by Laney McMann
“If you’re in danger, I will always fight.”
He averted his eyes, still resting his forehead on hers. “You’ll like Greece. The water is unlike any you’ve ever seen. All green and blue, so clear you can see hundreds of feet down.”
Kade kissed him, and his mouth went pliable against hers.
Heru cleared his throat. “We’re here.”
Cole reached for Kade’s hand, both of them exiting the taxi on a vacant stretch of road high in the hilltops.
“You sure this is it?” the cab driver asked in Italian.
Heru assured the man with a very large tip.
Smiling, he sped away, leaving them standing there with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
“I really hoped we would not be going here again,” Cole complained. “I really prayed we wouldn’t.”
“Oh, stop. I told ya, it’s fine. Ya’re going more for me than for ya or the girl. Ya don’t even have to speak. In fact, it’s best ya don’t.” He winked and tracked up the side of a steep hill at the roadside.
“Awesome,” Cole said. “I won’t say anything.” He tugged Kade in his wake. “If this goes bad, and I have to defend myself or Kade, I don’t want to hear any complaints afterward.”
“Ya sound like that sidekick ya’re always dragging behind ya,” Heru said over his shoulder. “The one who just showed up like a well-trained dog. What’s his name again?”
“You know his name. It’s Danny.”
“That’s it. Danny Roberts. Came into the fold scareder than most. Ya sound like him, always complaining about something. Hopefully he’ll find some useful information about the coiled ring.”
“I don’t sound like Dan,” Cole countered. “I’m just making it clear that if your part-time girlfriend makes a wrong step this time, I’ll react first and think later.”
“Like ya did with Dracon, ya mean?”
Kade sucked in a harsh breath.
“Yes,” Cole answered, unwavering. “Exactly like that.”
Heru stopped and turned around. “I apologize, Kadence. That was thoughtless of me to say. Forgive me.”
She nodded but didn’t respond.
Heru turned to Cole. “If Euryale threatens ya or the girl,” he said, “I won’t stand in yar way this time. Better?” He walked up the hillside.
“Better.” Cole followed.
“Good.”
Fun, Kade thought. “How far do we have to walk?”
“Not far,” Cole said, “Just over that peak.” He pointed straight up the steep hillside.
Kade groaned, and for the first time since she’d known what her true nature used to be, she wished she was still a Primori and could shift into the sparrow and fly instead of going through a Leygate.
Traveling through the Leygate this time wasn’t much better than the first time. Cole held Kade tightly, same as he did before, a hand around her waist, lips pressed against hers, but she still threw up when her feet touched ground, and her knees buckled under her weight.
“This really sucks, by the way,” she said, staring at Cole’s feet while she hunched over on all fours in the grass. “There are a lot of positions I can think of that I’d rather you not see me in, but this one is at the top of the list.” Another stomach roil rolled through her body, and she dry heaved.
“Baby,” Cole rubbed her back, remaining crouched over her. “I’m sorry. It’ll get better. I promise. Remember when I told you I had to go into the infirmary after my dad made me travel from Rome to England and back over and over again?”
She remembered. All it did was piss her off. “Yeah.” Kade rolled onto her side in the grassy area away from the vomit. “Knowing you suffered doesn’t help much,” she groaned.
Peeking an eye open, the bright sun blazed overhead, and the bluest shade of blue she’d ever seen lay in an endless stretch to the distant horizon before her. Both eyes opened, and she focused, slowly pushing to sit up so her head wouldn’t spin, and stared ahead. “The Mediterranean Sea.” The view was stunning. All sparkling crystal greens and blues as far as she could see.
“The Ionian Sea, actually,” Heru said. “But, ya, it bleeds into the Mediterranean. Are ya okay to stand?”
Cole held out a hand. She grabbed it, and he pulled her to her feet. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“No reason to be sorry. As my nephew said, it takes a while to become accustomed to traveling through Leygates. The electromagnetic field can be a bit unforgiving at first.”
Kade took in her surroundings. They were standing on a grass-covered cliff over an endless expanse of emerald blue water. In the distance, several hundred yards away, loomed three pure white-stone caves, whose mouths were black in the bright Grecian sun. She glanced at Cole. “I thought we were going to the entrance of the Underworld?”
He eyed the caves. “We are.”
“The entrance to Hell,” she said, “I mean, it’s Hell, right? The Underworld?”
He shrugged. “Hell is a broad term. Let’s just say that every hellish Plane that exists in the universe, which includes the Infernal and Nocturnal Planes, converge to a single point—similar to the Araneum. That point is called Hell.” He glanced at the caves. “The point is in there.”
“And why is it again we would ever want to willingly walk in?”
“My point exactly.” Cole glanced at his uncle, eyebrows raised. “Heru?”
The man sighed. “As I said previously, Euryale guards the gates. We are in no danger—“
“Hahahaha,” Cole laughed. “Right.”
“Fine,” he amended, “we are no danger of the hadean planes if we enter. Euryale is, indeed, another matter, but we must go in because she alone can allow us—or myself—entry into Leylines of the Infernal Plane, which otherwise I have no guarantee of finding. Furthermore, I have questions for her.”
Cole sighed as they started walking toward the caves.
“Which one is it?” Kade asked. “There are three.”
“The middle one,” Cole answered in an annoyed tone.
“Ya know, some people believe Hell isn’t a place at all, but simply The Wheel of Karma,” Heru mused ahead of them.
“I guess we’re about to see how well your girl Euryale has been behaving these last couple years if that’s the case,” Cole supplied.
Heru gave a tight grin. “I guess we are indeed.”
“What’s the significance of the St. Michael Line?” Kade asked as they trudged across the field. “And why Shakespeare? You said Warden Caelius asked you to reread a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Why that book and not something else about the Leylines?”
“William Shakespeare was a Primori,” Heru answered calmly. Like it was a completely normal thing to say.
“Sorry?”
He smiled over his shoulder at her as they continued up the hill. “As I said on the train, there are many, many Primordial. Most whom no one would ever suspect were different from human. We try to blend in. Shakespeare was one of us. Most of his stories contain hidden tidbits of information and truths pertaining to our way of life. The more ya read, the more ya notice. Why do ya think there are so many rumors as to his true origin? He was believed to be English yet he had intimate knowledge of Italy. How was that so? Because he was a Primordial. Not human at all, and he had the ability, as all of us do, to travel by Leygate to anywhere in the world.”
Whoa. “That’s … crazy.” She glanced at Cole who grinned a little.
“Yeah, well, St. Michael is said to have fought a seven headed crowned dragon sent from Satan and to have destroyed it,” Cole said. “Also crazy. One reason the Leylines are also referred to as dragon or serpent lines. There are megalithic structures all over the St. Michael Line in his honor.”
“But aren’t there a lot of well-known Leylines around the world?”
“Yes,” Cole answered, “but the St. Michael Line is by far one of the oldest, and it leads to Glastonbury Tor.”
“Of King Arthur?”
“Yep. But that isn’t
the significance we’re concerned with. There is a tremendous amount of energy residing in that spot—all in and around the tower of St. Michael. All the megaliths hold some type of concentrated energy, but Glastonbury Tor is believed to be one of the most powerful Leygates on the planet. It’s said to be a highly spiritual site.”
“Which would lead one to believe that Glastonbury Tor would make an excellent location for keeping something hidden,” Heru said. “Although many are curious about its secrets, including the burial of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere who are thought to be resting in tombs underneath St. Michael’s Tower, and of course rumors of the Holy Grail being hidden on the premises—most are too afraid of the legends surrounding the place to do much real investigating.” He trudged across the field. “It is said that bright maroon orbs have been seen floating just above the tower in the night sky, and others claim the tower glows from its high hill on occasion. Between the swirling legends, and so much electromagnetic energy penetrating the site, strange occurrences have happened there. It would be a prime location to hide something the Primordial try quite diligently to keep hidden.”
“The Araneum,” Kade said.
“That could to be what Warden Caelius is pointing to with the story he wanted me to reread, ya. Or a ring.”
Cole stopped. “You sent Danny to look for the coiled ring.”
“Eh.” Heru waved a hand. “I sent him anywhere but here.”
Cole groaned.
“If he wanted you to find something like the Araneum, for instance, not saying he does, but why couldn’t he just tell you where it is?” Kade asked. “The Warden, I mean. If he knows.”
“The only Primordial who know the location of the Araneum are the ones guarding it,” Cole said, “and some of the Elders and the Warden, but all are sworn to secrecy.”
“Yeah, but … couldn’t they tell, anyway? I mean if it was important.”
Cole shook his head. “When I say sworn to secrecy, I mean can’t tell anyone. They physically can’t.”
“Oh. Huh. That’s kinda cool.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Warden Caelius is giving me clues,” Heru said. “There’s no other way for him to communicate whatever it is he wants me to know—which I’m not sure of at this point, and couldn’t tell ya even if I was. And until recently, as you know, no one had a need to find the Araneum. When the site was attacked three years ago, its location was moved again.”
Kade knew that—Cole had told her.
“Sounds like the Daemoneum are giving enough clues on their own,” Cole said. “They’re trying to hit something on or around the St. Michael Line. Not sure what else it would be besides the Araneum. It’s obvious they’re hitting monuments hoping one of them is it.” He sounded tired, aggravated. “We should come with you if you’re going,” he said. “Protect your back, at least. You can’t do everything on your own.”
“Too risky.” Heru eyed him over his shoulder.
“What are you hiding? You’re keeping me completely in the dark about something. What is it?”
His uncle stopped and turned around, bright blue eyes piercing Cole’s. “Nothing you need to be concerned with. Nothing I could tell ya, anyway.”
Cole massaged his temples. ”You’re saying enough out in the open as it is. If the Daemoneum are listening, they hear you, so what’s the difference?”
“There is nothing I am saying that they don’t already know.” He winked. “Ya are here to protect the girl,” he motioned to Kade. “That’s it. Nothing else. Warden Caelius was clear with his order. I am the only one investigating this situation,” he paused, “because I am the only one who can at the moment, which is why I removed myself from retirement for a short while. Protect the girl. She is more precious than anything ya might find hunting with me. I promise ya.”
Cole let out an irritated breath.
“Keep in mind, even if the Daemoneum do hit the Araneum with one of their attacks, they cannot do much more than that.” He started back up the hill. “They need Kade to blow it sky high. And I will not be handing her over by leading them straight to her. Nor will I be saying anything else that may give them a clue as to what I am doing.”
“So, they’re just going to destroy everything in their path looking for it?” Cole raised his voice, eyes wide. “And we’re going to let them?”
“Principals have been alerted of the situation. This is their job, Cole.”
“We’re letting them win!” he shouted. “You have more information than the Principals, you always do! We can stop this!”
Heru whipped around. “They are trying to draw ya out in the open,” Heru shouted back. “Ya and the girl. Do ya not see that? They want ya mad. They want ya so damn mad that ya rush in and try to move the Araneum or block it or fight before they ruin half of Europe searching for it. And I will not allow ya to do that and possibly get yarself killed!”
Cole opened his mouth, closed it, and walked up the hill in silence.
Chapter 25
The caves had seemed much closer than they actually were—either that or the closer they walked toward the caves the farther the caves were from them. Kade wasn’t sure, but something about the stretch of land between them and their destination never seemed to change. She thought that what looked like a few minute walk had taken at least half an hour so far and she swore they were no closer than when they’d started.
“Um …” She glanced at Cole, walking beside her. “Is it me or are we getting nowhere?”
Without responding, he reached for her waist mid-stride and shifted her directly in front of his, just as Heru shifted his own steps directly in front of Kade’s, so they were all walking in a straight line.
“What are we doing?”
Cole held onto her waist with both hands from behind her, and stared at the ground under his feet—at the same stretch of high grass they’d been trudging through for what felt like forever. “There’s a bridge we have to cross,” he finally said, not looking up, “just keep walking.”
“Sorry?”
He pointed down at the ground and then reached for her waist again. Kade followed his movement with her gaze. The grass-covered ground slowly but noticeably changed from green to yellow to charred gray to no grass at all, only sand. “We’re walking across a bridge,” Cole repeated, just as a suffocating, foul odor permeated the air.
Sulfur, Kade thought, the smell of rotten eggs. Gross. “What’s with the smell?” She waved a hand in front of her nose.
“Hell,” Cole answered with a flat tone. “That’s what it smells like.”
“And where is the bridge, exactly?” She eyed the wide expanse in front of them, unchanged in any way. “I don’t see anything.” Maybe the rancid odor had gone to Cole’s brain. Heru’s, too, who was also staring at his feet as he walked in front of her.
Cole reached his hand out, still looking down. She held it, and everything she and Cole had discussed in the bunker about his knowledge being funneled to her through the lines connecting them rang true like an alarm bell. Where a second before, she could only see dirt, some grass and the caves far in the distance, now she could see a bridge under her feet. Cole was feeding her his knowledge like some kind of siphon from the lines on his hand to the lines on hers.
Whoa.
The bridge was a rickety wooden contraption swinging slightly in midair hundreds of feet above a deep black trench. Every few inches, narrow wooden boards had been attached to an iron chain. There was no railing whatsoever. The trench was where the odor was coming from. Plumes of smoke mushroomed out of it.
Swaying, she gripped Cole’s hand like a vise. “What the hell?”
“Exactly,” Cole said, monotone. “You’re fine. I’m not letting you fall. Just keep walking. We’re almost at the other side.”
Kade glanced up. A few feet in front of Heru, the bridge ended.
“Both of ya,” Heru addressed them, “use yar manners.”
“Don’t I always?” Cole asked.
Kade followed, shaking slightly, thankful to be off the swaying bridge. She drew Cole by the hand inside the cave behind her. “What the heck was that?”
“There are traps everywhere to keep humans out.” Cole followed her. “Can you imagine tourists or hikers walking up on the gates to the Underworld thinking they were just exploring some caves? If you don’t know where to cross the bridge, the field just never ends, and you never reach the caves.”
“Oh. Well … okay.” What could she say to that? It wasn’t the craziest thing she’d heard or seen.
“I apologize in advance for anything that happens from this point on,” he whispered.
She half-smiled. “It’s that bad?”
“Don’t stare Euryale directly in the eye,” Heru said.
“I …” Kade started. The answer to her question was yes, apparently. Yes, it was that bad.
“You can look at her,” Cole said, “just don’t hold eye contact.”
“Okay …”
“We may speak freely within these walls,” Heru said, ducking low.
The tight entrance into the cave snaked down a narrow passageway, the light from the opening fading with every step they took until it was pitch black—only sand and slick walls surrounding them. Kade held Cole’s hand, staying in front of him in their straight line formation, and as they turned another bend, they dead-ended in front of a huge wrought iron gate embedded into the cave walls from the ceiling to ground. Flanking it were two massive stone cobras in strike position, fangs bared.
“Whoa,” Kade whispered.
“It’s simply a precaution,” Heru waved a bored hand and stroked one of the snake’s fangs with an ebony finger. A woman with silvery skin and multi-colored snakes for hair, all hissing and spitting, appeared instantly on the other side of the gate. “Euryale,” Heru uttered.
A wide smile spread across the woman’s mouth, showing short bluish pointed teeth. She moved forward with a slithering motion, her slender hips swaying from side to side. “Are ya here to see me?” Her voice was girlish, high and light, and she spoke like someone who had a crush on a boy.