Heretics book 3 - The Apocryphile Press

:: 74 ::
The boom-booming of the drum drove Dylan downward,
through the crust of the earth, through the portal between
waking reality and the Otherworld. As he climbed steadily
onward, he resisted the vertigo that the whirlwind events of
the last couple of days threatened to inflict. Instead, he struggled
to keep his focus on the rock in front of his face, and the
narrow, winding path leading downward, downward.
But discipline was never his strong suit. His mind rushed
back to the moment when he and the others had burst into
the elder Dane’s hospital room, to see Jamie holding
Richard’s hand, with the old man’s discarded body in a heap
at their feet. Dylan had dropped to one knee, pressed Jamie
to his breast, and squeezed her tight, a hug she returned in
earnest. But what haunted him most, after the whole blasted
ordeal, was the sad and tired eyes of his friend, Richard.
There had been something unnerving in his weak smile,
something that Dylan had not been able to put his finger on.
They had all left, then, Richard to drop the Serpentines off
at their lodge, and Dylan to return Jamie to her home.
Crossing successfully to the Otherworld, Dylan headed
through the mist toward 924 Gilman, towards his power
animal, Jaguar, and that elusive oblate, Mikael.
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