Chapter 80: Chapter 78: Beast Bone Shrine

Two days later, Lamant holds out his hand and presses it on my fur for support. I am his emotional support animal now. Even though Gussie sits on his shoulder, no worse for wear after her experience, he seems to want a furry presence as he ventures back into his study–and into the secret room.

Minette holds his arm, bracing him for support. “Now, if it gets to be too much–”

“Woman, enough coddling,” he grunts.

I let out a little “mrrp” to show my approval. Men like Lamant are made of strong stuff. They nearly die from poison and they’re up two days later investigating who tried to take them down.

Minette is delicate but strong, holding up her husband. “You should be in bed. Master Taba–”

“Hah! He doesn’t know my limits.”

Minette’s voice has a smile. “Neither do you, my love.”

Kaline follows with Hans Lammermoor, who managed to drop everything to come and support the family. That’s just fine with me, because Lightning came with him. Not that I like her or anything like that.

She follows Kaline closely, brushing up against her every now and then almost accidentally. Almost. No, I do not get a warm glow.

[How is he?]

It takes me a second to register that she’s speaking to me.

[You see him. They can’t keep him down.]

She sounds envious. [And you all fought the jaguar-scorpion for him.]

[Well, yes. It was intruding. The nerve! Squatting here as if it was its own personal den. And it hurt Lamant for no good reason, which means it hurt Gussie, and this family.]

Lightning growls low. [I would have killed it, too. Of course, I have never vanquished a monster like that. So lethal. You’re brave, Blaze.]

[It was a group effort.]

I am NOT getting a warm glow. I am NOT blushing. Tigers don’t blush. Do they?

Lightning now brushes up against me. [If you say so.]

[It was.] Demos can’t resist boasting, walking beside Vedette. [We all did it. Peridot helped, and she’s new.]

A ribbon hovering close to us, Peridot zips along, her eyes never leaving Niall’s diminutive form as he leads the way into the chamber. [We all did, but Blaze was very good.]

[And me?] Lobo lopes beside Minette. [I was good, too. I didn’t give in. That old bug never stood a chance.]

It wasn’t quite that cut and dried, but why argue? The team is happy. Besides, I’m practically hypocritical. I was full of myself two days ago, thinking of myself as the Scorpion Slayer.

[We beat that scorpion worse than those goblins.] Peridot flies around the chamber, which glows eerily in the light of countless tapers and torches.

I stand in the rectangular chamber that reminds me of a tomb, which it was for the jaguar-scorpion as well as countless victims. The floor is littered with dry, moldering bones of countless animals and maybe even a human or two. Of course, the battle gave us no pause to stop and notice the evidence of years, maybe even decades, of this big buggy houseguest.

“It’s a Beast Bone Shrine,” Kaline says in a hushed voice.

Lamant pales. “Are…are any of the beasts in the house here?” He points to the bones.

Maartenwitz scrolls on his tablet. If he’s affected by the deaths of previous beasts in the family’s history, you can’t tell. He blows his nose from the dust, and probably the rank, fetid tomb smell. “There are notations of beast deaths dating back centuries, Master. However, they were usually detailed. Some of the ones in recent decades and years just have ’Died’ next to the beast’s name.” He doesn’t fill in the blanks. He just lets the sentence hang in the air.

I step over bits of shell from the scorpion and fragments of bone. That mysterious mandala thing still gives me the creeps. Not to mention the weird runes and symbols on the walls.

System, can you translate these runes?

[You will not like it.]

Give it to me anyway.

Niall studies the runes, running his hand over them. Niall, Niall, Niall, what are you doing?

Mercifully, nothing goes haywire. The runes just stay stone and dull.

System, what do the runes say?

[Translation:

If you would unleash the beast of your dreams,

Seek this ritual chamber, a space supreme,

Although bleak and cold at first it may seem,

The aeternal glory in the center will gleam.

But beware when this room does teem

With creatures possessing powers extreme–

Creatures with spirits foul and mean,

The name of this house will never be clean.]

Okay, even Dr. Seuss couldn’t make that sound optimistic. And this is with a catchy rhyme scheme and a killer meter.

I can’t tell anyone this, because “Reading Runes” is not on my skill list. Hopefully Niall understands, or someone does.

Lamant narrows his eyes. “I recognize those runes from my magic studies.”

Oh good. Lamant is the uber-magic geek who took the accelerated course.

Quick as a shot, he runs back into his study and comes flying back with a tome, then proceeds to decipher the runes and recite, almost word for word, what the System just said. Admittedly, his rhythm and rhyme is a little less pleasing than System’s translation, but they do the job.

After Lamant speaks, silence reigns in the chamber. No one moves, except for Maartenwitz, who is playing a scene from that crime show Bones, trying to match the skeletons of the beasts to ones that have no cause of death in the family log.

“But this can’t hurt us anymore, can it?” Kaline asks. “The jaguar-scorpion is gone.”

Hans holds her hand. “No, indeed, you all fought so hard, and the danger is past.”

Niall sighs through his nose. “That’s like saying there will never be storms again. This room is still here, and someone could use it.”

Not likely! What is Niall talking about? No one in this family would use it. MAYBE a servant, but would they even know how? Of course, when people are power-hungry and curious and It Seems Like A Good Idea, they don’t usually think about their limitations. Like that old movie said, a man has to know his limitations.

“Use it?” Minette puffs up, full of indignation. “With us here? Niall Widdershins, no one would even dare–”

Niall holds up a hand. “But someone did. Right under your noses.”

We all fall silent, because Niall is deadly accurate.

“I haven’t been able to work out who,” Lamant mutters.

I glance at Demos, Lightning, and the others. [Demos, Lightning, Lobo, do any of you know?]

Shaking his fur to get the bone dust off, Demos growls. [NO.]

Lightning is equally mystified. [The House of Lammermoor never heard even a hint about a chamber like this.] Lobo agrees.

I growl. [The smell is choking me. The black magic here. The scorpion stink. The DEATH of beasts. I hate this chamber. I wish it were gone.]

Maartenwitz is speaking now, with either his allergies or his angst clogging his voice. “I never heard any sort of rumors when I was growing up and since I joined this household. Not a whisper! Black magic? Summoning overpowered uncontrollable creatures?” He sneezes.

Lamant mutters, “I suppose it’s POSSIBLE. But none of the research from the family archives suggests anything. And there aren’t any relatives to ask. My parents are gone, and any of the other family either doesn’t remember or isn’t telling.”

Everyone debates what to do, including sealing up the chamber forever (Maartenwitz’s and Minette’s idea), destroying it in a controlled blast (Niall’s favorite), sealing it with good magic (Hans’ and Kaline’s suggestion), or tracking down any of the family that might know something and interrogating them, then sealing off the chamber (Vedette’s preference).

It all becomes clear to me.

I have my Divine Vision powers. Granted, my abilities usually just ambush me, and I don’t control when I have my visions. But what if I could get something? Anything? At the very least, we would not be worse off than we are now.

[Kaline. My Divine Vision!]

I tug at her dress, worrying it a bit, just to get her attention.

Glancing down at me with a puzzled frown, she seems to consider my words. [Your Divine Vision? Doesn’t that just come from the gods whenever?]

[But I could try and meditate. I could see what I get. Please, Kaline.]

She squats in the dust and among the remnants of hopes for unlimited power.. Taking my face in her hands, she stares into my eyes. [This could be dangerous, Blaze. None of us have this power. Not even Mother and Father or Hans’ father. And I haven’t seen the things you have seen, like the animals turned into marble.]

[But we have this stronger bond now. Maybe with Telepathy, we both can see farther and peer into what the gods know.]

She’s tempted. [Blaze…that’s dangerous.]

[Have you a better idea?]

Immediately, she straightens up and calls for everyone’s attention. “Blaze has an idea…”

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