After ending the call with Damon, Talia looked at her phone with a thoughtful expression.
"Problems?" Jas asked.
"I don't know," Talia responded. "Axel was supposed to call by now."
Jas didn't think it was a big deal. "Considering the difference in ti passing, Axel needs to make preparations for at least one week. He needs ti to discuss things with Kai, g, Tyler, and Sandy. Yasmin will be left behind with the kids without the protection of an Alpha, and he is probably taking extra caution. Also, if Axel is coming on his own, he might call after passing through the portal to ask about coordinates, and the portal could cause distortion of a few hours."
Talia thought about how it made sense.
Talia gave her phone to Liam, who was set to stay in the living room with Alia. "If Axel calls, give him our coordinates. If he needs Alia to pick him up, let know before you head out."
"I have a request," Jas asked and turned to Cornelia. "I want you to stay upstairs and rest."
Cornelia was not willing. She wanted to be with Jas. "You could use a witch. I can sense if sothing is off with the energies."
"I can sense it also," Alia said from the side. "I will go. You are with a child. When Axel calls, you can handle it, or call , and I will do it. In the anti, this chance to rest and eat sothing. Sit with your legs up, so they don't get swollen."
Cornelia looked down to examine her legs. They looked fine. Why did Alia ntion swelling?
Alia gave a smacking kiss to Liam before instructing, "Mind link Dawn and Zina and ask them to prepare a nutritious snack for Cornelia..." Alia was excited about Cornelia's baby, and she hoped that she would have a child of her own soon.
…
Talia, Jas, Keith, Arya, and Alia went into the basent and then to the secret passage that was winding downwards.
They stood in front of the first door and took turns inspecting it carefully.
It was a heavy door made of a single piece of wood. It had a simple doorknob, and the rough curved scratches on the stone floor were a giveaway that the door could swing open.
Jas inspected it visually, and then Alia stood in front of the door. She released energies in small pulses while chanting under her breath. She was sensing how energies flowed through the wood and reflected from it to discover a hidden chanism within the door itself.
Alia pointed at the grooves and knots in the heavy wooden door. "These need to be pressed in a specific order, so the door opens."
"What will happen if we press it in the wrong order?" Keith asked.
Alia shrugged. She was not sure.
"Wait," Jas said. "This was my father we are talking about. If it were anything complex that blows up if you make a mistake, he would blow himself up a long ti ago."
Jas put his hand on the doorknob and tried opening it, but the thing wouldn't budge.
'Lis?' Talia called. 'There must be so way to figure out how to open this without endangering people.'
'You can.'
'I can?'
'Close your eyes and sense the internal structure.'
Talia followed Liseli's instructions, and she could see the outline of levers, springs, and gears that were hiding inside the door.
'Now what?' Talia asked. It looked complex and confusing.
'In the end, the doorknob should click open. Start from there and work your way backward.'
Talia could see a rod that ended with a hook on the doorknob, and then there was a spring, and Talia followed what looked like a maze.
A few minutes later, she had a good understanding of what was going on there.
"Six points. This is the first one…" Talia extended her hand to push the groove when Keith grabbed her wrist.
"Alpha said to keep you safe," Keith said sternly. "If anyone needs to push things, I will do it."
Jas rolled his eyes, but he still agreed with Keith. "Talia, step back and tell where to press."
"Why you?" Keith asked.
Jas straightened his back. "You are Talia's guard, but I am the Gamma. I outrank you." Before Talia could protest, Jas looked at her. "And you should stand back because if you are wrong, and this thing explodes, even if we survive, Damon will kill us."
"What if it doesn't explode, but it teleports you to a different continent?" Alia asked. It was a possibility.
"Then, use my cell phone signal to locate and get back," Jas responded.
"What if you end up in the middle of a jungle without a signal?" Arya asked from the side.
"I will do my best to find a human settlent with a signal before wild beasts eat . Any more questions?" Jas spoke impatiently.
"We are just worried," Talia said. "If anything happens to you, what will I tell Cornelia?"
Jas froze at this. He just got his freedom to live a life without the shackles Alpha Edward put on him, and now… now what?
Jas shook his head. "If anything happens to , tell Cora that every minute with her was worth more than a year without and that she should wait for until I return. I survived sixteen years as Jas Redmayne; trust , I am not easy to kill."
Talia nodded in approval. She liked Jas' confidence.
"Alright!" Talia exclaid while waving at others. "Give Jas so space. We are doing this, and if things blow up and the ceiling collapses, soone will need to dig us out."
Keith and Arya exchanged nervous glances. If anything happened to Talia, Damon would skin them alive.
Keith grabbed Talia's right shoulder, and Arya grabbed Talia's left one, and they started dragging her backward.
"Wait! Wait!" Talia protested.
"You have superb eyesight," Keith grumbled. "You can tell him where to press from a distance."
Talia guided Jas, and he followed her instructions cautiously. He was talking bravely, but he didn't want to explode or be teleported. What if he gets teleported inside a volcano? It wouldn't be fair for him to perish now that he had found happiness. Who would take care of Cornelia?
The hidden chanism clicked and twirled, and Jas jolted when the door creaked open. They did it.
Jas, Talia, Keith, and Arya entered the room one by one. Alia stayed outside, just in case, but she was peering in from the door.
Talia scrunched her nose at the stale air that was heavy with dust and moisture, and there was sothing tallic in it that made her stomach churn.
"What a ss…" Keith said in a low voice while looking around. There were papers everywhere like a tornado passed through.
With the light coming from the hallway, they could see well.
File cabinets lined two walls, no windows, no other doors. Under the papers, there was a long desk and four chairs around it.
'CLICK!'
Everyone squinted when Jas flipped the switch, and the light blinded them.
"There is soone!" Arya exclaid and squatted to push the papers away from the body lying on the floor, completely covered in papers.
Keith joined her, and his brows ca together when he realized that so of the papers were brown, and he recognized it as dried blood. The tallic scent was blood, but because it dried, he didn't identify it right away.
Jas and Talia also got down to help move the papers from the unmoving body, and Talia's eyes widened when she recognized the man. "Beta Raymond…"
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