by Krista Walsh
Cassie sat up and held her hand to her head. Together they looked up to find Raul standing over them, an expression of disappointment on his face.
“Did you think that because I have no power, I don’t have tricks? You forget my pets. I’m a man of experimentation as well as magic.”
“How?” Jeff asked, mouth still dry from the shock of the impact.
Raul’s smile returned, no apparent anger in his eyes, and reached into his jacket pocket. When his hand reappeared, a silver sphere sat in his palm, two perpendicular seals open to reveal the swirling peach-coloured spell within. “As though Fate favoured me, I learned how to harness this little gem months before our trip through the vortex. It’s a propulsion spell for people who, what’s the expression I’ve heard so often here, enter my personal space. It turned out to come in handy as a self-defense tool.” He stared at the sphere in admiration. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Inconvenient, Jeff thought.
Raul slipped the sphere back in his pocket and turned on his heel. “If you two have finished being ungrateful visitors, perhaps we could continue? I really am strapped for time.”
Jeff and Cassie exchanged a glance. What other choice did they have? If they couldn’t stop him, they could only follow. They had to find Brady and Jayden.
Cassie nodded in reply to Jeff’s silent question and he held out a hand to help her up. Glaring daggers at Raul’s back, they followed him out of the park without further trouble.
“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted,” Raul continued, “after Magdalen cast the Meratis incantation and sent you home, I somehow got lost in the vortex and popped out far away from you two.” He laughed. “I think it would have been quite cozy if I had landed with you. I could have stayed as your roommate, Jeffrey.”
Jeff’s eye twitched, and he felt Cassie’s fingers tighten around his.
“As chance would have it, I stumbled into the back courtyard of an office building. It was the end of the day and most people had gone for the evening. Only a small group saw me ‘pop out of nowhere,’ as they described it. Executives in an investment firm. I don’t think it could have gone better if I’d planned it. I’ve learned that no one carries ambition quite like a businessman. It clings to them like a potent cologne.
“I promised to endow them with great power once I returned to my world, and in exchange they agreed to help me maintain a certain lifestyle. One I claimed I was used to. I never dreamed it would be so luxurious. Dinners at the most expensive restaurants, a room at the Hotel le Saint James, the best clothes, and most comfortable shoes. Women!”
He brought the tips of his fingers to his lips in a gesture of appreciation.
“Even at my peak in Andvell I haven’t lived as well I have the last couple of months in your world.”
“I’m thrilled you’ve been able to enjoy our hospitality,” said Cassie.
They reached the road, and Raul stopped next to a sleek black towncar. A driver in a chauffeur’s hat and jacket got out, walked around to the side, and opened the back door.
Cassie shot Jeff a look, and he shrugged. Nothing Raul could do in the back of the car, he figured. And at least this way they wouldn’t have to pay the cab fare.
Raul got in first and Cassie and Jeff climbed in across from him to face the rear. The car pulled away from the curb without any directions from Raul.
Jeff glanced sidelong at the driver and tried to make his next question as normal as possible. “So you’re saying they just believed your story? This guy comes out of nowhere, makes all these ridiculous promises, and they just think, ‘That sounds cool’? Seems pretty lucky.”
“It’s amazing what people will do once you’ve demonstrated you can give them something in return,” Raul continued, seeming not to care that the chauffeur could hear him. “If I hadn’t arrived so suddenly in that courtyard, I would very likely be where you expected to find me. Who would have believed me? But have you already forgotten that I didn’t lose everything in my travels? I still have my wits and one or two souvenirs from home. In the face of such obvious proof, how could they deny me?”
Jeff couldn’t imagine how it must have appeared to the executives, but if it was anything like his own experiences, he could remember. The initial disbelief and the determination not to buy in to a fantasy story. The gradual acceptance as the evidence came forward. In Raul’s case, he would have arrived strangely dressed, covered in blood, likely furious and possibly raving like a lunatic by Jeff’s last glimpse of him before they disappeared in the vortex. But once he calmed down, he would have been charming and persuasive, like he had been at Jeff’s introduction. With the pocket-spell sphere and whatever else Raul carried with him, Jeff guessed it would be just as easy to believe a crazy world-jumping tale as anything else.
“So do you plan to give them what you promised them?”
“Of course. It would be terrible of me not to. I am a man of my word. To which Miss Murphy can attest.”
Jeff heard Cassie’s teeth grind together across the car, her blue gaze sharp as knife points.
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the entrance of Mont Royal Park, where the cars had already started to gather in the parking lot to take in the view of the city. Raul waited until the driver came to open his door, Cassie and Jeff scrambling behind him.
Raul passed the tourists without giving them a second look, heading up a set of wooden stairs, each step creaking under their weight. There had to have been a hundred steps, or at least that’s what it felt like by the time Jeff reached the top.
“So what do you want with Brady?” Cassie demanded once they reached a gravel road. The tall trees on either side kept off the morning sun, and blocked the view of the city below. A group of cyclists sped past, followed by the morning joggers.
Raul started down the incline, following the path without looking at the signposts along the way. He came here often, Jeff guessed.
“I suspect that on my return to Andvell, my power won’t automatically return to me. I don’t know what happened, but I felt my magic rip away during my journey into this world. One more mystery I’ll solve once I get home.”
“You say you like Montreal,” said Jeff. “Why not just stay here? Get a job, make some money, earn your power back the old fashioned way.”
“By killing those at the top?” Raul asked, looking genuinely intrigued.
“No, by making more money than anyone else and bossing people around.” Not that Jeff liked the idea of Raul having so much pull in his own world, but he really didn’t think there would be much of a difference to the way things were now. “Why go home and try to get your magic back? You know in Andvell the Feldall twins won’t rest until you’re dead. I don’t think Talfyr will either.”
Raul frowned. “Yes, I heard about that dragon taking up residence in my fortress. I admit I didn’t foresee that particular twist of events when I had the misfortune of waking him. Still, I don’t see him being much of problem. Not for long, anyway. Once I’m home, no one will be able to find me until it’s too late.”
“You underestimate how much the Sisters want you dead as well,” Jeff pointed out. “They’ll know where to find you.”
Raul chuckled. “Illusionists believing themselves omnipotent. You give them far too much credit, Jeffrey. They may be appealing to the eye and whisper all sorts of secrets and promises in your ears, but they’re not able to fulfill any of them. Not in any lasting way.”
Jeff wanted to argue the contrary, but with Cassie at his side, he swallowed his words.
“How do you plan to get home?” Cassie asked. “Without your magic, you can’t open the doorway. Unless you have a convenient porta-spell for that, as well.”
Raul smiled indulgently but didn’t answer.
The Mount Royal Chalet appeared ahead, and Jeff felt a lurking dread. Such a tourist hot spot would be filled with unsuspecting people. How many were about to get hurt?
“Your appointment is here?”
> Raul looked around him and stretched out his arms. “I thought it would be a lovely last view. I spent a great deal of time here, chatting with my new Captain of the Guard. He’s not as good as his predecessor, much to my disappointment. You remember Captain Connell, I’m sure?”
Jeff remembered well enough. The previous captain, Siobhan, had helped him escape his prison to save her sister, Venn. A guard had caught them in the attempt and killed her, then did his damnedest to kill Jeff. Jeff had only survived by falling out of a window and dropping a hundred metres into the river. Thanks to the Sisters.
“You’ve found a way to break the barrier.” Jeff’s worry heightened as the truth sank in. Jayden and Brady’s information had been right.
“We have. It was simpler than I thought.” He turned to Cassie and started to answer her earlier question. “It turns out that not all my abilities were taken from me. This chalet is a wonderful place to sit and meditate, and by opening my mind, I found a way to break through the Veil and communicate with those loyal to me.”
He laughed at Jeff’s and Cassie’s expressions of surprise. “You didn’t think they would abandon me as soon as I disappeared, did you? They’ve been working quite diligently to find me. Fortunately, so was I. Much the same way I broke through dimensions the last time I was trapped behind the Veil. This time, fortunately, it only took me months instead of years to discover the steps.”
They followed Raul around the semi-circular courtyard in front of the Chalet, looking out at the beautiful panoramic vista of the city. Raul rested his hand on the balustrade. Cassie and Jeff exchanged a look, wondering just how crazy he had become.
“Excuse me,” a small voice came up behind them.
Jeff turned to see a young couple, all smiles and excitement. The woman held a camera.
“Sorry to interrupt, but would one of you mind taking our picture with the view? We’re on our honeymoon.”
Jeff blinked at the mundane request, so at odds with the conversation they were having. Cassie appeared just as stunned, letting out an absent “Um …”
Raul shook his head. “Jeffrey, Cassandra, don’t be rude. I would be honoured to oblige.” He took the camera. “This button here?”
The couple stood against the wall while pure evil in human form took their photo. With gracious thank yous, the pair walked away, his arm around her shoulder.
“I will miss this place,” Raul said, watching them leave. “Andvell doesn’t have nearly the same energy. The same vision. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I almost regret that I won’t have the opportunity to see more of your world.”
With a sigh, he turned his back to the view and climbed up the steps towards the Chalet. Jeff and Cassie dutifully followed, prepared to see this through to the end. Hoping to find one more opportunity to keep Raul from getting what he wanted.
Inside, the building was far from empty, which worried Jeff. He’d hoped it would be too early for crowds, the Chalet having only just opened for the day. The information guide sat behind her desk in an alcove, earbuds in, content to ignore the guests while none of them needed her. The gift shop at the other end was still closed. In the centre of the spacious hall, a group of ten people crowded together. When they caught sight of Raul, they organised themselves into a circle, and Jeff breathed a small sigh of relief. All of the visitors were in business attire, right down to the tie-clips. Apparently, Raul expected a lot from his minions.
Front and centre, tied by ropes, stood Brady and Jayden.
Cassie released a small gasp, and Raul smiled in reply.
“My loyal friends,” he said. “Thank you all for coming. And bringing my gift.” He clasped his hands behind his back and approached Jayden. “I am proud of you, my boy, even if you don’t care to hear it. After all you’ve been through, all you’ve … lost, I honestly thought you’d catch me on the street this morning. You’ve still got the speed of a prize horse, despite your balance issues.”
Jayden strained against his bindings, snarled against the gag tied around his head.
Jeff thought the info booth girl could have done a better job and noticed the two tourists here against their will. He considered calling for help, but decided against it. At this point he thought it best to keep her in the dark. No point bringing other people into the Space Channel movie that was his life.
Raul turned his back to his prisoners and spread out his arms to Jeff and Cassie. “It was so nice to catch up, Jeffrey. Miss Murphy. I wish you both the best. Have fun watching your world burn itself to the ground.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the sphere, enclosing it in his hand. Then he stepped back into the circle and closed his eyes, his mouth moving in silent words. By the faint red shimmer in the air around him, Jeff guessed this was his meditative pose, with his followers communicating with him on the other end. The air sparked with electricity, and Jeff felt the hair on his arms tugging at his skin.
Behind Raul, Brady stared at Jeff, clearly intent on sending Jeff a message. He jerked his chin towards Raul. Jayden noticed and nodded urgently, shrugged his shoulder in the same direction. The businessmen holding the two tugged on their bindings to keep them still, but they continued to glare at Jeff.
He looked helplessly back at them. Didn’t they know he would try if he could? Raul’s propulsion spell made it impossible.
Next to him, Cassie gasped and bumped his shoulder. When Jeff looked down at her, she made the same gestures as the other two, casting her eyes towards Raul. He stared at her in wide-eyed incomprehension. She did know about the spell. What was she doing?
Exasperated, she hissed, “He closed the sphere.”
This time Jeff’s gaze moved to Raul’s hand, and he saw that Cassie was right. The sphere had closed, the seals gone, and the barrier was down.
Seeing the opening, they started to run. Jeff headed for Raul while Cassie veered towards Jayden and Brady. He’d taken two steps when his running shoe squeaked against the cement floor, the sound pulling Raul out of his meditative state. With a growl of rage, the sorcerer squeezed the sphere and the swirling peach spell revealed itself again. The pulse of energy knocked Jeff off his feet. From his back, he could make out the shape of a circle, like a bubble, around everyone in the hall. A quick look over his shoulder told him the girl at the info booth had noticed nothing. Her back was to them and her music still played as she sorted her maps.
Ahead of him, one of Raul’s minions had made a grab for Cassie before she could reach Brady. He had her by the wrists, so she turned in his grip to bring his arm over her shoulder and twisted her hips until his shoulder dislocated with a sickening pop. Raul turned his attention to her, consternation crossing his face.
Grabbing the opportunity of the distraction, Jayden and Brady knocked their heads back, cracking their skulls against the noses of the men that held them. Brady jabbed an elbow into his captor’s sternum, doubling him over. Jayden, his bindings never as secure with only one hand to tie, stomped down on the foot of the man behind him, and swirled around to bring his fist, using the rope for added weight, into his face. The man screamed as blood burst out of his nose, and he raised his hands to try and stop the bleeding.
Jeff scrambled to his feet, keeping his eye on the distracted Raul. He understood why the sorcerer had closed the sphere in the first place: he needed his people close enough to transport them home. That meant he would have to close it again. Soon. The bubble around the group was getting dark, the magic rippling over Jeff’s skin. Raul’s furious gaze met his, and he realised Jeff was waiting for him to act. With a smile, he closed the sphere again and stepped back into the circle of his followers.
Around them, the air in the room grew more charged, the energy tingling over Jeff’s skin until it buzzed. He cupped his hands over his ears to block out the ringing. In the confusion of the spell and the momentary surprise of the businessmen, Brady grabbed Cassie’s arm and pulled her out of the fray, Jayden close behind them.
For a moment, J
eff thought they’d lucked out, but when Raul began to laugh, his relief evaporated. “It’s too late now, my friends,” the sorcerer said, his voice sounding far away. “See you on the other side.”
Cassie ran into Jeff’s chest, Brady’s hand still around her arm and the other on Jayden’s shoulder to steady him as the warrior stumbled. One of the businessmen pursued Jayden, and as he tried to get his hands on Brady, Jayden grabbed the dagger from his boot, thrusting it into the man’s chest. The businessman—the man in the mint green sweater from the day before—gasped, gurgled as blood bubbled from his lips, and clung to Jayden’s arm as he fell.
On the other side of the room, Raul and his followers faded, absorbed into the angry red and black light.
Jeff felt the familiar tug of the Meratis spell on the individual cells of his body.
“Fuck no,” he said, and then words escaped him as the five fell into the twirling tunnel.
Chapter Five
They landed in a heap on the hard-packed earth of forest floor. Jeff, at the bottom of the pile, groaned, his lungs compressed by the bodies on top of him. Including, he noticed, the corpse of the businessman, his dead eyes staring down at him.
As they sorted themselves out, and he got to his feet, a variety of “noes” passed through his lips. Denial, anger, frustration, answers to whether he was all right. All around him, the forest closed in, the denseness making it hard to breathe, hard to see. He tried to squeeze his eyes shut and wish himself back in his apartment, but when he opened them, it was only to see Brady, Jayden, and Cassie staring at him like he’d gone mad. Which he felt like he had.
“I refuse to be back in this world,” he said, crossing his arms. “Send me back.”
“Oh, okay,” said Jayden, pressing his hand flat against Jeff’s chest. “Let me just say the magic words and go back to the previous scene where you could have stopped any of this from happening.” He shoved hard enough to push Jeff back a few steps.