Chapter 8 Alathiel looked back into the black mirror. The girl Dira was coming along nicely. She was very clever and resourceful. He knew about Victor and Vincent, the twins the old man kept sending out to try to stop her and get back the gunungapi stone. He smiled to himself when he thought about the old man’s misconception. The stone was basically useless without the board and all the other pieces. The rips in reality were getting worse, the old man was stretching places and times thin by traveling back and forth as well as sending the twins through all the time. Some of the tears may end up being permanent if Dira didn’t hurry and collect all the pieces in time. Alathiel laughed to himself. Time! What does time mean? Most of the people in these layers of worlds believed that time was linear and orderly. Such scared little beings having to label and have control over every aspect of their lives. If she could figure out how the crystal worked, then she was definitely smart enough to understand what her part in this wonderful escapade was going to be, if she hadn’t figured it out already. She hadn’t needed much help, just a little bit, here and there. Her instincts were right on target and she responded well to subliminal direction. He was having more fun with the twins, getting them caught and tortured with snakes was an exceptionally interesting diversion. He waved his left wing across the surface of the mirror and the scene changed. The old man could not be seen, but the twins were lying on the floor in front of a fireplace, looking close to death. One of them moved and Alathiel knew that they were just resting. He wondered what the old man was up to, and the thought just came to his mind. The old man knew, he had figured out the girl was getting help, and was trying to find out what was going on. That just meant that more care would be needed to keep his identity a secret. Alathiel suddenly felt another presence in the vicinity of the cottage and looked back to the mirror. All he saw was the twins. There had to be more to the damn hut than he could see. There were probably wards of some kind set so hat the old wizard could work in complete privacy. Azurelle was still away hunting, so he had nothing to send out to the cottage to get a closer look. Being hidden in a crystal tower had certain disadvantages, however, there were more positives that outweighed the negatives. He looked out into the trees and sent out a call. An owl flew up to the window and perched there expectantly. An owl, that would be perfect he thought. He sent a mental message to the bird and it swooped away into the dusky sky.

Click here to go to chapter 9