by Martha Carr
“My guess is your run-in last night with those things from the in-between did the rest of the work for you.”
Cheyenne’s fingers tingled with warm energy when she took the Cuil Aní from her mentor’s hands. “So, all it took was for me to almost die fighting off those things on my own. Good to know.”
Corian snorted. “Open it.”
“Are you crazy?” The halfling shot a quick, cautious glance over her shoulder at the closed French doors and lowered her voice. “I can’t open this here. One Border portal and a team of FRoE agents in her backyard is about all the magic my mom can handle. You pushed her tolerance over the edge when you popped in unannounced like that.”
“I didn’t know she was there. I was looking for you.”
“Obviously.” She brushed her fingers over the locked layers of the puzzle box and nodded. “I need to go clear up that mess first.”
“What mess?”
“Hey, when Bianca Summerlin stands from her chair and shouts in surprise at the first nightstalker she’s ever seen, there’s a mess.” Cheyenne tapped her temple. “It’s all up here, but that makes it even more important to deal with it as soon as possible. And then I have to take Ember home and make sure she’s good before I start running around opening drow legacy boxes.”
“That’s your friend?” When the halfling nodded, Corian’s human-looking nose twitched in a very catlike way. “Smells like fae in that room.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with your sense of smell.” She glanced at the closed doors again. “You really need to go. I’ll call you when I’m back at my apartment.”
He flashed her an oddly feral grin for his human illusion and nodded. “You’d better. And hurry, kid. The real work begins now, and L’zar will want to know as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, he visited me last night in my head.” Cheyenne’s lips twitched into a smirk. “He’s not very happy with you for going off on your own little mission, by the way. Apparently, you’re supposed to be my babysitter.”
“Very funny.” The nightstalker’s fingers worked in a quick series of precise patterns, and the dark circle of a new portal opened in front of him. “Call me as soon as you can.”
“Yep.”
Corian glanced at the Cuil Aní in Cheyenne’s hands one more time, then stepped through the portal back to wherever he’d come from. After the circle of dark light disappeared with a soft pop, Cheyenne darted into her childhood bedroom and tossed the activated lockbox on her unmade bed.
Last thing Mom needs to see is the one thing L’zar left her that night besides me.
She quickly returned to the breakfast room, knocked lightly on the doors, and turned both handles to push them swiftly open again. “All taken care of. Sorry about that.”
Bianca and Eleanor had both sat down again in the cream armchairs. Bianca’s long, calm inhale sounded particularly loud in the silent breakfast room. “I accept your apology, Cheyenne. And I expect that little mishap to be the first and last of its kind.”
“It will be, Mom. I promise. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
“I should think not.”
Cheyenne pressed her lips together and met Ember’s gaze when the fae girl looked over her shoulder. I left Ember right in the thick of Mom’s rage. Time to get out of here.
“You ready to head out?”
Ember gave her a thin smile and rolled her wheelchair back before turning around smoothly. “Ready when you are.”
“Yeah, I think it’s time. I’m gonna go check in with those agents outside, then we’ll head home.”
“Sounds good.” Ember glanced at Bianca, who stared straight ahead through the curving wall of windows. “Thank you for inviting me up here, Bianca. And for your hospitality.”
The woman of the house didn’t move an inch. Ember glanced at Eleanor, who gave her a sympathetic smile. When the fae looked at Cheyenne, the halfling nodded toward the open doors.
The second Ember started to wheel forward again in her chair, Bianca’s hand shot out and settled lightly and briefly on the fae girl’s forearm. Ember stopped to look at Cheyenne’s mom with wide eyes.
“You are always welcome here, Ember. That’s not an invitation I hand out lightly.”
“Thank you.”
Bianca extended her hand, which Ember took after a second’s hesitation. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too. Thanks again.” As soon as Bianca released her hand, Ember wheeled forward again.
Eleanor stood from her chair. “I’ll see you out.”
They got to the open doors together before Bianca called after them without moving from her chair. “Eleanor, please bring up some tea. A strong Earl Grey, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” The housekeeper turned and dipped her head, even though Bianca couldn’t see it. Then she ushered Cheyenne and Ember out into the hall and closed the French doors softly behind her. “Not one of our better mornings.”
Cheyenne raised her eyebrows. “I noticed. Mind if I take the wheel, Em?”
“Take all of them.” The girls shared amused glances, then Cheyenne grabbed the wheelchair’s handlebars. She sucked in a sharp breath and glanced at the puncture wounds in her palms. I need to start keeping that darktongue salve on me all the time. Gritting her teeth against the sting, she pushed Ember toward her room.
“I’ll meet you down there,” Eleanor said as she headed down the wide, sweeping staircase to the main floor.
“Thanks, Eleanor.”
The woman waved her off with a noncommittal hum, then Cheyenne stopped outside her room and darted inside to grab the legacy box. She took a quick look at the unmade bed, tucked the box under her arm, and made the bed in less than thirty seconds with a quick shake of the comforter and a re-propping of pillows. When she returned to the open hallway of the second floor, Ember shot her a small, knowing smile.
“What?” Cheyenne shrugged. “It was bred into me, all right?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” The halfling grabbed the box from under her arm and dropped it in her friend’s lap. “Will you hold onto that for me? I need my hands.”
Ember stared at the Cuil Aní as Cheyenne wheeled her toward the Chez Summerlin elevator. “This looks different.”
“That’s because it is.”
“Did you?”
“Yep. Apparently, this halfling’s all grown up and ready to claim her legacy, whatever that means.” Cheyenne pushed the single call button on the wall beside the elevator. “As soon as we’re home, I’m heading off with Corian to open this thing and figure out what the heck that legacy is.”
The door opened slowly, and the halfling wheeled her friend inside before punching the button to take them down.
“You should open it now.”
“I really shouldn’t.” Cheyenne snorted. “Whatever’s in there was meant just for me. Obviously. There’s already been enough craziness in this house for one visit, and if that box starts up its weird light show and who knows what else, I don’t want you, Eleanor, or my mom anywhere near it.”
Ember removed her hands from the box and raised them in front of her chest.
“Relax. I’m pretty sure it won’t do anything until I open it.”
“Yeah, that’s reassuring.”
The elevator shuddered a little when it reached the ground floor, then Cheyenne pulled Ember out and into the industrial-sized kitchen. Eleanor stood at the stove over a boiling kettle of water and gave the girls a brief, distracted smile over her shoulder. “I’ll be right there. Just making the tea.”
“No problem. We’re not out of here just yet.” Cheyenne took them along the side of the kitchen and out the swinging doors into the open hall that ran down the side of the house. “Okay. You got it from here?”
“Still working on super-tight spaces.” Ember grabbed the wheels of her chair and nodded. “There aren’t a lot of those here.”
“Good. I�
�ll be right back.” Heading toward the front door, Cheyenne turned back and pointed at her friend’s lap. “Don’t lose that box. Kind of important.”
Ember’s eyes widened, and she stared at the drow legacy box in her lap as the halfling slipped out and closed the door swiftly behind her.
* * *
Cheyenne stopped for a moment to take a deep breath of the fresh morning air, then shook her head. It’s too early for a heaping helping of FRoE attitude.
She jogged down the wide, curved stone steps at the entrance to the house, then headed around the garden and down the other set of stairs toward the backyard. When she stalked out from beneath the jutting balcony of the veranda, she could feel her mom’s gaze shifting to fall on her. Cheyenne didn’t turn around or look up. Give her enough time, and she’ll get over it—as long as these guys do their job and keep her safe.
Rhynehart and his team were up and ready for duty, though some of them still sat in the grass, nursing their tin cups of instant coffee. The portable camping stove or whatever they’d used had been put away already. Wouldn’t put it past one of these guys to light up a ball of fire in their hand and use that instead.
“How’s it going out here?”
Rhynehart turned from glaring at the currently inactive portal ridge to glaring at her. “Good morning to you too.”
“It’s not, really. I just want to make sure it’s not about to get any worse.”
He gestured toward the black columns of jagged, glistening black stone that cut a straight line from the little FRoE camp to the forest. “Kind of impossible, don’t you think?”
“As long as you and your guys keep back whatever else might come through this thing so it doesn’t get to the house or my mom, I’ll count that as not getting worse.”
“Well, you can make your report, then, halfling.” Rhynehart raised an eyebrow. “This thing’s been as silent as the grave since we got here.”
Cheyenne looked up at the top of the stone pillars. “No flashing lights?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. That doesn’t mean it won’t still happen.”
“Kid, I know what a portal is, at least the kind I’m used to regulating on the reservations. What I don’t know is how the hell this thing got here.”
The halfling shook her head. “I really wish I had an answer for you.”
Rhynehart turned again to study her longer than two seconds. His scowl remained, but his irritated glare had softened into understanding. “We’ll hold out here until we get the order to pack up and ship out. I have a feeling that won’t be for a while.”
“Yeah, me too.” Cheyenne studied the portal ridge one more time, then met the man’s gaze and nodded. “Thanks for being here.”
“It’s my job. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be.”
“Right. I know.” She nodded at the agents scattered behind their team leader. Some of them looked up to meet her gaze with a brief nod. Most of them minded their own damn business. “Call me if anything changes. And I know you have my personal number, so don’t bother asking about that dinosaur phone you guys gave me.”
Rhynehart smirked. “If anything happens up here, you’ll be the first to know. After I make the calls I gotta make to keep my job. Orders and all that.”
“Sure.” The halfling turned to head across the lawn, paused, and glanced at him one more time. “Good luck.”
“Yep.” Rhynehart shifted his folded arms and sniffed, gazing at the portal ridge.
With a quick nod, Cheyenne stalked back toward the house. Her gaze flickered briefly to the wide wall of windows on the second floor that curved in the same line as the extended veranda below. The morning sun glinted off the windows, so she couldn’t see anything in the breakfast room.
But she’s watching. That’s what she does. Watches and waits, only this time, she won’t be able to do anything if something happens. That’s a first.
The halfling hurried under the veranda and around the side of the house to jog back up the steps. If I play this right, Mom won’t have to lift a finger.
Chapter Three
“All right. Let’s get outta here.” Cheyenne left the front door open a crack.
Ember shrugged. “I’m just waitin’ for my chauffeur.”
“Very funny.”
Eleanor hurried back down the staircase, her face flushed. “I wasn’t about to let you two slip away without saying goodbye.”
Cheyenne stepped willingly into the woman’s open arms, anticipating the crushing hug Eleanor never failed to give. The housekeeper’s arms closed gently around the halfling instead as she murmured into Cheyenne’s ear, “She loves you and only wants what’s best for you.”
“I know.” The halfling hugged Eleanor back and smiled when the woman pulled away and held her at arm’s length.
“It’s been very good to see you so much lately. This should happen more.” Eleanor’s smile disappeared, and she blinked quickly before letting out a tiny, choked-off laugh. “Not exactly like this, of course. I’m not sure how much more she can take before I’m cleaning up shattered glass off the floor of every room.”
“You’ve got plastic tumblers still, right?”
The housekeeper chuckled. “Yes, Bianca Summerlin drinking cocktails from a plastic tumbler. When that happens, be ready for the world to end.”
For some reason, the words made Cheyenne’s insides squirm. She covered it with a tight smile. The world’s not ending. Not this one.
“Thanks for everything, Eleanor. As always.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The woman patted Cheyenne’s cheek, then turned toward Ember with an even warmer smile. “It was so nice to finally meet you, Ember. I know it’s already been said, but I’m allowed to make my own invitations. Any time you want to come back, you just make Cheyenne drive you right up here, got it?”
Ember laughed and accepted Eleanor’s hug as the housekeeper bent over to wrap her arms around the fae girl. “Thank you. I had a great time.”
Eleanor raised an eyebrow as she straightened and patted her gray hair back into place.
“Yeah, even with everything that happened,” Ember added. “It’s good to get out.”
“I’ve been saying that to the woman up there for twenty years. Maybe she’ll listen if she hears it from someone else.” The housekeeper winked, then turned to head back up the stairs. “You drive safely, do you hear me? None of that reckless fast-car nonsense.”
Cheyenne walked backward toward the door, spreading her arms. “Can’t make any promises.”
“Oh, get out of here.” Chuckling, Eleanor went up the steps.
The halfling held the door open for her friend, and Ember wheeled herself to the threshold before pausing.
“You want me to help?”
“Nope.” Ember tightened her grip on the wheels. “Let me try.”
“Sure.”
The wheelchair rolled back an inch, then Ember lurched forward and pushed herself out onto the landing. The wheels caught for a split second on the metal liner of the doorway, and she tipped forward before pale violet light flashed around the wheels of her chair. She hovered two inches off the ground and slowly lowered to the stone landing, her knuckles white around the rims.
“You still got it.” Cheyenne stepped outside and shut the door behind her. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
“Just had to check.” Ember grinned. “This is wild.”
“I have a feeling it’s gonna get wilder.” The halfling stopped at the edge of the first step, folded her arms, and considered the wide, curving stairs in front of them. “What about now?”
“Yeah, definitely.” Ember nodded quickly and pulled the drow lockbox farther into her lap. “I’m not going to try to conquer a whole staircase.”
Chuckling, Cheyenne grabbed the chair’s handlebars and spun her friend around before tilting her back onto two wheels. “It’s more like half a staircase, but I get what you mean.”
They moved down the steps a
s gently as possible. When the halfling’s black Vans crunched on the gravel, she kept pulling back to get Ember to the passenger side of her brand-new Porsche.
“Easier to go down than up, isn’t it?”
“Was that supposed to have some kind of double meaning?”
“I’m talking about stairs, Em.” Smirking, Cheyenne opened the passenger-side door and helped her friend transfer into the seat with a practiced ease they’d nailed down over the last few days. Then she folded the chair and took it to the trunk before sliding into the driver’s seat. The engine started with a push of the button. “So, that was my mom and my home life, packed neatly into fifteen hours.”
“I like her.” Ember shrugged. “Even with the giant rocks sticking up out of the ground and you fighting off monster things.”
“Well, that part was new.”
“Still. Your mom’s incredible. I don’t know anyone else who’d just stand there and watch all that while sipping a drink.”
Cheyenne laughed and buckled her seatbelt. “She tried to hide it, but I saw her sneak a few swigs here and there.”
“Can’t blame her.”
“For knocking back booze like she was?” The halfling shifted into drive and took off slowly around the huge gravel circle in front of the house. “No. Can’t blame her for that.” For other things, but who’s keeping score?
She drove down the long gravel drive and the gentle incline down the hillside away from Bianca Summerlin’s estate. After everything that had happened in the last fifteen hours, silence was definitely golden. Neither of them said a word until Cheyenne turned onto the frontage road that would lead them out of Henry County, Virginia and back toward Richmond.
“So.” Ember cleared her throat and stared at the puzzle box in her lap. “That guy back there who showed up out of nowhere.”
“Never seen a nightstalker before, huh?”
The fae’s eyes widened. “That was Corian?”
“That was Corian.” The halfling let out a long, slow breath. “His timing’s bad about fifty percent of the time. He’s basically saving my ass the other half.”