by Martha Carr
“At least you’re still keeping up with your schedule at school.”
The halfling sat up a little straighter in her chair, and Eleanor let out a little hum of intrigue.
When Bianca looked at her daughter again, the amusement had vanished from her features. “Cheyenne, please tell me you’re still in school.”
“Of course, I’m still in school. That’s the same.”
“But?”
Cheyenne glanced at the ceiling and tilted her head from side to side. “My schedule has changed a little.”
“Mmhmm.”
Ember pointed at her halfling friend. “She went from advanced grad student to—”
Without warning, the floor, table, chairs, and their dinnerware trembled. Ice clinked in glasses, and from somewhere on the other side of the house came the tinkle of crystal rattling against other crystal. Bianca set her palms firmly on the table, staring at the polished wooden surface in front of her. Ember snatched up her tall gin glass before it fell over, and Eleanor let out a little squeak of surprise, gripping the edges of her chair with both hands.
Cheyenne glanced around the dining room and gritted her teeth.
Almost as quickly as it had started, the earthquake stopped.
The table fell silent again as everything in the Summerlin house stopped rattling and shaking. Bianca lifted her napkin to the corner of her mouth again. “Eleanor, remind me to thank you for talking me out of installing that chandelier in the dining room.”
“I stand by my decision.” Eleanor nodded slowly, her eyes wide. “That was…”
“Unexpected, yes. I’ll look into it after dinner. Just one more benefit of living all the way out here away from the city, Ember.” Bianca smiled curtly at the fae and returned her napkin to her lap. “Even the natural surprises feel a lot more isolated than—”
The second wave rocked the house with surprising force. The metal salad bowl jolted off the end of the table and clattered to the floor, followed by the bottle of mineral water.
“All right. Everyone out from under the staircase.” Bianca lurched to her feet and stumbled away from the table, helping Eleanor out of her chair with a firm grip on the other woman’s hand.
Cheyenne leaped up and grabbed the handles of Ember’s wheelchair before whisking her friend away from the table.
“Cheyenne?” Ember rubbed the back of her neck and looked at the halfling with wide eyes.
“I don’t know.” The half-drow pulled Ember away from the table and out from beneath the staircase, then turned to look out the wall of windows and past the veranda. A flash of dark light bloomed from within the trees at the edge of the small meadow. A wide swath of oak trees and loblolly pines rustled violently before crashing down against each other. The shaking house settled down a little, a slow rumble still rising from beneath the floors. The halfling barely noticed, her attention split between the almost painful tingle across the tops of her shoulders and the second flash of dark light between the trees. “Shit.”
Chapter Ninety-Seven
“Cheyenne.” It wasn’t a question the way Ember said it. Not from Bianca Summerlin.
“I don’t know, Mom.” The halfling wheeled Ember toward Bianca and Eleanor, then set a hand lightly on her friend’s shoulder and nodded at her mom. “I’ll be back.”
“If you don’t know, Cheyenne, I doubt it’s a good idea to go chasing after it.”
“Yeah, but at least it won’t come chasing after me into this house.” The halfling shot her mom a warning look, and the fiery determination Bianca saw in her daughter’s eyes sucked the breath out of her. “Just stay here.”
“What’s happening?” Eleanor squeaked.
No one had the time to answer her before the house rocked again. Cheyenne staggered toward the double doors and threw them open. The calm air outside on the veranda was at odds with the shaking stone beneath her feet and the echo of groaning trees and earth before both snapped and split open. Black and purple light bloomed in long flashes within the trees.
The halfling stopped halfway to the balcony and ripped the Heart of Midnight pendant off her neck for what felt like the thousandth time. This is really getting old.
As soon as the chain broke, Cheyenne’s magic flared with an overwhelming intensity up her spine and through her entire body. The force of it sent purple sparks shooting from her fingertips as her hair went from black to white and her pale skin darkened. For a second, everything went violet in her vision as purple light flashed behind her glowing gold eyes, then she stepped back before sprinting toward the railing at the edge of the veranda.
She vaulted over it and dropped nearly two stories.
“Oh, my God, Cheyenne!” Ember fumbled to get a grip on the chair’s wheels, but Bianca stepped toward her and just barely touched her fingertips to the fae’s upper arm.
“It’s all right. She’s been doing that since she was nine.”
“What?”
Eleanor clasped her hands together and raised them toward her trembling lips as all three women stared at the edge of the veranda. “We asked her why she would ever need to put that skill to use.”
“Apparently, Eleanor, we were wrong.”
Cheyenne landed on the grass and dropped into a roll. The next second, she was back on her feet and racing across the manicured lawn toward the flashing lights and the huge patch of felled trees and snapped branches. I don’t care what it is as long as it stays away from the house.
Slipping into drow speed, she sprinted toward the tree line and almost staggered backward when she saw what was behind the dark flash of light suspended in front of her.
A frozen black tentacle rose halfway behind the light, two more crossing behind it, blurred by the frozen shimmer of the light. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
She dropped out of drow speed to study the flashing lights in real-time. The ground bucked again beneath her, and more trees splintered and crashed into their neighbors. A huge, thick oak shrieked before the entire thing fell sideways. Dirt and grass, leaves and twigs erupted when the massive trunk crashed to the ground at the edge of the field, the entire base ripped out of the earth. A shower of dirt and shredded roots rained down on the forest floor.
Cheyenne stretched out her fingers, gritting her teeth and breathing heavily as she scanned the woods. They can’t get through if there’s not an actual portal.
As if the earth read her mind, another earsplitting crack rose from the ground, and a jagged black line ripped across the earth from where the giant tree had been uprooted. It zig-zagged toward the halfling and through her feet before she leaped aside. Then the ground shuttered and roared. The black and purple lights strobed faster between the trees.
The halfling’s eyes darted across the tree line until the magical flashes were too much for her to follow. A muffled bellow like some beast roaring through a pillow rose at Cheyenne’s feet. Her drow hearing was more than enough to tell her it came from below. From the Border. The in-between.
“Fuck this.” She steeled herself and waited because that was all she could do. Maybe not.
She reached out with her magic, focusing on the jagged crack in the earth that hadn’t opened much more than a foot or two. Stretching her power, she felt for that bit of resistance in and around the earth and found it.
Her arms and shoulders ached as she hooked her fingers over that magical ledge and used her ability to manipulate earth and stone to pull everything back together before the mess got any worse. The ground shivered and groaned again, and the edges of the jagged crack jerked together. Yes.
The ground erupted at her feet, and a black spear of stone burst from the ground right where the halfling stood. It knocked Cheyenne backward and sent her skidding across the ground. The air roared as spire after glistening spire punched through from that non-world of the in-between into this very real one.
The halfling leaped to her feet again and raced down the line of erupting stone columns. She reached out with both hands and tried to
find the pull on her magic so she could stop the rest of the portal ridge. Two more spires punched through just beyond the tree line, launching half a dozen trees into the air. Then the portal ridge stopped, only stretching about ten yards.
Cheyenne dropped her hands and hissed, catching her breath. The woods fell silent as the last bits of broken earth tumbled from the tops of the black spires. Then there was nothing.
“Okay.” The halfling bobbed her head, scanning the line of rocky spikes through the middle of her backyard. Just a little one, then. Maybe it won’t—
A piercing whistle like a teakettle made her stagger away from the portal ridge just before a wall of shimmering dark light shot from between the black spires and straight into the sky. It didn’t rise nearly as tall as the portal that morning, but it didn’t matter. From within the realm that wasn’t supposed to be here, dark, slithering shapes moved back and forth.
“Dammit!” Cheyenne summoned spheres of crackling black energy in both hands and waited.
Back at the house, Bianca stood behind Ember’s chair at the edge of the open double doors. Beside her, Eleanor covered her mouth with both hands and stared at the huge, jagged ridge of black stone jutting in a straight line from the edge of the woods and across the lawn. Ember gripped the armrests of her chair and bit her lip.
Bianca lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think even George will be able to repair the landscaping after this.”
Eleanor clicked her tongue. “Oh, yes. Of course. That is the most pressing issue right now.”
“If you’re waiting for me to be concerned about my daughter, Eleanor, you’ll be waiting a very long time. Cheyenne can handle this.”
“I can’t fathom how you can be so sure of that.”
“I just know.” Bianca glanced down at the young woman in front of her. “I’m sure Ember will agree with me. You’ve seen her fight.”
The fae swallowed thickly. “Actually, no. I haven’t.”
“Hmm. Well, I have.” The drow halfling’s mother sighed. I should have grabbed the vodka.
She almost turned to do just that, but the sight of two long, snakelike tentacles shooting from the thin line of dark light she could barely see made her stop.
The tentacles whipped at Cheyenne, bashing the ground as the halfling darted from side to side, launching attack spells.
Eleanor shot her employer a sidelong glance. “You’ve seen her fight something like this?”
Bianca pressed her lips together. “Stop talking.”
Chapter Ninety-Eight
Cheyenne launched crackling black spheres at the two tentacles whipping through the split in the portal. One of them lashed at her head. The halfling ducked and lunged to the side, launching another attack just as a tiny mouth opened in the underside of the tentacle and spat. A thick, smoking glob hit the shimmering surface of the halfling’s well-timed shield, burning a hole in the grass the second it fell.
With a grunt, Cheyenne faced the portal rift head-on. Just another training session, halfling. That’s all this is. She shook out her hands and bounced a little on the balls of her feet. Let’s go, Nimlothar.
When she thought of the glowing purple seed, a sharper burst of tingling magic spread from her core. She took a deep breath and watched the tentacles waving above her. Here we go.
A third tentacle shot from between the two and headed toward the halfling’s chest. Cheyenne shouted and moved without thinking, throwing her hand out like she meant to swipe away a thick cobweb. A screech burst from the portal as the third tendril jerked in the same direction as the halfling’s arm. The thing ripped apart at the center, spraying black fluid everywhere as the end of the severed tentacle flew into the forest.
“Okay…” Cheyenne paced slowly in front of the other tentacles, which were whipping back and forth madly. “Bring it.”
The tentacles stopped their wild flapping, stiffened, and bent at an angle before slamming down to spear the earth with pointed tips. She took a few steps back and caught a glimpse of glowing red eyes from within the shimmering wall of black portal light. Two more crackling spheres hurtled from her hands into the center of those blurry red eyes, and the tentacles that were barbed legs now rose to slam back into the ground again. Then the thing emerging from the in-between pulled itself across the grass.
Leg after spike-tipped leg slammed into the dirt. The blurred red eyes solidified as a roiling, shifting face broke free from the portal. Two gaping mouths opened one right after the other, displaying two rows of fangs each and dripping with a slime Cheyenne couldn’t bring herself to look at.
She blasted the nightmarish creature again and again with her energy spheres, stepping slowly backward across the grass. A shadow loomed over her from behind the portal wall, then a thick, snaking tail with a curved bulb and a sharp, glistening tip sailed through the air toward her.
Cheyenne darted aside again and sent more attacks crashing into the huge tip of that hard-shelled tail. Great, now there are scorpions.
The tail tugged itself free from where the stinger had lodged in the ground, spraying dirt and grass in every direction. Then it struck out toward her, and the halfling shoved it aside with both hands this time. The creature’s body lurched sideways. One of the legs still speared into the soil broke free with a crunch, and the thing screeched again.
Next trial ability. Use it.
She thought of the Nimlothar seed again and used that fresh burst of magical energy to pull her hands away from each other. The nightmare-scorpion shivered and split down the middle, one gaping red mouth tearing in half, but the two thicker tentacles bursting through the portal wall from either side of the thing’s twitching body wiped the halfling’s smirk off her face.
Cheyenne blasted one with a black sphere as the other wrapped around both her thighs. No barbs this time, but it squeezed tightly enough to make her cry out. She clamped her hands around the tentacle and summoned up more black energy, but the second tentacle cracked against her hands like a metal rod.
“Ah!” The halfling jerked her hands away, her legs and hips aching from the growing pressure. The second tentacle whipped around her torso and both arms, pinning them to her sides.
“Fuck you!” Cheyenne struggled against the tightening grip as the pulsing black tentacles squeezed, sliding farther around her. She pressed her palms against the underside of the nasty appendage pinning her arms down and almost managed to summon more spheres. Barbs shot from the tentacles beneath her hands, slicing through her palms, and all she could do was roar and jerk her hands away.
The nightmarish creature rose on newly sprouted legs, lurching and dragging itself out of the newest Border portal in Bianca Summerlin’s backyard. Two more pairs of glowing red eyes shimmered behind the wall, blinking slowly at her as the tentacles lifted Cheyenne slowly from the ground.
She grunted, gritting her teeth, and tensed every muscle against the increasing pressure. Her breath came in short gasps and she clenched her hands into fists, ignoring the searing sting of her pierced palms. I’m not going out like this. No fucking way.
The ground trembled again as the rest of the tentacled scorpion-beast shoved itself through the portal opening. Then the thing lifted itself onto thick, squat back legs and opened the split Cheyenne had ripped in its body into another red mouth. Pulling its tentacles back toward itself, the thing squeezed the halfling even tighter and started to pull her toward the rows of razor-sharp teeth in that gaping mouth.
The halfling couldn’t breathe. She could barely move. She closed her eyes and focused on the image of the glowing Nimlothar seed as she remembered it. I’m not done.
Black tongues of flame burst to life across the half-drow’s skin. The creature shrieked and lifted her back into the air, but it was too late. When L’zar Verdys’ daughter opened her eyes, their golden glow was replaced by a black light even stronger than that coming from the ripped portal. Black fire burned around her eyes, and as her lungs screamed for air, Cheyenne gave hersel
f over to the drow magic coursing through her.
The flames covering her erupted into one massive, churning ball of dark light. They consumed the tentacles squeezing the life out of Cheyenne, racing down the undulating flesh of the in-between nightmare until there was nothing left. The tentacles crumbled into ash, and still the halfling was suspended in the air at the center of drow fire.
Cheyenne pulled a searing gasp of breath into her empty lungs and screamed.
The flames burst away from her, streaming toward the screeching beast and blowing it away in glittering fragments of black shell and charred remains. Every piece of the thing that had entered this world from beyond the portal disintegrated, cutting off the last piercing screech before there was nothing left.
The halfling dropped to the ground and crumpled when her legs wouldn’t hold her up. The fire was gone, and when she opened her eyes with another gasping breath and a groan, the golden glow behind them had returned.
“Cheyenne!” Bianca’s shout echoed across the swath of green lawn between them.
Growling, the halfling pushed to her feet and fought to catch her breath. She had to bend over and prop herself up with both hands on her knees, but she lifted one of those hands toward the house.
“I’m fine.” The words croaked out of her. “I’m fine!”
The shallow echo barely made it back up to Bianca Summerlin, who stood at the edge of the veranda, gripping the railing with both hands. She swallowed and pulled herself together, but she didn’t move until she saw her daughter straighten and head back toward the house.
The woman’s eye twitched as she walked toward the open French doors into the house. Eleanor stood beside Ember just inside, their mouths hanging open as they stared at the dark ridge of stone and the drow halfling walking away from it. Bianca gave them a perfunctory glance before slipping inside. “She’s fine.”
Eleanor shut her mouth and cleared her throat. “I’ll just…” She patted Ember’s shoulder and turned in a daze to head toward the front of the house.