Page 50 of Empire of Light
“Well no, not by blood. But Uncle Tri and Aiden and Charlotte were always inseparable when I was a kid in the late nineteenth century, so they were always around when I got to see Uncle Tri. It was like I got a bonus aunt and uncle out of the deal.”
“We must talk longer, then. I’m so curious about what Aiden was like back then—he’s not exactly an open book about memories from long ago.” Skye looked to Triaten. “But right now we have limited time to do what we need to.”
Ada looked to Triaten. “What is this room? Why did we need to come here?”
“Here, I hope there are answers for you. I could find nothing in the documentation I have available to me about what might be amiss with the breeding. But you know Helen keeps a lot of things from a lot of people.”
Ada nodded.
“But she doesn’t control everything—she can’t.” He inclined his head to Skye. “Hopefully Skye can possibly give you an answer, or at least a lead.”
Ada’s gaze shifted to Skye. “You can? How?”
“By what’s inside here.” Skye pointed with her thumb over her shoulder, her attention on Ada. “But I really only needed you for this—not him.” Her look went suspicious on me as she jutted her chin in my direction.
I stepped closer to Ada. “No. We’re a unit. Where she goes, I go.”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” Triaten said, shutting his phone off. “Fucking peanut butter and jelly. You don’t know how many times I’ve regretted our deal. They both go in, Skye.”
“You sure about that, Tri?” Skye asked into the complete darkness that had swallowed us.
“Yes,” he answered. “I’ll be out in the hallway making sure no one comes onto the floor while you’re in there.”
An audible sigh came from Skye and then the sound of a doorknob turning creaked into the vestibule.
The second door opened and light glowed from within. Skye moved in toward the light. Ada and I followed her. Triaten closed the door behind us but didn’t come in.
Fucking holy Zeus.
What in the hell was this?
What looked like a giant tree with glowing threads in a thousand different colors spread across the long wall facing us. So wide, it must have taken up the full length of the building.
An upside-down tree, with the roots moving upward and wrapping along the ceiling, while the hundreds of thousands of branches from the trunk spanned out to both the left and right. Many branches were dark, while many were glowing, pulsating in different cadences, almost like heartbeats.
“What is this?” Ada’s voice was awestruck, reflecting the feeling that had spiked deep down in my chest.
Skye stepped toward the tree wall. “This is history. And in history, there are answers. Tri said you need answers about what you are and they should be in here.” Her hand swept in front of the tree.
“How…how can this give me answers?” Ada asked.
Skye moved to stand in front of the left side of the tree. “Because every one of these glowing threads is one panthenite. And that thread can be traced back to the forebearers—parents, grandparents, greats, onward and onward—all the way back to the original panthenites.” She motioned to right side of the tree. “Malefics are on the other side of the tree.”
What in the fucking hell?
The panthenites have been sitting on this thing for thousands of years? No wonder they were so good at breeding for power—they had a damn guide.
While we malefics…we had fornication. Lots of it.
Ada stepped up next to Skye, pulling the cap off her head and stuffing it in her pocket while her eyes remained transfixed on the tree. “How in the world do you know which thread is which thread?”
“Helen is not just an elder, she is the keeper of the tree. And she has been teaching me the secrets of the tree for the last nine years—and only because she’s been forced to. Aside from Helen, I’m the only one that’s been able to be in this room for any length of time and the knowledge has to be passed down or we put the whole species in danger.” She looked to Ada. “Are you dizzy yet?”
“No.” Ada started to shake her head, but then the top half of her body drifted off to the side.
Or was that me starting to tip over?
Skye caught Ada’s arm, pulling her close to her side to keep Ada upright.