Myths & Magic: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection

by Kerry Adrienne

  Before stashing the secret book in the hotel safe, I double-checked Mom’s pages, and they divulged the ritual to open the Rift by both magic and alchemy, for the thirteenth sorcerer’s eyes only. Only the thirteenth and one or more sorcerers could open the Rift together, which is why Ronan and his father had screwed it up. Ronan was adamant that he could close it alone, now that he’d seen a few of Mom’s pages and Melisande’s tablet. The steps made sense now, whereas they hadn’t before. But I still had a hard time believing the closing ritual would work.

  “What if we need all thirteen sorcerers to close it?” I flicked dog hair off my pants.

  Ronan rattled his brain cells. “The Illuminaria didn’t say anything about all thirteen.”

  I pressed him. “It didn’t say anything at all, did it?”

  “It said how to close it. It didn’t say form a circle of thirteen freaks, dance, and throw a fucking party.” He threw up his hands. “It’s not like I ever got to read the whole thing. I had to take direction from my dad and the pages we have here don’t say all thirteen either. What more do you want?”

  “I want not to be playing with lives here,” I yelled. Man, I needed to team up with Einstein to work the Rift.

  I massaged away the slow tapping in my temples. Tense moments slipped by. Unable to handle the yawning silence any longer, I faced Ronan, stretching the seatbelt over my chest.

  A slow flame of bitterness against Ronan’s father ignited in my belly. “Your father didn’t trust you much, did he?”

  “Nope. He didn’t even trust my mother.” He gripped the steering wheel so hard, the vehicle jerked to the right. “Melisande came closer than anyone.”

  “Yet the hag betrayed him.” I cut my hand through the air as if to slice off her gooey, dead head.

  Ronan parked near an ill-lit path far from the park’s mainstream entrances and visitor center. The rain had taken a breather, and I was eternally grateful for the jet-set priced ski jacket I’d picked up in the hotel boutique. Adam had left me a store credit, but I’d used my casino jackpot, not wanting to pimp myself out. Much.

  Magical energy overwhelmed the air. It licked and nibbled my skin. For the most part, my aura protected me, but had no luck chasing the stalkerish magic away.

  Ronan tugged a flashlight out of his backpack and handed it to me.

  I flicked it on, the light bouncing off brown stick trees and winter limp foliage. “What’s in the backpack?”

  “Stuff.”

  I rolled my eyes at the scuttling clouds. Leading the way through a rickety ranger gate to the arboretum, he secured it behind us with a quiet snick. We trudged down an unmarked path cutting through the woods. An undeveloped, natural woodsy area shadowed one of the secondary trails, far enough away from the mainstream paths to ensure our solitude.

  The air swirled, invisible fingers whispering over us, thick enough to touch. It glowed and dripped from the trees like bunches of moss. The farther from the park perimeter we walked the more the magic raided the air from my lungs. A mischievous evil saturated the sick magic trying to seep into me.

  A tremor spooled up my torso and jumped over that thimble of taint inside my core. Was that what Adam sensed? It was bad enough I felt it around me and in the tiny piece of him lodged within me. Thank you very much.

  “You feel it?” Ronan held aside a low hanging branch, allowing me to pass.

  “Yes.” I buried my pride and grabbed his free hand. Another bullet I failed to dodge.

  He jerked out of my clasp and wrung his hand. Horror rounded his eyes as though I’d infected him with fairy slaying poison. The edge of the flashlight beam glittered in his frosty eyes. “You’re full of tainted magic. You feel like Adam.”

  “What?” I hooked my hand in my front pocket.

  “My aura can’t even penetrate yours.”

  “It’s around me, not in me.”

  He touched me again, wrenched his hand back. “It’s there.”

  Was he insane? Or a mind reader? I hadn’t felt or seen any external changes. “One tiny morsel of Adam’s taint.” Honesty would murder me one day, if the Rift granted me another sunrise. Of course, that wouldn’t be in Seattle, since outer space had snatched the sun. I nibbled on my bottom lip. “It’s only a smidge.” I regaled him with my tale of torture.

  “The magic latches onto fae-sorcerer DNA. You wouldn’t have his magic in you unless you were—” He studied me as if I dangled the Illuminaria over his head.

  “Get real. I thought we were sorcerers, not fae.” Wait a hot minute! “What’re you keeping from me? Are you saying we also have fae blood?”

  I stepped on mushy pine needles and my foot slid out from under me. Catching my balance, I grabbed Ronan’s arm and yanked him off-kilter. His good arm whipped the air, banging against a tree limb, raining dead pine needles in our hair. Thirteen, where’s the love? I swatted off the needles.

  Ronan shook his head like a wet Labrador. “I’m his doppelgänger, not fae,” he lashed out in a surly tone. “We’re bonded.”

  “Maybe we all have fae genes.” I gave him an emphatic smile. We hadn’t read all the pages from the Illuminaria yet. Just enough to get us through our task and ensure we wouldn’t kill anyone. “Go.” I pushed him forward and we stumbled along the craggy path. I clapped my hand over my mouth to throttle the rant waiting for one last credit to feed it. “Face it. We both could use a Scrambler right about now to stir up some history in our heads.” An old branch snapped underfoot and the sharp crack split the jittery air, forcing us into silence.

  The strong odor of wet dirt and dormant nature sharpened my senses. We walked for what seemed like miles before lumbering into a glade enclosed by trees and bushes. Overgrown and lush in winter’s final chapter, it lured me closer. My light reflected off a narrow, babbling creek edging the oblong clearing. The air sizzled with magic, pure and tainted, more magic than I’d ever witnessed. So thick with it, the air whistled with every movement we made. The Rift taint had a death hold on part of the glade evidenced by the bleak, brown landscape at the far end of the clearing. Far bleaker than a Seattle winter warranted.

  My magic mixed with the Rift’s magic, pumped through every cell of my being. It swirled around us in a wash of warmth and barbs of glacial evil, becoming part of me, setting my stomach surging and contracting. I breathed deeply, the damp air congealing in my throat.

  “Ronan?” I arced my flashlight in a circle.

  He watched me a few yards away, a strange luminosity in his eyes that had nothing to do with the light. It was unnerving, cruel, and possessive.

  “What?” He dumped his backpack on the ground.

  Easing back, I brushed against a dried bush that crunched death’s hold against my jeans. “Nothing.” I swallowed roughly. Why bother telling him I wanted to swab out my guts with rubbing alcohol?

  Approaching, he extended a tiny plastic bag out to me. “Chew one of these antacids. You took aspirin earlier, right?”

  I popped two tablets in my mouth. “Yes.” Perspiration dotted my forehead. “What happened at the Rift when Adam found you passed out?”

  “The Rift was already messed up after my father’s forced screwup. When Adam neared, the magic went wild, killing my power, knocking me out.”

  I chomped on my bottom lip, wincing at the coppery burst of blood. “What’s to prevent it from happening again?”

  “You. I wasn’t strong enough since he was already drawing my magic. With you here, I can pull from you.”

  “Does the magic feel different?”

  “Yeah, it’s centered on you, not me.” He took the bag from me, careful not to touch my hand.

  Why me? I kicked at a clump of dead weeds. His evasiveness ticked me off. Man, I wished I possessed all of the ancient manuscript and the key to deciphering it. My thirteenth sense told me that Ronan knew more about it—and us—than he’d coughed up.

  My stomach gurgled alarmingly and my knees weakened. I waved my flashlight around and found a boulder to s
it on. Cold and hard against my rear, it enabled me to raise my knees and drop my head to relieve the magic snacking on my insides. After all, I had an illegal magic ritual to remain alive for. I’ll take my handcuffs in diamond-studded platinum.

  “Take your deadener off.” Ronan’s voice floated to me.

  “I will when Adam gets here.” I spun the gray band around my wrist, my elbows resting on my knees. Ronan had stolen a few of them when he’d left his father’s compound. We wore them hoping to keep his father from detecting us. The deadener was only partially effective in the glade, if not downright useless. The antacids helped, and I lifted my head without feeling like I’d just woken up after a rave.

  “You’ll forget. Do it now.”

  “I won’t forget.” I lit him up, standing where I’d left him, scowling up a tornado. “What’s got your briefs in a twist?” Nearby rustling foliage saved his reply. Adam’s presence stirred the acid in my gut.

  “Wow, the magic’s changed. It’s not so bad.” A light bobbed toward me. “Must be you, Blondie.” He sounded chipper while I was as irritable as a women’s clinic full of PMSing girls.

  “You think?” I vaulted up. “Let’s get this fairy and unicorn show done with. Ronan needs a dose of sugar to sweeten his nasty.”

  “What’s going on?” Adam wheeled on Ronan.

  “Let’s just do it.” Ronan stalked to his backpack. “Take your damn deadener off, Aria.”

  I slipped the plastic band off my wrist and flung it at Ronan, hitting the back of his legs. He stuffed it in his backpack, mumbling and grunting to his various selves. Nothing changed in what I was feeling. The deadener appeared useless on me so near the Rift.

  Mist dripped from the roiling clouds. “Brilliant.” I zipped up my jacket and tucked the fur-edged hood around my head. As Adam moved closer, about to put his arm around me, I eased away. “I’m hot to touch, so you’re forewarned.”

  “Blondie, you’re hot, period.” He grinned. “Why are you two—”

  “Who knows?” I shivered more from the eerie magic raising the hairs on the nape of my neck than from the night air that had already frozen me into a Popsicle.

  Ronan trudged toward us. He handed Adam a lancet to prick his finger and gave me a couple for later. “You have your cell?”

  “It’s in the backpack.”

  “If anything goes wrong and both of us are incapacitated, call my father. His number’s in your phone.”

  Stone still, I landed a death-ray look on him. “Like hell. Did the warranty expire on your brain?” I bumped my breasts against Ronan’s hard chest. External magic punched holes in our auras and he flinched.

  Adam extended a placating hand toward me. “He’s the only one who has the slightest chance of helping. You want to risk Zoe’s life? Jon and Jax have instructions to alert the authorities with proof of Riley’s illegal activities if he threatens or detains you.”

  “You guys planned this?” I stuck my hands in my coat pocket. “Thanks for keeping me in the loop. You’re welcome, Aria. Glad you’re part of the A-Team. Sure, no bleeping problem.”

  Unlucky thirteen reared its ugly-ass head. A droopy tree limb snapped next to us. I dodged to the side and it clattered to the ground between the doppel-jerks and me.

  “You’re out of control.” Ronan flung the backpack on the ground.

  “Thanks for the alert system warning.” Stepping over the leafless branch, I rejoined them. “Let’s get on with this so I can chase lab mice in a maze for the rest of my life.”

  Adam grasped my hand. At least the magic wasn’t screwing with our connection. We followed Ronan toward the limpid creek, and stopped at a mini ring of boulders that mimicked Stonehenge. I swished my flashlight in the circle of boulders big enough for six to eight people to stand comfortably within. The narrow rocks ranged from three- to six-feet high.

  My aura ascended as I absorbed energy from outside, sweet and full of zest. I erected an aural blockade to deflect the magic the way Ronan had instructed during our dry run. The air lifted my hair, tickled my skin. Ronan and Adam’s energy twirled inside me as well. Richer, more intense power churned within the stones. Not dirtier energy, just more of it, period.

  The external magic trickled through chinks in my shield. I strengthened it, but the magic was unrelenting.

  “I can’t block out all the magic,” I whispered.

  “It’s okay. Neither can we.” Adam squeezed my hand. “At least your pureness is tempering the wildness.”

  Ronan dusted the perimeter of the boulders with a mix of crushed yarrow to ground the energy and ward off evil, and jasmine to protect our auras. “She’s not all that pure,” he muttered sarcastically. I squeezed Adam’s hand until his bones crunched. “Aria has your faulty magic clouding hers.” Ronan stood to his full height and fixed Adam with a fierce look.

  Adam dropped my hand, the glow of his eyes changing from light blue to violet. “What’s he talking about?”

  Well, crap. Since the whole world just got the text message, he might as well know how his magic latched onto me after Ronan’s magic attacked me in the hotel room.

  After I clued him in, he stroked my cheek. “Sorry. I had no idea that would happen.”

  “Not your fault. It is what it is.” I knew it’d happened for a reason, though. By the end of the night, Ronan’s magic might also be swimming inside me. Let’s ring the freakin’ wedding bells if that happens.

  Ronan flung the empty plastic bag on the ground and handed another marked with red tape to each of us. The red tape identified the mix of angelica, thyme, and agrimonia herbs for healing, cleansing, and closing the Rift. He also handed me a paper bag of sea salt to break the circle or terminate the ritual, if necessary. My fingers twitched on the bag that held enough evidence to fry us for practicing illegal sorcery. Who knew the old geezers were the original source of herbal-based witchcraft? All the ingredients were easily bought from underground Wiccan vendors.

  “Move over there.” Ronan gestured at a copse of stick trees.

  “I can’t see from there.”

  “Your power’s merging too much with the Rift.” His shadow loomed, pressing over me as if to swallow me whole. “We discussed this.”

  “I know.” I stretched to touch him, but he shied away. Dejection speared my heart.

  Adam and I followed the small flashlight beam. On my thirteenth step, I tripped on a blasted rock and would’ve bit the muddy ground if Adam hadn’t grabbed hold of me. I usually watched my thirteenth step, but my mind was too twisted at the moment. “Thanks.”

  “Hold my hand. I can see better at night with my fairy vision.” I found his hand in the dark, my fingers rigid in his warm grasp. “We’ll light him up so you can see.”

  I inhaled his meadow fresh scent rising from our entwined auras, soaked in its familiarity. “I’m scared for you two.”

  Adam tucked me against his side. “It’ll work this time. You make the difference. The magic feels cleaner, stronger.”

  “It’s not cleaner to Ronan.” I turned in his arms, leaned my back against his chest.

  His chest hardened into a granite slab. “He wasn’t complaining, though.”

  We aimed our lights at the stone ring. Ronan pricked his index finger and blood welled up, black as a starless night against his skin. Using a mix of rowan, willow, and mugwort, he created a twelve-point star around the thirteenth and final spot dead center in Mini-Stonehenge. The herbs helped protect against evil, increased psychic powers, and promoted success. Rowan herb originally came from the land of fairies. It kept diseased magic from haunting people or places. Perfect for our half-baked plan of no record.

  Starting with the northern point, Ronan held his finger over the herbs and a droplet of blood fell. The rocks blocked most of my view, but the amber flash of fire was unmistakable. A finger of fog drifted above the tallest rocks and dissipated in the misty air.

  A hot spike of electricity shot into me. Adam jolted against my hip. “Was that supposed to h
appen?”

  “No,” he said in a fierce whisper. “The cloud of magic should still be visible. We shouldn’t have felt anything.”

  Ronan traversed the ring, dripping his life away in flashes of amber and gold fire that spiraled up in tiny puffs and disappeared. With each drop of blood, my magic intensified.

  An intangible force tugged me toward the stones. Power singed my insides. Everything went red, and my lungs burned as if I’d swallowed boiling lava. I clutched my pendant, focusing on the charm to halt the loss of magic, to keep the bad luck away. My aura swirled above the stone circle in a halo of violet and pink. The unknown force tried to lure me closer to the circle. Adam tightened his hold on me. A roaring, whooshing noise filled my head.

  “Aria.” Adam sounded far, far away. “Pull it back!”

  “I can’t,” I wailed, struggling in his arms. “Let me go.” Pain seared my internal organs, a jagged blade cleaving me in two. Half of me filled with the tainted magic, the other with mine and Ronan’s pure magic, emerging for the first time since I’d met him.

  Spellbound, Ronan continued the ritual. His aura floated above him in shades of pale blue. A dead black spot contaminated the halo. Sheer terror stopped my heart. He shouldn’t have the color of death in his aura. Holy fairy godmother, he was missing his other color.

  Ugly, disgusting power evolved around Ronan as angry souls screamed in my head, taunting, daring. Invisible arms and wings wrapped around me, grasping at every inch of me, pinching, prodding. I screamed. The sound of my voice died in the seemingly endless stretch of ground to the stones. With the tainted crud seeping into me, my power spent itself cleansing and preventing it from harming me further.