by Lisa Daniels
Certain that she hadn’t meant for him to hear, Caspian chose to ignore it. She probably wouldn’t tell him what she meant anyway, so no point in pressing for answers. He beamed at her, “Thank you, Eve.” He placed his hand on his chest, “From the bottom of my twisted heart, thank you.”
“It isn’t twisted,” she looked like she was about to cry. “It has just been misdirected.”
He smiled at her again, touched that she would be so kind. “Misdirected. Do you mind if I use that on the ladies?”
Eve began to pull on her ear, “If you are certain it will help you, I don’t mind.”
“Of course.” He smiled at her, offering her a hand as he stood up. Instead, she used the table to push herself up from the seat.
“Take care of yourself, Caspian. And be careful. Things are going to get worse before they get better.”
“Things can always get worse, but I wonder how much further I really have to go before I hit the bottom.” He smiled mirthlessly at her.
“I will never let that happen.” She smiled up at him, then walked through the door before he could open it.
Caspian sat staring at the door for several hours, pondering this occasional visitor. She never said anything about herself, but she always appeared when he felt like he couldn’t keep going. Until today, she had never asked for anything, and today it was just that they talk indoors. He had never heard of anyone who could walk through solid objects, but he also knew that she had left the current plane. He had tried to chase her enough times to know that she was not somewhere that he could find her.
“Do you return to Nowhere after you visit me? Your sole purpose cannot be to keep me going. So what drives you to visit me? Who are you really, Eve?”
Chapter 9
Worlds Collide
Heaven stood before the Unwashed high priest, a bored look on her face. He was leaning over the rails, yelling at her, the spittle flying. He was trying to direct people to take her, but no one could get close to her.
“Ah, finally,” Heaven sighed. “He’s out of practice. Alright, time to take care of you guys.” She held up the small, squirming creature in her hand. The Unwashed around her looked at her, then each other. To them she appeared to be holding up a large slug or a worm. “I am so glad that you chose seers because that is the group that is most susceptible to this, given the source.”
“What are you doing, you vile witch?” The priest was leaning out, trying to see what she had in her hand.
“Watch and see if you can figure it out.” Heaven reached up with her other hand and pulled both ends of the little creature. There was a horrible shriek as it broke apart. Holding halves in each hand, Heaven closed her eyes, dropping the shield around her. Seconds later, a large shockwave spread out from her, knocking the Unwashed from their feet. The high priest disappeared as he was knocked backward into the alter. The puppets around him began to drop like flies.
“No!” his voice rang out. “Get up! Get up, you worthless—”
“Yes, that is what they are now. Just corpses that need whatever their burial process is here. Or burning, I don’t know.”
The priest growled. Turning to one of his deacons, he shouted to bring more out.
“I don’t think it is possible to underestimate you. Honestly, I cannot think on your level—it’s like trying to think on the level of a piece of dirt.”
The high priest was about to shout something when a voice caused all of them to turn. “Heaven!”
She was the only one who didn’t turn to look. “I mean, seriously, I can’t even fathom how low my mind would have to sink to—are you listening to me?” She stamped her foot, glaring at him.
An arrow struck her, sprouting out of her chest. Heaven looked down, annoyed, as she ripped it out. “That doesn’t work on me.” She ignored the other arrows that began to strike her. Walking forward, she said, “The only reason I haven’t destroyed the heart in the courtyard is because if I did it, Phoenix would die. And unlike you, I don’t go around killing good people. In fact, it takes a hell of a lot to get me to do anything in this world because I thought I finished my responsibilities thousands of years ago. But no, my sister just keeps finding new ways to not die, like a—” An arrow struck the center of her forehead. Heaven toppled over, her mind completely blank.
When Heaven opened her eyes, she was incredibly disappointed. “If an arrow to the head won’t kill me, what do I have to do? Just go into the dead plane? With my luck, that would just—” The sound of her own voice caused her to stop talking and, turning around, she saw her much younger self holding Dominique in her arms. Blood was pooling under him.
Heaven blinked once, “Oh, nope, hell. Can’t say I didn’t earn it.” She watched one of her worst memories unfold.
Tears were rolling down her face, “Dominque! Don’t die, please! I promised I wouldn’t let you die!”
Paradise stood above her, “I tried to warn you. And now your magic won’t work. You stupid, foolish girl.”
Dominique was holding a hand up to Heaven’s face, his breathing too labored to allow him to talk.
“How could you kill him? He was our protector! Our mother loved him enough to gift him with reincarnation! You know what this will do to him!”
Paradise smiled at her wickedly, “You’re right, I do. And I know what it will do to you.”
Dominque’s hand dropped, his eyes becoming lifeless. The memory began to fade as she screamed at her sister, “I love him! You can’t stop me from loving him, but we will stop you.”
“I am looking forward to seeing how that turns out. I’m very excited, in fact, to see how someone as weak and naïve as you could stop me.”
The next image was one of her fight with her sister, the one where she took most of her sister’s time. There were no words, just the two of them tearing into each other with magic.
That was the first time she had worked alone against her sister, and it had been one of the worst experiences of her life. Of course, her sister had been right. Dominique was not the same when he grew up the next time. Instead of trying to stop Paradise, he tried to bring peace between them. It had enraged Heaven so much that she had blocked him from being able to enter Nowhere. He had other magic, making him just as efficient as the other assassins, and when he was with them, he could slip through, but he was barred from entering on his own.
Heaven watched the fight unfolding, the look on her sister’s face as soon as she realized exactly what Heaven was doing. But she couldn’t undo it either. Her younger sister had always been far stronger, more powerful, and once pushed past a certain point, she would not back down.
“You would kill your only living family? For what?” her sister gasped out.
“I may not like the Judges, but they are right that certain types of magic should not be allowed. Trying to control the world because of what happened centuries ago is untenable, Paradise. Everyone would have a reason for vengeance until no one was left.”
“I can stop that cycle.” Paradise was collapsed on the floor, her arm resting on the lounge that she had built centuries before. It was now covered in her blood. Heaven had forgotten about it since she had disposed of all signs of the fight after Paradise fled. She was never able to return to that plane after that day, nor was she able to make a new plane of her own with such a short life remaining.
The next image began to overlap. Heaven began to shake her head as soon as she realized what fresh torture was to happen. Her hand was on Caspian’s. He was standing at the table, the chair just pushed back behind him. She was still sitting, a pathetic look in her eye. At least that was how she saw it now.
“I know that you love Phoenix, but I am not asking for love.”
He pulled his hand away, a scowl on his face. “I have no interest in a purely physical relationship.”
Heaven blinked a couple of times, “Do you find me unattractive?”
Caspian’s scowl deepened. “How attractive you are has nothing to do with it.”
Heaven held up her hands as her face turned beet red, “Okay, I understand. I won’t ask again. I—” She stood up. “I’ll go prepare for tomorrow and will let you know what to do. The second heart will be more difficult, but the design is a lot weaker than the first one.” She began to walk away, her eyes looking everywhere but at Caspian. “Um, I should warn you, it is going to be difficult to look at. She made Bethany the center. And there are a few other people we know. Well, maybe not you. But there are more of them. Thought you should prepare yourself. Excuse me.”
Caspian frowned after her; his glowing green eyes were soon the only part of the image left.
The next image made Heaven’s legs turn to jelly. Caspian stood over Paradise, his daggers covered in blood, his chest heaving with the effort. He stepped out of the way as Heaven ran toward them.
Heaven got down beside her sister. “Why? Why did it have to be like this? We loved each other as children. You were all I had for so long. Why?”
Paradise slapped her hands away. “I could never love the bitch who killed my mother. Never. Because of you, I was an outcast everywhere. You have no idea what that felt like because you were still one of them. A bumbling awkward fool, and yet they still accepted you.”
Heaven tried to hold Paradise, but her sister wouldn’t have it. With her last bit of energy, Paradise blasted Heaven backwards. By the time Heaven was able to scramble back up, her sister’s life was gone.
She stayed there, crying beside her sister’s body as Caspian stood nearby, watching the scene with a detached expression.
“Surprise!”
Heaven was startled. Looking up, she found herself staring into Paradise’s eyes. She quickly brushed the tear away from her face. “Yep, I knew hell. Good to see you again, sister.”
Paradise laughed and circled around her. “I hate having to look at you, having to talk to you, but I need time. Someone stole mine.” She glared down.
Heaven held up her hands, “You drove away everyone that mattered to me, so let’s call it even.”
Paradise growled at her, “It was so easy to get people to fall for your stupid little act. The world is populated by fools who are willing to not only put up with your nonsense, they encourage it. If my brains, beauty, and ability didn’t mean I could be loved, I was going to be damned if you would be.”
“If you took a moment to listen to yourself, you might have realized why so many people shunned you. It wasn’t because of your blood when we got older.”
“How would you know anything? You have the social skills of a dung beetle.”
Heaven shook her head, “That is an insult to the dung beetle.”
Paradise growled again.
“But, you will have to excuse me.”
“You can’t go anywhere. You’re dead.”
Heaven held up a finger, “You forget that you were the one who taught me never to trust anyone. Ever. And since you are taking the time to talk to me, I know that means you are doing something on the other side.” Heaven shook her head, “I destroyed it, you know. They are dismantling the last heart now. All of the things you made have been destroyed. There is nowhere left for you to hide besides in me. Which means it is a race to see who makes it back to my body first.”
“You stupid—” Paradise lunged at her.
Heaven closed her eyes and allowed herself to be pulled back into the realm of the living.
The druids had wanted to go ahead with the tradition, but Heaven’s body was still warm. With the threat from Darius that he would never help them again, the druids were willing to wait to see if she was actually dead first, even if most of them had no idea who she was. Her existence was still known to only a few people, but a far greater number than before that day in Ishtar.
The team had just finished destroying the final heart as Heaven remained between life and death in the druids’ compound. After what had happened in Ishtar, no one wanted to risk having too small a team. The timeline was adjusted so that they would attack the second and third hearts on the same day, slipping through the Holding Place to ensure that they made it safely. It had been a particularly interesting challenge as there had never been so much traffic on the plane, but it held up well under the strain of the visitors.
Anders commented on it later, saying it was like the state between waking and dreaming, which made Alexis laugh. “And here I was just thinking it was neat to step onto another plane. It’s going to be hard to sleep now, fearing that I might wake up in a void.”
He pulled her close, “I promise you that you won’t wake up alone.” They didn’t say anything else as he pulled her out and shifted their position to wherever they hid themselves away when they wanted to be alone. Ian and Iris had tried to sneak off on the way home, but Draven had dragged them out, with Dulce trying to calm him down so that a new war didn’t break out. The four of them were still residing with the druids, but it was clear that they had mostly recovered and would head home soon.
Hector had squeezed Freya’s hand and quipped just before he took her back to the palace, “It’s nice, but I don’t think it will require a second visit.”
“I don’t know. It would certainly be safer than taking a ship,” Freya said, stepping out. “But don’t worry, I won’t be requesting you do open such a place for me. After all, it’s the assassins who can access it, and that isn’t in your blood.” Ignacio held up a finger, which Orion quickly batted down as he shook his head almost imperceptibly.
Caden and Callie greeted them, and Callie was allowed to stick her head in to see the strange place, though Caden kept her from fully entering. “I don’t want you getting used to going anywhere the assassins travel often,” he muttered as he pulled her back.
“Don’t worry, I won’t have time in the next couple of weeks.” He had kissed her, then insisted that she remain on bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy. Caspian couldn’t help but call out of the Holding Place, “You do realize that bed rest means no sex, right?” Caden pretended not to hear the assassin as he stalked away.
Maverick turned and held a hand out to Orion. “Not sure why Caspian didn’t let us use this earlier.”
Orion clapped him on the back, “The walk was good for you. And he had just had some very distracting news. The walk probably helped him clear his head.”
Miracle shrugged, “He almost killed us, too.”
“I did not,” Caspian muttered from where he stood near the place where most of the guardians and mystics had been allowed to leave.
Miracle and Maverick laughed. “We weren’t so sure you wouldn’t,” they said in unison. He waved a hand at them and stepped out.
Haiden watched, “Is he going to be alright?”
Darius shrugged, “I don’t know. He’s not been the same since Ishtar.”
“It’s not the first time his personality has shifted rather suddenly, though,” Orion murmured. All eyes turned toward him. “Sorry, was that out loud?” he said. Darius and Phoenix looked away as the rest of the group tried to find the courage to ask. After what they had been through, no one wanted to risk asking about Caspian’s past.
Harmony sidled up next to Orion as the group fell into silence. “So, you guys have been slipping through here for most of your career, right?”
Orion looked down at her and nodded.
“What is it like to—”
“No,” Haiden grabbed her arm, “that is not happening.”
“But it would be different. Come on, the danger is past for now, but it is only a matter of time—”
Haiden lifted her off of her feet. “How about I take you to Draven’s place before he gets back?”
“Really?” She looked at him, her eyes sparkling.
Haiden winked at her.
Ignacio laughed, looked around, then opened a small place for them on the beach of the Kildian Isles.
“You can explain that one to Draven,” Orion said.
Rosaline smiled, “Oh, I want to see how that goes. A match-up betw
een one of Caspian’s pupils against one of Orion’s.”
“I spent a lot of time with Draven,” Orion said with a frown.
Maverick nodded, “Yeah, he did. A lot more than he spent with me.”
Orion looked concerned, “Did that bother you?”
“Not at all. While you were off teaching Draven how to be sociable, Caspian was showing me how to be social with women. Very different lessons. And I have to say, those were some of the most effective lessons of my life.”
“How did I end up with such a letch?” Miracle muttered.
“Because you are just as much of a letch.” Maverick threaded his fingers through hers. He gave a small jerk of his head, causing her to smile. Giggling, she ran out of the opening that Ignacio had made for them to a small place where she had lived a few centuries ago.
“It’s a shame Legend and Precious couldn’t come this way,” Rosaline said.
Orion shook his head, “Not really. They have their own way to travel.”
“So does Anders, but he and Alexis still traveled with us.”
“The presence of Alexis and Anders wouldn’t blow apart the plane, and you know Anders is always up for a new experience that might expand his mind,” Orion said.
He stepped through an opening, pulling Phoenix through behind him. She smiled as they entered Heaven’s room. “Speak of the devil.”
Legend and Precious looked up. “Hello,” Precious beamed at them. “She’s not dead.”
There was a good bit of scrambling, but when everyone settled down, there was still no movement.
Darius stood back, “It probably isn’t good for everyone to stay here. She definitely would not be comfortable with this much attention.”
Ignacio took the hint first. “That’s fine with me. I had probably better get Rosaline out of here anyway.”
She laughed, “Took you long enough to notice.”