She moved even closer, her relief at having him back flowing through the bond.
And then the earth beneath them began to tremble.
Immediately, Braeden took a protective step forward to shield Alyx with his body—but there was no enemy in front of them.
The symbols on all four plinths were now blazing brightly: Air, Earth, Water, Fire. Each was pulsating with light.
The ground beneath Braeden was still trembling, even though he couldn't make out any cause for it. And then, from out of nowhere, the rocks before them began to move.
For a moment, Braeden stared, too shocked to breathe as he looked at what was rising out of the ground.
A fifth plinth.
Before their eyes, the rock of the cave was transforming, a fifth column of stone rapidly rising until at last, it stood next to the four others, as solid as they.
The ground had stopped shaking. Everything was silent for a moment, as if time itself had frozen.
And then a fifth symbol burst into blazing light.
Engraved deep into the rock of the new plinth, it showed a triangle, out of which three lines were coming, pointing upward.
“What the hell,” Braeden muttered. He'd never seen anything like it before.
“But there are only four elements.” Awed, Braeden
turned towards the shadows where the chimera hid himself. “What's that symbol supposed to mean? We've already got air, earth, water, and fire.”
For a moment, the chimera was silent. Then, reluctantly, he growled, “I've never seen anything like it myself.”
“Me neither,” Alyx admitted, coming forward to stand by Braeden's side. “Can we google it?”
“It has to be a good sign,” Braeden said as he frowned at the symbol. “Five against one. Now we just have to figure out what the hell that symbol even stands for.”
“Uh huh,” Alyx said. “Let me try and google it.”
“Umm. Guys.” Jared was slowly coming forward. There was awe on the face of the griffin shifter—and confused disbelief. “I've seen this symbol before.”
“Have you?” Alyx perked up. “That's great! Where does it come from?”
“I have no idea,” Jared said slowly, reaching out as if to touch the plinth, then hesitating, as if he didn't quite dare to touch the symbol.
He took a deep breath. Braeden could see his shoulders tensing.
Then Jared turned around and gave them a small smile. He reached beneath his shirt.
And from there, he pulled a small medallion. On a chain, a circle of gold hung—and on that circle of gold, a triangle with three lines pointing upward was engraved.
“I don't know where it comes from,” Jared said and swallowed. “This was the only thing found with me when I was a baby. It's the only thing I've got left of my real parents.”
Chapter Twenty-One: Alyx
Alyx collapsed into a deck chair. The sun was blazing down on them, there was a tropical cocktail shimmering a bright pink in front of her, and her mate was right by her side, unharmed and completely hers.
They'd flown back from Sky Home to Wing Island as soon as everything had been wrapped up with the chimera. Gareth was busy with his old books once more, looking into further hints about the strange symbol, but they weren't needed for that.
Braeden had done his job. In Alyx's mind, he more than deserved a month-long beach vacation.
Meanwhile, she’d have to fix things with Sarah. But after having single-handedly defeated a creepy shadow creature inside her mate's mind, Alyx felt that she deserved at least a few hours of nothing exploding, erupting, attacking, or roaring at her.