Where The Numinous Awaits

Ch. 30: Dex's Awakening

Septembe 14 | Night

A brutal knowing fostered dread as my blood pounded like shamanic drums through my body. I moved, but it seemed in slow motion. My panting breaths filled the living room. The sofa was torn apart by claw marks, and its stuffing littered the floor. An armchair had been overturned. Books were piled in a trash heap. It looked as though a wild animal had been let loose in the house.

Clutching my head, I spun around and took in the mayhem as stinging tears welled up and my vision. Legend and Nixie wore expressions of disbelief that matched my own. "Where are they?" Nixie sprinted to her room and came back wringing her hands. "Where are they?" she shouted.

"Abuela?" I called out, my voice not my own. I clasped my throat and dashed into the kitchen. The two hawk feathers fluttered in my hair as I ran.

The kitchen countertops were covered in overturned jars of spices and food scraps. Dried herbs were scattered across the floor. The table was broken in two. The bedrooms were in a similar state, but no one was present. The cottage was empty. The backdoor hung open at the end of the hallway, and I rushed outside into the night.

"Fitz!" Nixie screamed in the backyard. She fell to her knees, crying. Her frightened eyes speared mine, and I didn't know what to say or do. My heart was racing. Where was my Abuela? Where was Delilah?

"Hurry! Let's go look at the security footage." Legend ushered us to the shed.

I froze on the threshold, an agonized groan coming from my core. My home laboratory had been decimated. The gorgeous terrarium, the decayed tree trunk lay crumbling on the floor, and plant material crunched underfoot. Lab equipment stood battered and broken. I ran my sweaty palms over the bullet holes in the walls. I whimpered at the sight of my potions locker in shambles, with broken bottles littering the floor.

My once-pristine workstation was now a scene of devastation. Had Darcy Cypria only been looking for the Hermetic Draught? Or had he just been trying to destroy everything in his path?

"Is that blood?" Nixie panicked.

Crouching to check, I touched the sticky red substance dotting the floor, and glanced up at Legend. He tightened his lips and took his weapon off safety. I rose to my feet.

"The only thing I can think is Darcy took them with him. He had to have discovered we have the book, and he's holding them as ransom," I said.

With Legend standing guard behind us, Nixie and I settled at the desk. The computers were in the same state as I had left them. It was as if Darcy wanted me to see what he had done. We rewound the tapes to hours before our return home. We had spoken to Fitz earlier that morning, so I knew they were safe and sound at that point. But as I stared at the dual monitors, tapping my foot with restless, anxious energy, the story that unfolded chilled me to the bone.

Fitz was outstretched on a beam in the rafters of the shed with his sniper rifle, ready for a clean shot, as Darcy ripped the place apart. He had to have come back after getting the Hermetic Draught. Delilah stood by, neither helping nor hindering him. I didn't see Abuela, and I prayed she had hidden somewhere. We hadn't gone back far enough to check. Maybe she was still hiding.

I gnawed on a fingernail as I turned up the volume.

"This is all my fault," Nixie said in a small voice. "If I had gone with Fitz to Los Angeles, none of this would have happened. I was so engrossed in imagining a perfect life that I failed to see the nightmare I was walking into. Why did I think I could do this?" She wilted, and Legend held her head to his chest, standing over her with a stern expression.

"It's not your fault. I'm the one who helped Delilah reconnect with Darcy in the first place," Legend said gruffly.

"Where's the book?" Darcy asked onscreen once he was done ransacking the place.