by Jen Ponce
My heart sank into my toes. “Mina—”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t argue. This will be his first child. It doesn’t matter if he made it. You’re his heart and this child will be his as much as it is yours or the world-walker’s. You understand?”
I didn’t, but I wasn’t going to argue with Mina. She had steel in her eyes and a strength I wasn’t willing to tangle with. “Thank you.” I took the bundle and unwrapped it, smiling at the beautiful outfits. A little green dress, a pair of buttery soft pants and a shirt, all with hyenas embroidered on the hems. “These are beautiful.”
“She was talented, his mother. She knew how to infuse her work with power. These will protect the child from illness and bumps and bruises.” She touched the hem of the dress. “I wish you could have met her. She would have enjoyed you.”
“You think so?” I thought maybe a mother would give her son’s pregnant-with-another-dude’s-baby side eye.
“She had a sense of humor,” Mina said with a glimmer of her own humor in her eyes.
I grinned as I rewrapped the clothes. “She’d need one. These mean a lot, Mina.”
“I thought there should be some goodness now, considering what’s coming.” She hadn’t been in on the preparations, but the whole village had voted on the plan. They all knew the risks and what was coming, and they’d all agreed to be a part of it. That made my stomach queasy too. Once again, I was putting them all in danger. Once again, they were backing me.
Arrogant of me. It wasn’t just for me they were willing to help. Gaius posed a threat to all worlds. If he gained access to the Source, there was no telling what he could do.
“I just think we could get this over with if I lure him here,” I said after two weeks of waiting for nothing. Gaius hadn’t tracked us down, hadn’t sent his minions, hadn’t called Anwen or Oren to him. Mal hadn’t been drawn anywhere, though he was finally awake. I wasn’t allowed outside of Odd Silver and I was going bonkers. “Maybe he gave up.”
“Gaius Regulus doesn’t just give up,” Ty said, jabbing hard at the glowing logs in the fire. We didn’t need to burn wood to cook; it was a mood thing.
“Don’t use his full name. It gives him a gravitas he doesn’t deserve.” I leaned my head on Kroshtuka’s shoulder. “What do you think?”
“I think Tytan is right. We stay here. We don’t know if he’s found us but hasn’t revealed himself yet. We’re safe here.”
“Yeah,” I said, “So safe he can’t find us.” I was glad we were safe. I just didn’t want to end up fighting Gaius when I was eighty. “Can we send a message? Fly a paper plane? Make a call, something?”
Tytan was looking at my stomach again, something he’d taken to doing when he thought I wasn’t watching. It was uncomfortable to say the least, and it always made me feel bad. I wished Devany Two hadn’t had to go away. I could have had my real body and Ty could have had his clone.
That was weird.
The good thing about the construct’s body was the lack of morning sickness. Lack of fatigue, lack of breast tenderness, lack of all sorts of nonsense I’d gone through with Liam and Bethany. It was nice, but also weird. If I hadn’t seen the positive pregnancy test, I wouldn’t have believed I was pregnant.
I checked the blue line. It was still there but brighter, stronger.
“We’ve sent Neutria and her minions with word about the baby. Gaius will know we’re trying to trap him. He will be cautious, so we have to be patient.” Kroshtuka emphasized the word and I growled.
“I hate being patient.”
“Obviously,” Ty muttered, then grinned when I flipped him off.
Kroshtuka pushed a plate into my hands and I wanted to cry when I saw it was the same food as yesterday and the day before. We had plenty, it was just all the same. I wanted a hamburger, French fries, and a fizzy soda. Or Chicken Alfredo. Or ham and potato casserole or …
“You’re drooling,” Ty said.
“Stay out of my head,” I said.
A shout from the caves had us all shooting to our feet. Krosh and Ty waved me back when I headed that way. “It might be him, get in the trap.”
I hated watching them go but followed the plan. “Mina?”
“I’ll keep them safe,” she said. Liam and Bethany went with her, as did Danni and Zech. They were the most vulnerable of all my friends. I ran for the circles we’d drawn in the ceremonial area and slid to a stop in the middle. Heart pounding, I put my feet on the spot that would launch me out as soon as Gaius entered. I prayed it would work. I knew it worked when we’d tested it by calibrating it to Tytan’s aura, but we didn’t have Gaius to practice on and Gaius was … Gaius. What if it didn’t work and he dragged me out of here?
I couldn’t think about it. Had to believe that we would defeat him.
I stood and breathed and waited.
Waited.
Waited.
I shut my eyes and called to Kroshtuka. I got back a wall of pain. Oh god. “Tytan?” I grabbed the blue line and held it in my hands. “Ty!”
More pain. Fear. Fear? Oh god. Why?
No one was near me—they were hiding, safe, I hoped, in the warded bunkers we’d created. I could hook away, but what if Gaius grabbed me?
What was happening?
I couldn’t see anything, and I was forming the hook when Ty tugged hard on the blue line connecting us.
“Stay there!” he barked in my head. “We’re okay.”
“I felt pain, Ty. Who’s hurt?”
He didn’t answer, of course.
Another scream, this one closer, a woman’s voice. In five seconds I would leave the trap and go kick ass, even if that meant the trap was a bust. I wouldn’t let Gaius destroy everyone I loved.
The air warped before me. I almost stumbled back before I caught myself. I had to keep my feet planted in the right spot or I would get kicked out if Gaius came in.
When Gaius came in.
He stepped through the hook and I braced myself to be blown backward. Nothing. Of course. “Hello Devany.”
I stuffed a hand into my pocket where the baozaball still sat in its plastic baggie. “What did you do?” There was blood on his hands, whose I didn’t know. Whatever he’d done, I would return to him five-fold. He couldn’t kill me now; I was carrying what he wanted. Until he’d gotten it, he would have to keep his neck-snapping hands to himself.
“I hurt people. Your people. But I didn’t kill any of them. Wasn’t that nice of me?”
Who did you hurt? With my fingers, I eased the baozaball to the mouth of the baggie, praying I wouldn’t accidentally touch it. There was no cure according to Vasili, and I had no desire to be in agony for the rest of my days. “You need to leave me alone,” I said, hating the wobble in my voice.
“You’re so adorable.” He smiled, putting a bloody finger to his lips. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
I didn’t say a word, just mentally went through my next moves. Yank my hand out of my pocket, toss the baozaball, hope I hit him.
“When did it happen? You two were so prudish about it in Ravana’s pit. Couldn’t wait to strip down for him, could you? Oh wait.” His brow wrinkled and I saw uncertainty in his eyes. “I killed you, didn’t I? How are you here?”
I palmed the baggie and raised both hands in the air. “Magic.”
He was frowning, not paying attention. I flicked my wrist, squirting the ball out of the plastic with a pinch of my fingers. His hand snapped out to catch it, his mind elsewhere.
It didn’t stay there.
His eyes went to his hand. His mouth opened. A scream ripped from the center of him, a scream that hurt my ears. I shifted, the trap finally did its business, and I was flung from the circle to land with a grunt at the edge of it.
Gaius stayed in the circle and screamed. And screamed.
It had worked. We’d done it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The spectacle of Gaius’s pain drew everyone from the village. They all wanted t
o see the thing that had caused so much trouble, the thing that now howled and screamed, the thing that had smashed Fisli in the nose and broke another Wydling Elder’s arm. The bastard.
We needed to kill him.
“I’ll do it,” Tytan said.
“With what soul?” I asked. “And you’ve never killed an Originator before. Are you sure you want to practice on that?” I hated the sound of his pain and had attempted to bubble him up twice to muffle the sound to no avail. He wanted us to hear him. Even now he was plotting, I could feel it. Gaius would eventually figure out how to deal with the pain and then he’d get out of our trap and then … “We go to Earth, grab one of those assholes on death row who shot up a school, and use that soul. I’ll use it and I’ll kill him.”
“I’m not letting you anywhere near that thing,” Tytan said.
“I was in the fricking trap with that thing, thank you. I’m fine.”
Kroshtuka held up a hand to keep us from our bickering. “Let’s go talk with Lizzie.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then saw Ty doing the same and stubbornly shut up. “Fine.”
He raised his eyebrows and I made a face at him before looping my arm around Krosh’s waist to accompany him to the caves. There were guards on Gaius, Kali, Vasili, and the other Skriven. All together they might stand a chance against him if he managed to break free.
Maybe.
My dad joined us on our walk up to the caves, hand in hand with Marantha. It made me happy to see him happy and I was glad for both of them. They were good for each other.
Lizzie was with a few elders I knew by sight, though I couldn’t remember their names. When she saw us, she gestured us over. “We’ve been waiting for you.” The others nodded and Ellisi—the Elder who had told the story of the Spider Queen—patted the seat beside her. I sat and she took my hand in hers.
Kroshtuka sat next to me and Tytan sat beside Lizzie, which made her grin at him in an ungrandmotherly way. Marantha and Dad settled near Fisli, who scowled, one side of his face neatly bandaged. Why he hadn’t accepted healing from anyone yet was beyond me. Perhaps he wanted everyone to know he’d been wounded.
When everyone was seated, Lizzie gathered power around us, a different sort of thing than my protection bubble. This was a warm, bubbly magic. Clan magic, the familial energy that ran through the Meat Clan’s members. I loved that it tingled through me too, now.
The circle set, Lizzie nodded to the woman sitting next to me, who spoke with a warbly voice. “The world-walker is powerful,” Ellisi said. “He messes with our Dreams. We can’t reach them. Perhaps, if he stays, we can never reach them again.”
That wasn’t good but it sounded like Gaius. He was one of those things that wouldn’t rest until he’d screwed everything up. Bastard.
“Tytan can kill him,” Kroshtuka said and I narrowed my eyes at him. “Without risking another life.”
“He’s risking his own life,” I pointed out. I was sure Tytan could kill Gaius now that he was incapacitated even though he hadn’t done it before. But I hated that people were already treating me like an invalid just because I had a baby on board. Not even my baby, either, though I supposed it was mine now.
“I can have you hold my soul,” Ty said. “Then, even if he grabs me it won’t matter. He won’t be able to kill me.”
“Uh, you’ll have to take a soul in. He could use that to kill you.” It was ridiculous really, to be so afraid of one Originator. Except, defeat had a way of making a person wary and he’d trounced us both the last time we’d tried to kill him.
“He’s trapped and crazy with pain. It’s a different story.”
He was trapped and crazy last time, but I kept my mouth shut, seeing the look in Lizzie’s eyes.
“We need to get rid of him before he destroys the magic here,” Lizzie said. “I do not wish to pressure you but it’s urgent. We called you here because we think we can help subdue him further to give you a better chance at destroying him. It’s Clan magic and we’ll need our leader and his mate to join us.”
Which meant Tytan would be the one facing Gaius. Figured. He probably put them up to it and when I looked over at him, he looked smug. The shit.
Kroshtuka raised his eyebrows at me. He, at least, was letting me make my own decisions, however backed into a corner I was. “I’ll do it.” For my family.
“Good. We’ll make preparations and call you here when we’re ready. Give us a few hours. It will give you time to get the children somewhere safe.”
“Wait, I thought this would subdue him. What’s the danger?”
“The moment either of us walks back into that trap, we risk setting him free. He might be too caught up in the pain to know what we’re doing, but it would be better not to risk anyone’s lives on a guess.” Tytan put his arm around Lizzie’s shoulders, making the older woman blush. “Better safe than sorry, yeah?”
“Where else can we take them? Where else would they be safe?”
“The Council Hall.” My dad held up his hand. “I know you didn’t have the greatest experience there, sweetheart, but you know things have changed. There’s still power there and we could hold it against an angry Originator for quite a while. I promise you that. Marantha and I and Neutria can gather the Council and have them help us hold it against Gaius if he should escape.”
“Fine, if you’re sure they will be safe there, then I’m okay with it. Let’s get them moved now.” I nibbled my lip. “Make sure neither Anwen, Oren, or Mal know where we’re moving them.”
“Mal?” my dad asked. “Why him? He seems like a good guy.”
“He is. Problem is, Gaius can call him. Which means Gaius has some sort of access to his mind. So, no Mal either. Or Zeph.” I said a little mental apology to her. I hated to leave anyone in the dark, but I didn’t want to ever put Mal in the position of hurting the woman he loved because Gaius thought he could get information from her. “Let’s get them moved first, or sequestered. Then we’ll get everyone else safe. Then we neuter the beast and Ty ends him. Right?”
He nodded, looking cocksure.
I prayed his confidence was warranted.
Everyone was in place. Gaius’ Skriven were sequestered. Mal and Zeph were deep within the caves under guard. My kids, my friends, everyone else but the elders, Krosh, and I, were at the Council Hall. Tytan had his murderer’s soul and I held his once more. We were set.
Why was I so nervous?
Gaius still screamed, still writhed in agony, his energy a flailing mass of broken, shattered energy. He looked broken, but I knew he was old and wily. Was this another trick on his part? Was he that good of an actor? Surely not. The pain sounded real. The gaping mouth and ripped out hair looked real.
I had to hope appearances weren’t deceiving.
I sat with Kroshtuka and the Elders in a circle around Gaius, well outside the trap we’d created for him. We joined hands and once more I felt the warmth of the Clan magic wash through me. Lizzie began the chant that we joined in on, a simple melody that guided and directed the power toward the middle of the circle. Toward Gaius.
As it grew, Gaius sank to the ground, covering his head with his arms as he screamed. Pressure flattened him, holding him tight to the dirt as we wove the spell around him. Tytan would enter the trap as soon as Gaius stopped screaming—the magic was supposed to render him unconscious, we hoped.
Lizzie had warned us it would take time, but I hadn’t expected to be stuck chanting for over an hour as we listened to Gaius howl. Had it been easy, I wouldn’t have trusted it when silence finally fell, when the agonized screams stopped, when his contortions stilled.
Blessed silence but for the harmony of voices surrounding the fallen Originator.
Tytan was standing outside our circle, somewhere behind me. As soon as Gaius was down, he would enter and kill him. It sounded so simple. I hoped it would be. We didn’t have a contingency plan if we failed. This was our best shot. If it didn’t work, I wasn’t sure we would ever succeed.
I opened my mouth to say something when Gaius reached up and grabbed Ty. I tried to let go of Krosh’s and Lizzie’s hands, but they wouldn’t let go. “We’re the only thing holding him,” Krosh said. “If you let go, he’s free.”
Shit.
Tytan wrestled with him, struggling to hold him down long enough to get the soul inside him and destroy him. Gaius’s hands were grasping, grasping, as if he were searching for something. Tytan was safe, I told myself that over and over as I watched their struggle. The soul he’d grabbed was warded to keep it out of his body. The worst that could happen was the soul escaping. Gaius wouldn’t be able to turn the tables on him. Break free, yes, kill Ty? No.
Something pulled low on my body, a yank that stole my breath.
The link. The blue link. Gaius knew about it and he was using it—another, harder yank and I screamed as I was ripped free from my anchors and thrown into the trap. Gaius got up in my face, his rictus grin a nightmare of teeth. “Got you.” He curled his fingers around my throat and stole us both away.
I was collared and chained in a lab while Gaius fiddled and futzed around a table laden with beakers and Bunsen burners over which a variety of chemicals bubbled and boiled. He hadn’t spoken to me since we’d gotten here, and I still didn’t know what he’d done with Ty.
Periodically, he would shout or whisper or scream at something only he could hear. Sparks flew off him as he busied himself with whatever experiment was cooking on the table. He was a volcano waiting to blow or a bomb ticking down to zero and I was in the blast zone.