by JK Cooper
“Haven’t I already done that?” Jack had cut himself, dripping blood into the water before handing the recruits a golden cup. They had all dipped, drunk, and spoke an oath binding themselves to the order.
The ritual performed for initiates is a shadow of the true rite. Speak the words. Open the floodgates.
Grant remembered the change that had come upon him when he tasted the water of the fountain and spoke the words that made him one with the other Hunters. He had felt powerful, more awake, quicker. He was certain the reason the Hunters could stand against the Lycans and other magical creatures was because they were made more by the ceremony.
“What’s in the fountain?”
The next paragraph simply detailed the dimensions of the fountain and talked about the type of stone used in its creation.
“Where is this fountain?”
More paragraphs about the carvings. He closed his eyes and flipped pages, waiting for the guidance he’d been feeling, but it did not come. He opened his eyes to a diagram of a Lycan, highlighting the weak points of their physiology. He slammed the cover.
That’s what I get for thinking a book is having a conversation with me. This isn’t Harry Potter. He swung his legs off the bed. But he knew the book was trying to get him to do something, even if it didn’t exactly talk. I have no idea where the fountain is.
That wasn’t quite true. He’d been blindfolded throughout the flight there and as they returned, but his senses were keener on the return. He’d smelled fresh snow, pine, and stone. He’d heard the fluttering of aspen leaves. He’d experienced the same thing years later on a ski trip to Colorado. “Guess we’re heading to Colorado. I need to call Bryanne again and ask around if anyone knows where the fountain is exactly.” He glanced around the sparse room. “And stop talking to myself so much.”
Grant dropped into the bed and fell asleep immediately, but his dreams came feverish and chaotic. Dragons poured through a portal, spilling fire across the sky. Blood poured from a golden chalice into a fountain, a fountain he’d seen before.
His heart beat fast in his chest, rhythmic, thumping hard as the water of the fountain changed from clear to red. The thumping grew insistent, and a part of Grant realized it wasn’t his heart.
He opened his eyes and found he still clutched the book to his chest. The cover pulsed softly against his sternum.
“Now what?” Grant sat up, leaning against a cinder block wall. “I haven’t slept in days, book. I need rest if I’m to save what remains of the Hunters.”
But he opened the book, flipping past pages and pages, guided by something, to land on a diagram of the fountain. It was the same fountain Grant had drunk from when he’d taken the vows to become a Hunter. He read the first paragraph.
Once the Fae key has been unlocked, if we hope to defeat the Advent and prevent annihilation once more, the true ceremony of blood and fire must be completed. The Hunters must be prepared.
“Haven’t I already done that?” Jack had cut himself, dripping blood into the water before handing the recruits a golden cup. They had all dipped, drunk, and spoke an oath binding themselves to the order.
The ritual performed for initiates is a shadow of the true rite. Speak the words. Open the floodgates.
Grant remembered the change that had come upon him when he tasted the water of the fountain and spoke the words that made him one with the other Hunters. He had felt powerful, more awake, quicker. He was certain the reason the Hunters could stand against the Lycans and other magical creatures was because they were made more by the ceremony.
“What’s in the fountain?”
The next paragraph simply detailed the dimensions of the fountain and talked about the type of stone used in its creation.
“Where is this fountain?”
More paragraphs about the carvings. He closed his eyes and flipped pages, waiting for the guidance he’d been feeling, but it did not come. He opened his eyes to a diagram of a Lycan, highlighting the weak points of their physiology. He slammed the cover.
That’s what I get for thinking a book is having a conversation with me. This isn’t Harry Potter. He swung his legs off the bed. But he knew the book was trying to get him to do something, even if it didn’t exactly talk. I have no idea where the fountain is.
That wasn’t quite true. He’d been blindfolded throughout the flight there and as they returned, but his senses were keener on the return. He’d smelled fresh snow, pine, and stone. He’d heard the fluttering of aspen leaves. He’d experienced the same thing years later on a ski trip to Colorado. “Guess we’re heading to Colorado. I need to call Bryanne again and ask around if anyone knows where the fountain is exactly.” He glanced around the sparse room. “And stop talking to myself so much.”
Athena slid into a pillar, knocking what breath she had left out of her shattered chest. She tried to stand and collapsed, the healing taking longer than it should thanks to the Wiccan magic she’d passed through. That half of a second had felt like she’d been thrown into an electrical storm wearing a suit studded with silver lightning rods. I’ll kill that somersaulting banshee.
She’s more powerful than she looks, Ptyas said.
Please don’t praise the witch who almost killed us.
Sorry. Something else is slowing down your healing too though. Can’t you feel it?
Athena could. She reached around and pulled a sharp obsidian bone out of her back. The wound didn’t close right away, leaking blood out onto the ashy stone until the armor repaired itself. Demons suck, even when they’re dead.
You have no idea. Some explode when they die.
Athena punched the ground, cracking stone and breaking a knuckle. I was winning! She rolled onto her side and stared at the demon bones embedded in the wall, her armor providing enough illumination to see through partially shifted eyes. We could wait them out and try again.
Don’t even think about it, Ptyas scolded. You’re not healing, and they’re regrouping. You had the advantage for a minute when you caught them by surprise, but we’ll be outnumbered and outmatched when that door opens again.
She knew he was right and hated him for it. She couldn’t help but pout. I’m better than they are.
No doubt, Ptyas agreed. You did things I wasn’t even aware you could do with your armor and your new toys. It was impressive, but staying would be stupid and suicidal. You aren’t either . . . at least not simultaneously.
She coughed a laugh as she pulled another piece of demon glass out of her thigh. Blood oozed out before the armor sealed the wound. Still feel more. She banished the armor and ran shaking hands along her skin until she found every shard and pried them from her flesh with frozen fingers.
Athena shivered uncontrollably as her armor reappeared. It warmed slowly as she sucked down filtered air in gulps. Each breath burned. At least one lung had been punctured by her own ribs, if not by a demon rib too. Yeah, you win. I can’t fight anyone like this, not even the voice in my head.
Wasn’t trying to win anything, so much as keep us both alive a little longer, but I’ll take it. I expect a trophy.
Athena shifted into a wolf and limped her way out of the caverns and down the mountain. How about a Scooby snack when we get back to Earth?
Even better.
Do you ever get pissed off?
Were you trying to anger me?
Athena only grunted as she made her way toward the portal.
Shelby flopped onto her side as the door closed, fully shifting into her human form. “That was too close.”
Chelsea came to her aid. “Yeah it was. You look like my gran’s pin cushion on sewing Sundays.” The Wiccan tapped the arrow shaft attached to Shelby’s wrist.
Shelby winced as the vibrations ran through the metal and into her bones. “If you’re going to hurt me, you may as well pull them out.” She glanced over at Kale, feeling his relief at her safety as Theo leaned over him. “How does he look?”
“About the same as you, pin-cushiony with a side of cut up.” He whi
spered something to his wisp, and Fizz began hovering over Kale. “No one can get through that wall while you both heal though.”
Shelby gritted her teeth and had to close her eyes as Chelsea ripped an arrow out. “Some help would have been nice. Might have had fewer pins in my cushion.”
Chelsea put her feet against Shelby’s back as she yanked on an arrow that had lodged itself in a rib. “You be nice to the elf. He moved arrows away from you the whole fight. At least ten.” She pulled the arrow free and toppled backward, landing hard. “Ouch.”
Shelby swallowed her scream. “So sorry to hurt you.”
“Oh, I’m okay.” Chelsea brushed herself off.
Theo took a mound of metal from Fizz, the leftover of an arrow the wisp had removed. He tossed it into the pool. “She’s as bad at reading sarcasm as most Fae. It was nine. I tried to help more, but she kept redirecting the arrows even after I’d shifted them away. Entropy magic as powerful as my own. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Shelby bit back a swear as Chelsea failed to pull an arrow from her thigh. “No, I apologize for assuming you just sat by and watched. You saved our lives with the door.”
“A good DJ knows when to shut down a party.” He smiled, but there was a hollowness in him she felt in her broken bones.
She knew the feeling well. “I’m so sorry about your mother. I lost mine too, years ago, but it still hurts.”
Kale coughed and rolled her way. “And my father. But we’re still here.”
The hollowness inched further away. “That’s my Alpha. Ow, ow, ow!” Chelsea tugged on a shaft that broke, leaving the arrowhead inside. “Maybe I’ll let Fizz finish up, Chelsea,” Shelby said as she winced.
“Okay.” She threw the shaft into the pool. “Eat up, guys.”
“And nice work on that net thing. It sounded painful as Athena went through it.”
Chelsea laughed. “Oh, it would have been like being shot by arrows made of lightning. Not a barrier someone can typically go through, but someone kicks harder than most.”
Kale sat up, Fizz done removing all the arrows and speeding his healing. “Good. Serves her right.”
Shelby let Fizz buzz around her, the arrows dissolving out of her wounds. Way better than Chelsea’s approach. “Thank you, sweet Fizz.” Shelby slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m not supposed to thank a Fae.”
Theo took another lump of metal from his wisp. “Fizz is not a Fae, and the more civilized of us have come to understand that the occasional thank you is heartfelt. We’ll ask no proof of your gratitude.”
Kale stood and stretched, his armor and his body whole once more. “Definitely grateful. We were not at our best.” He stared at the door, rippling with light from the living fire. “Especially me. I’m so sorry, Kale.” Shelby rubbed at her shoulder where the last bit of metal crawled out to Fizz.
He shrugged and flashed a smile that melted her insides. Helped that she could feel his forgiveness. “Not gonna say I had her . . . but I totally had her.” His grin transformed into a frown. “She was at her best though.”
Shelby couldn’t help but agree. “She has the Fae key. I thought we’d beaten her to one this time.”
“And she used it like she’d been handling Fae magic all her life,” Theo said.
“We’ll beat her to the next one, and the one after that.” Kale held out his hand, the gauntlet melting away. “Together.”
Shelby took it. Nearly dying yet again did not dampen the electricity of his touch. Together. She let him pull her close to him, their breath mingling in the chill air of Alvoira, though warmer and thicker inside the room with the flames. Her helm folded into the back of her breastplate and she kissed him hard.
Nothing could take away the magic of being rebonded.
“You may kiss the bride,” Chelsea mumbled.
Shelby remembered she and Kale weren’t alone. “What was that?”
Chelsea shrugged. “Means you two might really be married is all.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the door. “That creeper was hiding while the light show happened.”
Kale let go of Shelby slowly. “I don’t understand the connection.”
“Three witnesses,” Theo nodded at the realization.
“Grant is gonna kill me,” Shelby said.
Kale coughed. “You? I think I’ll be the focus of his murderous intent.”
Shelby sighed in mock relief. “You are totally right. Good luck with that.”
She created a crossbow on her vambrace and willed her scythe into her other hand. She’d experimented for a few minutes with her new weapon, trying to push the boundaries. Seems she could only make bows, long, short, and cross. She’d been hoping for a magical bazooka, but the Fae magic had chosen its theme.
Kale drew back on his bow next to her. Chelsea pulled out her knives, extending them into miniature swords that glowed silver. Theo created a one-way illusion that the door was still closed. Even Fizz seemed to square itself up and prepare for battle.
I hope we’re ready.
You are, Eira replied. She surprised you last time. A second battle will not go her way so easily this time.
I dig your confidence.
Eira smiled. You have proven yourself worthy of my faith in you many times over. And you’ll get better with the keys. The shield was new.
Now you’re just trying to pep me up, Shelby argued. The shield barely helped and wasn’t nearly as impressive as Athena’s mastery of entropy magic or the bows. I wouldn’t have even guessed I could make mine into mini-crossbows, if I hadn’t seen her do it.
Amber eyes locked on her in her head and narrowed. You are too hard on yourself.
Maybe. Shelby nodded to Kale her preparedness.
“Go,” Kale said, directing the Fae to open the doorway.
Theo slapped a hand on the wall. Stone ground against stone as it slid open.
Shelby tensed, pulling the string of her bow taut. Her eyes burned as she flared them amber to see into the darkness beyond for any hint of movement.
There was none, but Shelby knew that could easily be a trap.
Kale held up a fist. They waited. Still nothing happened.
Kale took several steps into the chamber of demon bones, his bow and notched arrow whipping from side to side as he scanned the room. “You feel anything?”
Shelby did not. “No, but Athena tends to block me out.”
Chelsea muttered something at her side, fingers tracing designs in the air. A flash of light came from between her palms a moment later.
Kale and Shelby growled simultaneously as the sudden light blinded them and their sensitive wolf eyes.
“Warn us next time, Chels,” Shelby snarled.
“Sorry, some of us can’t see in the dark.” The Wiccan wove her fingers in the air faster, and the light dimmed, pulsing. “Looks like your angry friend with the horns left though. Look.” She pointed toward a pool of blood, her magic surrounding it with a gold outline. Flashes of golden light appeared farther into the tunnel, surrounding more droplets of blood and a bloody handprint on a pillar. “She went that way.”
As Chelsea walked forward, her magic highlighted other disturbances. Footprints in the ash, demon bones out of their piles, and more drops of blood all received golden outlines.
Kale bent down and touched a drop of blood. It cracked and shattered. “Ice. Looks like she didn’t stick around long.”
Shelby dipped her bow and relaxed the string. “She got what she needed, took advantage of our failure to notice her, and then retreated when her advantage was lost. She’s getting smarter and wiser. I don’t like it.”
Kale absorbed his own bow back into his armor. “Me either. I was half-hoping she’d be stubborn enough to be waiting to be outnumbered when the door opened.”
Shelby laughed, the bitter sound echoing down tunnels in all directions. “That’s not our luck.”
“I suppose not.” Kale kicked at another drop of frozen blood. It slid across stone and shatte
red against a demon skull.
They picked their way out of Alvoira’s Underhill slowly and on high alert, just in case Athena had doubled back or decided to try another ambush. They crossed the spells that kept the ash out without incident or any sign of Athena’s departure.
It wasn’t until they came to the base of the mountain that they found more evidence of the Lycan woman’s retreat.
Kale picked up the sliver of obsidian. “How hard did you kick her to shatter demon bone?”
Shelby grinned. “Hard.” She leaned over where ash and sand had been painted red with the blood of her foe. “The only rain Alsvoira has seen in a long time. Too bad nothing will grow. It would frustrate Athena so much to know she’d brought life to this world with her defeat.”
Kale dropped the sharp piece of demon glass. “You could plant some of your Druid wheat.”
Shelby opened her mouth and closed it. Stalks of wheat appeared in her hand. She studied them, eyeing the tufts of roots at their base. “Genius.”
Kale cocked his head to the side. “I was kidding. There are still demons right over there.” He gestured off to where the smoke billowed darker.
“I know.” Shelby leaned forward and kissed him, their helms bumping awkwardly into one another. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a shot. The demons are leaving it behind for our world anyway.”
“That’s not exactly better, love.”
“Wait.” Theo held out a hand. The dirt vibrated, blood mingling with sand that grew darker as minerals made their way to the surface from deep below. It also grew warmer near the plot, the air thicker and more humid. “That should help.”
Shelby knelt down and held the stalks close to her mouth. “Grow, little friends,” she whispered to the wheat. She dragged her free hand through the soil and pushed the stalks into the hole. “Make Alsvoira beautiful again.”
“They’ll need rain,” Chelsea said. The Wiccan moved her fingers over the stalks, chanting to herself. A tiny cloud formed over the new garden. Drops of water fell as miniature lightning forked through the petite storm.
“Clever.” Theo put his hands on opposite sides of the mini rain cloud. A shell formed around Chelsea’s spell. The shell spiraled inward, collapsing the rain into nothing.