Pickup Styx (Easy Bake Coven)

by Liz Schulte

  I looked at them seriously. “You’re right. Snakes are better. I mean, those claws and sharp little teeth…” I whistled.

  “How do we get across?” Simon asked.

  Large, flaming spikes jutted up from the ground on the other side as he spoke. Interesting. Corbin definitely wasn’t tossing us over this time. “I assume the snakes are poisonous.”

  “At the very least.” Corbin pointed out a leg detached from some poor body that was devoured in a matter of seconds.

  “I don’t suppose there’s a bridge,” I said weakly.

  “Doesn’t matter if there is. We can’t leave the path, remember?”

  “Right. Magic it is.”

  I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my fingers. I needed a simple spell that would get us across but not impale us on the spikes. What I really needed was a broom. I glanced at my walking stick and licked my lips. That might work. I sat on the ground, instructed the guys to watch my back, and enchanted the stick. It wasn’t easy to work through how to do the enchantment opposite of what I would normally do, but finally the stick hummed with energy. Straddling the branch, I leaned forward and gripped the end. Slowly it lifted me off the ground. I grinned at the guys.

  “Anyone need a ride?”

  Simon looked shocked. “That’s awesome. How did you do that?”

  I shrugged. “Hop up.”

  He climbed on behind me and I took him across the river, only a little wobbly. I went back for Corbin.

  “I thought you couldn’t do magic here.”

  “I figured out the trick.”

  He brushed a hair from my cheek with a half smile. “Not bad, pet. Not bad at all.”

  We started across, but halfway there, the stick jerked to a stop, almost knocking Corbin off. I leaned forward, dumping as much energy as I could into it to urge it forward. We crept ahead a couple more feet like we were moving through Jell-o. The stick shook beneath us and stopped again.

  “Corbin, you need to jump.”

  “I don’t believe I heard you correctly.”

  “The walking stick is going to fall. You need to jump to the other side,” I told him calmly, though I felt anything but calm on the inside.

  “Not without you.”

  “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

  He pushed himself up until his toes were balancing on the stick. It was a good thing this happened with Corbin riding behind me and not Simon. The human wouldn’t have had the balance or been able to make the jump. Corbin pushed off, sending me and the branch spinning. When I got control again, he was safely on the other side.

  “Your turn,” he called.

  I shook my head. I had another idea. I gripped the piece of wood as hard as I could and redirected to a ninety-degree angle. Praying this actually worked, I poured everything I had into it and took off straight up into the air. My legs started to lose their grip, so I evened it out and the walking stick worked perfectly. I traveled the rest of the distance before I lowered to the ground, almost colliding with Corbin.

  “Woman driver,” he muttered.

  Something was nagging at me. The spikes on the other side of this river, the magic being blocked … It was like the environment was to ensure our failure. I glanced around, not sure what I was looking for. Perhaps a giant flaming eye on top of a mountain, but sadly there was nothing so obvious. And with just over four hours left, I didn’t have time to waste worrying about it.

  The heat coming off the spikes made the air ripple. I turned my head and covered my eyes as I got closer to them. Sweat beaded all over my skin and it was hard to breathe, but at least my ankle didn’t hurt anymore. I walked faster, hoping to move through it, but nothing changed. I was surrounded by obsidian remnants of what might have once been trees. Everything smoldered and smoked, including crumpled forms that used to be people. I plugged my nose to block out the smell of brimstone and sulfur.

  “Oh …” There was nothing else to say. This was horrible. I didn’t want to go any farther. The wendigos, and whatever the other thing was, were better than this. I looked down and discovered I was wearing yoga pants and one of Cheney’s soft shirts—and I was soaking wet. The last time I wore this outfit was the night I’d married Cheney and became a changeling. I closed my eyes. The night I’d plotted to kill Jaron and Cheney’s father, betraying both men I loved. I clenched my teeth, feeling like I might throw up.

  “Keep moving,” Corbin commanded.

  “Do you know what this is?” I asked him.

  The stark expression in his eyes was answer enough.

  For the first time, Simon looked truly nonplussed. He was dressed in black pants, a white button-down shirt, and a red tie. “I don’t. Where are we? And why am I in a suit?”

  “Have you hurt someone you loved?” I asked.

  He loosened his tie. “I guess.”

  I blew out a breath. “You’re about to pay for it. We all are.”

  “You want me to do what?” Lily asked, sitting cross-legged on her bed in the guest wing.

  I showed her the two pictures Devin drew for me of the final two locations. “These spots could be anywhere. I was thinking you could amplify my luck. Help me find them. ”

  She glanced at the pictures disinterestedly. “And what’s supposed to be there?”

  “Well, my guess is that my— I mean our—father will be at one, and a sibling will be at the other—a sibling that will be killed if we don’t reach them in time. And if Father’s dead? Maybe two siblings’ lives hang in the balance.”

  Lily rested her chin against her fist and looked up at the ceiling for too long. “I don’t see how any of this is my problem. I’m not interested in helping other people.”

  “I could have left you for dead, but I came to get you. Don’t you think these people deserve the same chance?”

  “You’re the Erlking and that would’ve looked really, really bad.” She smiled. “No one cares what I do.”

  “I care.”

  The smile melted off her face. “I didn’t ask you to care. I have a good thing going and I like my life. If you think you’re going to change anything, I’ll take my chances with the elverpige.” She pressed her lips together and her voice softened. “Getting my luck would hurt you more than it would help anyway. Trust me. ”

  I didn’t know if I had a right to expect anything from her, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. “How?”

  “When I amplify someone’s luck, it feeds me. Basically, I eat their luck. Let’s say I help you figure out where Daddy Dearest is, and you go charging there on your white horse to stop him.”

  “Absurd visual, but okay.”

  “You’ll die. You’ll only have bad luck to fall back on. And my guess is, right now, you need all the good luck you can get. That means you need to stay as far away from me as you can.”

  She was right. I didn’t need bad luck. What if it extended past me and to Selene? However, I couldn’t do nothing. “There has to be another option.”

  “Draw him out,” she said. “What does he want? What does the elverpige want? Us. So make sure we—and by we I mean you—are available.”

  I shook my head. “He’ll just send the elverpige and I cannot defeat it. I have to find him first.” I held up both pictures to her. “And he’s either here or here. Are you sure you can’t help?”

  “Is that a black hole?”

  “No. I couldn’t see anything, but something about it was comfortable. My guess is that’s where he’s staying.”

  “What about the cell?”

  I looked at the picture again. I’d been thinking of it as a stone room, but perhaps she was right. Maybe it was a cell of some sort. “Huh. Any notions on where this cell might be?”

  She laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. “I haven’t been in jail, but hey, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You run a gambling ring where you cheat the patrons out of their money. What kind of confidence did you expect?”

  �
��They know what they’re walking into.”

  “You employ jinn.”

  She smiled. “Maybe so.”

  “What do they get out of the deal?”

  She shrugged. “A percentage.”

  “And what keeps them from taking the whole business and killing you?”

  “Luck.” She winked and I shook my head. “God, you’re such a stick in the mud. Who cares if I take money from fools? No one’s forcing them to be there. All I do is make sure their experience is enjoyable. I don’t use violent jinn. The demons, well, I can’t help them…and trust me, I haven’t heard any complaints about the incubi or succubae. I may take people’s money, but they get the time of their lives out of the deal.”

  Now wasn’t the time to get into an argument, so I let it go. “I need to find this room.”

  “Ask someone else.”

  I nodded and opened the door. “I hope your stay is comfortable.”

  I needed to think. I walked the long hallways without seeing, alone with my unrest, until I found myself outside my bedroom door. Edith and Frost were napping in their chairs, and Selene was still lifeless on the bed. I lay next to her and looked at the pictures. “I have two locations I need to find. Any ideas? Me either.”

  Edith’s soft snores came from one side of the room, and Frost’s head rested against her book, her mouth open slightly. So much for privacy.

  “The elverpige is my sister. Have I told you about Bella?” I knew I hadn’t told Selene about her. There had always been too much going on, and I hadn’t been sure she was staying. Bella was a part of my past I protected with fierce intensity.

  “I haven’t seen my sister in so long I almost forgot what she looked like, but when I saw her tonight, everything came back. She was a distorted version of herself but still her. She used to constantly chase after me as kids. She wanted to go and do everything that I did and was never happy to stay home. She was passionate, like you.” I smiled. “She drove our father crazy and wouldn’t listen to anything he told her to do.”

  I swallowed back my emotion. “Which is probably why she fell in love with a human. You know, I knew she was living in a human village, but I never said anything. I figured she needed to get it out of her system. So…one could make the argument that I’m responsible for her death too.”

  I hadn’t had thoughts like that in a long time—at least not since I met Selene. I pressed my lips together, wishing Selene could say something back to me. “You know, I never knew you were such a good listener.” I couldn’t laugh at my joke. It was all too terrible.

  “I have another sister. I think you’ll like her. She’s sort of sketchy, and we both know how you like people who ignore the rules.”

  I looked at the pictures again before crumpling them up and throwing them across the room. The elverpige was my sister. My sister. Only two living people knew where Bella was buried. Why was I sitting here rather than checking out her grave site? I kissed Selene’s forehead. “You’re a genius.”

  Sebastian was coming down the hallway. “I thought you were going to see the fortuna.”

  “Lily.”

  “Is she in there? Is that wise?”

  “No. I was talking to Selene.”

  Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Can’t imagine that was a good conversation.”

  “A little one-sided, but I have an idea.” I waved for him to follow me. “How does one raise an elverpige?”

  “I have no idea. Are you thinking of a counterattack?”

  “No, my thoughts are more along the lines of what goes into the spell. For example, would they need the body?”

  “Probably.”

  “The elverpige was my sister, Bella.”

  “Bella,” Sebastian breathed and stopped walking. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Only two people know where Bella was buried.”

  Sebastian frowned. “She was buried?”

  “Yeah.” It was unusual for an elf, but there was a body so we buried it.

  “Elves don’t leave remains, Cheney. Are you sure it was her?”

  “I don’t know why it happened, but she didn’t disappear. I figured it had something to do with the manner in which she died. Maybe it cursed her in some way. I dug up the grave the human had put her in when Father and I came looking for her. She was in it, and she wasn’t breathing.”

  “Why didn’t you bring her back here?”

  I shook my head. “My father was hurt and angry about what she’d done. He left her in the grave, saying he had no daughter.”

  Sebastian’s jaw clenched. “And you still haven’t brought her home?”

  I gave him a threatening look. “I really didn’t think about it, Sebastian. There have been more pressing matters than my sister’s remains since I became king.”

  “Shocking,” Sebastian said softly, looking at the floor.

  I pushed him slightly. “I loved my sister more than anyone. I regret not getting her, but I will make this right.”

  Sebastian’s eyes were furious and shining. “You loved her? You sure as hell never defended her.” He turned on his heel and walked in the opposite direction.

  What was going on? I tried to recollect if there’d been anything between Sebastian and Bella, but nothing came to mind. Honestly, I’d never noticed either of them much when I was younger. I had my friends and there was fun to be had. Sebastian and I didn’t become friends until after Bella’s death. He was the only one who’d really understood what I was going through.

  I shook off the thoughts. We would talk about this later. I started back toward the archive. All four members of the coven were there, poring over piles and piles of books.

  “Do you have news?” Devin asked when I came in.

  I shook my head.

  “So Lily couldn’t help?” Jessica asked.

  “No.” Their faces fell. “But I have an idea. I need everything we can find about elverpige.”

  Jessica pointed to the table to her left without looking up. “I pulled everything I could read on it once you said what we were dealing with.”

  I could have kissed her. “Did you see anything about raising one?”

  She went over to the table and pulled out a blue leather-bound book. She flipped through it, her finger running down the pages. “Here it is.”

  I scanned the ritual. He definitely needed her body. That bastard. I snapped the book shut. “Thanks.” I started for the door, but Sebastian caught me on my way out.

  “I was out of line. I just—”

  I clapped my hand down on his shoulder. “I don’t have time to talk about this now. I have to go.” I started down the hallway.

  Sebastian caught up. “Wait. Where? You shouldn’t go alone.”

  “Fine, but—”

  “The past will stay in the past.” He looked at me with clear eyes. “I want to help you, Selene, and Bella. The three of you are the closest family I have ever had.”

  The ruins of the church that once was my sanctuary were becoming the bane of my existence. If we all made it through this, I was going to have the damn things torn down. The forest seemed cursed. We went past the church, deeper into the forest. I closed my eyes, letting my memory lead me to her unmarked grave. Sebastian caught my shirt.

  “I think you found it.”

  He stopped me from stepping into the empty grave. There was a pile of dirt to the side with a shovel on top. I lowered myself into the grave, but there was nothing left. She was completely gone.

  “I can’t believe he would use his own daughter to do something like this,” I said as I climbed out and wiped off my hands.

  “What’s that?” Sebastian pointed to the shovel.

  The side of the shovel was caked in blood. “There’s no way her body would have been bleeding. She’s been dead for four hundred years.”

  “Well, we don’t really know anything about how elves decompose,” Sebastian said.

  No matter whose blood it was, it was a lead. “Take the shovel.”

>   He picked it up, and there was a glint of silver in the dirt beneath. I stooped to get it. A necklace imbedded with filth hung from my fingers.

  “What’s that?”

  Underneath what looked like years’ worth of dirt, the piece was in perfect condition. A pale green stone was set in the middle of knotted and swirling bits of silver. “It’s my mother’s.”

  He looked at it closer. “Was Bella wearing it?”

  I shook my head. “Only one person had this necklace after my mother died. My father.”

  We both looked at the shovel. The blood was either from my sister or my father. We took it back to the castle. I let Sy take it to the coven and I headed to Frost. If anyone would know how my sister’s body stayed, if she would decompose, and how to stop an elverpige, it was her.

  Lily came out of my room when I got to the hallway, making my stomach drop. “How did you get up here? What are you doing?”

  “Chillax. I was bored. Just checking the place out.” She held up her hand innocently. “This house is massive. I bet you could sleep in a different room every night and not repeat.”

  Where the hell is the guard? I moved Lily away from the door and stuck my head in to make sure everyone was okay. Everything looked the same as it had before.

  “Who’s the dead chick?”

  “She’s not dead. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “She looks pretty dead.” Lily wrinkled her tiny, straight nose.

  I put my hand on her back and led her gently toward her wing and away from Selene. One of the guards was walking back toward Selene’s room, chewing on something. I waited a few seconds to get a handle on my temper. “You. What’s your name?”

  Guilt and horror at being caught crossed his face. “Landion, Erlking.” He bowed.

  “Take my guest back to her wing and stay with her. I will find someone else to watch this room.”

  Lily stiffened. “Am I a prisoner?”

  “No. You don’t want to help though, and I don’t have time to babysit you. You can’t be up here.”

  She looked back toward the door. “Is she related to us?”

  “Yes.” Technically it wasn’t a lie. She was my wife.

  Understanding crossed Lily’s face. “She’s pretty. I always wanted an older sister.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Not a brother so much.”