by Carrow Brown
The bump in the center snapped open, an eyeball in the center of it looked all over the place. Inside my head, a raspy voice scrapped at my mind, --hungryfoodfeedgivehung--
I jerked back into the chair with a string of curses.
Caldrin watched me with bright eyes. “You can hear it, can’t you?”
The large eye focused on me, its mental babbling bombarding my head until a dull thudding grew between my eyes. “Yeah, I can. What about it?”
“Everything.” The magi placed a gloved hand on the book and its repetitive words in my head stopped. “Ghost, I want you to work together with me.”
“Yeah, you and ninety percent of every mustache-twirling antagonist. At the same time, how do I say no to the man who’s abducted and chained me up to a chair in his secret base? I mean, I’ve been proposed to in worst places.”
“Why did your own people reject you?”
The question caused a stinging sensation to spread over my chest. “Answer’s a little obvious and redundant coming from the guy who said he knows everything about me.”
Caldrin grinned. “It’s because you are at least part Outer One.” He patted the encased book. “This is the reason you can hear this book. The Crook obeys only you.”
I pulled in a breath and tried to push away the thundering in my ears. “You’re wrong. I’m a Valkyrie.”
“Are you? Do you bring dead heroes to the afterlife? Lead men into battle? Inspire heroics? Create mead for dead heroes to drink?”
I hadn’t done any of those things, though I’d always wished to. It was one thing when I questioned myself, but another when my captor shoved my uncertainty right into my face. Maybe he was right, and I wasn’t one of the Norse warrior maidens after all. Just being allowed to call myself such was akin to some participation medal that kept me compliant. The longer I thought on it, the less I liked it. “Assuming you’re right, why would it matter to you?”
“Your weapon—the Shepherd’s Crook—what happens when someone touches it?”
“He possesses them and goes on a murdering spree.”
“And he doesn’t do so with you because?”
“Because I’m stubborn.”
“A partial truth.” Caldrin opened the book and flipped to the first two pages and turned it so I could see the images of a tall figure with a mask and covered in a flowing robe. In one hand, he held a staff with a lantern dangling from the edge. “But it’s more to do with what you are. Your weapon is also known as the Shepherd’s Crook and was used by the first shepherd of mankind, who was destroyed long ago. He was able to make Outer Ones do his bidding with it.” He tapped the image of the staff the robbed figure held. “Unfortunately, only creatures similar to himself are able to hold the Crook and not lose themselves to its will.” Caldrin turned another page in the book to show various forms of Outer Ones. “Your affinity with these creatures is what protects you from their influence.”
Caldrin’s words, along with my prior conversation with Ratatoskr, fluttered about in my mind. If what he said was true, then the danger Silence posed went up astronomically. An artifact that controlled Outer Ones? People would kill for that. Destroy cities. Slaughter millions.
I couldn’t let Caldrin possess that kind of power. I had to keep him talking while I worked my way free. The rest I’d figure out when I escaped.
“What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Why abduct me? How do the mythics you’ve abducted play into all this?”
“Those things hardly matter—”
“They matter to me! And it probably matters to the people in Seattle as well! You realize the Fae Queens noticed something’s wrong, right? If the Fae find out the truth, then Queen Mab will—”
“Create a snowstorm, which will be the highlight of the weather channel,” Caldrin said. “Her power is not what it once was with the lack of worshippers and the decaying state of magic.”
“Decaying magic? What are you talking about?”
Caldrin arched a pale brow. “Don’t act stupid. I expect you of all creatures to already be abreast of that epidemic.”
“Fine.” My heart leaped as the chain between my hands gave. “But you didn’t explain why you’re abducting mythics in the first place. What’s the purpose?”
Caldrin’s lips twitched. “Werewolf blood enhances athletic performance and pixie dust gives a youthful appearance when applied regularly. The Hunter Order and various industries pay very well for my research and products.”
“Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait. You’re not serious.”
“Very serious. And they can still say cruelty free since no animals were used.”
I pressed my back against the chair as it sank in. Void and stars, mythics were used like condiments and pills for humans. A dark part of my mind wondered if we could become extinct because of human vanity and consumption just as so many other creatures had.
“This is wrong,” I said. “You’ve taken parents from children, upended our community for the sake of what? Money? Research? Because you’re worth it?”
Caldrin tugged the cuffs of his shirt back into place. “I am surprised you care. Why are you sympathetic to creatures who rate you below garbage?”
My heart fluttered as I spied the weak link brittle enough to snap with one good yank. I lowered my hands and pressed my heel on the bottom chain. “Just because I’m treated badly doesn’t mean I have to respond in kind.”
“I’m sure choosing the high ground makes you feel better about yourself. Doesn’t it anger you how you’ve been treated?”
I pulled in a slow breath through my nose and closed my eyes. Rejected, cast off, and used at others’ convenience meant anger and disgruntlement were long-term friends of mine. I thought about things I wanted—companionship, honest friends who didn’t worry about public shame, the ability to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I wanted to belong. To be part of something and not look at it from the outside.
But that wasn’t for me. Never for creatures like me. I’d accepted my place in the order of things centuries ago.
Returning my gaze to Caldrin, I said, “It’s a fucking mess, but I like living in it.”
Color tinted his face scarlet. “Disappointing. I was hoping for more from you.”
With a snort, I leaned away and leveled Caldrin my best glare and readied to jerk my hands up and break free.
He didn’t appear impressed. With a wave of his hand and a soft mutter, a hum of magic filled the air. “I command you to tell me your true name.”
Shock rocked me at the same time the command jerked me as words tumbled from my mouth, “Draugrrökkr Markvörður.”
Caldrin’s smile never faded. “Perfect.” He took his time pronouncing each syllable of his following words. “Draugrrökkr Markvörður.”
I wanted to scream and throw things. Just the mere sound of my name from his lips left me sweating in the chair. “You fucking—”
“You had an opportunity. As much as I’ve enjoyed our conversation, I’d rather you stop talking.”
My throat close in on my retort, the magic bindings along my arms blazing, leaving me in a coughing fit that made my eyes water.
The magi leaned toward me. “I just want you to remember that we could’ve done this in a far less painful manner. Unbind her. She won’t provide any resistance.”
The guards unhooked me from the chair, and my traitorous legs followed Caldrin when he ordered me out into the hall, where a group of robed men joined the parade after the magi.
Unlike the rest of the prison, the room Caldrin brought me to looked clean and freshly mopped. Robed individuals moved with bent heads, voices low as they continued to enchant the chalk marking on the ground. My eyes rested along the glowing lines with drawn brows. I’d seen my fair share of magical circles, but the one Caldrin’s men hovered over made my blood go cold. The shape formed several circles around a larger one with crude writing I’d never seen before. My heels dug in to keep away from it, but one of the men jabbed at th
e small of my back with a staff.
Caldrin stopped just outside the chalk marks and pointed toward the center of the largest circle. “Stand in the center.”
Mentally cursing, I dug my heels in as the magical command left my throat and traveled to my feet. “Who hurt you, Floyd? People don’t go the way of Outermancer because they felt like it.”
“If you don’t die from the ritual, perhaps I’ll tell you.”
I stumbled into the largest circle. One of the men at my side uttered a command and both my fists slammed into the ground and left me pinned. The magical energy electrifying the air caused my skin to tingle and the hairs along my body to stand on end.
A glint drew my attention down and I saw Silence lying within one of the smallest circles.
“Silence!” I jerked toward him, but my hands didn’t budge from their place on the ground. “You fucking assholes,” I screamed. “Give him back to me! Give him back or I swear to every god created, I will—”
“Do nothing,” Caldrin drawled as he walked to the larger circle leading away from mine. He pulled out the Kuglehost and flicked through the pages. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re not in a position to make demands.”
Pulling in a breath, I glared at the robed figures. “Once you start this, there is no going back.” I exposed my sharp teeth at the closest man. “Do you feel it? That heavy weight on your chest? It’s your approaching death at my hands. Even dental records won’t help to identify your remains when I’m finished.”
The two closest men leaned away from me, and I took satisfaction as bitter fear filled my nose.
“She’s trying to get under your skin,” Caldrin said, turning another page in his book. “Ignore her.”
I snapped my head to Caldrin. “I will get under your skin—with my nails! I will find your families and spray them with your guts! I’ll find those who you care for and make them regret ever knowing any of you—you worthless meat sacks!” My breaths came in pants and rage left my vision red and my heart thundering in my ears.
Caldrin didn’t glance from the page he found. His arm lifted and all movement in the room ceased. It gave me pause as every figure turned in unison and went to different parts of the room. Eight robed figures moved to step within the smaller circles surrounding me. Their voices, a low murmur, spoke in sync. The markings outside of my circle lit up, and I watched as magic swirled around me and then grabbed at my arms. A force yanked me down, making me fall onto my knees to the floor. Gritting my teeth, I pulled, to no avail.
Caldrin’s voice, imbued with magic, spoke. “Ymg’ ahf’ ph’nglui bugnah mgn’ghft ng n’ghft.”
Every other magi in the room echoed the words. The entire circle lit up, and within I felt something pulling at my mind and body.
Caldrin gestured a hand toward me. “Ah’n’ghft ng deaf l’ shuggo.”
“Listen to me,” I yelled. “This is a mistake. You can stop it now.”
My voice was drowned out in the combined chant of the men and women who surrounded me.
A snapping sensation went off in the back of my mind, startling me.
What is that? a male voice sounded within my mind, though it came across as distant, as if trying to speak through a garden hose.
Another male voice, slow and low, said, I do not know.
A female intake of breath. Walker! Dreamer’s voice. She sounded closer than the other two, but still distorted.
The sensation of being watched caused the hair on my arms to rise where the swirls of magic in the air hadn’t.
Something is wrong, Dreamer said. Why is Walker not responding?
Caldrin’s voice spoke, each syllable causing a boom within my head. “Mgr’luh ng mggoka’ai. Ai ng c’ mgah’n’ghft glayf!”
The center of my forehead exploded with tingles. In one breath, I was in the circle, and in the next, I hovered in space by a dying star. Staring at it, I could see it and vast universes beyond it. Worlds on worlds brimming with life and death. A moment lasted an eternity and ended in blink of an eye. Pressure built up in my head, threatening to split my skull. The star turned and reshaped until I knelt hyperventilating in the center of the circle with the men and women chanting around me. My hands no longer resembled anything human. They, along with the rest of my body, shifted into the monster I was. A swirling portal of blackened liquid wrongness expanded and grew in front of me. Within it, the whispers became screams.
Another male voice, soft and fluid, spoke, Walker is not centered. Acquire him so we may provide assistance.
From the portal, a figure rippled in the dark void. It stepped out, but no one else in the room looked at it. Wide eyes remained fixed on Floyd while the dark shape walked toward me and through one of the magi before coming to a stop in front of me.
The figure was wrong. Limbs growing and shrinking rapidly but remaining in a twisted humanoid shape. Parts of its black flesh opened to expose sharp teeth that shifted from its face to other places over its face and body.
The fluid voice spoke again. Bring Walker to us.
I jerked at the magical bonds, but they held fast. My mouth opened to scream, but no sound left my lips.
“Look at it.” Caldrin breathed. “It is beaut—”
The figure grabbed my head and darkness engulfed me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Cluster
The darkness consumed everything. My pain faded until it became an annoyance in the back of my mind. Caldrin, Silence, and the chanters remained visible, but their colors dimmed and their shapes took on a smoky haze. All around us I saw the wire fence from my dream. Before Caldrin, a twisted hole widened to allow the Outer One inside it.
I stood and looked around, seeing nothing beyond those closest to me. A ringing hummed in my ears, soft at first, but its timbre picked up until it left my eyes watering. Pressure poked all over my head and against my eyes, turning into painful pricks. Through the pain, I realized I’d gone from standing to lying on the ground. My breathing became erratic gasps as my body jerked and thrashed. Thoughts came and left before I could grasp them, leaving me in a confused haze.
Dreamer spoke, her voice the only thing that made sense in the sea of my rapid thoughts. “What is wrong with Walker?”
Part of me wished to weep, scream, and claw my ears off all at once at Dreamer’s voice. She no longer sounded like the playful seductress looking to entice. Instead, her voice brought to mind dying stars and endless hunger. It gave form to darkness, despair, and pain.
Something pressed against my shoulders and turned my jerking body over.
“It appears,” another said, this one made of thousands of small voices, “that Walker’s mind is experiencing uncontrolled electrical activity. Perhaps it is overloaded by excessive stimuli?”
I heard the words, but their meaning took time to register. Oh, I thought. I’m having a seizure.
Something pushed into my mouth, forcing my clenched teeth to part. The taste of copper slid over my tongue as the hand forced my head to the side. The sensation of blood dripping to the floor didn’t feel real.
Another voice, this one calm, commanded, “Fix it, Mender.”
“Of course, of course,” Thousand Voices said.
My flesh itched all over, but the jerking of my limbs subsided. In its place, a drumbeat filled my ears. Th-th-thump—th-th-thump—th-th-thump. Moments passed before I understood the sound belonged to my heart. No, my hearts. I focused on the beat and how my breath filled my lungs until my thoughts settled.
Pushing myself up, I stopped moving at the sight of thousands upon thousands of…bugs? dots? all over my body. When Thousand Voices spoke once more, and they all vibrated across me. “Walker has done something to his physical form. This is new. Corrupt. Repairing him is complex.”
I waved my arms frantically. “Get off! Get off! Get off!”
“So ungrateful,” the dots huffed. They took to the air and flew a few feet away, gathering on themselves to make a scowling face floating in the air.
>
To my left, a liquid shape folding in on itself floated closer to me. It shifted and melted before sinking onto the floor. Or what I assumed to be the floor. Staring at the spot, Dreamer’s head peeked out, green eyes locked on mine. Seconds passed before she emerged from the floor to hover in front of me. “Walker looks fine to me.”
A deep rumbling voice sounded to my side, “Not seen you for a while.”
I turned my head to the new voice. I’d expected to see a mountain of a man to fit the rumble, but instead, my eyes took in a long and lanky figure hunched over with arms swaying lazily back and forth. There was an unnatural sharpness to his form, like he was molded from jagged steel instead of flesh. A mask obscured his face, bone white and bright with a tiny black eye staring at me. Part of me felt if I saw what was under his mask, it would leave me a babbling mess in the corner.
A hand pressed against my face, reminding me that someone still held me. I turned to see a man in various shades of shadow, dressed in a three-piece suit. His eyes, the same golden shade as mine, watched me. Power and command hung about his form. He could easily order armies and lead them into the heat of battle.
My mind brought up the memory of my first conversation with Dreamer. “Play whatever games you want, but this will keep you out of trouble with Leader.”
This man—thing—was Leader. And he terrified me.
Thousand Voices fell to the ground and skittered about until it came to a stop by Silence. “This is a development,” it said. “Walker’s Edge has developed an identity and cognitive thought. Fascinating.”
Dreamer let out an exasperated sound. “I don’t care about Walker’s Edge. I care about Walker.” She glanced back, her voice a coo, “Who hurt you? I heard your scream from across the void.”