by Martha Carr
“Yes, she has, and none of us wants to involve her any further. But L’zar needs to keep his focus fairly centrally located, you might say. The Border reservations are too much of a distraction. Too much we can’t control that could go wrong. And this portal isn’t working.”
Cheyenne ran her hand over the top of her head. “Yeah, I get it. I can’t believe this.”
“We’ll make sure not to bother her.” Maleshi nodded. “And it’s not like we’re heading that way for a social call. She won’t even see us there.”
“Yes, she will. Bianca sees everything.” Rolling her eyes, Cheyenne shrugged. “I have to tell her we’re coming. She deserves to know that, at the very least.”
“Sure. Make the call. Both of them. You can get those FRoE agents to step aside for a few minutes, right?”
“I should be able to, yeah.” Cheyenne pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “We’ll see what happens.”
“Thank you.” Maleshi set a hand on the halfling’s shoulder and gently squeezed. “It’s a far cry from the worst that could happen.”
“Yeah, and it still sucks.”
Maleshi winked at her, then rejoined the rest of the group standing around the meditating L’zar.
Cheyenne noticed Ember watching her in concern, and she spread her arms. “Shot in the dark, Em.”
“Fifty-fifty chance, right?”
Nodding, Cheyenne pulled up Rhynehart’s number on her phone and made the first call. Right. Fifty-fifty chance. Either I make this work and it’ll suck, or today’s the day everybody stops listening to me.
Rhynehart picked up after the third ring. “Yeah.”
“I need a favor.”
“Oh, yeah? Figured you’d call me this time instead of going straight to Sir again, huh?”
Seriously? When does this end? “You’re talking about the new portal at VCU.”
“Damn right, I’m talking about it. I thought you and I had an understanding.”
“We do, Rhynehart. I wasn’t going behind your back, and the whole VCU situation isn’t exactly a black ops thing. I didn’t wanna bother you with something you would’ve just sent up the line to him anyway. I know you’re up there at the portal at my mom’s still, so believe it or not, I considered you quite a bit before calling Sir.”
There was a slight pause on the other end of the line, then Rhynehart cleared his throat. “All right. What’s your favor this time?”
“I need you to call your team away from that portal for like twenty minutes.”
“Are you shittin’ me?”
Cheyenne sighed. “Yeah, Rhynehart. I called you just to waste your time.”
“Are you gonna tell me why my guys get an extra break all together without leaving anyone on rotation?”
“Because I’m asking you to do this for me. Tell them to turn away for twenty minutes. That’s it. You can take them around to the front of the house for all I care, as long as they can’t see anything in the back.”
“I’d appreciate a crumb, halfling.”
“Well, I’m sure you can figure out on your own why I’d want your team to leave that portal alone for twenty minutes. Beyond that, anything I tell you will just make it harder for both of us. Look, you said you trusted me to take care of my end of things. Please, Rhynehart. Just trust me on this.”
His slow, frustrated exhale through his nose rustled against the speaker. “Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“When do I make this happen?”
“In the next five minutes. I’ll text you when it’s time to move them out of there. I have one more thing to take care of first, but I won’t keep you waiting long.”
“All right. If anything blows back on me because of this—”
“It won’t. That’s why I’m doing this the way I’m doing it—so nobody has to take the fall for something that shouldn’t have fallout anyway.”
“All right. I’ll wait for that text.” He hung up, and Cheyenne dropped her head all the way back and stared at the sky.
That sucked. This is gonna be even worse.
Chapter Eighty-Seven
Cheyenne pulled up her mom’s cell number and forced herself to make the second call. Grimacing, she brought the phone to her ear and waited.
“Please tell me this is a courtesy call informing me that these agents on my property are being recalled.”
Cheyenne bit her lip. “Hi, Mom. I wish I could tell you that, but no. And I’m letting you know ahead of time that you’ll like this conversation even less than having those guys in the backyard.”
“Well, thank you for the warning. I’m listening.”
She won’t be thanking me at the end of this.
“I’m not asking for permission, because I’ll probably do it anyway, even if you refuse. You deserve to know ahead of time that I’ll be at the house in a few minutes with some friends.”
“Is Ember with you?”
Cheyenne almost laughed at that. “Yeah, Mom. Ember’s here, and a few other people like me.” Spit it out and get it over with. The worst she can do is hang up. “And,” she added, gritting her teeth and clenching her eyes shut, “he’s with us too.”
Bianca didn’t utter a word, and even with her drow hearing, Cheyenne couldn’t hear so much as a whistle of breath from her mom.
“Mom?”
“I heard you.”
“Okay. This’ll be quick and quiet, no confrontations with the agents there. I made sure of that already. We’re just heading out to the backyard. A few minutes at the most, and then we’ll be gone.” That’s as much as I can openly say about walking through a portal into another world.
“Yes. Brevity and silence are very much appreciated.”
“I promise, Mom. We won’t bother you.”
“Oh, that ship has sailed, Cheyenne, but that’s not the issue. I am perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to the presence of you and your friends on my property on two conditions.”
Of course. “I’m listening.”
“The first is that we never speak of this again, which works well for both of us, I should think. And the second is that you come inside to speak to me personally the instant you arrive. After that, whatever you and the rest of your party decide to do is in your hands, and I won’t meddle. But I want to speak to you in person.”
“Absolutely. I can do that.”
“Good. Is there anything else?”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, Cheyenne. You said it yourself. You’d come here even if I refused. And you’re right, I wouldn’t be able to stop you. You know how I feel about this.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then you also know that despite my feelings and my personal opinions, I very much respect your decision to call me before any of it takes place. That can’t have been easy for you.”
Cheyenne blinked and turned away from the group of magicals so they wouldn’t see her surprise. Respect from Bianca Summerlin for pissing her off. The whole world’s falling apart. “Okay. Will you accept a thank you for that?”
“Yes, Cheyenne. That one I will accept.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve earned it. I expect to see you at the front door very shortly.”
“I’ll be there.”
Bianca hung up first, and Cheyenne took a moment to pull herself together. I seriously hope a face-to-face talk will go as well as that did. Totally unexpected.
She headed back toward the others. L’zar uncrossed his legs and stood in one fluid motion, settling his golden gaze on his daughter. “Time to go.”
Cheyenne paused. “Yeah. Everything’s ready.”
A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “I’m much more used to being the one who handles the connections, Cheyenne. Still haven’t figured out if I enjoy the experience of letting someone else handle it.”
“I’m positive I don’t enjoy the experience of taking you to my mom’s house for that portal, but we’re doing it anyway.” She s
pread her arms. “Right?”
“Right.” Corian lifted his hands. “Is now a good time?”
“Hold on.” Cheyenne texted Rhynehart with one word.
Now.
She wiggled her phone with a shrug. “Just give it like five minutes. Oh, and by the way, I have to talk to my mom in person before we hit the portal. It won’t be long, but that’s the only way to keep her from losing it.”
“More waiting.” L’zar swallowed and looked at the sky. “My favorite.”
Three minutes later, Rhynehart replied.
Clear.
She pressed her lips together and stuck her phone back in her pocket. “Time to go in.”
Corian shot L’zar a quick glance before conjuring a portal straight into Bianca Summerlin’s backyard. The drow stood stock-still, hands clasped behind his back and his eyes closed, breathing in a loud, slow rhythm through his nose.
Ember moved closer to the halfling and lowered her voice. “Everything okay?”
“Not really. Kinda weird that I’m more nervous about facing the wrath of Bianca than I’ve ever been about heading into a fight or even when making the crossing. Either time.”
“Well, your mom’s terrifying.”
“Ha. Yeah. You know, she’s never blamed me for being what I am. Not that she likes it, but she hasn’t held it against me. This feels like she might.”
Ember sighed as the portal opened in front of Corian and their group started walking through. “Guess you’ll just have to find out, right? Not the end of the world if she blames you.”
“True. I just don’t think she’ll be able to move past it if that happens.”
“Cheyenne.” Corian gestured at the portal. “Let’s go.”
She and Ember moved side by side through the oval of dark light and stepped onto Bianca Summerlin’s well-maintained lawn behind the estate house. They stood in front of the much smaller portal ridge stretching between them and the edge of the forest.
“Okay.” Cheyenne turned toward the house. “This’ll only take me a few minutes. Shit!”
Out on the winding back veranda overlooking the valley and the backyard stood Bianca, a full glass of red wine in hand. She didn’t move an inch while she stared at the group of unwanted magicals who’d appeared through a different kind of portal onto her property.
“What?” Corian turned, and the others followed suit to catch a brief glimpse of Bianca before she spun away from the veranda’s railing and stormed into the house.
“She wasn’t supposed to see us.” Cheyenne grimaced and took off toward the house. “I’ll take care of it. Just stay there.”
I screwed this one up. Covered everything but the part about us not showing up in a car at the front of the house. How did I forget about that?
The halfling took the stone steps at the side of the house two at a time from the yard up the hill. The front door slammed shut, followed by a FRoE agent asking, “Ma’am, is everything okay?”
Bianca ignored the question and came storming around the side of the house toward her daughter. Her blue flats wobbled on the gravel when she rounded the last pruned hedge, but she didn’t miss a step in barreling past and practically running down the stairs.
“Mom.” Cheyenne stepped sideways and raised both hands in an attempt to stop her. “I’m sorry. This was my mistake.”
Bianca didn’t say a word but tried to sidestep around her daughter instead.
Cheyenne blocked her again. “Let’s just have our talk. We can do that here, face to face. You don’t need to go down there, okay? Let me take care of it.”
Her mom stopped trying to step out of the way and looked Cheyenne’s drow appearance over from head to toe with a furious gaze. “I don’t care if you look more like him than me right now, Cheyenne. I would recognize that man anywhere. Get out of my way.”
Bianca didn’t shove her daughter aside as much as she tried to barrel through her. Cheyenne stepped quickly aside to avoid knocking either of them down the stairs and watched her mom hurry across the lawn toward the portal ridge. Yep. Worst-case scenario right here.
She followed her mom, shaking her head when Corian and the others looked from Bianca to her halfling daughter. Then she realized L’zar wasn’t with them. Oh, great. He ran away again so he wouldn’t have to face this.
Bianca reached the group of magicals and gazed frantically from one face to the next. Then she stormed around them and checked the right-hand side of the portal ridge, then the left. “Where is he?”
No one said a word.
“I know you can talk, and I know you know who I’m talking about.” The woman spun and glared at them. “I rarely raise my voice, but this is one of those moments. Where is he?”
Cheyenne slowed from her jog and stopped beside Ember. She clamped a hand over her mouth and watched her mom’s fury in horror.
Ember leaned toward her to mutter, “Should she be out here?”
“I tried. The only way to stop her is to knock her out or tie her up. Nobody’s getting away with that.”
“Ms. Summerlin,” Maleshi said gently, “I’m not sure this is the time.”
“You’re on my property, whoever you are. I’ll decide what’s the right time for my own choices. If you won’t tell me where he is, I’ll thank you to keep whatever you have to say to yourself.” Bianca’s chest heaved as she scanned the group of magicals, the other side of the backyard, and the tree line bending around the manicured lawn. Then she froze, grew rigid, and took a deep breath through her nose.
The last thing any of them expected was for Bianca Summerlin to whirl with her arm drawn back before swatting the air with every inch of her strength behind that blow. After a loud smack of flesh on flesh she stepped back, shaking out her stinging hand.
L’zar lowered the illusion making him invisible. He stood in front of Bianca, staring at her with wide golden eyes and rubbing the darker-gray splotch on his cheek, grinning like a lunatic. “Bianca. It’s been a while.”
“Oh, shit.” Byrd lifted a fist to his mouth and coughed. “She just slapped him.”
“Shut up.” Lumil elbowed him in the ribs with a loud thump. The goblin hardly noticed as he stared with all the others at the unexpected reunion of Cheyenne’s parents.
Bianca’s jaw worked silently for a moment, then she lifted her chin and regained her calm, collected composure. “I don’t want to know where you’re going or what you’re doing or why, but let me make this perfectly clear for you. If you don’t bring Cheyenne back here at the end of it, I will ruin you.”
Lumil sucked in a sharp breath. Standing on either side of Cheyenne’s parents, Corian and Maleshi exchanged wary glances.
L’zar lowered his hand from his stinging cheek and dipped his head. “I have no doubt. Still, that’s for our daughter to decide.”
“No.” Bianca took a step toward him and seemed to grow a few inches taller in her fury by sheer willpower. “She’s nothing but a pawn to you, L’zar. Cheyenne is my daughter.”
He searched her face, still grinning, then took a step back and spread his arms, bowing his head. But he didn’t break away from her gaze. “I can’t argue with you there.”
Bianca looked him up and down, then spun away and walked three yards back toward the house before turning around and planting her feet again. One finger tapped the side of her navy dress pants, which was the only sign that she’d been furious enough to yell no more than two minutes before. Her gaze flickered briefly toward Cheyenne, and she nodded before having to look away again.
Never thought I’d see her embarrassed and vindicated at the same time. How the hell did she know he was standing right behind her?
L’zar motioned with a quick gesture for Corian to lead the others toward the unprotected Border portal. Corian and Maleshi moved past him, followed by the goblins, and then a hesitant Cheyenne and Ember. The drow turned back toward the mother of his halfling child and placed a hand over his heart. “Lovely to see you again, Bianca.”
H
er only reply was a bitter laugh and to further raise her chin without looking away from his golden eyes.
With a soft chuckle, L’zar bowed again and turned to step off her lawn and through the spire of black stone to enter the in-between.
Bianca Summerlin stood on her lawn and stared at the place she’d watched them all disappear. The only thing that broke her rigid vigil over the portal was the sound of Rhynehart’s men returning after their twenty minutes were up. Rhynehart approached her slowly and gestured back toward the house. “Ms. Summerlin, I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s not safe for you to stay out here.”
“I’m much safer standing here than whatever’s on the other side of that thing.” She shot him a quick sidelong glance, then stormed away from his agents across her perfectly green and exquisitely manicured lawn, scarred by the jagged spears of black stone that had taken her daughter.
Chapter Eighty-Eight
Cheyenne stumbled forward and bent over, propping her hands on her thighs as her lungs burned with their need for air. The rest of the group coughed and gasped, drawing in raw breaths after their painful welcome to the in-between. L’zar was the only one somehow unaffected by the doorway. He cleared his throat once and kept walking without so much as pausing for a deep breath. “We have a lot of ground to cover. Keep moving.”
“Oh, my God,” Ember wheezed, straightening to her full height and panting to catch her breath. “Is that supposed to happen?”
“Every time, yeah. I totally forgot to warn you. Sorry.”
“No, no problem.” The fae girl took a deep breath and stared around them at the landscape of nothingness punctuated by puffs of black smoke and the thick black fog covering the ground. “We were all a little distracted before stepping in here. Is that smoke?”
“No idea, Em. I’d give up trying to make sense of anything you see here. It’s most likely not gonna happen. We just need to keep moving.”
“Yeah.” Ember floated steadily beside her, and both girls moved a little faster to make sure they didn’t fall behind.