by JK Cooper
Chelsea pouted, crossing her arms. “Why would you do that?”
Theo frowned. “It’s not gone. I just set a timer spell to recreate your magic every day for two minutes.” He tapped the air where the storm had been. “See.”
Chelsea’s rain cloud grew from the spot and began raining again.
The Wiccan girl smiled. “That’s so cool.”
Shelby created new stalks and planted them, filling the space beneath the cloud. “It isn’t much, and chances they survive are slim. Demons might find it and eat the magic tomorrow, but with a lot of luck, and a few hundred years, Alsvoira might just look like a planet worth visiting.”
“Where’s Chenoa when you need her?” Kale said.
Shelby looked up at him, still kneeling before her plants. “What? Why?”
Kale smiled down at her, his love bright as it burned its way across the bond. “She would have had some poignant bit of prophecy to quote about the Summer Omega reshaping worlds with blood and ash.”
Shelby laughed. “No way would she paint it in a positive light though.” But the thought of the old Lycan made Shelby miss her pack. She couldn’t feel them since coming through the portal. “Let’s go home. We have another key to find and a war to win.” She pointed a finger at Theo and then Chelsea. “Not a word about the possibility of a Fae marriage to anyone, especially my dad.”
Athena glowered at the desolation of Alsvoira as she limped toward the portal and the promise of warm, fresh air on the far side. Your world sucks more than a little, Ptyas.
I’m not arguing with you.
At least we’re done with it. Goodbye, Alsvoira. I will not miss you. She speeded up, bracing herself for the numbing sensation of the portal, and bounced off it like a ping-pong thrown against a brick wall.
Athena landed on her back with a jolt and slid across sand and ash. She shifted from her wolf and stared up at the gray clouds, blinking at the ashfall. “What in the hells was that, Ptyas?”
My guess, the Fae spells that keep demons from easily using the portals.
Athena growled as she sat up. “I’m not a demon!”
Try it again, slower maybe? Let it see who and what you are.
Athena stood and made her way to the gate once more, glaring at her skid marks in the sand. She stood before the portal and held out a hand like she would to a dog. “I’m Lycan, stupid gate. Let me through.”
She put her hand against the rippling surface of light. The tips of her fingers broke the surface, so she stepped closer, but her momentum stopped just millimeters into the portal. It felt like a wall of glass or ice. What the? She punched the rift, cracking armor and bones that healed just in time for a second punch. She then dug in her heels and pushed as hard as she could. The glass-like wall beyond the portal’s edge flexed. A finger popped through. Fire tore through the digit.
Athena yelped, pulling her hand back. Her index finger was shredded to the bone, nearly eviscerated. It healed in front of her eyes—bones, tendons, muscle, skin, nail, and then armor. “That hurt.” She could almost feel Ptyas’s disappointment and disapproval. Don’t just sigh at me, you passive aggressive cricket. Spit it out. What is this?
Keanie Meanie’s last laugh, Ptyas replied. You also know that makes you Pinocchio in this scenario, right?
I’m tired, hurt, hungry, thirsty, angry, and not at my best. I also thought we agreed that nickname was juvenile. Athena leaned against the portal as what he’d said clicked within her fatigued mind. You’re saying she told the gate I was a demon? She swore. Probably used my blood from our fight to do it. And you think it serves me right for how I treated her, don’t you?
He nodded inside her. Pretty much.
That’s fair. Keanierah of the Cereus family is one stone cold . . . flower. She sagged against the barrier.
Now you remember her name. Do we wait for the friends you just failed to kill to rescue you?
Ice ran up Athena’s spine, and she straightened it. Never. It means we find another demon gate, hopefully one without much traffic.
Athena sprinted in the body of her Immortal Wolf over Alsvoira’s decimated landscape, putting distance between her and the locked gate near Mount Estorathi. Her helm filtered the toxic air, but it still tasted acrid and sour. Ash and sand seemed to fill her mouth even as she resisted opening it.
She had failed. She had Shelby and Kale, had them, and she had failed. Then she had failed to return home. So much failure in such a short time.
But you succeeded in unlocking the third key of Ascension, Ptyas said.
She wasn’t in the mood for his pitiable attempts to cheer her up. The wound on her back from the demon bone would heal faster in her wolf, but holy hell did it hurt as lupine muscles stretched and tore it open over and over. Still, the pain gave her something to focus her anger on.
The ground she ran over had an alien feel, a thin soft layer of a sandy-ash sediment with barren bedrock beneath. The world was truly dead, her father’s doing, supposedly. His retribution could be terrible. She’d witnessed it firsthand. She shuddered.
What good does one more key do me here? Or anyone? How long can my helm’s filter keep up with this rotten air?
Ptyas did not reply to her rhetorical questions, for which she was grateful, though she did not voice her gratitude.
She ran aimless at first, but a line of smoke in the distance drew her attention. Demons, most likely, but that means escape . . . or a quick death. I’ll take one or the other over slowly freezing, starving, and/or suffocating.
That’s the spirit! Yes, let’s run toward the mountain on fire. Perfectly reasonable.
Athena saw he was correct. Liquid fire spilled from a peak some miles off. The mountain chuffed black smoke into the air, seeming to feed the thickening clouds above. The sun, a red one, of course, dipped below the horizon to her right. That meant she was running south. If this place has a south. Might have a second sunrise right in front of me to prove me wrong out of spite.
Above the mountain, flecks of fire danced in the billowing smoke, igniting for several seconds before winking out. Something within Ptyas stirred, making Athena slow her sprint. She ached in different places as her muscles ceased tearing open the wound.
What is it?
Reminded me of something that can’t be, Ptyas said. I don’t like the sight of it.
Yeah, it’s a volcano. At least it’s not spewing fire a mile in the sky. She could just make out individual orange rivulets of lava crawling down the sides.
Not the mountain. What’s above it.
More flares of fire danced in the smoke. She had taken them to be fiery debris and embers, but that didn’t fit the way they moved. No, they streaked through the smoke, leaving thin moats in their wake. Athena’s heart jumped with disbelief. She leaped into a furious sprint toward the mountain, ignoring the pain completely.
Ptyas roared within her. Athena, don’t!
She ignored him, pounding the barren ground with her large paws. After only a couple minutes, she had drawn to within a quarter mile, her muscles fueled by adrenaline and unbridled excitement. Dozens of things flew above the volcano, darting back and forth.
Are those what I think they are? Are they . . . dragons?
Ptyas sighed heavily within her. Drakes, yes.
I don’t believe it! I thought Alsvoira was abandoned.
By anything sane, yes.
As Athena stared in amazement, what she saw came into full focus. It’s a battle, a battle of dragons! Clearly, there were two divisions of the drakes going at it in an aerial skirmish of fire and fangs. A drake fell from the sky, engulfed in a ball of flames. It slammed into a stream of lava. Splashes of glowing red shot into the sky as the drake plunged beneath molten earth and stone. Athena ran toward where the fallen creature had disappeared, the ground growing uncomfortably warm beneath her paws.
Dead? Is it dead? she asked.
In answer, a form rose from the lava. Liquid fire dripped down the hardened bare chest and ripp
led abs of the sexiest body she had ever seen. Simmering steam ascended from the drake’s square shoulders as dragon wings melted into his back. On the left side of his chest was a tattoo of a serpent wrapped in flame, and Athena immediately recognized the symbol from the Isluxua. Black hair framed a beautiful, lantern-jawed face. The eyes pierced her, smoldering with pale icy blue. The calf-deep lava he stood in seemed to not be a bother at all to him.
Athena’s mouth went dry. She shifted, keeping her armor donned, Fae bow at the ready with a silver arrow nocked.
The godlike drake man cocked his head to the side, giving her a curious look. “You’re new, aren’t you?”
The sound of his voice made her lick her lips. Five rivers! His words sounded like silky fire, and the look in his eyes made her feel like prey. She decided she would allow him to hunt her. “You could say that.”
“And who are you, then?” he asked.
“Athena. Your turn.”
“Caden.”
Another dragon swooped low, spewing fire. Chunks of igneous rock shot outward like shrapnel from a grenade as the pillar of fire hit the ground, trailing directly for them. Caden leaped on Athena, wrapping her in a cocoon of dragon wings just before the fire reached them. Athena closed her eyes. The heat came, but Caden’s wings protected her from the brunt of the attack. As she opened her eyes tentatively, she stared into Caden’s icy eyes only inches from hers as his bare chest rested against her armor.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“The fire? Yeah, but I’ve always kinda liked a bit of pain.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that, playfully biting her lower lip.
“Hey, I’ve got one question for you,” Caden said. “You any good with that Fae bow of yours, or is it just for show?”
Athena felt the wicked grin split her face. Oh, this is going to be fun. “Nothing about me is just for show.”
Shelby emerged from the gate to all but complete darkness, the flickering portal the only light. She shifted her eyes and released her helm, scanning the cavern for signs of life, ally or foe. A spear leaned against one wall. A handful of arrows dotted the floor. Where are the guards?
Shelby turned back to the gate. And where’s Kale? He was right behind me. Minutes passed. The bond did not appear to work across dimensions, even though it remained intact, so she paced the small cave, her feelings alternating from concern to anger. When he finally stepped through, she ran forward and took his hand. His caution and tension mingled with her fear and relief.
She punched him in the chest with her other hand. “Took you long enough! I thought something happened to you. Not funny!”
He blinked at her, his own eyes shifting to see better in the dim room. “What are you talking about? It’s been like five seconds.”
Shelby’s fear grew. “No, it’s been like fifteen minutes, at least.”
He shook his head. “What? No.”
“Please tell me you’re pranking me.” Shelby took a step back, still holding his hand, to look at him fully. The bond told her he wasn’t lying or joking with her. “You aren’t, are you? That’s bad.”
“It’s not really the time for pranks.” Kale glanced over his shoulder. “Chelsea was right behind me. I should move.”
Shelby leaned into him. “I think she’s going to be awhile.”
Chelsea appeared about nine minutes after Kale, and Theo emerged a good twenty minutes after her. He took one look at his traveling companions standing across from him with arms folded. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Kale nodded. “You could say that. It took us way longer to get through than we expected, and the guards are missing.”
“Not to mention there’s no flipping door,” Chelsea added.
Fizz bumped into the back of Theo. The wisp buzzed up and added more light to the room, revealing the smooth stone wall where the door had been.
Theo rubbed at the back of his neck. “That’s not a huge problem. I can get us out. It is a bad sign though. Means Underhill fragmented.”
“What?” Chelsea asked.
“Underhill is mostly under Beverly Hills, but it also includes caverns from other parts of the world, including the demon gates.” Theo stepped into the room. “You didn’t think the demons just kept opening portals into Fae territory? We absorbed them into Underhill.”
“Makes sense.” Chelsea nodded. “Doesn’t explain why they’re all underground though. And what about the weird time dilation thing?”
Shelby and Kale stared at her.
“What? I took physics.”
For all they had been through, Chelsea still had that valley girl attitude. Theo smiled and then frowned. “The reason they always show up in caves is easy enough. Alsvoira is smaller and denser than Earth.” He rubbed the back of his neck again. “How long did it take everyone to come through?”
Shelby closed her eyes. “About ten to twenty minutes per person.”
“What?” Theo turned back to the demon gate. “There’s always been a slight time difference between worlds, but it was seconds per hour. Nothing you would notice. Nothing like this. We need to get back to Underhill. Now.”
Shelby had been soothing the concern in her pack since they arrived and reconnected, but she and Kale had decided not to contact them until they knew they could get out of the sealed cavern. The link also felt weird, not synced up quite right. She nodded to her Alpha.
We are back. We have the key. We are coming. Kale used his Alpha voice to send the message.
It felt like a command to Shelby. Everything in that voice did. Relief rippled through the pack, but that relief felt far away. She spoke to Kale through their bond. They’ve been really worried about us.
Kale met her eyes. If it took us minutes to get through, then it’s been days for them. Days without the pack link. Days where they thought we might be dead. Do what you can to reassure them.
Already on it.
Theo turned and raised his hands. A new, more stable portal appeared on the wall where the door had been.
Shelby stepped through, happy to feel Kale’s hand in hers as he followed. Chelsea and Theo arrived seconds after each other. The relief didn’t last long. Underhill was empty, dark, and dead. Theo led them down a winding path, their footsteps echoing.
Shelby felt the tension in Kale spike, his caution increase. Though she agreed the situation called for caution, she still sent forth reassurance through her bond. She kept her scythe at the ready, his presence a reassurance to her.
Theo pushed open the doors into the Unseely Court throne room, but it felt like a tomb. Fizz blazed brighter, revealing discarded possessions, stains of dried orange blood, and decaying demon bodies. It smelled of sulfur and rotten fruit.
“Where is everyone?” Shelby asked, her helm reappearing so she could breathe through the filter.
Theo didn’t answer, he just walked slowly into the room, aimlessly. Fizz hovered over him, highlighting the disarray. Unseely Court had the distinct feeling of being abandoned, not just unoccupied.
Shelby dropped Kale’s hand and went to Theo, taking his. She poured comfort into him. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head. “Where’s the king? Where’s my father?”
“I’m sorry, he’s copulating dead.” A familiar voice came from the far side of the room. “Thought I heard something in here. Thought I’d get to kill another demon, but I’m just as happy it’s you all.”
“Sadie!” Shelby forgot Theo and all her fear. She ran across the room and tackled the fiery redhead, hugging her and barely resisting a wolfish instinct to lick her face. “I’ve missed you.”
“I can tell. Feculence, you’re gonna break my ribs, Shelbs! What ya been eating?”
Shelby loosened her grip. “Demon blood.” She laughed at Sadie’s expression of disgust. “Not really.”
“Good, that stuff is nasty.” Sadie sat up. “Come on, everyone’s waiting for you in the other throne room. Seely Court is no more. Actually, both cou
rts are no more, but we liked the layout over there better.”
Sadie guided them through a small conference room and into Seely Court. They stood on a dais of sorts next to the crystalline throne, staring out over a room brightly lit with wisps where hundreds of Lycans, Feral, Fae, and humans stood, lounged in chairs, sat on cots, and mingled in small groups. Gennesaret. Chenoa. Paul and Sophie. Shelby could smell a few Druids in the mix too. Her connection to the pack grew as she looked out on the crowd, her soul connecting and reconnecting with each one, and she still felt a void where Dakota had once been. If she were honest, she felt a void in her heart where each of her fallen packmates had once lived as their Omega. Oddly, she could even sense Bubba, Amanda, Bryanne, and many more non-Lycans as part of the pack. How is that possible?
She felt Kale’s surprise too as he reconnected fully to his larger misfit pack. “So many.” But he accepted the growth of his pack gracefully, standing stern and commanding, so much more than Elias ever had. That wasn’t fair, of course. Elias had not had an Immortal Wolf. As if hearing her thoughts, Kale said through their bond, The reason I stand tall is because I stand on his shoulders.
Shelby nodded. I know, and I love you for it.
Sadie waved at the open doors at the far side. “There’s more in the surrounding corridors. We’re glad to have ya back, boss. Many mouths to feed and a lot to do. The cussing Fae weren’t completely sold you’d bring their king back alive and well, but we promised them he was in the best company.” Sadie cupped her mouth in her hands and shouted over the din. “Heya, fairies, I copulating told ya so!” She looked at Shelby. “They all owe me favors now. Small bet we had going.”
Everyone stood and turned to face them. Several people ran out the back door to tell others of their arrival as a murmur rippled through the throng.
The Fae in the crowd bowed toward Theo.
Theo took a step back. “Whoa. I’m no king. I’m a freaking DJ.”