Eziah wanders back over, and Kaif runs his hand over the coffin. I can feel his pain. Feel his anguish at seeing Dominic’s coffin here. Kaif looks at the moon. “We need to open it before the moon is directly above the ruins,” he says.
Eziah nods, reading over Marabella’s shoulder. Kaif walks around the perimeter of the ruins, unable to enter. He touches the rocks before jerking his hand back when they zap him. He growls.
Kaif is nervous and restless as he crouches, going through the bag and pulling out a gold bowl. He reaches up, holding his hand out for the grimoire, and flicks through the pages while we watch him work. None of us have any idea what he is doing.
He mixes herbs before cutting the palm of his hand and bleeding into the bowl, murmuring something in a foreign language. The bowl starts smoking before catching fire. I jump back, but he doesn’t even flinch. Eziah watches curiously as Kaif wafts the smoke and flames away, revealing a black tar-like substance in the bowl.
He stands from his crouched position before dipping his fingers in the bowl. My fingertips burn, and I wonder how he can stand the heat. Marabella hisses, sucking her finger.
“Crap, sorry, love,” he mutters, looking over at her. “You okay? I need to do it while it is hot, or it will set,” Kaif says, and she nods.
Eziah walks over and grips her hand, rubbing his thumb over her fingertips. Her fingertips glow, and Kaif nods to him, turning back to the coffin. He uses the tar-like substance to draw symbols and strange runes on the wood.
“I can’t enter the pentagram in this form. This will ensure that it contains my magic in the coffin when Kyan takes over. We can’t have the shadows take over, or we may bring back more than Dominic.” Kaif explains and Eziah shudders, but pays close attention to everything Kaif does with avid fascination. We all do. It is fascinating but also creepy. When he finishes, Eziah glances around.
“So now we make the pentagram?” he asks, looking around.
I clear my throat and point to the giant rocks. “That is the pentagram; look at how they are set into the ground, five points,” I tell him.
“Oh right, my bad, they look like rocks to me,” he shrugs.
Kaif reaches down and retrieves some shorts from the bag before walking over to Mara. He grips her chin, bruising his nose across his cheek. “If it gets too much, you have to get out!” he growls at her, and she looks back at the ruins.
The rocks have huge deep crevices through them from lightning strikes. They almost appear to have their own runes etched into their hard surfaces. Mara nods and turns back to him. Kaif grips her chin, tilting her face, his eyes scrutinizing her face. “Promise me,” Kaif says.
“I promise,” she whispers. Kaif brushes her cheek before walking off. Kaif shifts back, and Kyan returns in the black shorts. He swallows as he stops beside his father’s coffin. Hope blooms within him, yet he is wary but most of all – petrified for Mara.
“Are you sure?” he asks like he just needs that extra reassurance.
“I know he is alive; I would bet my life on it,” she tells him.
Kyan places his hand on the head of the coffin. “I hope you’re right,” he murmurs before looking at Eziah. He nods before stepping forward and grabbing one side. They lift it before walking into the ruins and placing it on the huge flat rock that sits between the graves of Kaif and Luna.
“So what now?” Eziah asks, scratching his chin.
“Now, Ella opens it. Only my father’s magic can do that, but if she channels too much, it will kill her,” Kyan explains.
“So?” Eziah glances at Mara nervously.
“Kyan will channel me and take control of his father’s power and open it,” Mara explains, and Eziah nods.
“And that will work?” Eziah raises an eyebrow. I can see it on his face – he too is scared for Mara.
“Yes, to open it, but to awaken him, you and Mara then need to channel Kaif. We need a power source to break Luna’s stone to set him free.” Kyan glances at her.
“Okay, so first we open it, then I help Mara, and hopefully he wakes and can take his magic back?” Eziah says, and Kyan nods.
“That is what we are hoping for,” Kyan sighs, his eyes moving back to Mara.
Marabella
Eziah and Jonah remain outside the ruins. I am restless, yet confident. Kora paces in my head. And Kyan is a blank canvas like he has switched off, and I can feel the sickly feeling brewing within him. He wants this so badly, I can feel it.
He wants me to be correct, and I know I am, yet his unease washes through me loud and clear. I step over to the coffin and look at the moon, slowly getting closer to the position.
It is almost directly above us. Kaif explained that when the stones were made, they were made on a full moon. That, what begins with the moon ends with the moon. I just hoped we can get it open in time because, if not, we will have to wait until the next one. We don’t have that much time.
Kyan comes up behind me. His hands grip my shoulders and slide down my arms. “Ready?” He whispers next to my ear.
I suck in a breath and nod. I have no idea what I am doing, but Kyan said he knows what needs to be done, and I trust he understands what Kaif has told him. Because to me, it is utter gibberish.
Kyan produces a knife and stands behind me. He grips my wrist and quickly kisses my neck below my ear before running his nose down to my mark.
“Sorry,” he whispers. His grip tightens on my wrist, and he sucks on my mark. Tingles course through me while he quickly runs the blade across my palm, making me gasp, but the pain diminishes when grazes his teeth across my mark.
He holds my bleeding hand above the coffin, letting my blood drip on all the runes drawn.
The runes glow brightly, almost like lava, as he fists my hand. When he finishes, he kisses my neck before turning me to face him. He brings my hand to his mouth, running his tongue across it and healing the cut. I wiggle my fingers, staring at the cut, which is now healed.