Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 137

I rack my brain for how to explain something that came to me as naturally as breathing. A book was usually written by a spell user's hand, you knew it intimately, by the time one called a book to them it was well established as a piece of their body. I'd trained people before, but those were people who were born with some sense of magic and what it was.

"You need to envision it," I instruct firmly, earning an exasperated scoff. 

"I've never seen the bloody thing." He retorts, and I curse under my breath. Anubis had just produced it, he hadn't handed it over. I run my hand through my hair, imagining the best course of action without risking him running off. If I sent him on his own to get the book from where he'd been turned, there was the stark possibility that the book would render him unconscious if it was opened incorrectly. 

My own book had a mind, an entity, inside of it. Was it wrong to suspect that this one might have its own intentions given that it was created to tell the user about the power of Death? All the more reason to retrieve it, if someone else picked it up... I shudder at the thought. 

"It should feel like something is calling you, you've used drugs, right? Think about it like a fix, something that you're addicted to, that you'd do anything to get your hands on. You can pinpoint it and call it to you."

Taking in my words, he reluctantly nods, and we both flinch as a crack of lightning rolls across the sky. "The whole damned place smells like death, I can't concentrate on an addiction that I don't have or that I can't see, Nic." 

I could only imagine the lightning was a warning shot, a reminder that we'd just sent out a beacon that a torch of war had been lit. We'd once again ended up declaring sides, though nobody could know it was us on this side of the ring. I curse once more, wishing for more time, wishing for better circumstances. But, this was how I'd learned and he'd proven that high stakes could be worked around. 

"Randy, I really need you to think outside of logic." I plead, shuddering once more as thunder rolls in. 

"Why don't I just go get it?" He moves to step away from me and I can't help but clutch onto him, shaking my head. 

"What if it sucks you in? It's too risky, the safest way would be to call it to you."

"Well, we are wasting time. I can't just hold out my hand and tell it to come here." With a wave of his hand, I hear the whistle of the incoming object before I see it. Covering my ears, the book flies past us as Verando ducks out of the way and the object skitters across the ground, steaming as if it was one fire previously. The sky opens up, starting with a steady downpour that blocks out any hope of a realistic conversation. 

I grip his shirt, yanking it off his shoulders as I pop the remaining few buttons. "Wrap the book in this and put it in the car. We need to go." 

"That would never work twice." Verando snaps at me before obediently running to retrieve the object, tossing it into the back seat and closing my door as I buckle in. His hands had damaged the frame but not enough to make it leak. Though the door whines in complaint as it latches, I find I'm panting harder than I'd allowed myself to acknowledge as he gets in on the other side. 

Starting the car, he looks over his shoulder as we throw the vehicle in reverse and grumbles under his breath. "We have company."

I don't recognize the figure standing in the road, but by the nature of their haunting stillness, I imagine they were not here with good intentions. "It could just be a person."

"No time to find out." Stepping on the gas, the car roars backward, crashing over the top of the being as he wheels it around and I feel my stomach threatening to flip. Placing my hand firmly over my mouth, I grip the overhead handle as he shifts it back into drive and accelerates down the slick back road. "I'm sorry, Darling. Are you alright?"