by Alicia Fabel
“Umm, maybe to kill off a bunch of humans?” suggested Vera. “It seems to be a thing around here. How many unnaturals are there?”
“Addamas has found evidence of dozens,” answered Kale.
“What happens when people start getting hurt?” Vera asked.
“It’s too late for that,” said Kale, wishing he could give the girl better news. “Wherever there are unnaturals, there are victims. For now, the Siphon Master and witch are keeping the horde’s activities under wraps. As the horde grows, their crimes will not remain secret. Bodies and the remains will begin to surface.”
Vera paled. “We need to tell someone. Warn people.”
“No one would believe you,” said Kale. “When siphons first created unnaturals over a thousand years ago, people didn’t believe it. And those people knew magic was real. They had powers themselves. Fae, dragons, and sorcerers, those were real, and yet people scoffed at the rumors of siphons hoarding power to forge half-breed soldiers. To them, siphons were just parasites who leeched the power of those around them. They were nothing to fear. Like those people, humans won’t believe until the horde descends upon them. By then, it will be too late. And the rest of the world will gladly rush to amputate your infected realm as soon as they find out.”
“How do we stop that from happening?” asked Vera.
“Now that we know the siphon is not working alone, we go after the witch first.” Addamas was in his element laying out a plan of attack. “Cut off her power, and the siphon will misstep. We’ll be waiting for it. Eliminate the Master, and the unnaturals have no way to evade us or organize themselves. We can wipe them out.”
“How can I help?” Vera asked again.
“Stay hidden while I’m gone.” Kale released the bottle cap and sat back, folding his arms over his chest. “I’ll only be gone a couple of days. You’ll be safe here as long as you stay inside. All parts of you. Not one foot on the porch or a single finger out a window. No one can enter the cabin uninvited, and if they don’t know you are here, no one will try.”
Vera inhaled and opened her mouth as if to argue then said simply, “Okay.”
Vera’s hands remained as clean as the day she’d fallen into his life. The girl would do as asked for once. Thank the stars.
“Addamas will come check on you when he can, but the more time he spends hunting the horde’s nest, the sooner he’ll find it,” said Kale. “Hopefully, we’ll be ready to strike the horde as soon as I deal with the witch. This will all be over quickly.”
“When are you leaving?” Vera asked.
“In about an hour.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t tell the Maiden right away,” said Addamas thoughtfully. “She’s the leader of the coven right now.”
“No, I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. The Maiden is the only one I am sure is not capable of this.”
“Looks can be deceiving.” Addamas said it gently, but Kale tensed.
“I am aware of that, Dam. It’s not the Maiden we are looking for.”
“I’m sorry, this is all just a lot to process.” Vera stood abruptly. “I think I need some fresh air before I’m stuck inside. Is it safe? I won’t leave the meadow.”
“It’s safe,” assured Kale. “I’ll know if anyone is coming before they get here.”
“Want any company, girly?”
“No, I’m okay.” Vera just about tripped over herself to get out of the cabin.
“Oh man,” said Addams once Vera was out of range. “She’s in bad shape. It will not be happy times if we don’t get some pep back in your girl’s step before Mimi returns. You know, it would help if you worked a little on your resting-dick-face.”
“My what?”
“Your default facial setting. Me and Mimi are used to it, but I think it’s bumming your girl out.”
“Would you stop calling her my girl? And what do you want me to do, go around smiling like an infernal clown?”
Addamas burst out laughing. “Now that you’ve put it like that, never mind. No infernal clowns. I’d be terrified, and your girl might start throwing knives again.” Addamas’s laughter quieted. “I don’t understand much about women, but from what I do know, she’s probably blaming herself for not being able to prevent her whole realm from going to pot. Especially after yesterday blew up in her face in a bad way. To top it off, she probably thinks you hate her.”
“That’s absurd. A chance to get home appeared and she took it. I would’ve done the same thing if I’d been ripped from my world. Plus, what’s happening in her realm has nothing to do with her. She’s been through more in a week than any innocent I’ve ever known, but she keeps fighting with a warrior’s heart. It’s exhausting and infuriating but also admirable. I don’t hate her.”
“Don’t tell me that.” Addamas raised both brows with a spark in his eyes that Kale disliked. “I already know all that. Maybe you should tell her, though. I mean, skip the part where you call her feelings absurd. It turns out, females don’t like that kind of thing. But the rest was good.”
“I am sure my opinions of Vera do not matter to her.” A spot behind Kale’s left eye began to ache.
“You might be surprised,” said Addamas. “Even the strongest girls in the world need reassurance sometimes. Mimi taught me that. Then swore to do unholy things to me if I ever told anyone.” Addamas winked. “Oh, and you won’t lose her—Mimi. No matter what she saw when you linked to her. She loves you too much. And you did just give her a tenth life.”
“She might wish I’d let her die instead.”
“It’s a good thing she has both of us to remind her what she has to live for then,” replied Addamas optimistically.
Kale winced. The ache behind his eye was beginning to throb in earnest. He hadn’t had a headache like that in hundreds of years. There were no drafts on the air to signal anyone’s approach. None of the gates had opened. Nothing to worry about. Kale rose to his feet anyway.
“Kale?” asked Addamas.
“I’m going to check on Vera.” Unease had spread through Kale’s gut.
The girl squatted precariously near the edge of the meadow. One small hand hung in the air, half-extended toward some shaking brambles in the overgrowth. Probably because whatever animal she planned to extricate from the thorny shrubs had started hissing and snarling at her. The sound carried to him, barely breaking past the uproar taking hold of his mind. Vera had no idea Errock was stalking her in the boundary forest, waiting for her to reach through the barrier since he could not cross it. She couldn’t see him. She had no idea she was in danger.
Kale swallowed his warning cry. As jumpy as Vera had been lately, she might overbalance and fall right into the trap if he startled her. Kale surged forward soundlessly. If Errock got his hands on Vera, the unnatural wouldn’t waste time before magicking the girl to the horde this time. Kale would lose Vera to them. The messy knot of hair on top of Vera’s tilted head was coming loose. She pulled her hand back to push the strands away, considering the struggling animal.
“Shhhh. I’m trying to help you, ya dumb thing,” Vera scolded, duck-stepping to the side before tentatively reaching forward again.
Kale barely got an arm around her in time. He swung Vera around, setting her on her feet while positioning her so her back was to the boundary, and Errock. Seeing the unnatural would terrify her, no matter that she was safe on this side of the barrier. Kale had to give it to her, Vera didn’t cower at the sudden man-handling but rather went full-on-hell-cat, clawing, kicking, and screeching. When she realized it was Kale, she didn’t stop either.
“Why did you do that?” Vera shrieked, punching him in the sternum. “What is wrong with you? Why would you do that? You are so messed up.” She punctuated each phrase with another hit. Kale didn’t stop her. When he noticed tears pooling in her eyes, he had no idea what to do. Addamas had said she might need comforting, but Kale didn’t know how to do that.
“You were about to leave the meadow,” Kale pointed out
lamely.
“No, I wasn’t.”
“You almost reached through the barrier with your hand,” he told her.
“With my hand? You have got to be kidding me. So you decided to scare the crap out of me to teach me a lesson?”
“Of course not. I was protecting you.”
“Protecting my hand?”
“I was protecting all of you,” Kale said losing his temper. “If you’d reached through the veil, you would’ve been gone before I even knew anyone was there.”
Vera’s eyes widened.
I’m an absolute idiot.
Vera twisted to look over her shoulder, but Kale stepped around her, putting himself between Vera and Errock. She was too short to see anything other than the center of his chest.
“I thought you knew when someone was coming,” she said.
“I do,” Kale replied.
Vera flinched and narrowed her eyes at him.“I don’t believe you.”
“It was the truth until now.” Kale pushed a hand through his hair wanting to rip it out. “He didn’t use a gate, so I missed it.”
“He? The unnatural was here, wasn’t he?” Vera asked, taking a step back.
“He cannot enter here. You were only in danger if you crossed the barrier into the boundary forest.”
A sob burst from Vera’s throat. Kale instinctively wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened at first but wilted into the embrace with another sob that tore at his stone of a heart.
“You are safe,” he told her.
Kale looked over his shoulder. Errock removed a tiny fox kit from the thorns. It was too young to have left its mother’s side on its own. The unnatural met Kale’s gaze with a gleam in his eyes and snapped the tiny animal’s neck. He tossed the carcass through the barrier before pulling another disappearing act. Errock couldn’t pass through the boundary veil, but the dead kit landed near Vera’s feet without obstruction. Once again, Kale failed to protect her from another horror. Vera cried out and covered her face to block out the scene. Desperate, Kale swept her up into his arms and carried her to the cabin.
Inside, he laid her on the couch where she curled up into a tiny ball. Addamas draped a blanket over her, and both men moved a few steps away.
“I’m going to see how far I can track him,” Addamas said, voice pitched low.
“Vera’s coming with me to Summartir,” Kale told the satyr.
“Is that a good idea?”
“She isn’t safe here anymore. There’s someone there who may be able to disguise what she is. We’ll go to her first. If that goes wrong, I have the authority to execute any who threaten my charge. The entire coven if needed.”
“And the witches know that, right?” asked Addamas
“They wrote the law. Right before they made me immortal and unraveled the world.”
“It could get tricky protecting her while fighting that many, though,” Addamas pointed out.
“I’ll avoid it if I can.”
7
Vera spun in a slow circle, taking in the boundary forest and pretending not to notice Kale’s outstretched hand. Trees, trees, and more trees. She was beyond sick of trees. However, she hadn’t realized hand-holding would be on the agenda, and she needed a moment to prepare mentally for it. Kale might have carried her like a blubbering baby a few hours ago—anyone would’ve fallen apart after the day she’d had—but Vera was still entirely uncomfortable around him. Her cheeks warmed just thinking about his arms holding her. To make things worse, her little break-down had convinced Kale to drag her along to Witchville with him. So much yay for being a pathetic ball-and-chain. How mortifying.
“What if the gate doesn’t come?” asked Vera
“It will.”
“What if the wrong one comes?” she persisted.
“It won’t.”
“How do you know if you can’t see it?”
“I can sense it.” Kale stuck his hand out again. “Done stalling yet?”
Vera wanted to deny it, but she was totally stalling.
“I don’t have cooties,” Kale said. Now he was just taunting her.
“Shut up.” Vera snatched his hand.
Despite spending the last twenty minutes grumbling about not needing to be babysat, Vera was secretly relieved to be going along. If left in the cabin all alone, she knew she’d end up huddled in a corner, clutching knives, and jumping at every benign sound by nightfall. Not that she would admit that truth to Kale for all the chocolate in the world. She just wished she wasn’t such an inconvenience for him.
“I better not get killed by this mystical gate for trespassing,” Vera said.
“You’ve been through a gate before.”
“Yeah, by accident.”
“You’ll be fine. There’s a country road on the other side, so it will be a little more disorientating than transitioning to another forest. Otherwise, it’ll be the same. It’ll be painless.”
“’Kay. Let’s do this.” Vera started forward and almost jerked her shoulder out of its socket when Kale didn’t move with her.
“How about I go first and make sure you don’t get run over by a cart?” he suggested.
“Oh. Yep, good plan.” Vera gave a sharp nod, but Kale still didn’t budge. “Are we going?”
Kale threw her an exasperated look before proceeding straight ahead, supposedly toward a gate. After a few steps, Kale dissolved, except for the seemingly-dismembered hand still clasping Vera’s. He towed Vera along before she could balk, right into a blazing white tunnel. Heavy air encased Vera, holding her immobile. She was alone. The air compressed until Vera’s lungs could no longer expand to draw air. Her head swam. A woman flickered in front of her, red hair burning darkly against the whiteness. Vera blinked slowly, painfully. The woman pressed against her. Warm lips kissed Vera’s throat. There was a seductive smile, and then the woman plunged an icy blade into Vera’s chest. Cold speared though Vera, burning hotter than fire.
Vera blacked out and came to in Summartir. She was flat on her back in the middle of a dirt road with Kale hovering over her. Shivers racked Vera’s frame. Kale rubbed his hands over her arms and propped her up, facing the sun. The warm rays spread across Vera’s face.
“You lied to me. I mean, you lie all the time, but I believed you this time,” Vera said angrily.
Kale’s brow furrowed.
“It’ll be painless,” Vera quoted, using a generic dumb-guy voice impression.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” Kale said in his defense. “I had no idea the gate was cursed until I passed through the spell. By then, you were already coming through it too.”
“So, a redheaded bombshell stabbed you in the heart too?”
Kale winced. “The curse was keyed specifically for you. It didn’t affect me.”
“I feel so special,” Vera said sarcastically. “Who exactly knew I was coming again? I’d like to avoid them while we’re here if possible.”
“No one knew. All I can think is the witch we’re hunting orchestrated that stunt with the fox kit so I’d bring you here. And I fell for it.” Kale paced circles around Vera with a constant string of curses. Vera only recognized a fraction of them.
“Calm down there, Scotchie. Let’s go back, then.”
“We can’t. The spell hasn’t turned off. I only got you through alive because it wasn’t already powered up. There’s no way for you to get back until it’s disabled. It would destroy you.”
“Fabulous. I love being a fish on a hook.”
“I don’t follow,” Kale said.
“Hurts like crap getting caught, and there’s no way to get free unless I wanna lose a chunk of my face. Or, you know, die,” explained Vera.
“You have a strange way of looking at things.”
“Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“No, I’m saying you are strange,” he replied.
“Back at ya, buddy.”
“Someone’s coming. We need to get off the road.” Kale pointed out a cloud of d
ust rising in the distance.
Vera pushed to her feet with Kale supporting her under one arm. As soon as she could do so without being obvious, Vera inched away from him. The dirt road was narrow. Two cars might fit if they were compact. To one side of the road, rolling hills of farmland stretched into the distance where a mountain range sliced across the horizon. On the other side, was a narrow field edged by a forest of gnarled trees. Vera understood that, logically, the forest was the best place to hide, but she was not thrilled about it. Kale helped her down the shallow embankment beside of the road.
“Run or ride?” Kale asked.
Vera gaped. He meant piggyback ride. And he was completely serious.
“Run,” she answered quickly.
Kale locked a hand around Vera’s wrist and hauled tail. Vera struggled to keep up. The dash across the empty field took a couple of minutes at most but it seemed much longer. After a week of being cooped up in the cabin, Vera hadn’t expected to be so out of shape. Her legs ached and her lungs were wrung out. She was glad to stop and catch her breath when Kale tugged her behind a tree trunk that was as wide as a dumpster—Vera had hidden behind a lot of things in her life. Vera panted while Kale was completely unaffected. Several nerve-wracking minutes passed before a cart pulled by a dozen billy goats rattled past. A boy with a wide-brimmed hat held the reins of the noisy team. The cart was a simple wooden box on wheels, without even a bench for the kid to sit on. Instead, he perched atop a mound of cargo, tied down by a green tarp.
“What is that?” asked Vera.
“Corn. Each week, one of the fourteen families takes a turn delivering a cart to the palace stables. The green canvass marks it as the Sanford family’s crop.”