computer.
Derek turned to Ibrahim. “Can you move us all closer?” he requested of the warlock.
Ibrahim acquiesced, while Horatio transported himself. A couple of seconds later, we were standing on the other side of the cloud of smoke beneath a sparse line of trees.
My father led us ten feet forward and circled a wide, round bush. A dark hole came into view amid the undergrowth. An abyss. I was sure that this was the widest that I had ever laid eyes on—wide enough to fit at least fifteen full-grown ogres, I figured.
“I’m going to jump through first and see what’s on the other side,” my father said. He looked at us seriously. “Wait here until I return.”
I held my breath as my father dove into the portal. He hurtled downward and quickly disappeared from view into the starry depths.
When my father returned, only about a minute later, I couldn’t help but let out a breath. I was used to my father being the guinea pig for things—given that he was a fae, and arguably the least vulnerable of all of us due to the IBSI’s ignorance of the species—but that didn’t stop me from worrying about him.
His expression was stricken with shock as he came zooming out of the hole and returned to us. He was oddly out of breath as he stammered:
“It’s… It’s Aviary.”
Grace
A viary .
To say that place had played a significant role in my father’s history would be an understatement. He’d been kidnapped there as a baby, and that was where all his troubles had started—troubles that had plagued him in his later life, which were the reason he’d become a ghost to begin with, and why he was no longer in his vampire body, but that of a fae.
No wonder he looked shaken.
“Are you sure it was Aviary?” Grandma Sofia pressed.
“Yes,” my father said, exhaling deeply. “I’d recognize that place in the dark. I’m sure of it. The wild, Jurassic jungle, the suffocating heat, the penetrating humidity… it’s Aviary.”
“The Ageless was supposed to have closed all the portals to Aviary four decades ago,” Ibrahim muttered. “I guess there were some she wasn’t aware of.”
“I didn’t venture far, obviously,” my father went on, “since I was barely gone a couple of minutes—but while I was gazing around I couldn’t miss a wide trail that had been made in the undergrowth, right by the other end of the portal. It was heading into the thick of the jungle.” He paused to take a deep breath. “Something tells me the IBSI has definitely set up some sort of base over there.”
An IBSI base in Aviary. The concept left me unsettled. That the hunters’ organization of today, which was an entirely different animal to the one that had been controlled by Hawks in my great-grandfather Aiden’s time as a hunter, should come full circle and return here now… It was uncanny. Like it was returning to its roots, in a sense.
“So the portal doesn’t emerge within an actual IBSI base on the other side—you’re sure of that, right?” my mother verified.
“Yes,” my father replied.
As we all fell quiet for several moments, I suspected that we were all thinking the same thing. We were all curious now to travel through the portal and see what the IBSI was really doing on the other side.
If they did have a major setup there, this would not turn into another blitz like the League had inflicted on them in the Woodlands or The Trunchlands, of course. We weren’t equipped for such a task, and that wasn’t why we were here. Eradicating the IBSI from the supernatural dimension had dropped lower down on the League’s list of priorities after my nasty Bloodless surprise. If we made a trip there now, it would be done out of pure curiosity and investigation.
“So… Do we go through?” Aiden posed. “What do you think, Derek?”
My grandfather still appeared to be considering the matter deeply. “Well,” he said heavily, “a part of me is obviously reluctant to embark on what could very well turn into
Derek turned to Ibrahim. “Can you move us all closer?” he requested of the warlock.
Ibrahim acquiesced, while Horatio transported himself. A couple of seconds later, we were standing on the other side of the cloud of smoke beneath a sparse line of trees.
My father led us ten feet forward and circled a wide, round bush. A dark hole came into view amid the undergrowth. An abyss. I was sure that this was the widest that I had ever laid eyes on—wide enough to fit at least fifteen full-grown ogres, I figured.
“I’m going to jump through first and see what’s on the other side,” my father said. He looked at us seriously. “Wait here until I return.”
I held my breath as my father dove into the portal. He hurtled downward and quickly disappeared from view into the starry depths.
When my father returned, only about a minute later, I couldn’t help but let out a breath. I was used to my father being the guinea pig for things—given that he was a fae, and arguably the least vulnerable of all of us due to the IBSI’s ignorance of the species—but that didn’t stop me from worrying about him.
His expression was stricken with shock as he came zooming out of the hole and returned to us. He was oddly out of breath as he stammered:
“It’s… It’s Aviary.”
Grace
A viary .
To say that place had played a significant role in my father’s history would be an understatement. He’d been kidnapped there as a baby, and that was where all his troubles had started—troubles that had plagued him in his later life, which were the reason he’d become a ghost to begin with, and why he was no longer in his vampire body, but that of a fae.
No wonder he looked shaken.
“Are you sure it was Aviary?” Grandma Sofia pressed.
“Yes,” my father said, exhaling deeply. “I’d recognize that place in the dark. I’m sure of it. The wild, Jurassic jungle, the suffocating heat, the penetrating humidity… it’s Aviary.”
“The Ageless was supposed to have closed all the portals to Aviary four decades ago,” Ibrahim muttered. “I guess there were some she wasn’t aware of.”
“I didn’t venture far, obviously,” my father went on, “since I was barely gone a couple of minutes—but while I was gazing around I couldn’t miss a wide trail that had been made in the undergrowth, right by the other end of the portal. It was heading into the thick of the jungle.” He paused to take a deep breath. “Something tells me the IBSI has definitely set up some sort of base over there.”
An IBSI base in Aviary. The concept left me unsettled. That the hunters’ organization of today, which was an entirely different animal to the one that had been controlled by Hawks in my great-grandfather Aiden’s time as a hunter, should come full circle and return here now… It was uncanny. Like it was returning to its roots, in a sense.
“So the portal doesn’t emerge within an actual IBSI base on the other side—you’re sure of that, right?” my mother verified.
“Yes,” my father replied.
As we all fell quiet for several moments, I suspected that we were all thinking the same thing. We were all curious now to travel through the portal and see what the IBSI was really doing on the other side.
If they did have a major setup there, this would not turn into another blitz like the League had inflicted on them in the Woodlands or The Trunchlands, of course. We weren’t equipped for such a task, and that wasn’t why we were here. Eradicating the IBSI from the supernatural dimension had dropped lower down on the League’s list of priorities after my nasty Bloodless surprise. If we made a trip there now, it would be done out of pure curiosity and investigation.
“So… Do we go through?” Aiden posed. “What do you think, Derek?”
My grandfather still appeared to be considering the matter deeply. “Well,” he said heavily, “a part of me is obviously reluctant to embark on what could very well turn into
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