The Son of Ice and Dusk

Where I get answers but not the ones I'm looking for

When the portal closed behind us, my insides felt as if they'd been inside a milk shaker.

It felt amazing and I couldn't wait to do that again every time we had to move.

No, actually, scratch that. I was kidding.

We wound up in a room I had never seen before.

"Raegan, Jeff, is it normal?" I asked. "Why are we inside a room?"

Five Enchanters were looking at us. They looked ethereal, as if they weren't even there, and they were all older than us.

Maybe I was dead. Maybe Edgar had killed me by pushing me inside. Maybe they were there to weigh my heart to decide if I did wrong or right, like they believed in Ancient Egypt.

"Are we... ?" I asked weakly.

"No, you're not dead," an old grey-haired lady said. "We summoned you here. We're a clan, just like the Traditionalists. But we're a peculiar kind of clan — more similar to organisations like the Circle."

"And what would your name be?" Raegan asked.

"The Awakened," she replied.

Raegan scoffed. Their name sounded like the exact opposite of the Traditionalists — and while there was nothing traditional about Raegan's clan either, the Awakened probably didn't believe the old legends or walk barefoot.

"Why did you summon us?" Jeff asked.

"This is a better question," the woman replied. "To congratulate you. Even though we have a few heads up — Raegan, don't drink alcohol while on our quest. And Ryan, I understand you wanting to taunt the Arcane, but don't do that anymore. It was too risky."

I wanted to protest, but Jeff beat me to it.

"Excuse me?" Jeff asked in a rebellious tone. "This is our quest. Not yours. It was us, and Vitaly, who came up with it."

"But we are the ones who made sure you saw the Blasted Tower," a younger woman with long brown hair replied to Jeff. "We sent it to the Stars Room where it resided for just one day before your grandfather could see it. And then we sent the members of the Odd Oddities circus to the Academy to lure you to the room. There's more of us — we are only the leaders. My name is Eileen Gardner and before joining this clan, I was a pirate. I also am an Enlightener."

I wondered if I had correctly heard the pirate part, but I didn't dare ask.

"She's Aimee Adams," she continued, pointing to the older woman. "The man standing to my left is Luther Graves, the new High Priest of the New Faith, they're both Jurists, and the one to my right is Morgan McCarthy, the founder of the Odd Oddities circus. He's a Hierophant, from the Spring branch."

"The New Faith?" Raegan laughed. "Not what I'd call an awakening."

The monk walked towards her.

"I understand if you don't have the Faith," he said. "And I can't erase the damage that the believers of the New Faith might have done to you. But I can ask you to understand that sometimes behind great power hides great knowledge."

Raegan must have agreed, because she kept her mouth shut. I was not what I'd call a believer either, but I thought Raegan not biting back must have been proof that miracles existed.

"Now that we've completed the first part of our quest and you decided to show yourself to us, can you tell us why we are doing this? Where is the Mirror? Why are we even doing it?" I asked hopefully.

They looked doubtful. I understood I should have begged even more pathetically to get them to speak. But I found out I didn't want to.

"I don't think you should know," Morgan said. "It could change the course of the quest. Just like the last time..."