for Kiev. I knew how unhappy I would make him by leaving without him. But I simply couldn’t wait. After placing the note down on the dining table, I hurried back to our bedroom and pulled out the map I had procured of all the gates leading into this realm. After studying it for several moments, I had worked out the best route.
Looking around the bedroom one last time, I vanished myself.
Chapter 31: Mona
Arriving on the beach outside the borders of The Sanctuary’s royal city, I shuddered. After my last visit here, I hadn’t ever expected to return. I scanned the beach. Nobody was in sight, but I made myself invisible all the same. I couldn’t afford to be spotted. Not now.
I walked across the sand toward the trees that lined the beach, where the boundary started. Once I could walk no further, I stopped and stretched out my palms. Being a Channeler, I hoped that I still had enough strength to bypass the boundary—something no ordinary witch could do. I was relieved when after about five minutes, I managed to. I could tell that they had put some extra reinforcement around the island since I’d last been here, but it still wasn’t enough to keep me out.
It was nighttime now and the forest was almost pitch black as I made my way toward the city. I could have magicked myself there, but I wanted to walk. I needed some time to clear my head and arrange my thoughts before thrusting myself right into the heart of the witches’ realm again. The trauma of my last visit here still haunted me.
I wondered what the white witches’ plans were now, after they had failed to protect The Shade. I wondered whether they would try to do anything further to stop the black witches. Whatever the case, we certainly couldn’t rely on it.
Although I was nervous making my way toward the city, I also couldn’t help but feel a sense of lightness. I rolled the ring on my finger. Whatever was about to happen, I didn’t believe that the pain could be any worse than when I was last here, when I had believed that I had lost Kiev.
Once I reached the first main street, I decided to travel the rest of the way by magic. I knew the graveyard’s gates would be locked at this time of night, so I reappeared behind them. It was uncanny being here now, when only hours ago I had experienced this place in my memories. As I looked around, it hadn’t changed at all—even since I was a little girl.
I took in the sprawling mass of tombs. The moonlight cast a pale glow down on them. I began making my way toward the back of the enclosure, past the newly departed toward the most ancient tombstones. These graves were larger and longer—much longer—than all the others in this place. I couldn’t count the number of graves that were here for the Ancients. There were far more than in the front area.
I slowed down as I caught sight of Lilith’s tomb about ten feet away. Chills ran down my spine, the hairs on my arms standing on end. As I neared it, I kept half expecting it to spring open. My nerves were grateful that no such thing happened. The tombstone looked quite dead, just like the rest of them. I placed my palms over the lid, running them over the moss-covered stone.
So I’m here.… Now what? What am I waiting for?
I knew why I was stalling. I wasn’t ready to find Lilith herself yet. If I did discover her now, I wouldn’t stand a chance against her. What I needed to do first was figure out how to destroy her.
Still, my subconscious had directed me to this grave. Perhaps I would find some clue by opening it up…
It didn’t help that it was the dead of night. An owl was hooting in a nearby tree and some kind of insect I couldn’t put a name to hummed eerily.
Taking a deep breath, I did my best to brush aside my fears. I got my fingers beneath the ridge of the lid and began to pull upward. It was stuck tight.
I took a few steps back, then began uttering a chant. I was shocked at how easy it was. After my first attempt at a spell, there was a crack and the slab loosened. My throat parched, I inched closer, bracing myself for what I was about to see. I bent down and pushed off the lid. It fell to the grass with a dull thud. I found myself staring down at a bed of soil.
I looked around the edge of the slab to check that I had gotten the right one. I had. This was Lilith’s.
I was still fearful, but I had come this far in opening up the grave, I wasn’t about to close it again without getting to the bottom of it. Using my magic, I dug deeper and deeper. Part of me was still expecting to reach liquid at some point, but there was nothing but soil and when I did finally hit something, it was the lid of a mahogany coffin.