by John Conroe
He pulled back and studied me. “That idea worry you?” he asked. I knew he meant the idea of going back, not the Vorsook ideas.
“Yes, mostly because I want to go so bad that it can’t be good. But Stacia will never let me go back.”
“Stacia came up with the idea. She would go with you, of course. So would I. And ‘Sos,” he said.
“You and ‘Sos?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ve discovered I like traveling to new places. And I wouldn’t mind having a conversation or two with these queens,” he said.
“What happens to your abilities when you leave Earth?” I asked a bit bluntly.
“Don’t know. I suspect nothing. I mentioned it to Barbiel and he just grinned and nodded,” Chris said.
“He didn’t say anything?”
“Oh, he said a lot. Just not out loud. He’s constrained by lots of rules about revealing too much. But he works around that with body language and hints,” he said.
“And a grin and nod is Barbiel speak for go for it?” I asked.
“Exactly. Listen, our thought is to go over for a quick recon. Maybe a day or two, then pop back here. If it works, we go back again for longer and search for more answers,” he said.
Ah, that made sense. “You’re testing to see if I go batshit,” I said.
“I wouldn’t have phrased it like that, but, well, yeah,” he said. “We figure the three of us have a shot at wrestling you back here but we’re hung up on one little detail.”
“Portals,” I said.
“Portals,” he agreed. “Please tell me you can get back there?”
“I can get back there,” I said.
“I asked Stacia if you had a way back and she just snorted like I was an idiot. Then Lydia said that I was an idiot and of course you had a way back,” he said, smiling at the memory of being tormented by tiny Lydia.
“How are Aunties Lyd and Nika? How are the twins?” I asked.
“Great all around. Both already crawl and both have started to speak single words. The babies do too,” he said with a grin. “Wulf is the better speaker and Cara is the speedier crawler.”
“That’s not fair to Nika. As for the babies, that seems early, not that I know shit about babies,” I said.
“They are ahead of schedule. Advanced for their ages but other than that, no special powers or anything. So how can you portal back over?”
“You know those batteries we handed out?” He nodded. “I made some really big ones. Omega is trickling raw magic essence directly from Fairie to here and charging up the big ones. We left some of his mini drones on Fairie, in my, ah, realm. That whole entanglement thing comes in handy.”
“Your realm?’’ he asked with a sly grin. “How does it feel to say that?”
“Weird. I think I left it a mess. I have this need to go fix it.”
“And the power won’t suck, either?”
“No, that won’t suck, either. But I think I can handle it better this time. I talked to Aunt Ash about it and she may have come up with a solution. Or at least a partial one. Some spells to help me pace myself, bleed off the overage,” I said.
“How soon can we open a gate?”
“Omega? How close is the first cell to being charged?” I asked.
“It is approximately seventy-three percent charged. I may be able to speed up the process if I task additional drones with charging. It could be at one hundred percent sometime between forty-eight and seventy-two hours.”
“That’s pretty quick. Stacia was doing some research into the companies that got attacked by the remaining Red Caps, half of whom are still at large. She was going to finish up tomorrow and bring ‘Sos up with her by car. That would give us a bit of time to gear up and, more importantly, plan our recon. Where will we come out?”
“Actually, I think I can pick almost anywhere in the Middle Realm. If I think about it, I have a sort of, well, memory is the only word. A memory of the whole realm. We can talk about it, but I would think we should avoid Idiria or any inhabited area for our first jaunt. Then maybe hit the city for the second one, if all goes well,” I said.
“Okay, that sounds solid. Listen, I’m going to go to the guest room and Facetime Tanya and the twins. Tomorrow let’s sit down and plan out our visits—maybe over breakfast?” Then he frowned at me. Well, at my head really. Suddenly his hand blurred and was then holding a bandage—my bandage. A second later, my head caught up. “Ow!”
“That is almost fully healed,” he said, eyes narrowed.
“Still got a few of Caeco’s nanos floating around. They speed that stuff up.”
“That’s gonna go over with a certain bombshell like a black wedding dress,” he said.
“Why did you say wedding dress?” I asked. He ignored me and pulled a folding knife from his pocket. The blade was Damascus and I recognized Mack’s work. Opening the knife with a flick, he precisely jabbed his right index finger. A bead of blood welled up. Then his hand blurred again and a moment later, I felt wetness on my head. “Hey,” I said, a linguistic genius as always.
“That’ll finish the job and more importantly leave a scent marker. I’m not going to a hostile planet with Stacia on a jealous warpath,” he said.
“She’d be jealous?” I asked.
“In the words of Lydia, don’t be a moron. Of course she’d be jealous. Wolf mating tips 101. No exes allowed.”
We set a time to meet and he headed to Arcane’s guest suite while I walked outside, using the bandage to rub his blood off my forehead before I climbed into Beast. My faithful ride started right up and I headed to Castlebury under a blanket of stars and a half moon.
The kitchen lights were on in the family residence so I let myself in through the wards and then the locks of the back door of Aunt Ash’s restaurant, finding my aunt and Darcy, her life partner seated at the kitchen table with mugs of tea.
“Declan, lad, what brings ya out in the dark and cold of night?” my aunt asked.
“I needed to check my pet project in the barn and I also wanted to check in with you both after all the ruckus of this morning.”
“Ruckus he calls it,” Darcy said to my aunt, poking a thumb in my direction. “Most excitement Burlington PD has had in years. FBI, media, violent killers soaked in blood.”
“Yer alright are ya?” Ashling asked me.
“Yeah. The first one caught me off guard. I won’t let that happen again.”
“Am I to understand ye left the body a might parched, did ya?” Ashling asked.
“He had a hostage. I needed a way to lock him down without the girl getting cut.”
“And ye happened to use a Water spell I’ve never heard a word about?” she pressed.
“I made it up,” I said.
She shook her head, staying silent, but the look on her face told me all I needed to know.
“Fire would have burned the girl, Earth wouldn’t have stopped his knife in time, and I couldn’t see clearly for any kind of kinetic or Air blast, so I improvised,” I said.
“Personally, I think it’s awesome,” Darcy said. My aunt whipped around and raised one eyebrow. Darcy just waved it off. “Come on, Ash. You want a live Declan or a dead one?”
“It’s not the surviving I’m troubled by,” Ashling said. “It’s the announcing to the world that ye’ve mastered the Water arts, it is.”
“Nobody announced anything. The reports all vanished into the Feds’ hands,” Darcy said.
“Aye, but to a Crafter, it’s all too obvious, now isn’t it?” Ashling said.
“Is it? You said yourself you’ve never heard of a spell that pulls all the water out of a living person at once,” Darcy said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re kind of an authority on Crafting, even affinities you don’t hold. Who’s gonna believe the kid now has a fourth affinity?”
“I’m for hoping it would just be a third to them, if ya see what I mean. No one should be knowing about his Air abilities, now should they?”
I must have looke
d guilty because her single glance in my direction resulted in a long, hard stare.
“Caeco suspects the Air part and the Water part,” I said. “I deflected as well as I could and luckily the second Red Cap attacked her.”
“That’s a lucky thing is it? Ye might not be going with the girl but ye can’t be so cold as to be happy she was attacked?”
“Ah, Aunt Ash, have you ever seen her fight? It wasn’t a fair match even though the Reddy caught her completely off guard. Plus, I was refereeing the whole thing.”
“So ye left her to fend fer herself?” my aunt asked.
“Of course. You think I would interfere in a fight she was winning? How much do you want her to hate me?”
“Ashling you’re beating him about the head and shoulders over the fact that he was fine,”Darcy said, getting up and moving around to hug me. “For God’s sake, he only killed the one that held a hostage. The other one he left in the hands of the closest federally appointed genetically engineered combat operative, but still stayed on overwatch. He’s a good kid. You raised a good kid who punishes himself more than you do. He’s not going bad.”
“No, but he’s going back ta Fairie, now isn’t he?” Ashling said, rushing out of her chair to hug me as well.
“You do know that I just found out about that like forty minutes ago, right?” I asked from inside my dual-aunt hug fest.
“It was clear ta me this very morn,” my aunt said. Despite my growing abilities with Air, I knew I’d never match her in divination.
“Well, I’ll be going with God’s own Hammer and Stacia and almost two thousand pounds of combat were-bear-wolf. Omega has drones on site and we’ll touch down somewhere uninhabited.”
“That place will be the death of ya, Declan me boy. You cannae let yer guard down even fer an instant.”
“When I’m on Middle Fairie, nothing can sneak up on me, Aunt Ash. And I’ve got some serious firepower on my side,” I said.
“Speaking of firepower, I’ve got something for you,” Darcy said, extricating herself from the hug. She disappeared into their bedroom, leaving my aunt to hang on me.
“Listen to yer wolf, lad. That one will give her life to protect ye,” Ashling said.
“And I would to protect her,” I said.
“Aye, of course ye would. It’s the finding of a suitable girl for ye that isn’t after ye for yer power, that’s the key. That one might admire ye for it, but she’s not interested in using ye.”
“So the right girl for me is a werewolf?” I asked, amused.
“That be the truth,” she said, finally letting me go.
Darcy came back out of the bedroom with a big ballistic nylon pistol case. She had my complete attention as she unzipped it. Inside was the smallest shotgun I’d ever seen.
“Serbu Super-Shorty. Made from a Remington 870. I’m transferring the tax stamp to you but it’s not done yet, so don’t get caught with it here on Earth. Birthday present, but I’m giving it to you early for your trip,” Darcy said. “Holds two shells in the tube and one in the chamber. Don’t be giving it to your girlfriend when she drools over it. Got it? No caving when she gives you that pouty look.”
“Wow, Darcy, where did you get it?” I asked, picking up the little gun and racking the action. It slid open with buttery ease. The whole thing had to be less than a foot and a half in length.
“Guy at work. Listen, the thing is brutal to shoot with slugs and heavy buckshot. Not bad with bird shot, so maybe keep the first two as steel BB and a steel buck round for last,” she said.
“It’s…” I struggled for words.
“Redundant? Unnecessary? Nowhere near as powerful as those cannon balls you fling around?” Darcy asked.
“No, no, I was going to say it’s cool as hell and expensive and wow,” I said. “Do you think I should leave my Ruger behind?”
“Declan, I’m giving it to you because while I know you are sudden death in every direction, I also know that Mr. Murphy and his law are some awful bitches. Shit happens. Ashling says there are things that can nullify magic or block your power. So this is for those occasions,” Darcy said. “Now, about the .357. What do I always say about handguns?”
“Their only function is to buy you time to get to a full-power long gun,” I said.
“This isn’t a long gun, but it’s full power. And its job is to buy you time to get to your power,” she said. “Now, here’s a holster that the company makes for it. Straps to your thigh. It’s got some loops for some backup shells. Hey, now you can share rounds with Stacia. It’ll be romantic.”
“So I should leave the Ruger?” I asked, ignoring her jibe.
“Up to you. If it were me, I’d have backups to my backups,” she said.
“I don’t like a lot of weight,” I said, hefting the gun. I’d have to test fire it a bunch before I’d let it take the spot of my trusty Ruger. Levi always said to never trust a gun you hadn’t thoroughly tested yourself.
“Bloody damn Americans and their bloody damn guns,” Ashling said, shaking her head. There were plenty of parts of our culture that she’d never adapted to or agreed with.
“I’m gonna go check my experiment,” I said, letting the offending gun hang in my hand so it was below our lines of sight.
“Are ye spending the night then?” my aunt asked. There was a wistful note in her voice.
“I’m not sure. I’d have to get up really early and head to Arcane. I have a breakfast meeting with Chris.”
“Well, okay then. Be off with ya,” she said, making shooing motions. I hugged her and kissed her cheek, which brought a quick smile to her face.
“I’ll be right back. Maybe we can watch a movie or something?” I asked.
“Mayhaps we can,” Ashling said.
“That recent Marvel movie is on pay-per-view,” Darcy said, looking hopeful. Aunt Ash didn’t love superhero movies but would sit through them if all three of us were there.
“Sweet. Maybe we can make some bacon grease popcorn?” I asked, eyebrows up.
“Get on wit yer business then,” Ashling said, giving me a gentle shove toward the door. “Honestly, I don’t fer the life o’me know why I coddle ye so.”
Because you love me, I thought. And I love you.
I let myself into the big barn out back where we stored firewood. Something large rustled in the hayloft.
“Just me, Draco,” I said. Another rustle and a gust of wind washed over me. A blob of grayish-black the size of a Newfoundland landed in the dim light cast by my cellphone’s flashlight app. Draco stretched his neck out and butted my leg. Shit, he was even bigger than the last time I’d seen him. How his clay and wire body had taken on the ability to grow and feel like real flesh wasn’t anything I could explain. Even my aunt had no answers for why the Air elemental in the sculptured clay body could appear to be alive. The same thing had been happening with Robbie, but at least there it made some sense. Earth elemental in a body of earth and stone who lived in constant contact with the ground.
I scratched Draco’s neck, being really careful to avoid the sharp backward horns that looked nearly identical to the real dragons of Fairie. I had copied the Potter movies but where they got their design inspirations, I don’t know.
My little dragon followed me as I walked to the back of the barn. An old rustic door swung into a little, simple tack room, which was empty except for a crude plywood-on-sawhorses table. The table was sitting inside a working circle of poured wood ash. Occupying the table top was a stack of five discs of wood. Cut from a coffee-can-thick branch that had been storm broken from our otherwise healthy Rowan tree, the discs were about five or six inches in diameter and maybe two inches thick. Embedded in the exact center of each disc was a chunk of quartz. Some of my very best rune work was etched in concentric circles around the quartz. Three of Omega’s smallest drones were crouched on the top disc of the little wood tower.
From outside the circle I felt nothing, but as soon as I crossed the ash line, a wave of pure magic
all but slammed the breath from my body.
“You weren’t kidding about the extra drones,” I said out loud.
“It was evident that you needed to speed up the timetable. I’ve redirected two of the last three units to gathering power,” Omega said from little speakers on the underside of all three drones. “The third one is still needed for reconnaissance.”
Omega was born from a mixture of quantum design and magic. As a result, he can sense magical energy and use it, to a degree. And because of the wacky effects of quantum entanglement, the drones he’d left behind on Fairie could not only communicate with him real time, but transfer that power across the dimensions. In small amounts. But those tiny increments, at least in Fairie’s terms, could be considered pretty significant here on Earth.