by Elle Lincoln
“When you say it like that, it sounds absurd. But think about it. We don’t know what’s down here.” I gesture at the tunnel.
“Mae, I’ve been through most of these tunnels, they just twist and turn all around under here.” I see the moment a thought hits him, indicating he might be leaning toward my point of view. “I did not account for this one.” He scratches at his bottom lip before shrugging and turning into the smoke of his ancestors to move through the tunnel quickly and quietly.
“If there is anything, as you say, then Rocco will find it,” Flynn assures me, but the creepy factor with this particular tunnel still sets me off.
“Flynn, don’t you feel that?” I rub my arms, trying to dispel the feeling, but I just can’t shake it.
“Mae, the Greek Patheon is not the Celtic Pantheon.” I can feel his eye roll, but I keep my gaze focused on the dark hole.
“You say that like they don’t exist here.” I still don’t look at him.
“They exist, just not here.” I jerk my eyes toward him. “It just the Tuatha De here. The ancients didn’t stay in one place, Mae, they travel the earth.”
“So, no other pantheon?” I squint my eyes at him.
“No, Mae.”
I hum, unconvinced. The gods make no sense, but I do know they are cocky and arrogant enough to try to get an entire country to worship them as their special deity. I roll my eyes.
“Fine.” I step toward the entrance of the tunnel. “What about hell?”
Flynn ignites his hand, climbing into the confined space beside me. This one is nothing like the others. It’s tight yet wide enough for us to crawl side by side in, we just can’t stand up, and it’s covered in packed dirt. Honestly, it looks like someone carved it out by hand.
“What, Mae?” He’s distracted, probably not even looking at me.
“What about hell?” I repeat, more annoyed now that ever.
“Don’t be absurd. You really think something is out there torturing sinners? Reincarnation is enough.” He shudders at the thought. A topic for another day, I suppose. My rainy-day topics are growing. It’ll have to be more like a blizzard topic.
“Right.”
“Fucking shit!” The light goes out, blinding me.
The air gets knocked from my lungs as I’m slammed against the opposite side of the cellar, as blurs of motion streak before me. The darkness becomes all consuming, leaving me with only the sound of my breath exiting my lungs.
Chapter 10
Flynn
The sound of Mae hitting a wall curdles my stomach. However, as my body takes the impact of the creature that came barreling down the tunnel, I don’t regret tossing her.
Teeth snap at my arms, and the growl emanating from the beast sitting on my chest would surely startle a lesser man. Saliva drips upon my sleeve, the fabric smoking with each little drop. Dark fur stands up on end, while a tail binds my two legs together. It’s no larger than a child, and yet the creature’s strength matches my own.
Ancient and mysterious, the glowing green eyes of a puca glare down at me as it lashes out with its claws. His ears twitch, resembling that of a rabbit, as it uses multiple senses to assess the cellar we’re in.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I state calmly, though pucas have an aggressive side that’s closer to animal’s than a man’s.
He snarls at me, those green eyes glowing brighter just before he latches on to my arm. I hold back my scream, slamming my head down on the dirt floor as I feel my blood soak my clothes.
The whoosh of a blade splits the air as a scythe lands hesitantly on the puca’s throat. His eyes are wild and wide, and he doesn’t dare move, even as he twitches and glances at Mae. Her breath heaves yet her hold is steady. Not once does her blade shake.
He drops my arm, which I cradle to my chest.
“Good, now, do you mind telling us why you attacked?” Mae all but snarls, surprising even me with her vehemence.
“I doubt he can talk—”
“I talk,” the puca replies, shocking me, though his voice sounds like grinding gravel. His eyes glance once toward the scythe, but Mae holds strong, not flinching or moving from her stance.
I feel Rocco before he materializes beside me. “I leave you alone for but a moment.” He tsks. “Well, aren’t you furry.”
I slam my head back down at Rocco’s odd sense of humor. Sometimes, I wonder why he never went to college just to enjoy the hazing. And the parties.
The puca snarls at him and the dipshit laughs. “Rocco,” I chide.
“It’s like a talking monkey.” He snorts. “With bunny ears.”
The puca growls again, and I can feel the anger rolling off him as Mae holds her blade to his throat. He can neither attack him nor I, and his anger shows.
“Okay, okay, I’m done.” Somehow, all amusement fades from his face. “Your clan is on their way.”
“Why would you tease him?”
Rocco just shrugs. “Because I could.” His voice pitches up just slightly as though it’s a question. I dismiss my insane best friend, wondering if he hit his head somewhere in the tunnel.
“Let me go,” the puca hisses.
“Not until you tell me why you attacked.” Mae sounds more annoyed than ever. I hope this creature is smart and senses the danger she poses to him. If not, then it’s his death.
“You creatures, all the same.” The pitter-patter of feet pauses at the archway, announcing his clans arrival.
“From your perspective, I can see that.” Mae’s voice is calm and deadly. “Yet that’s not an answer.”
“He speaks of the one who came through our home.” The answer comes from the arch in an equally gravelly voice, but somehow more feminine. The result is disturbing. I’ve never dealt with a clan of pucas in the past, though their legends run thick. They are ancient and mystical, full of intrigue, and yet a species I thought was nothing more than a myth. The irony isn’t lost on me. Just my blood.
I don’t glance at the speaker, but instead keep my eyes trained on the beast still sitting on my chest.
“Who entered your home?” Now, Rocco is more than interested.
“One like you and yet not.” That voice is closer and let me say, it’s not pretty. A smaller creature springs itself onto the one in front of me, wrapping its long tail around what I assume is its father, only to hang low, inspecting me. Curious little creature.
“Like us and yet not…” Mae’s voice trails off. “A changeling?”
I wish I knew what her fascination with the changelings was about. I hate to argue that she’s wrong, but she hasn’t been around long enough to know that their power is limited. They only possess learned magic, that seedling within all humans granting them the power of life. Even accessed, it’s limited. Growing up in the Realm wouldn’t have changed them enough, and that’s if they didn’t die crossing worlds.
“A changeling—” The puca upon my stomach takes a risk, jumping back and out of reach of Mae’s blade. Foolish little creature. Mae ghosts to appear behind the furry beast, her scythe now wrapped around his throat, while the little one jumps onto Mae, encircling its tail around her hand.
“I’d rather not kill you, because you will only move on without receiving repercussions for your actions…” Mae trails off, referring to the ghosts surrounding her. “However, move again and I will kill you. You attacked without reason, leaving me motive enough to react.”
I raise my hand like a dumbass while sitting up. “Actually, he attacked me. It’s my reason.” My response falls on deaf ears as Mae holds still while Rocco reaches a hand down to me. Only my left arm is functional, so hopping up is rather awkward.
Once standing, I set fire to my blood, burning it off my clothing and incinerating the drops on the floor. With a hiss, I cauterize the vicious little bite marks.
“I hope you don’t have any diseases now.” I can hear the thread of amusement in Rocco’s voice once again.
“We are clean,” the female puca hisses.
<
br /> “Then I shouldn’t have anything to worry about.” Even if I’m silently cringing. Immortals shouldn’t succumb to diseases, however, like it was pointed out earlier, there is no guarantee to make that a truth. Which is why saying I have nothing to worry about tastes bitter on my tongue, because subconsciously I know it for the lie it is. Fucking fae truth serum.
I face the room, placing my back against the wall. Several little green eyes gleam from the tunnels beyond. “I’m guessing this system isn’t one we have gone through yet.” My voice is sour and annoyed.
“I went through it. This one, though tighter, doesn’t look to be a part of the other system. It goes deeper and appears to be more like a catacomb.” Mae drops her scythe at Rocco’s words. The puca jumps to the arch of the tunnel, disappearing with the little one.
Her frown scrunches up those perfect freckles. “How many systems are there?”
The female puca answers, her body not moving toward the safety the darkness holds. “Many. The one who tore through our home did so but a day ago. I don’t think he expected us to be here.” She frowns, her big brown lips pulling her whole face down, while her ears flop to her sides. “We lost one of our own. You have to forgive my mate. He was protecting the nest.”
Mae’s scythe claps the ground. “Let us search the tunnels. We will stay far from your territory as long as it’s marked appropriately.”
“I’m Ana.” With a thought and a touch of magic, Ana shifts into human form. Her face wrinkles slightly, mirroring a woman in her mid-forties, and her lips are plump and curved with a tinge of bloodred. Her skin somewhat darker to appear Mediterranean, and she is completely butt ass naked. My eyes widen as I try my damnedest to keep my eyes north. A panicked look at Mae tells me she isn’t even watching my reaction. Though Rocco is and he’s smiling like a lunatic.
“Ana, I’m Mae.” She holds her hand out and the two women shake. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.
“Didn’t know you could change forms.” My voice sounds weird.
“Youngling, you still have much to learn about your kin.” Ana faces me with the full force of her glowing green eyes.
“Kin?” Impossible.
“Kin, you are fae, are you not?” She raises a dark, bushy brown brow.
“Halfling.”
“You are still fae here.” She touches her heart. “Here is where it counts.” Her long brown hair shifts to her front, covering all the bits I’m trying not to look at. I can’t help my sigh of relief. “I will grant you access if—”
“Bartering!” Rocco exclaims with an obnoxious voice. “Buyer beware.”
“Continue.” I glare at Rocco while directing my voice at the puca.
“I will grant you access, if you grant me and mine access to the surface.”
“Who is me and mine?” I need exacts.
“Me and my clan.”
“What kind of access?”
“We want access to the sun and a home to call our own. We aren’t meant to hide in the shadows.”
Ironically, I thought that was exactly what they were meant for, but that is beside the point. “In what form?”
“Both.” Her lips tick up a notch. “The beast is our natural form, so we will have to spend time in it. Perhaps a quiet area.” Her tone sounds mocking.
“Rocco will lead your clan to a forested area not far from here. We can provide nothing more. Know that the winter will be harsh.” I cross my arms.
“We are not strangers to a harsh climate. We will survive.” She whistles a keening screech that I could never duplicate. Once more, the patter of feet barrel down the tunnel. She speaks to them in a language that sounds hauntingly familiar, reminding me of my childhood—lyrical and melodic, a pang of a forgotten memory tries to surface. But now is neither the time nor the place for bitter memories. Once more, Ana’s focus lands on me as her clan scrambles up the steps. “Follow me.”
She shifts back into her puca form and climbs through the archway to the tunnel. I wave my hand, allowing the flame to engulf my flesh. I step on through first, then Mae and Rocco, bringing up the rear.
I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but the feeling Mae described sweeps over me once again. The chilling watchfulness of a stranger just lingering in the shadows, trying to make me flee.
“Do you feel that?” Rocco voices my thoughts.
I glance back at Mae, her body hunched as she walks cautiously down the tunnel. “Yes.” My own body feels cramped, yet the puca leads on, her body standing tall.
“You feel a spell.” Ana’s rough voice ghosts back to us.
I damn near stumble over my own two feet. How had I not thought of that?
“Ends up here.” She points down the long corridor, yet all I see is an inkling of a line in a sea of pitch-black. I swear her body becomes denser, darker, the farther we go, until at once my ears pop and out we stumble into what Rocco had described as catacombs. “I leave you here. I will await your arrival to lead us to this forest.”
Ana bounds back down the shadowed tunnel, her body disappearing into the darkness beyond. At once, we all get a look at the passageways that lay before us. “Did any of you feel as though you were going down?” I question, while my ears feel the need to pop and the oxygen thins.
“No, I felt unsure of where I was.” Mae’s hands brush against the brick walls. “Are we still on Earth?”
“No.” Rocco laughs. “We haven’t been on Earth in three months, sweetheart.”
“You know what I meant, asshole,” she chides, but doesn’t even look at him.
She doesn’t look at me either, her mind awash in the mystery that surrounds us, while I can do nothing but watch her. I tear my gaze away, ripping my suit jacket off now that it’s been ruined. Along the wall sits a torch. “How convenient.” I grasp it, wrap my shirt around the stick, and light it on fire.
“She is no fool.” Mae almost sounds impressed. I am, however, not. Impressed, that is.
“Shall we?” I gesture to the long tunnel before us.
“How will we be able to get out of here?”
My lips tip up at Mae’s words. “Sweet kitten, can you still ghost?”
Her body flickers before her eyes widen in shock. It’s one of those moments where my cockiness catches up to me and the arrogance leaves my face in a flood of panic.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Rocco also flutters without changing into his alternate form.
I set my hand on fire and watch as the flame burns, not as brightly as before, but they still burn. “I’m a woman,” I say with complete conviction, and feel only the slightest twinge of pain. “Interesting.”
“That’s the first lie you go with?” Rocco raises a brow at me.
“It was what I came up with.” I shrug, looking back to the tunnel we came from. “I suppose neither of you have breadcrumbs on you?”
Mae rubs the bridge of her nose, a blush creeping up her face, and highlighting all her freckles. “Where are we, children?”
“Well, Mom, we are underground. Somewhere.” Rocco smacks his lips and Mae glares at him.
She shakes her hand, which only increases the blush on her face. “No scythe.”
I attempt to reach into the ether for my longsword, but nothing happens. “No weapons.”
“Guess that spell trying to turn us away was for our own good. Ana’s deal depends on you returning, right?” Rocco asks hopefully.
“I—Well, I honestly don’t know.”
“She said she will await your arrival.” Mae scrunches up her face. “Rocco, you didn’t see this at all?”
“I went down a different tunnel and it looked like this. Did the pucas just fuck us over?” He looks completely flabbergasted.
“Tricksters. And I’m bound to honor them.” Fucking fae. I should have seen this coming. “I doubt they set this up.”
“Flynn, we’re trapped in catacombs, a puca led us to a restricted area and left us here. She got back, so can we.” To prove her point, she
walks back down the tunnel we came from before heading back to us with her hands raised. “I can ghost in that tunnel. I just think they led us to an area they know is suspicious. We were looking for it anyway.”
“Look at you being all reasonable and shit.” Rocco claps his hands. “Who’s ready for an adventure?”
Chapter 11
Mae
Children.
I’m stuck in a small tunnel with fucking children. We’ve only been walking but mere moments and already I want to go back. Perhaps it’s that lingering spell or something else entirely, but all I know is that these catacombs seem to go on forever.
“What do you think is down here?” I ask for perhaps the twentieth time. Again, no one answers me.
“Anyone bring water?” Rocco glances back at me. “Whiskey then? Flask?” He wags his brows while pretending to drink from a flask. One I wish was all too real.
I blink at him. Where would I have hidden a damn flask? I look forward once more and something catches my eye up ahead. My hands skim the ancient brick, until, yes, I find a tunnel leading into darkness. Without waiting for the guys, I run down it, knowing I can always turn around and grab them if it heads anywhere. Halfway down, I realize I can ghost through, but I have no idea where I’m going.
Until I step back out into that damn cellar.
“What the hell is this shit?” I turn around and head back to the guys, who both have knowing expressions on their faces. “How?” I demand, already assuming they reached the same conclusion I did.
Rocco shrugs. “Did you grab any whiskey while you were there?”
I growl at the djinn.
“That’s a no then.”
I focus on Flynn, though the twitching of his lips is far from helpful. It appears only one of us can be amused by Rocco at once. “That’s a good question, and something the puca left out.”
“They weren’t even in there.” I frown, stepping to the inside wall. “There has to be a way in.”
“I don’t know.” Rocco all but whines. “Do we really want to attempt it?”
“What do you mean?” I fist my hands, resting them on my hips as I eye Rocco. Maybe this will be one of those moments of ridiculous clarity from him.