by Jamie Magee
“Zale saw his misfortune, his demise. I would wager no matter how many times he had Voyagers alter a path for him, he found another form of death. His enemy’s are great. He needed a new identity, immortality, and power,” she continued, stressing her last word with a glance to King.
“Zale needed a spell that would allow his soul to chose the host, time, and place. For the elements he wanted, he had to be specific when it came to the father and the mother.
“I’d wager he picked a wolf as a father, for they are feared by death; a Voyager for a mother, for they can move through time; the witch; and phoenix—not to mention being a child of the Lady of Death outright made Adair irreplaceable to him.
“The thing is though, the spell is so dark that it can not be done in one sitting, but over time, and by more than one hand.
“He could not slay Chalice because he did not raise him, and he could not control Chalice because of his faith. The failure only pushed him to seek stronger elements, better hosts.
“He cursed Talley, distracted us with a war, then pushed the pieces on the board to his will—forcing our hand to slaughter Talley. His death was not an end but an incubation period, one Zale timed as perfectly as he could. To a point where he knew he would be dead, but not for long. His spell would have come to term and he would have a place to go.”
Talon leaned forward. “Are you telling me that fuck knew we were going to kill him a month back and walked into it?”
King shook his head, “Voyagers could have never shown him his death, it’s impossible. He would have only been able to assume the time frame, at least the gap of one moon—there was no way to know who would have ended his life, and clearly he took measures to stop it. It took a spell from death for Cashton to take Zale down. This was a contingency plan for Zale. I’m sure he had more.”
“Has,” Reveca corrected. “The fucker is not dead. His ass is hiding out with the Unclaimed, waiting for a ride.”
“I haven’t heard what is going to happen to Adair,” Talon said again.
“You know what Talley will try and do,” Reveca said quietly.
“You said her womb was protected,” Talon argued, looking to King.
“Finley marked it, or she did, someone carved a spell into her flesh,” Reveca said. Her gaze grew grieved. “I don’t know if it’s strong enough. If anything, it will make it all the more painful—there is no way to end the child if it takes root, invincible from conception.”
“Are you telling me you can’t stop this?” Talon asked in a vacant tone.
Reveca knew it wasn’t hers to stop; this was all resting on Adair’s shoulders. The spells and barters had to be resolved. All Reveca and the others could do would be to help her weather the storm. “We have spells we’re going to use to trap him. I feel Mia will be present too, Shade said he was weary, though.” She bowed her head. “We will not leave her defenseless.” Reveca had a real fear with magic this dark, she’d lose men tonight, not one of them would hesitate to defend Adair.
“This can not happen, Vec,” Talon stated. He looked King. “Can you not take her somewhere—another world?”
King looked to Reveca, the pair of them shared a long glance, and then King answered. “We will fight this with every measure at our disposal, however, this magic is dark and should never be underestimated. The spell has to be resolved to its end.” His gaze fell into thought for a moment. “Adair is protected from her mother within NOLA. If she is outside of here, the magic very well could compel Brosia to find her. This is not a time to test the boundaries of death.” He glanced to Reveca. “Here, we can manage Talley, trap him, and hopefully find new resolutions.”
“Resolve meaning Zale wins,” Talon said in a glacial tone. “He uses my daughter as a fucking vessel?”
King looked him right in the eye. “Meaning the spell has to be resolved, ended. There are only so many ways to do such a thing, and only one of them gives him what he wants.” King glanced in the direction of the library. “It’s all about free will now. Adair’s desire has to be greater than Zale’s.”
Talon dropped his head, not doubting his daughter but the mistress of luck, she had not been fair to him recently. Well, depending on how he looked at it.
“What’s going to happen to Talley after this, Mia?” Talon asked after a moment.
“Immortal twice over,” Reveca answered. “Nearly undefeatable.”
“Nearly?”
“Whomever controls them will be their only demise.”
“And this is Zale?”
“It can’t be. He is like them now. The power comes from the spell caster.”
“He didn’t cast this?”
“Not the element of raising them from death.”
“This is why you are worried about sending Chalice and Latour to Crass?” Talon asked.
“Yes.” It was exactly why. She had bargained with the Lords for ages and never had they turned as quickly as Crass had the other night.
Crass tried to make it seem as if Talon was the prize he wanted and surely would not walk away empty handed if that were the case—but if he had Chalice or Latour and either one of them were the ones who cast the spell to raise the dead, then Crass would then have power in the mortal world, power over the walking dead.
And it wouldn’t matter how stripped Reveca made them before she sent them. He just needed the soul of the caster. A soul Reveca would bet Tisk was aware of.
Silence lingered for long moments.
“We have to send them to Crass,” Reveca finally said. “We’ll just have to deal with the consequences, the rise of the dead.”
She glanced outside, to all the camps set up around her Boneyard. “I’d be more at ease if only I knew who the snake was Evanthe tried to warn us about.”
***
“You have to know more than that,” Adair said, slamming her fist onto the table in the library and openly glaring at Shade.
She had been locked in this library for hours. At first, it was only her, Gwinn, and Bastion, but once Shade was done with his meetings, they called for him.
As it stood, he was the only Voyager with any memory of a life as one, as limited as it was. At least he was the only one speaking. Jade had made herself scarce.
“Fold,” Shade said again, crossing his arms and drawing his shoulders back. He hated being in this room. He was sure another haunt would appear at any moment.
Adair shook her head. “A fold? Between what?”
They had dug deep and had slowly uncovered the terminology of the Voyagers. Mother Nature herself governed the rules, apparently.
Adair knew what could be changed and what could not, she understood now how the most subtle change was actually more powerful. She didn’t agree with time limits on where she could travel, but she understood them. She knew the current of time she was on now was more so the dominate current, meaning it was all but final, building toward a massive change in the structure of the entire universe.
She knew that if she ever had the chance to become a full blown Voyager, her seeing ability would grow dramatically in power, for they were all gifted in such a manner.
Some were feelers, which Gwinn was sure Shade was, someone one who sensed what was to come or had occurred but could not see it. Others basically lived with an intense case of deja vu and would have sharp visions, sometimes painful.
Adair knew all about merging too, she knew one moment could anchor to another and fuse, allowing a Voyager to empower and protect a moment.
Which is where she was now. Evidently, if you merged a moment, you had the ability to hide the spoils of your change in a “fold” and uncover them when needed. Basically, your enemy would never know they were defeated until it was too late.
Right now, she was trying to understand where the Voyagers haled from, where the safekeeping was—this fold.
She knew they had one because it was spoken of in the very book Jade told her to look in to.
Adair’s theory was Brosia had hidden her
there when she was an infant. It was the reason for the gap of time from her conception to the time she emerged on this plane, for time was no time in the Fold. The books actually called it a Devout time, meaning seconds were months, and so on.
If Adair’s wild idea had any hope, she needed to know where it was and how to get there.
Shade pulled his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You act like I know? It’s all a haze.” All he could see was his death, and it still twisted his stomach to watch Gwinn fall with him, their blood pooling.
What he had told them was discovered by some hypnotism-slash-meditation trick Bastion had used on him once—and only once—because Shade would be damned if he let him do it again.
Holding his gaze, Gwinn sauntered up to him and shyly ran her hands up his chest, causing him to breathe out. “You do know.”
Unable to help himself, he took her lips, leaving both Bastion and Adair shaking their heads in frustration. Gwinn pulled away and smiled.
Shade stared at her as he struggled to see past their last moment in their past life. “It’s here,” Shade said. “I don’t how to explain it properly. It’s called a Fold, and it lingers between time. There is a current of time that moves forward, and one that moves in a different direction. The Fold is in between them.”
“Like the way the Veil is seen?” Adair asked. She knew some witches could slip behind a curtain and walk with death.
Shade narrowed his stare. “Yes, but no. It is not its own space but the same. We would be haunts to those in the Fold and only seen if they chose to see us.”
Adair shook her head, “Not helping.”
“You don’t know that,” Bastion said. “You may understand it when your trio arrives.”
“Was it not like that with Brosia?” Gwinn asked. “You said they didn’t see you.”
Adair tilted her head in agreement, still bothered that Chalice had said he saw her in the past.
Shade nodded, “Like that. You were in a Fold choosing to see.”
“And how do I interact?”
“Choice,” Shade stated with a ghost of a whisper, seeing his last battle flash before his eyes. “And when you do, for the time you’re present, you are subject to the laws of the world—death.”
Adair held her breath as she glanced across the table, at each of the books, at the altar they had set up with all but one element of the spell, one she had no words for.
Long moments ticked by, and everyone’s nerves became more elevated. There was too much left to chance and none of it would matter if this “wind” or “trio” madness didn’t happen.
As her very thought came, a wind blew through the room, causing everyone to freeze except for Shade who went for his sword.
The pages Bastion was studying flipped forward, then backward, then did so again before stopping, leaving the pages flayed upon each other, nearly pulled from the seam.
The wind died.
Bastion lifted a brow as he discovered the book was opened to the same page he was reading before the upset, then he bowed lower. “I have it, the spell.”
Gwinn and Adair were at his side immediately as Shade glared at the thin air about.
“Look,” Bastion urged as he fanned the pages left to right. There, on every page, in a downward angle were the words: Blameless, Righteous, Impossible, and Sinner. Around them the spell came to life.
Every one of their hopes deflated as they read the spell. It was not a spell to stop Talley, it was a cure, or rather it was a change in power—with this spell, the person healed would become the ruler, the example for the risen dead to follow.
“One more element,” Gwinn said, looking around the room hoping for another nudge.
“It could be anything,” Bastion admitted, moving to another book as Adair memorized the spell.
King was right when he said text would be easier for her now than it ever was. Now, Adair could not only memorize it, but it didn’t feel like she was learning it for the first time, more like remembering it.”
“What element?” Shade asked shortly. If that was all they needed to let him out of this room, he’d find it. Or at least go on the hunt for it—either way he was out.
“The blood of the impossible,” Gwinn said dismissively.
Shade drew his brow together then laid his sword down across the book Gwinn was reading.
She slowly looked up at him, delight touching her gaze.
“Blood of the impossible. Reveca herself called Mia such,” Shade said.
Adair and Bastion drew closer to him.
“Ask her yourself,” Shade said defensively.
“Why did she call Mia that?” Gwinn asked.
Shade shrugged. “Zale brought him back. He’d done it before with others, but he had to have the power of the stars or some shit. Zale didn’t have it the night Talon killed Mia—but Zale still was able to bring him back. Mia should have never risen or survived the transition. I think his combination was whacked, too. He devoured energy, but, rumor has it, he displayed all paranormal elements from time to time.”
“And he is a Voyager,” Gwinn added.
“You don’t know that,” Shade said shortly. Shade wasn’t at peace with Mia. He was still going with his gut. He knew him, but they did not part on good terms.
“This is it,” Bastion said. “If it wasn’t, I’m sure something in this room would stop us from using it.”
Shade stepped back, giving a wide berth to the table and whatever the “something” was that might be in the room.
“I’ll go get the sinner’s blood,” Adair said, rushing out the door. “I gotta go as soon as it’s ready.”
“Good luck with that,” Shade said with shake of his head.
As soon as Adair stepped outside, Mystic was at her feet, begging for attention. Adair dropped down and hugged and petted her in a quick greeting. “You go keep Star safe,” Adair said, knowing Star had been taking good care of her the past few days.
Mystic cried, demanding attention, so Adair reached down to pet her again, and this time, she heard a jingle and looked down to her collar. Just behind her tag was a ring.
Adair felt her stomach crash when she laid her eyes on it. It was Finley’s. More importantly it was a ring Finley gave Talley to keep him safe. Adair could remember her doing it—him crashing into their loft, the look in his eyes, the look they gave each other, the smell of death. Finley pushing it on his hand, forcing it down his pinky finger so hard that he bled.
It was a poison ring, the top would snap open so someone could casually spill its contents, but Finley had it spelled shut. She spelled all her trinkets.
“Where did you get this, girl?” Adair said, taking it off her. She had to stop three times over because memories were crashing into her mind, all hazy and all of the last hours of Finley’s life, not the very end but close.
Mystic licked her face, impatient to be free and focusing Adair once more. Once the ring was free, Mystic took off as if her task were complete and now she was able to run.
Still kneeling on the ground, Adair whispered the spell Finley had always used to lock her most precious belongings, a spell Adair didn’t know until after she died and had to dig through all her things. It took Adair years to undercover this spell, and, to her disappointment, what was locked away was nothing earth shattering.
With a shaky hand, Adair opened the ring and pulled out a rolled paper, the sick sense of deja vu struck her then. Holding her breath, she unrolled the paper and read. “Beautiful little dove.” Adair gasped and tears filled her eyes.
Her insane plan might have a shot in hell.
Taking precious moments to collect herself, she pushed the ring on her hand then took off toward the swamp house Miriam was being held in.
The entire way, she kept focusing on her three points, hoping the wind of Kairos would come before her doom did.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t think twice about strolling past the guards and up to Miriam, which was
a mistake. Everyone knows not to approach a witch with your guard down.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the princess,” Miriam said. She was on a bed. Only one arm was tied, but her nose was bleeding, her jaw was bruised, and she was dirty.
“Who hit you?” Adair asked.
“You care?”
“Not really.”
Miriam rolled her eyes and looked away but tensed when Adair approached her with a knife.
“What are you doing?” she squealed, crawling back on the bed.
“I just need a little, don’t make me call them in here to hold you down.”
“You have lost your fucking mind. You’re brainwashed. Jade tell you to do this? And you believed, her?”
Adair didn’t have time to debate anything. She sliced Miriam’s arm then lapped the blade in crimson before wrapping it in cloth.
“She’s cursing you, you know she is,” Miriam warned.
“I’m not listening to your bullshit.”
“You should because you’re damn fool. You want to stop Talley? There’s only one way—fucking die.”
Adair hesitated at the door.
“You know I’m right. She twists and turns, and you can’t even think around her. Death is your way out, Adair you need to—” Miriam stopped short and cowered.
When Adair glanced back she saw Scorpio looming behind her, all but slaughtering Miriam with his glare.
“Come,” he said.
Adair took his way out and walked double time toward the main home.
Scorpio was at her side. “Death is not the answer. We debated it already.”
She glanced up to him in question because she sure as hell doubted it wasn’t a stellar idea. Miriam had stabbed her confidence in under thirty seconds.
“It was Talon’s suggestion, end your mortal life, have Reveca bring you back. Vec said if you died you’d go to your mother instantly. There would be no pulling back unless she deemed it, and she couldn’t because of the barter she made with Zale. Talley would come for you there, and she’d let it happen.” He cursed his under breath. “Vec even said that might be what Zale wanted to go down because her realm is so hidden.”