“Might as well cover all our bases, eh?” I winked at a dragon statue and continued down the hall. I followed the route Charlotte had taken us on during orientation, and it wasn’t long before I reached the building site.
Approaching with caution, I flattened myself against the stained-glass entrance and peered around the corner to check the situation ahead. The workers who’d been putting together the bones of this place had probably clocked off ages ago, and they’d taken their lights with them. I doubted they’d be back anytime soon, with the Institute on lockdown. Impenetrable shadow shrouded the foyer of the new wing, eerie and unsettling, like someone was watching me from the darkness. The flap of a tarp did nothing to ease my discomfort. It sounded like enormous wings, snapping violently.
I pulled out my dead phone and cursed under my breath. “I’m going to have to go in there alone, aren’t I?” With no one around and plenty of shadows to melt into, it was the perfect hideout for errant pixies. Usually, I wasn’t bothered by the dark, but there was something about this place that freaked me out. Namely, the huge black dome at the far end that I knew lay unseen. The current Repository had a welcoming feel to it, but this new one… not so much. A definite case of style over substance. Seriously, it looked like something out of a horror sci-fi.
Putting the useless phone back in my pocket, I conjured a big ball of Fire to light my way. A woman-made torch, to chase off any nasties that might be lurking.
Tentatively, I stepped into the foyer of the new wing. It might’ve been the light flickering off me, or just my imagination, but the shadows seemed to swarm closer. They danced across the glowing pool of light my Fire cast around me, moving like sentient creatures with thin tendrils that reminded me of clawed fingers and globs of black that looked like skulls. I shuddered, the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
“You’d better be here, pixies,” I muttered. Glancing over my shoulder, I couldn’t see the hallway anymore. The shadows had swept in and drowned out the light. An optical illusion, probably. My eyes just hadn’t adjusted to the Fire, that was all.
Get a grip, Genie! I’d told Nathan I was a big bad Atlantean, and I needed to start acting like one. I had six abilities at my beck and call, for Ganymede’s sake; there weren’t many things in this world that could take me down. Not without a decent fight, anyhow.
Feeling less jittery, I swished my ball of Fire to the left and right, shining it on all the construction. Sacks of raw materials, half-built walls, nearly finished stained-glass masterpieces. But no pixies.
I shone my light over a doorway. It didn’t have an actual door installed yet, but I saw a hallway beyond it. I tried to remember what Charlotte had said about this place. Something about how they were building rooms for visiting guests and more research facilities. This would probably lead to those, once it was finished, but in its current state the hallway seemed to drop off sharply into nothingness.
I’d just stepped closer to investigate when a sound made me freeze. It was a strange, melodic song, drifting through the foyer. It tingled up my spine, sweet and soaring, like fairies dancing on my vertebrae. A weird mental image, but nonetheless true. I turned to find the source. My feet followed, eager to hear more, desperate to get closer to that beautiful song. I didn’t understand the words, but it didn’t matter. The tune struck deeper than lyrics. Like a perfect symphony, tugging at my heartstrings, speaking to my very soul.
Whispers fluttered around my head, soft and inviting, saying, “Come to us. Be with us. Feel our warmth.”
I giggled, which I almost never did. “I can’t see you.”
“We are here. Follow us. Follow our song,” the whimsical, feminine voices urged. They spoke with a hint of melodic laughter that made me smile. All of my anxiety melted away as the song penetrated further into the fiber of my being. It lilted in my cells, turning my blood to pure magic. I wanted more. I wanted to be nearer to that sweet sound until I was part of it. Thoughts of the outside world disappeared. There was only me, and the song, and nothing else.
I looked upward as a different light dispersed the crackle of my Fire. No… lights, plural, glowing and hypnotic, floating merrily in the air. They moved effortlessly, flowing to the gentle current of the music. Dancing. And I wanted to dance with them. In the back of my mind, I recognized the trailing orbs. But those memories didn’t mean anything anymore. Now, I understood why the glowing lights had appeared when Persie was having a panic attack. They’d wanted me to come to them, to hear this secret song. I had missed out. But I wouldn’t miss out again. They were calling to me, and I had every intention of answering.
“Do you see us?” the voices susurrated.
I nodded. “I see you.”
“Then come. We are waiting.” The twinkling lights with their colorful comet-tails flitted away, toward the black sphere that I’d feared so much: the skeleton of the new Repository. I went after them, no longer afraid. I had nothing to be scared of, not with these lights leading me. They were pure radiance. Pure goodness. It resonated inside of me, filling me with giddiness. I felt like I could take flight.
The lights paused now and again, checking to see that I was following. It made me smile. They cared. They’d been waiting for me, and I couldn’t let them down. All the while, their song urged
