by Bell, A. C.
“You too, please…”
“No.”
The other bed groaned again as Slade lowered his weight into it. I rolled over to face away from him and curled in on myself for warmth and comfort. I tried to cry quietly, but I knew he could hear me. I was being weak and stupid. All Viesci went through this. It was the same as puberty, in a way. I had no right to be so afraid. But, even knowing that I would continue to live once this was over, thinking about it flooded me with fear. By the time this process was done, my heart would stop. I was dying.
"I know you're scared. It's normal during this time. Your body is going through some changes and you’re not sure what to make of them. But know that you are turning into a young woman."
A laugh sputtered through my sobs when I realized he was giving me the puberty talk.
“It’ll be okay, Adeline.”
***
Peter was currently taking an ancient languages class as an elective—for the bragging rights, mostly—so his textbook was helpful in his and Nikki’s attempt to translate Solstice and Hidden Realms. It turned out to be an old fable about a lonely young boy who found a lake of glass. In his reflection, he found a large hound who offered him friendship and when he reached for it, he pulled it from the lake and brought it home with him. That night, the hound slaughtered both of his parents. The lesson was probably something akin to “don’t talk to strangers”, but what did it have to do with Purgatory?
Even their mystery helper had translated nothing in this book except for the title. He had to have had a reason for including it in his research, so they operated under the assumption that they were missing a code to find another meaning in the book. Since they couldn’t decipher it, they got to work on Hidden Realms. Why Adeline had given the rest of the books to the SAU after Alexandra’s abduction, Peter couldn’t guess. How would books help them find her?
He returned to the book in front of him. It seemed to be someone’s theories on moving safely between “dimensions”. The particular dimension the author had been attempting to reach was called “the realm of shadows”, dubbed “Purgatory” in glowing script above it. The author indicated that all supernatural beings besides sorcerers and sorceresses had originally come from this dimension. The Maleficarum found a way to open a portal to this other world and although their portal hadn’t allowed the sorcerers to go through, it had pulled things from the other side to this side. Throughout history, the Maleficarum have tried to send the creatures back by opening the portal again. The more they tried, the more supernatural creatures they forcefully brought to Earth. This lined up with Slade’s persistence that the Hohl just wanted to get home.
Nikki tapped her fingers on the desk in thought. “Okay, so in the book, it talks about a key that can open the door by force and send everything back. It would need to be someone who is between this world and Purgatory to bridge them together. Someone born of a parent from this side and a parent from that side. That must be who the Hunters are looking for.”
“But any number of people would qualify for that, so why wouldn’t they just use any hybrid?”
“Mm, good point. What if they aren’t looking for this girl because she’s the key to opening the portal, but because they think she has the key?”
Peter paused and looked to the silver ring on the cover of Solstice. “The book?”
“Maybe.” Nikki stood from the table, already covered in reference texts they’d been using, and moved back over to the wall of bookshelves. “So, Purgatory, or whatever dimension we’re all referring to as ‘Purgatory’, must be connected to this dimension, right? As if it’s right next to it. So, the portal would need to go between them, right?”
“Well, yeah, why?”
“I remember reading something about in-between places.” She traced her finger over the bindings, looking for a title. “Oh! This one.” She tugged Spaces Between from its slot and tilted it open in her arm. “This talks about how there are certain things that form tiny holes in the world, places where you move from one place or state to another, either natural or man-made. Things like doorways and windows divide rooms or inside from outside and those doorways become an in-between. They’re weaker because they’re man-made, but the author theorizes that natural in-betweens can create holes that people can just fall through and disappear.”
“Is that by Ramsey Bartok?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s never been able to substantiate any of his theories.”
“Because the disappearances he investigated left no trace of how they disappeared, so there’s no way to prove or disprove him.”
Peter crossed his arms and decided to humor her theory. “So, if man-made ‘in-betweens’ are too small, then what are natural in-betweens?”
Nikki thumped the book on the table beside where he had his feet propped onto it, catching the insincerity in his inquiry and matching it with snarkiness. “The biggest is a time of year when we shift from one season to another; An equinox or—”
Peter dropped his feet from the table and straightened, suddenly seeing her point. “A solstice.”
Nikki crossed her arms smugly. “Doesn’t sound like such a dead-end lead now, does it?”
Peter smirked, but didn’t take her bait. He stood and faced the wall opposite the bookshelves. A standing blackboard, brought by Marcus to help explain magical theory to Nikki, was cluttered with sketches and text. He spun the board around and found the other side full as well, this time about physics. Peter gawked. Having never studied magic himself, he’d never realized how much it had to do with science, or apparently bypassing it.
“This side is older.” Nikki strolled up beside the board and blew on it. All the chalk billowed off in a cloud from a mundane wind spell she’d cast with her breath. Peter wheezed and coughed while Nikki chortled to herself.
“Not funny,” Peter complained between hacks.
Nikki picked up a piece of chalk and began jotting down their ideas while he collected himself. “If we’re gonna find the right way to open the portal, then we need to know what the Maleficarum have been doing wrong whenever they’ve tried to open it.”
“How do we even begin to figure that out?”
“In the book, our mysterious ‘friend’ decoded an alchemical recipe that they used to enhance their magic the first time. We can start by seeing if they did something wrong there. Angelica umbels are used in just about every recipe I’ve seen; It’s a catalyst to allow magic users to turn a regular mixture of herbs into an actual potion. They also used dogwood, chives, eyebright, echinacea, and fireweed. Of all of these, I feel like dogwood is the odd man out.” She listed these on the board as she spoke.
“How come?”
“They probably used it for stability, but in-betweens are inherently unstable. If they tried to, I guess you could say, ‘put a frame’ around the hole by stabilizing the spell, it would be like putting a picture frame around a cyclone. It would be pointless. What they should have done is etch an alchemical circle in the dirt around the point where they wanted the portal to siphon it where they wanted. The ground is a much more reliable stabilizer and alchemical circles pack a much bigger punch.”
“That is so hot,” Peter blurted, astounded by her gorgeous brain. He instantly felt himself turn bright red. So did Nikki. Peter turned around and dug his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, that just slipped out.”
“Wait.”
Warm slender fingers slid around his arm and tugged him gently back around. She was standing close now. Up close, he could see the thin ring of green around her pupils. She was timid when she reached up and grazed his cheek with her fingers, so he leaned into her hand and closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry for how I reacted when you…well, you know,” she muttered.
“It’s okay. I didn’t actually expect you to feel the same, it just kind of happened.”
A frown curled her lips. “I did, though. It scared me that I did.”
Her fingers slid into his
hairline and he tilted his head forward until their foreheads touched. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close and she sighed contentedly. A swell of emotion made Peter’s nose tingle.
“I didn’t think we would ever get here,” he whispered. Her answer was to touch his lips softly with hers. He leaned into the kiss and it felt like…finally.
***
Late afternoon sunlight warmed my skin through the window and the pillow below my cheek felt like a warm towel fresh out of the dryer. Despite the warmth, I couldn’t help but shudder. I pulled the comforter up to my chin and curled into a ball. There was no reason for me to feel cold. Hemway had turned the heat up a little in my room, but I couldn’t stop shivering. Slade said it would pass. My body was adjusting. Irritation broiled in my chest until it boiled over. I threw the covers back, pushed out of bed, and dropped to the floor. Maybe push-ups would get my blood pumping.
After the thirtieth rep, my phone started chirping on the nightstand. I begrudgingly reached up for it and sat with my back braced against the bed frame. Mom was calling. I swiped to answer.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, can you come to the house? A racoon got in again and I’m afraid to catch it.”
A chill crawled up my spine. “Who’s there with you?”
“Wait, I’m sorry!” Mom cried. A moment later, a scratchy voice came through the phone.
“I’m going to assume that was a code of some kind,” Lantz said.
I shot to my feet, snatched my keys, and sprinting to the door.
My fury filled the hallway as I marched for the exit door. “If you hurt her, I will break every bone in your body.”
“Then hurry along. I won’t wait forever.”
The only light in the house when I arrived was that of the lamp on the side table, barely visible through the thick curtains. The front door was unlocked for me. I didn’t bother drawing the baton from inside my jacket or the pocket knife from my boot. He would undoubtedly have a gun. He had set a dining room chair across from the couch where Mom sat forlornly. True to form, a .38 glock tipped with a silencer was gripped in his right hand as if he had been born with it as an appendage. It was dim, but the adrenaline rushing through my veins enhanced my vision and made my hands shake. Faint streaks in her foundation told me Mom had been crying. A dark edge to her mocha eyes reflected my own.
“You shouldn’t have come,” she whispered.
“Do you really think I would leave you to him?”
“Put any weapons you have on the table and have a seat.” Lantz gestured to the couch with the gun.
My boots creaked against the floorboards in the silent house. I kept unwavering eye contact with the monster as I pulled my baton out and set it loudly onto the coffee table that separated us. My pocket knife from my boot also clattered heavily against the glass. I sank next to Mom, refusing to remove my glare from the odious man before us. Taking a note from Slade’s playbook, I set my feet on the dense Maplewood rim of the table. The corners of Lantz’s mouth twitched in amusement at the nonchalance I was showing toward the danger he posed.
I laced my fingers together in my lap. “What do you want?”
“Where are the books?”
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. I had no clue where Mercer was.
His grip on the gun tightened. “You’re lying. Do I really need to remind you what’s at stake?” His glance slid to Mom, who glared and seethed in her seat.
“I’ve only been working there for a few weeks. Alexandra didn’t give me anything. Why would she confide something in a new part-time employee?”
Lantz leaned forward and squinted as he analyzed my face. He shook his head with an irritable sigh. “If you really don’t know anything, then you’re of no use. I can’t let you keep digging into the people I work for.”
Venom worked its way into my words, trembling in anger. “Is that also why you killed my father?” Mom drew in a stunned breath. I didn’t risk a look at her. I knew that if I saw the look on her face, I would buckle.
“I wasn’t there for your father. The cashier was a werewolf who’d gotten onto our radar. I was supposed to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. It was my first job, so I wasn’t expecting another supernatural to be there. Didn’t even know what a dhampir was yet.”
Fury, pure and blinding, filled my chest. He didn’t notice that I started sinking deeper into the couch as I got heavier. “You’re telling me you killed him just because he was there?”
“He jumped in the way, if you recall. You startled me when you ran out. He got in my way and ended up as collateral damage.” He stood and leveled the gun on me. There was no falter in his eyes this time, no hesitation. “You were only a child, then, but so was I. I won’t make the same mistake by letting you go this time.”
I tapped my thumb against my hand twice to signal mom and she dove to the left. He redirected the gun to her, but I kicked the coffee table at him. It launched into his legs with powerful force and Lantz lurched over just as he pulled the trigger. The bullet weakened the glass, but instinct drove him to catch his fall and he got a handful of shards. I hurled myself at him. He didn’t expect my weight and couldn’t stop the tackle. The gun clattered across the floor when we hit and I threw my fist into his face.
White-hot pain flared in my side as he jabbed a taser into my ribs. I was immobilized by the volts and he knocked me off of him. I was still fumbling to my elbows when he drew another gun from the back of his belt. A loud BANG filled the space but it was Lantz who was hit, not me. A small spray of blood from his shoulder splattered onto the wall behind him.
Mom was kneeling by the side table where she had retrieved the gun she kept taped underneath. Lantz twisted to aim at her so I kicked my foot at his gut. It didn’t land soon enough. Both guns went off. One bullet grazed across his chest leaving a dark line and I saw Mom fall in my periphery. My kick sent Lantz hard into the wall, breaking through the plaster into the insulation, but not making it through the brick exterior. I lunged at him before he could land on his feet and gripped his armed hand by the wrist and pinning him to the wall by pushing my forearm against his neck. Both my hands were metal beneath my sleeves. I could even feel streaks of it spreading up my neck and into my jaw.
I squeezed his wrist, feeling the bones and tendons crackle in my grip. He breathed forcefully through his teeth to keep from crying out but dropped the gun. I took fistfuls of his shirt and jacket and swung him up to slam him down on the dining table. The wood cracked and crumpled loudly. Lantz gasped for air as it wooshed from his lungs. I drove my fist into his sternum and blood sputtered from his mouth.
“Adeline!” Peter’s voice startled me and I spun to find Nikki sprinting toward Mom. Peter’s eyes widened when he saw my face, just as wild as the uncontrollable rage in my chest. Wood clunked together beneath Lantz and I turned back to find him trying to crawl away. I ignored Peter and stepped around the table to follow Lantz’s slow retreat toward the sliding glass door to the back yard a few feet away.
“You want to leave, huh?” I hoisted him to his feet by the back of his jacket and pushed him through the glass. He fell with the shattered shards onto the snow-covered deck. I picked up the gun before stepping into the fluffy coiling snowflakes that didn’t belong on such a night. Blood covered his face from lacerations where the glass had cut him. The man fell helpless onto his side but my moral compass was dampened by the monstrosities he had now committed against both of my parents. I delivered a hardy kick to his ribs for Alexandra and he latched onto my leg so I couldn’t do it again. I kicked his face with my other foot. That one for Mom. The force made him roll over and he choked up blood into the white blanket of snow and met my gaze with the same hatred I shared for him. I raised the gun. For Dad. Lantz didn’t blink.
“Do it.” He spat with a snarl.
Peter sprinted between us.
I glared. “Move.”
“No.”
“Move!”
“No
! I won’t let you turn into him.”
Tears stung my eyes. “How dare you!”
“You know you don’t want to do this. It’s not who you are.”
“He killed my father!” My voice broke and my lips trembled. Tears streamed down my face.
“Is this what he would want for his daughter?” he asked.
A sob escaped me and my knees started to shake. My fire simmered, replaced by the paralyzing fear I had been refusing to acknowledge. The metal in my skin started to fade with my anger. I broke down into tears.
Peter cupped my hand and the gun in his, his chocolate eyes brimmed with tears. “You can still save Donia.”
I left the gun in Peter’s hands and sprinted inside. Nikki was sobbing and holding her jacket to Mom’s chest. Mom’s whole body was shaking as if she were cold, the way mine had after Justin had shot me. Her body was in shock. I fell at her side and clasped her hand in mine. She held it tight.
“I’ve called for an ambulance,” Nikki sputtered.
“Mom, you’ll be okay,” I promised. Ambulance sirens were wailing in the distance.
Twice Slighted
Peter stood in Adeline’s back yard, amidst the snow and broken glass from the shattered door behind him. He could hear the snowflakes landing around him, slowly piling up. The white canvas only enhanced the red blood that covered Lantz face and hands where the glass had cut him after Adeline hurled him through the door. Frozen breath puffed from his lips as his chest rose and fell in ragged, uneven breaths. Peter looked around anxiously, keeping his ears open for sirens. It was taking too long. Something was wrong. He set his teeth and stepped over to the hitman’s damaged body, crouching beside him. Lantz let his head slump to the side to glare back.
Hatred seethed inside Peter. “I should just kill you. After everything you’ve done, no one would miss you. Adeline would understand and her hands would still be clean of you. You wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone ever again. It would be the easiest solution.” He pursed his lips together and shook his head as guilt and sadness settled over him. “But I can’t. I can’t do it.”