by Brenda Trim
I strolled closer to the portal and stopped just shy of the oval hovering in the middle of the room. Light surrounded the area while the scene through the portal was that of another world. The few times I had been in here to deal with requests to cross the thing wouldn’t even appear until I gave the mental command.
“That must sting. That a weak woman like myself will be denying your request.” No way did I want someone with such horrid views to be anywhere on this side of things.
“I’m going to relish killing you.”
I reached up, to direct my spell at the doorway between realms. The words never left my mouth. The Fae managed to get an arm and leg through and had grabbed hold of my long hair. He yanked my head and I fell toward the bright sunshine and vibrant field.
With a shout, I shoved at his hold. Realizing he wasn’t going to budge, I kicked his shin and tried to elbow his ribs. They were on the other and I felt warm air bathing my right arm while the rest of me remained in the cold, damp air of the English countryside. I stumbled back when he released my hair. I’d been trying to evade him.
Wind whipped around me, making it difficult to hear my heart pounding in my ears. The scent of sweet flowers and lush greenery were carried to me along with rot. I swore the decay must have come from the Fae.
A foreign language spilled from his mouth. I had no idea what he was saying and didn’t recognize the dialect. Sparks flew from his fingertips. The ones on the Fae side of the passage bounced back toward him, but the hand that had held my hair a second before were heading right for me.
Jumping to the side to avoid his spell hitting me, I shouted, “vulnus.” I was still learning Latin and the words commonly used to cast spells and that was the only one I could think of to hurt him.
An invisible fist seemed to collide with his head. At least that’s what I thought when his skull jerked backwards, and blood bloomed on one corner of his mouth.
He snarled and muttered something else right before he lunged for me. The edge of his fingers caught hold of my sleeve. I became his yoyo as he yanked me toward him, and I pulled my body in the opposite direction.
So much for this being a quick side trip.
Curses ping-ponged through my gray matter as I searched for something that I could use to force him to his side again. His shoulder was all the way through now, and his torso was following suit.
He stopped struggling for a second and focused on me. The Fae gave creepy stalker a new name. I’d rather find a Peeping Tom outside my window than have this guy looking at me like that. My body shuddered and my hair stood on end at the same time I went on high alert.
Sparks flew toward me again along with a crackle that was louder than the wind. I was more than ready this time and called out, “clypeus.” The sparks hit my shield and fizzled to the ground. My victory was short lived as he muttered a steady stream of words I didn’t understand.
A torrent of energy blasts headed toward me one right after another. My shield dissolved in no time and I had to duck and roll to avoid being hit. This guy was pissing me off. I danced around and tried to get behind the portal to close the thing.
To my surprise, I couldn’t travel past the portal. This thing should bend to my will, dammit! “Whatever sick and twisted plans you have aren’t going to happen, asshole. I’m the Guardian and I told you that you couldn’t pass.” My growl vibrated through the air and the portal did a fast shimmy.
The Fae made a choking noise and more blood dribbled from his mouth. The sight made me smile, but the shimmy stopped, and his body lunged once again. I tried to recall the anger I felt a second ago and direct it to the doorway, but my racing heart and sore body made it difficult to think straight.
Well, that and the fact that I wasn’t skilled enough to do this job. Too much had been happening since I moved to Pymm’s Pondside for me to learn as much as I needed to.
For the hundredth time in the past month I was overcome with regret that I hadn’t stuck with the kick boxing after Tim died. I’ve always exercised, but I couldn’t get into punching and hitting the air while bouncing on my feet.
How long before I wasn’t bent over and wheezing like a chain smoker every time I exerted myself? Another energy ball came my way. I bent backwards and instantly regretted it when my back protested. Lowering my hand to the ground, I caught myself right as my abs gave up the fight and I headed for the ground.
“Stordire,” I chanted before I pushed to my feet. The Fae gazed at me wide-eyed. Pushing my sweaty hair out of my face, I reached for the edge of the portal so I could close the thing. I didn’t want to cut him in half, but I wouldn’t hesitate.
Something powerful hit me in the center of my chest, knocking the breath out of me. My knees hit the ground hard enough to send pain shooting up my thigh. I’ll be lucky if my bad knee ever worked again.
What had Bas told me about fighting the Fae? Something about cutting them off from the elements that fed their power. The problem was I didn’t have access to bar him from Faery. Sebastian also said something about Fae not being able to tolerate massive fluctuations in temperature.
“Caldo.” The spell left my lips and heated the air around me. I conjured wind and sent the heat toward the Fae. Sweat formed on his brow and he sucked in a breath while keeping his gaze trained on me.
I knew what he was planning on doing. Taking matters into my own hands, I balled up my hands and ran toward him. Before I lost my nerve, I threw my fist toward his face. There was a satisfying grunt when I connected with his cheekbone. It felt like hitting a brick wall.
Wanting to supersize my punch, I muttered a spell to force him back to Faery. I had one satisfying moment where his grunt of pain echoed in my ear and his lips moved, but no words came out of his mouth.
Everything changed in an instant. He was windmilling his arms and being pulled toward the pasture I saw behind him. His long, black hair whipped around his face. I was less than a foot from him, yet I stood there easily.
In the manner of a temperamental windstorm, the tornado didn’t touch me like it did the Fae. But it did bring foreign scents through the portal to me. Sweet and spicy flowers breezed by me, carrying an unmistakable energy with it.
It made my skin flare and burn. Kinda like the last time I had a UTI. There was a tugging in my middle, and I realized it wasn’t power that scalded me. That was a million zaps that energized me.
The burn was from the sucking sensation. Something vital was being tugged from inside my chest. My hand flew to my sternum and I took a step backwards. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the Fae. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
He was clinging to the side of the portal. He started to resemble a red bullfrog with big, bulbous eyes. I stopped moving when his arm poked back through the doorway. The air rippled in the middle of his bicep. Telling me the rest of his body was in Faery.
I screamed when his head joined his arm and his hair fell flat against his face. How the hell was it so smooth and tangle free? I would look like a dirty rat. Way to stay focused, Fi.
No way was he getting through to Earth on my watch. Honestly it was shocking that he hadn’t tried to sweet talk me into letting him cross. The warning bells I got when someone had malevolent intentions had been screaming as loud as the wind, but he could have tried.
I didn’t have time for this shit. I needed to get back to Violet and continue searching for Ben and Bailey. “Get the hell away from my portal!” I put all of my anger and frustration into my voice. I stood there with my legs braced apart with my fists clenched at my sides.
I fully expected to watch him get pulled into the sky and back to Eidothea. And, that happened, kinda. His legs went into the air behind him, but he held onto the edge of the portal. Smoke rose around his hands and his skin started glowing.
I was going to pry his fingers off the energy, so he was sucked back to his realm. But I never made it to his side. Between one step and the next I was forced into the air and pulled toward the portal.
I screamed while my body zipped toward the doorway. I needed to force the thing closed. I scanned my mind rapidly and shouted, “vicino.”
Between one blink and the next, darkness encompassed me. My hair whipping around my head, was the only clue I hadn’t passed out. You didn’t choke on your hair in dreams. Then there was the whole breathing thing. I couldn’t catch my breath.
I was being pulled through some dark tunnel. My heart started racing as a million horrible outcomes popped into my mind at once. God only knew where I was being dragged. Either the spell I cast backfired, or the Fae got one in when I wasn’t looking. It seemed like I was in that channel for an eternity but in reality, probably wasn’t long at all.
Suddenly, light flashed around me making me blink as I tried to focus. Unfortunately, all I saw were bright spots and the occasional blurry dark streaks. The only thing I was certain of was that I was still moving through a tunnel. It’s what came to mind because I felt more like a sausage in a casing.
My vision never really cleared when the compression around me vanished and I was unceremoniously dropped onto a sunny, grassy field. Nothing like failing when lives depended on me to succeed.
My bad knee hit first, and I fell forward smashing my face into soft grass. This was bad. Really freaking bad. Where the hell was I? Eidothea? And, more importantly, how do I get back?
Chapter 6
My face hurt and my bad knee was screaming at me. With a groan and more effort than it normally took, I rolled to my back. With a start I realized I shouldn’t be lazing about while my body dealt with aches and pains. A deranged Fae had attacked me.
With surprising speed, I sprang to my feet only to trip over a lump next to me. I glanced down and my heart skipped several beats when I caught sight of half a body. Green blood flowed from the diagonal cut along the Fae’s torso. It was the guy that had been attempting to climb through the portal and attacked me.
I glanced around looking for the rest of him and wondered where we were. The bright sun told me I was no longer in Pymm’s Pondside. It had been night before I entered the crypt to deal with the portal.
The question was if I was still on Earth or if I had in fact traveled through the portal to Eidothea. More than anything I wanted to be in California. And, not just because I’d love to go to Disneyland. I could use a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth at the moment.
My heart started racing again and now my chest clenched around the pounding organ, making it hard for me to breathe. I knew I was being naïve with my wishful thinking. I didn’t make it a habit to ignore the obvious, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the truth.
You have to face reality and find a way to get the hell back home. Violet and the kids need you! Right. No burying my head in the sand. Alright, I steeled my spine and looked at the situation with clear eyes. Even if I couldn’t feel the foreign energy surrounding me, the lush greenery surrounding me was proof enough that I was in fact in the Fae realm.
It wasn’t that the plants appeared all that foreign, either. It was more that they were full and healthy, and their color was far richer. Unlike anything I’d ever seen on Earth. You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Something wet trickled down my cheek as I searched the area for any sign of the portal. I was standing in the middle of an open field and there wasn’t so much as a ripple in the air.
Lifting my hand, I touched my cheek and winced. My fingers came away stained red. That’s gonna leave a mark. When I hit the ground, I must’ve cut my face. I lifted the corner of my sweatshirt and dabbed the injury. I was far better off than the asshole that tried to force his way to Earth.
The mere thought of the dead Fae had my gut clenching. That set off a chain reaction in my body that made me shudder and shake while I stood there. Before I knew it my magic bubbled at my fingertips, and singed the cotton of my top when I lost control of it.
It just burst free from my skin and started spraying everywhere like I’d turned on a faucet. To my surprise it was flowing freely from my chest. I’d never had my power easily accessible in my life. Even after discovering what I was and had tried to grasp it to cast spells. It’d always been a slippery eel and made me work for anything I managed.
To have it literally overflowing from me so readily was unnerving. I waved my hands, trying to dissipate the tingling only to have sparks fly from them. I was a human freaking sparkler. Silver-white streams of energy burst from me in clouds. The air sizzled and popped from them.
I hadn’t realized I packed so much of a punch. My Grams’ warning that I was a nicotisa echoed through my mind. For the first time since hearing that term, I believed they might be right about me. I had to stop this flow, only I had no idea where to start. The more anxious I got the bigger the sparks, until I screamed when they landed on the grass and burned it.
I stood there and stared at two dozen black marks on the vibrant green ground covering. Bile rose in my throat. I’d even burned holes in the dead Fae. His skin had bubbled and blistered in several spots and was eaten away in others.
Sweat beaded on my brow and I was shifting from foot to foot as I racked my brain for a way to calm down and stop the flow of my magic. Voices echoed from the forest to my left. Someone must have heard me scream.
I didn’t believe every Fae was evil, but I had no idea who I could trust and wasn’t willing to take the chance that whoever was heading right for me was friendly, so I took off running in the opposite direction.
Trails of smoke followed me thanks to my sparkling hands. Way to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. If I knew any runes, I’d draw one for cutting off the flow in the air. Kinda like I’d done with sparklers with the kids when they were little.
Burning started in my chest, but I didn’t stop running until I was fifty feet inside the line of trees. No way did I want to run into another Fae. When I stopped and glanced back, expecting to see a trail of smoldering debris.
The smoke was gone. I retraced my steps a few feet, hoping there wasn’t a clear trail for them to follow. I managed a deep breath when I didn’t see any scorch marks on the ground.
When no voices reached me, I rubbed the sweat from my forehead and tried to make a plan for where to go now. I yanked my hands away from my face afraid I was going to add burns to the cuts and abrasions, only to find they’d stopped sparking.
I wanted to shout with joy but managed to stifle the urge and settled for a fist pump. The burning sensation on my chest increased and I reached up and sucked in a breath and let go of my charm.
Blowing on my hand, I stared down at a circular burn on my palm. Using the chain, I lifted the necklace over my head and held it in front of my face. A trickle of blood rolled down my cheek, but I ignored that as I tried to understand what happened to the amber and silver.
There was a crack running through the amber and it had turned orange around the edges as if the thing was on fire. The Celtic knot designs Sebastian had created throughout the silver were still there, but they glowed brightly. As the metal dimmed, I realized the glow the charm always had was gone. It was heavy in my hand and felt heavier.
It was almost as if the thing had died. I choked back a sob. Now was not the time for a breakdown over a piece of jewelry. I had a special connection to the necklace and seeing it damaged broke a piece of my heart. Bas admitted he’d created it with his perfect mate in mind. At some point I started believing that was me.
Delusional much? You barely know him, and you haven’t even slept with him yet!
Suddenly my chest constricted, and my vision wavered. It wasn’t as if Bas couldn’t fix it, but I had come to think of this as a symbol for my new beginning. And, it represented my new life with Sebastian. I had to be losing my mind to be standing in some foreign realm mourning the loss of something I never even had.
Okay, so something definitely happened between the two of us. Sebastian was possessive and protective of me at the same time. Most couldn’t read him, but I knew he cared for me deeply. And, it wasn’t just b
ecause I inherited the Guardianship.
I’d been keeping him at a distance because I need to figure out myself before bringing a new guy fully into my life. I believed there would be time for us eventually. Seeing this made me think I’d lost my chance in my focus on myself.
I had no idea exactly what this meant or why it happened, but I filed it away for consideration when I was safe. Right now, I needed to find shelter and a safe place to hide. Or you could locate the portal and go back home.
I wanted to smack myself upside the head. So much had happened that I’d overlooked the obvious solution. Deciding, the best place to search for the way home was the clearing, I headed in that direction.
My heart hammered in my chest and I jumped every time I heard a noise. So far, I hadn’t heard anything other than what I’d expect to in a forest. I was about five feet from the tree line when something small scurried down from the canopy.
Startled, I gasped and clutched my chest when my heart tried to leap out. Part of me couldn’t help but notice the lack of energy in the charm while the rest of me was smiling from ear to ear at the cute little lizard sitting on a branch not far from where I was hiding. It reminded me of a leopard gecko with all the colors, only this one had bulbous eyes and was ten times bigger.
Noise from the clearing nearby must have scared it because it jumped then ran back of the bark of the tree and disappeared into the canopy. I turned and scanned the area. Not seeing anything, I snuck out from behind the trunk and tiptoed to a massive pine closer to the edge of the forest.
Using the tree to hide me, I poked my head out and scanned the clearing. There were three Fae standing around the corpse. They had on green leather vests with leather cuffs wrapped around their biceps. The cuffs were embroidered with an intricate design in red. Their pants also looked like they were made from hides, only they were darker green and fitted tight to their legs.