Forgotten Read online

  “Seven seals for Seven Doors

  Seven rooms and Seven Floors

  Some lead to bliss and priceless treasure

  Some to darker kinds of pleasure

  Choose the one your heart desires

  Choose the ice or choose the fire

  Both will change you, time will tell

  If chose you ill or chose you well

  Now take your choice, for twain or cleft

  Will life be chosen, or will death?”

  After finishing this cryptic verse, the Celestial stood back from the still-closed door and motioned for Kate and Rone to come forward.

  “Come,” he/she said in that soft, neutral voice. “It is not for this one to open this door for you. You must do it yourselves.”

  “We must?” Kate frowned up at the tall being. “But what if we choose wrong? What did that weird poem you just recited mean?”

  Azure only shook his/her head.

  “This one cannot say for you will find out soon enough. All this one may tell you is that you must both place your right palms against the door at once.”

  “Are we going to get stabbed again?” Rone demanded, glowering at the Celestial. “I won’t have my mate hurt like that for a second time.”

  Kate didn’t really want the feeling of having her skin peeled off again either, although when she examined her thumb, it looked perfectly fine. There didn’t even seem to be a pin-prick or any sign that she’d bled at all.

  “Fear not. This door is painless,” Azure assured them. “But it must be chosen by both of you.”

  “I don’t like this,” Rone growled.

  Kate sighed. “Neither do I but what choice do we have? I’m guessing we have to do this before I’m allowed in the pool?”

  “All who come must choose,” the Celestial said, nodding. “None may abstain. For how else may Mistress Light and Madam Shadow know the true desires of your heart and how best to treat you?”

  “Well, they could just let me take a dip in the damn pool which is all I’ve been trying to do from the minute I got here,” Kate said testily.

  “I’m afraid they’re going to make us do things in what they consider the correct order before we’re allowed to use the bio-chelation pool,” Rone rumbled.

  “In this, you are correct. Proper protocol must be followed at all times,” Azure murmured. “Simply open the door and enter. You will find yourselves where you are supposed to be.”

  “All right then, if you say so. Are we ready?” Rone raised one large hand and looked at Kate.

  “Wait,” she said, frowning. “Before we do this I have to tell you…”

  “Tell me what?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Just…” She hesitated. Years of living with the Knowing had made her reluctant to talk about it, even when it had given her a very clear warning. Some people laughed or scoffed when she tried to pass on what she knew and others just thought she was crazy. But Rone knew about her gift, she reminded herself. He wouldn’t think she was weird or nuts if she tried to tell him something related to it—would he?

  “Yes?” he asked. “What do you need to tell me, Kate?”

  Kate took a deep breath. “Just that we need to be careful. And when we touch this door, both of us need to be concentrating on the light—on staying in the light.”

  Even knowing that he knew about her gift, she half expected him to think she was crazy. But he only nodded.

  “That’s something you got from your Knowing?” he murmured in a low voice. “A warning?”

  Kate nodded, relieved that he believed her.

  “Are we in danger?” Rone asked. “Are we headed into a storm, baby?”

  “I don’t think so,” Kate said cautiously. “Not as long as we’re careful to stay in the light. I don’t know what that means—but it’s what I got just now when we touched Mistress Light.”

  “All right.” He nodded gravely. “Let’s concentrate then, just like you said. Ready?” He held his big hand in front of the door again. “On three—you count.”

  “One…two…three,” Kate counted aloud. They made contact with the door at the same time and it whooshed silently open, revealing a long hallway. The right half of the hallway was bathed in pure, brilliant sunlight. The left half was gloomy with shadows. And somehow, though the two halves were in the same hallway, the light and shadows didn’t mix. There was a very clear demarcation between them.

  Rone barked an uneasy laugh.

  “Guess we know which side of the hall to walk down.”

  “I guess we do.” Kate started to step into the hallway but he put out a hand to stop her.

  “Let me go first.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Kate protested, feeling irritated. “Just because you’re so much bigger, doesn’t mean—”

  “I know you can, baby,” he murmured. “But please, let me go first. I just got you back—I don’t want to take a chance on losing you again.”

  The pleading in his deep voice and the raw look in those brilliant blue eyes made Kate bite her tongue. It was true she was usually extremely independent and unwilling to let anyone try to protect her. But the big Kindred looked at her as though she was the most precious thing in the world—as though he would die if he lost her again.

  Reluctantly, she nodded.

  “All right—you go first. Just stay in the light.”

  “Of course.” He nodded and took a cautious step into the lighted side of the hallway. When nothing happened, he continued down the hallway a few steps before turning back to look at Kate. “Seems fine. Come on.”

  “Coming.” Kate took a step but it was as though there was something there in the doorway—some invisible barrier she couldn’t see but also couldn’t avoid. Though she tried to step into the lighted side of the hallway, she found herself on the dark side instead.

  Rone, who was watching her anxiously, frowned.

  “Hey—what are you doing? I thought you said we had to stay in the light?”

  “I’m…trying.” Kate tried to step over into the right side where the light was pouring down but the invisible barrier kept her out—kept her in the shadows. It was like there was a wall between her and the light—an obstruction keeping her in the dark and the shadows no matter how hard she tried to push through it.

  Deciding that she should go back and try again, Kate turned and tried to get back into the purple dome with all the doors. But though she could see the Celestial, Azure, standing there, she couldn’t get out of the long hallway. She was trapped there, in the darkness, unable to go back or get into the light.

  “Kate?” Rone frowned at her again. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. There seems to be some kind of invisible barrier keeping me from getting over to the light side or from going back into the other room to try again.” Kate tried to keep the rising panic she felt out of her voice but this was really freaking her out. “I don’t like this,” she whispered, her voice tight. “Don’t like it at all.”

  “I don’t either. Hey!” Rone shouted at Azure, who was still standing there, just outside the doorway. “What in the Seven Hells is going on here? Why can’t Kate get out of this hallway or into the light?”

  “You must take the fate you are dealt,” the Celestial said obliquely, raising his/her slender, pale blue shoulders. “Perhaps your mate is unable to enter the light because of the darkness residing within her which yet needs to be purged. I cannot say—I can only advise you to stay on the lighted half of the hall yourself. You may escape whatever torment lies in wait for her that way.”

  “Torment? What the fuck are you talking about?” Rone looked really upset now. In fact, his tone was verging on enraged.

  “I’m okay,” Kate told him, trying to make herself believe it was true. “I mean, it’s just a little dark, that’s all.” Although it was strange how the shadows seemed to blur her vision and make it difficult to see over into the lighted side. What was going on?

  “You’re not al