“So far, we have not encountered anything too terrible. Marietta can help too, but we need to hurry. I think we found our reason and possibly a solution to our situation. And...if we are right, we are on a deadline."


    She jumps back from the window as I lift Marietta in, then follow my mate through the mostly unharmed room. Magic is insane. If I didn''t watch a massive green fire eat a majority of the packhouse I wouldn''t know something happened based on the looks of this room. It''s virtually untouched by the fire, but all the things in here were affected by the shift when the house fell.


    "Here." ra says, taking my hand and pulling me forward. "Look at this cab. It''s the only thing that had no damage at all. This is what we found sitting on the top shelf."


    I look at the set of ss shelves holding what appears to be precious trinkets and keepsakes. Again, everything only looks askew, nothing broken. She turns holding a clear...rock? What the hell? It''s humming, like the Shadow Markers, but not


    menacingly.


    "What does that sound mean?" I look from ra to Brianna.


    "What sound?" ra looks from the clear thing in her hand back to me. "I don''t hear a sound at all."


    I stare at the thing in my mate''s hand. It has a disk or coin in the middle that looks like an old, smashed penny. "It''s humming or purring maybe, but it''s faint." I look from the thing back to the three women surrounding me.


    Brianna''s eyes wide, Marietta''s eyebrows are threatening to disappear into her hair line, and ra is curious. I lift my hand to touch it. Moving slowly, so I don''t startle the rock. My hand stops just above it. Why am I worried about startling an inanimate object?


    "Because you know it''s not inanimate." My wolfughs at me. "It has power. I can feel it through you. The witches haven''t moved closer to examine it. They are curious, but stand back. Your instincts have nowe to include assessing magic.”


    I look around again. "Is it safe to


    touch it? I realize it''s in ra''s hand right now, but if I touch it are we going to be sted out of here, of into another timeline or something?” My hand hovers the need to touch it is mcreasing. "I''m not entirely excited about seeing what happens with all the magic that has been sent to harm us recently."


    “And, unfortunately, that is the only way you will know. It is the key to the Rift. If you


    are drawn to it, like ra, then it shouldn''t harm you." Copyright Writes and Ember Mantel Productions


    2025 Miss L


    "Too many ''ifs.'' And what do you mean ''key'' to the Rift? What the hell is the Rift?"


    "It''s what''s beyond the barrier. It''s what Eliza is after. What my father and his family have been protecting for generations."


    "WHAT?!"


    "It''s a checks and bnces for magic." Brianna starts. "All witches draw their magic from the elements and for the most part we are born with specialties or affinities for specific styles of magic, but with the right training we can learn more. The Rift is a power store, an open ess to the raw power of the earth. Legend says that it is not found in only one ce, but it appears where it is most useful and chooses its protectors. Power this great cannot stay hidden, we are all drawn to it. For those who wish to learn, it will teach. But, in the wrong hands it can be catastrophic. Eliza has found its location and it has chosen to activate your ability to protect it."


    "So, the drugged pups, the Shadow Markers, all the chaos has been to get to this Rift?" I ask, still looking at the ss object in ra''s hand. "And this...key...does what? Allow us to use tomunicate with it? We it


    already know we can get past the


    barrier without it."


    "We don''t know." Marietta whispers, "We''ve only heard legends of it. We have never


    been privileged enough toe into contact with it."