Morgana gazed up at them, then inclined her head slightly. “Lady Cerridwen, Lord Arawn, welcome and thank you for hearing my plea.”
“Why did you summon us?” Arawn asked, and his voice sounded like the thunder of a thousand horses galloping across the plain.
“Your priestess, Raven, has been kidnapped. We believe the kidnapper is Pandora, sent by Typhon to destroy his enemies. Raven is one of the Ante-Fae, a bone witch, and —”
“We have heard that Pandora was set to enter the world.” Cerridwen glanced at Angel and me, a curious look on her face. “And who are these women?”
“This is Ember Kearney, my pledgling, and this is Angel, her friend. I am using them as a conduit to Raven’s energy since they are two of her best friends.”
Arawn tilted his head. His features were barely discernible on that skeletal face. “What do you seek?”
“Help in casting a Location spell. We need to find and rescue Raven before Pandora kills her.” Morgana dipped her head.
Cerridwen’s smile faded away. “That little bitch has my priestess? Hold tight.”
Morgana glanced back at Angel and me. “Focus on Raven.”
I close my eyes, focusing on everything I could remember about Raven. From the gentle way she interacted with Raj, to the almost willy-nilly chaos that she embodied. I tried to remember everything about Raven’s cadence and her looks.
As we sat there, holding hands, a jolt of energy entered the circle. Cerridwen had placed her hands on Morgana’s shoulders, and the energy running through the circle skyrocketed, amplified beyond measure. Angel let out a little cry but she held tight.
I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. The jolt sent me backward, but I held tight to their hands, trying not to pull away. I caught my breath as the room began to swirl, and the next moment…
…I found myself lying on my back, staring up at the blazing sun.
I shaded my eyes as I rolled up, frantically looking for Morgana and Angel. They weren’t with me, and neither were Arawn and Cerridwen. Instead, I found myself sitting on a plateau overlooking a deep valley in the middle of a bowl-shaped meadow. Overhead, the sun glared down, and I began to sweat. I stood, swaying as a deep drumbeat reverberated beneath my feet, as though the heart of the mountain was pulsing.
There was something in the middle of the caldera and I frowned, trying to make it out. Whatever it was, I had no clue, but it looked long and silver from here, raised on a dais. I squinted, trying to make out what it was, but I was too far away.
Frowning, I began to descend the walls of the ravine into the center of the valley. As I approached the center, the object came into focus. It was a long hospital counter—metal, with a catch tray around the sides of it, and the tray was filled with blood.
I stood there, trying to figure out what it was doing out in the middle of the mountains, when two figures approached. One was the blonde I had seen with Raven, and she was dressed in shiny pleather. Pandora. Behind her walked Raven, a dazed look on her face. I started to call out but realized neither could hear me. They walked over to the table and Pandora motioned to it with a flourish, like a magician. Raven lay down, eyes still ahead, totally compliant.
Pandora stood back, looking delighted. Then she squatted and set down her messenger bag and opened it up. A moment later she stood, and I saw a pair of pliers in her hand. Her eyes gleamed as she said something. Raven opened her mouth and Pandora leaned over here and—
With a scream, I tried to lunge forward, to stop her. I leapt toward Pandora and…
“Ember! Ember, snap out of it.” Morgana’s voice echoed through my head and I opened my eyes. I was still holding her hand, still holding Angel’s, but I was flat on the floor, staring at the ceiling. I blinked as they helped me sit up.
“I seem to have taken a little trip,” I murmured, looking around for Arawn and Cerridwen. They were nowhere to be seen. “Did I scare them off?”
Morgana snorted. “Not likely. No, they gave their answer and vanished and then you started… I don’t know what you were doing.” She let go of my hand, turning to me with concern.
“Remember I told you about the visions I get? I just had one.” I paused, realizing what she had just said. “Did you say they told you where to find Raven?”
“Not as specific as I would have liked, but they gave me a general area.” Morgana frowned, giving me the once-over like she expected me to faint or collapse. “Tell me what you saw.”
I told her. “I’ve been in that area before, at least in visions. I’ve had several recently and each time, I knew I was searching for someone but I didn’t know who. I heard someone screaming for help but I couldn’t find out who. Today I saw Raven. Pandora was getting ready to…” I paused, unable to finish my sentence. “Raven acted as though she were under a spell or drugged.”
“Chances are good she is. Pandora has many gifts, and one of those is the gift for charming others. Classic gift of a sociopath, and truly, when you break it down, that’s what she is.” Morgana paused, then quietly added, “Make no mistake. Pandora has no conscience. She has no remorse. To her, torturing others is child’s play, like making a puppet move on a string. She’s quite detached from any emotions except her own warped sense of happiness.”
I bit my lip. “Zeus really did a number when he raised her, didn’t he?”
“You have no idea. She’s dangerous because she doesn’t care. She finds her joy in others’ pain. It pains me to see Zeus’s daughter take Typhon’s side. Zeus isn’t the most friendly of gods, and he’s well known for manipulating others for his own amusement, but I doubt that even he would be happy to know what’s going on.” Morgana motioned for us to follow her toward the door. “But now we have a place to look for your friend. And Arawn and Cerridwen also gave me an idea of how to perhaps banish Pandora, at least long enough to rescue Raven.”
We gathered back in Raven’s kitchen. Raj hunkered in the corner, a worried look in his eyes, and I knelt beside him to give him a hug.
“We’ll find her,” I whispered to him. “We’ll do everything we can to bring her home safe. No matter what, don’t you worry. You’ll be taken care of. We’ll never let anything happen to you.”
Raj leaned his head against my shoulder and, in the faintest of whispers, said, “Raj misses Raven. Ember makes Raj feel better. Raj glad he talked to Ember.”
I began to get the hang of his cadence. “Ember really thinks Raj is special. Ember is honored Raj is talking to her and Angel.”
At that moment, Herne and Kipa reappeared, several shopping bags in hand. They were all marked Taco Grande. That’s what Merlin had requested? A major taco splurge. Morgana caught my gaze and shrugged, then motioned for them to set the bags on the table. She looked around at the crowded room. “Herne, a word, please?”
“Yes, Mother.” Herne followed her to the kitchen.
The rest of us gathered around the table. There weren’t enough chairs for everyone, so Kipa, Viktor, Trefoil, and Yutani stood back. Herne and Morgana reappeared.
“Too many people are going to muddle the energy,” Herne said. “Talia, Angel, and Yutani, please go back to the office and just…carry on.”
“Llewellyn, Trefoil, and Meadow,” Morgana said, “I’d like you to wait across the street. We may need your help but as Herne said, too many magical signatures confuse the energy and will make it harder to pinpoint Raven when we go after her.”
Nobody really wanted to leave, but they obeyed her. Talia patted me on the arm as she and Yutani headed for the door. “She’ll be okay. You’ll find her,” she said.
I nodded, although I didn’t feel as confident as I wanted to be.
Once they were all gone, Herne, Viktor, and Kipa moved into the living room. Morgana and I sat at the table, waiting for Merlin.
“Who was your mother?” I asked her. I vaguely remembered being told who Morgana’s mother was, but right now my thoughts were on Raven and if I didn’t take my mind off of her, I’d be imag
ining all sorts of horrible possibilities.
“Viviane, the Lady of the Lake.” She paused, then said, “Most people think she was water Fae in nature. They picture her as a siren or something.”
I frowned, nibbling on one of the pastries Llewellyn had brought. The raspberry flavor was bright and tangy. “So, she wasn’t water Fae?”
“No,” Morgana said. “My mother was actually one of the Ante-Fae, as close to a water elemental as you can get without actually being one.”
That made a lot of sense. After a moment, I asked, “How did you meet Cernunnos?”
“I was out on a berry-picking trip. My father was off on one of his many missions, and my mother had asked me to spend a few days picking berries so we could make jam against the winter months. She lives in a small cottage on the side of Lake Avalon, in between the worlds. My father lived there with her for a long time, but he gets wanderlust and by the time I was…well…if I were human I would have been in my late teens, he had left again. I stayed home and helped Mother tend the garden and guard our forest retreat.”
“It sounds idyllic.”
She smiled. “Well, idyll is in the eye of the beholder. I was lonely, a lot. So I went on a three-day journey to pick berries. I had a small sledge with me so I could carry the buckets, and one of our goats was pulling it. I was deep in the forest when a massive bear lumbered out. He was hungry, and he must have smelled my berries because he charged me. I backed away, hoping he would go for the fruit and leave me alone. But then I saw he was wounded, and that had turned him mean. He ignored the berries and charged me. I tried to climb a nearby willow, but the bear was almost on me. At that moment, a horn echoed through the forest. The bear stopped, and even my goat stood at attention. I scrambled up into the tree. The horn sounded again, closer, and then Cernunnos stepped out into the clearing. He was massive, and his antlers rose so majestically. I was caught in the lock of his gaze and lost my heart.”
I remembered seeing Herne in the woods for the first time, before I knew it was him. He was so regal, in his stag form. He had saved my ass, and Angel’s little brother. When he showed up at my door, there had been an instant connection.
With a gentle smile, I said, “I understand.”
Morgana reached out to stroke my cheek. “I know you do. Cernunnos sent the bear off after healing him, and then he invited me to eat dinner with him. I did, right there in the forest. He provided bread and honey, and a roast chicken, and we had some of the berries I had gathered. I couldn’t seem to remember that I was sitting with a god, I had already tumbled head over heels for him. When evening came, he took me back to his palace. I wanted him, but he wouldn’t sleep with me. I didn’t want to leave, but he made me return home the next morning. He told me that he would come by every so often. I grew up, and eventually my father came home. Merlin taught me to use my magic. And several times a year I met privately with Cernunnos.”
“Did he ask you to marry him?” I found myself pulled into her story. It was like a fairytale, only this time, it was real.
“One night, about eight years after I first met him, he took me for a midnight ride. The moon was bright, and we sat on the edge of the lake. He asked me if I would be willing to leave my world and join him in Annwn. He said that if I were to marry him, I’d be given an elixir and it would change me into a goddess, to rule by his side. I’d be leaving everything in the outside world for him. I didn’t even have to think. I said yes. I wanted to be with him always.
“My mother reluctantly let me go. My father was angry. He had expected me to join the Force Majeure one day. He had also developed a fondness for Arthur and wanted me to marry him. I refused. We fought and I ran away, leaving everyone behind. When I had Herne, some years later, my mother got my father to relent. We met and made up, and we’ve been on good terms since then.”
I thought over what she said. What would happen when…if…Herne and I made it to the altar? I was wearing his promise ring. That didn’t mean we’d end up married, but it was a step along that direction. I wanted to ask more but the doorbell rang.
Morgana paused. “That must be my father. Herne,” she called over to where the men were sitting. “Please let your grandfather in.”
Herne jumped up and ran to the door. I stood, uncertain as to what to say or do. Morgana flashed me a reassuring smile.
“It will be all right. My father likes the Fae—both sides.” She cleared her throat as Herne returned. Behind him was a man of medium height, who was wearing a long gray cloak over a pair of jeans and a pale blue shirt. Merlin’s hair was silver, down to his waist and caught back in a ponytail. His eyes glittered with the same blue as Morgana’s, and I could see the family resemblance.
He spotted her, and the sober expression on his face gave way and he opened his arms. “My daughter, well met.” As she moved forward for a three-way hug with Merlin and Herne, I glanced over at Viktor, who gave me a thumbs-up.
“Now,” Merlin said, pulling back. “Tell me what’s going on and why you called me. I know Typhon is coming, but what weighs so heavily that you need my immediate help?”
Morgana motioned to me. “This is Ember Kearney. She’s Herne’s consort. One of her friends has been kidnapped by Pandora and we need your help in getting the girl back.”
The smile vanished and Merlin turned to me, his expression grave. “Oh, my dear. If Pandora has her, we may already be too late.” And just like that, he swept to the table and we gathered around to make plans.
Chapter Eighteen
I kept stealing surreptitious glances at Merlin as we laid out everything we knew. He would give his utmost attention to whomever was speaking at the time, totally focused on what they were saying. When I told him about our visit to Fire & Fang, I found it almost unnerving to be under his scrutiny.
Morgana said, “When I talked to Arawn and Cerridwen, they showed me a nearby mountain that Pandora appears to be using for her hideout. Raven’s there. For some reason, she’s chosen a different location than usual. Cerridwen was able to tell me that.”
My ears perked up. “Mountain? Like the mountain I saw?”
“I think so. It’s a barren place, with scrub brush growing on it but few trees. It’s actually a hill, although in some places it would be called a mountain. Mount Bracken. It’s up on Highway 2, near the Skykomish River. Have you heard of it?” Morgana leaned back, frowning. “I don’t know the topography of the area here, so I’m not exactly sure how far that is.”
Herne pulled out his phone and began tapping away. “Give me a moment. All right, here it is. It’s somewhere near Lake Serene, and the Bridal Veil Falls Trailhead. It would take us about two hours to get up there, if we start now. Perhaps less, depending on traffic.” He looked up at me. “How much time do you think we have?”
Taken aback by the question, I shrugged. “I don’t know. Morgana?”
She, too, gave a shrug. “It would be helpful if there’s a portal in the area. It would cut a great deal of time off your travel and it would make it easier to get her back here, in case Pandora has already roughed her up.”
“Let me give a call. I know exactly the person who would have that information.” Herne moved away from the table.
I noticed Merlin watching him. “Have you had much time to spend with your grandson over the years?” I ventured. I wasn’t certain whether it was an appropriate question, but I was curious. How much time had Herne spent with his grandfather?
Merlin shook his head. “It would be nice to spend time with Herne. But I’m always on the go, it seems. I was on the go when his mother was young, too. That’s one of the few things I regret in my life.” He looked over at Morgana, who shrugged.
“I knew that you were a busy man. There were always so many things that required your attendance. And when you took over the Force Majeure, I knew better than to expect you home for dinner. I would like for you to spend more time with my son, though. I’d like him to know you better.”
“I’ll try,” Merl
in said.
I had the feeling that his promise was more for appearance’s sake rather than being true. I didn’t pursue the subject, but turned to Morgana. “If Pandora is a goddess, how are we going to get Raven away from her?”
“Wait till Herne comes back. My father can tell us how to best approach her.”
There was a studied nuance running between Morgana and her father. It wasn’t exactly tension, but a formality that I hadn’t expected. I sensed that Merlin might be one of those parents who always promised more than he came through with. A promise of time together, a promise to help out, a promise that he was listening…
“I hate sitting here,” I said. “Pandora could be torturing Raven right now.” I was rapidly losing all patience and my frantic feelings were bubbling to the surface. We knew where she was. I wanted to go get her.
“She could be,” Merlin said.
“That’s not helpful,” Morgana said, glaring at him. She turned to me. “We’ll get underway as soon as we can. There’s nothing I can say to make it easier, but I promise, we’ll do our best to get her back.”
I turned to Morgana with a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’m so worried.”
Viktor reached over and took my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “Herne and Morgana won’t let us down.”
I nodded, pushing away from the table and walking over to stare outside. The weather was holding steady. At least we had that in our favor. At that moment, Kipa came up behind me. He gave me a sideways glance and lowered his voice.
“I don’t like him much either,” he said.
I couldn’t help but grin. “Great minds think alike. I have the feeling Herne isn’t that fond of his grandfather, either.”
“Those who work with magic at his level… There’s something less than human about them. A detached nature, and it can come through as cold and calculating. Remember Louhia? From Pohjola?”
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