Running Red: Lost Moon

Chapter 46: Mirrored

Levi pushed the door open, and he watched as light from a large magic seal poured out of the room to spill across the ground. The purple glow had him looking at his dad. Andrew tipped his head towards the door, and Levi sighed as he finally stepped through. "Walk into the room with the glowing large magic circle. It's safe, just like everything else I've seen." He muttered under his breath.

"It is safe," Andrew replied as he walked past Levi toward the circle.

Levi started to close the door just as the large white raven slipped through. Andrew looked over to see the bird fly towards him. "Hi, Zander. Celest is near?"

There was a loud gurgling croak, and Zander landed on his shoulder to nip at his ear. He waved him off. "You're a menace, shoo."

Zander flapped away as he let out a sound that most likely was a laugh. The bird flew over to Levi to land on his shoulder and looked at him with his good eye. Levi eyed the bird warily, "And who is Zander?"

"The Rosso family guardian." Andrew was walking over to the seal. He reached up to touch the circle. Levi watched as the light rippled along half of the seal. When he walked closer, he could see part of the seal that Andrew was touching was damaged. "Everyone said it was damaged. That it means you could be dying or dead."

Andrew hummed as he pulled his hand away from the seal. He held his arm out to Zander, who stepped onto it. "I could be. Like I told Paxton, maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I'm just a small part of the original Andrew."

Levi kicked at the ground before he looked around the dark room. "I hope you're alive."

"So do I. I would like to see the memories that my original self got to experience."

Curiosity got the better of Levi as he finally asked about the dark room. "Where is this?"

"Inside of you. I guess you can say it's where your soul is."

"Why is it so dark?"

"Well, that's because of you."

Levi looked at Andrew in time to see him lift Zander to the seal. "Me?"

"Yes." Zander slipped through the seal, and Andrew watched as the bird disappeared into the dark on the other side. "You're hiding from yourself, Levi."

A frown pulled at his lips as he looked down at the stone ground. "I didn't ask for this."

"No, you didn't. But neither did I or Tate or Celest. We just want you to be able to use your abilities without hurting yourself."

"And if I don't want to."

"That would be difficult. Your abilities are attached to your emotions."

Levi narrowed his eyes in suspicion while Andrew reached out to touch the seal again. "How do you know that?"

Andrew waved his hand at the seal. "Who do you think built this seal?" Turning to the large seal, he sighed. "Come on. It'll be easier to show you."

When Andrew stepped through the seal, it rippled, and Levi looked around before following him. He let out a shuddering breath as he was hit with cool energy. It felt like he had stepped through water. Turning, he looked back at the seal to find it gone. His hand reached out and met something solid and cool. "It feels like glass. Why did it feel like I stepped through water?"

"My base element is water."

Levi looked at him in confusion. "What?"

Andrew smiled as he held his hand out. A small light slowly brightened to life in his palm. He watched as it started to float up from Andrw's hand to hover between them, "Come on. We'll talk and walk." Levi quickly followed Andrew as he started to explain while ducking under a large fern and foliage that was lit by the light. "Everyone touched with magic has a base element. Mediators are touched with magic. There are some werecreatures and humans that seem to have an abundance but no magical abilities and of course some other supernatural beings."