“Of course we are, little one,” Lachlan said, squeezing my hand.
“We would never let you go to the Summer Court on your own,” Bran added.
“Be careful, Emma!” Megan exclaimed, a worried look on her face. She pointed at Bran and Lachlan. “You two take care of her!”
“Yes, watch out for her,” Kaitlyn added.
Avery was dabbing at his bleeding cheek with a napkin but he managed to look worried on my behalf anyway.
“Take care of yourself, Emmers,” he said, looking up at me. “Remember, you’re stronger than you think!”
I felt like crying as I left the table filled with my Coven-mates. I was going to the Realm—a place I had never had any desire to visit—and I wasn’t exactly going under the best circumstances. I was going to stand trial and it sounded like I had already been found guilty.
I wondered if I would see Nocturne Academy—or my friends—ever again.
74
The Obsidian Portal that led to the Realm, was located in a sub basement of the castle, under the East tower of Nocturne Academy. I had never known where it was before, but why would I? I hadn’t even known I was a Fae myself two weeks ago.
We went through the door that led to the Fae’s tower but instead of climbing up to where the dorms were located, we started down a long, winding, spiral stone staircase. It was cool and damp and the way was lit with magical blue flames that sprouted from the stone walls at intervals like fire flowers. The mystical blue light cast an eerie glow over everything and our footsteps echoed as we descended into the darkness.
I kept expecting us to get to the bottom and come out into a larger space, like the Norm Dorm but that wasn’t the case. The spiral steps led only to a massive archway made of shiny black glass stones, each one bigger than my head. I looked to see what was through the archway and saw only inky darkness.
“Um, are we going through that?” I asked Lachlan nervously, nodding at the archway.
“Not until we activate it,” the dark Fae replied.
“The Portal will only activate for one with Fae blood,” Bran explained. “Go on—try it.”
“You want me to activate it?” I asked, frowning.
Lachlan shrugged.
“Why not? There is no better test of your Fae blood than to see if you can activate the Obsidian Portal.”
“You may activate it for yourselves in a moment,” Chrisanther, who had been flying along in front of us informed me. “First, I must send my messengers through to let the Court know you are coming.”
He nodded at the other four Nixies, who were still carrying the scroll that held my arrest warrant on it, and the four of them dived into the inky darkness.
It swallowed them like a pool of blackness but each one of them left a tiny ripple of purple light as they passed through. The ripples spread outward and were swallowed by the darkness until only the impenetrable black was left once more.
“Very well,” Chrisanther said in his high, piping voice. “You may now proceed, prisoner.”
I didn’t like being called “prisoner” but I supposed that was sort of what I was. Hesitantly, I put my hand forward to touch the darkness contained within the archway. I didn’t feel anything at first but then my seeking fingers encountered something that felt a little bit like Jell-O—it was cool and jiggly against my hand.
The minute my skin made contact with the stuff inside the archway, the Portal blazed to life. Ripples of light spread outward from my palm as royal purple with zigzags of golden lightning bolts exploded outward.
It was blinding and so unexpected I nearly screamed. I yanked my hand away from the weird Jell-O stuff so fast I overbalanced. I would have fallen back on the steps if Lachlan and Bran hadn’t been there to catch me.
“But this is amazing!” Chrisanther piped. The little Nixie was zooming around our heads in agitation. “I have never seen the Obsidian Portal respond to any Fae in such a manner!” he exclaimed.
“What does that mean? Why did it do that?” I kept my hands firmly by my sides, afraid to touch the weird portal again.
“It means you are certainly some kind of royalty,” Bran murmured in my ear.
“As I suspected all along,” Lachlan added.
“I must go and report this to the Court!” Chrisanther was still buzzing around our heads like a hummingbird on meth. He hovered for a moment, right in front of my face. “Come, we must go through, so I can make my report!”
“I…I’m almost afraid to touch it again,” I faltered. The ripples of purple and zigzags of gold had almost faded now, but the aftereffects of the brilliant lights still flashed in my vision.
“It’s all right, Emma—we’ll be with you all the way,” Bran promised me.