by Jasmine Walt
Garuda set Jeremiah on his feet.
“Thank you for the ride,” Jeremiah said. “We’re on safe ground now. The djinn won’t cross the river. It’s a boundary. The land on this side belongs to the nature spirits. They don’t get on with the djinn at all.” He glanced over his shoulder. “The nature spirits warned me about crossing, but I was an arrogant, curious fool.”
“You’re sure these spirits are safe?” Garuda asked.
Jeremiah smiled and leaned down to sniff a tall orange bloom. “Oh, yes. They are peace-loving, unless challenged. Just…don’t pick any fruit or flowers without asking permission.”
My ears perked up at the mention of fruit. “I could do with some food. Where do we get some, and who do I ask?”
Jeremiah waded through the swishy grass. “Follow me.”
Each movement that swayed the grass released a waft of roses, although there were none to be seen. It seemed the grass itself carried the aroma. We stepped out onto an overgrown path bordered by mini trees bowing under the weight of their colorful bounty. Jeremiah came to stand before a tree laden with red, oval fruit. He pressed his hands to the bark and closed his eyes.
A moment later, three plump offerings fell to the ground with a soft plop. He gathered the fruit, bowed to the tree, and handed Garuda and me each a red fruit. I bit into mine, and flavor exploded on my tongue. It tasted of peaches and cream with the fresh aftertaste of a watermelon. It was gone too soon. I licked the juice off my fingers and caught Garuda watching me. His blue eyes darkened, and he swallowed hard. Oh, to be home and alone with him again. To taste him, take him in my mouth, and make him groan and writhe beneath me.
“Malina…” Garuda shook his head. “Not the time or place for the eyes.”
I dropped my gaze as my cheeks heated.
“Well, shall we go home?” Jeremiah asked.
A sobering thought. We still had a job to do. I opened my mouth to explain, but Garuda beat me to it.
“We can’t leave yet. There’s something we need to find first.”
Jeremiah frowned. “But I thought…” His brow cleared as the penny dropped. “You weren’t sent to find me, were you?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Jeremiah. We came looking for the bones of a hinn. But it was your journal that led us here. Maybe it was fate that we found you.”
“All anyone knows is that you disappeared,” Garuda said.
Jeremiah cleared his throat. “What do you want with the bones?”
I explained quickly, giving him the condensed version.
“Well. Hmm, let’s get these bones and go home, shall we? There’s a burial ground not too far from here. The hinn had moved on when I returned, but I distinctly remember the spot.”
He set off, muttering to himself. After a moment, Garuda and I followed.
The walk through the spirits’ forest, as Jeremiah liked to call it, was a pleasant one. We stopped off a couple of times to ask for fruit and were granted it. It was a far cry from the arid, barren landscape where we’d been attacked. Why had the gods left that place untouched?
Garuda laced his fingers through mine. For a few minutes, we were simply out for a walk. Once the world was saved, once I’d explained things to Ajitah, maybe Garuda and I could do this for real. Go on a date, or watch a movie curled up on the sofa. Did he love Avatar as much as I did? This was what I’d been missing, what the naga half of myself had denied me. Thank goodness for my hellhound half, for the seal and the power that overshadowed my primal fear of the man I loved.
Loved…
He gave my hand a squeeze and I looked up, still reeling from my revelation. His smile dimmed at the expression on my face, his eyes searching. I swallowed and squeezed back, offering him my best smile. This was something I needed to examine later, once we weren’t all life and death. The bubble of euphoria in my chest and the twist of dread in my stomach told me it was all too real.
We reached our destination sooner than I’d expected: a sun-dappled glade blanketed by soft grass and wreathed in a sweet, heady aroma.
“Here.” Jeremiah led us to a pile of rocks. “They buried the bones here.” He glanced about nervously. “I’m not sure we should disturb them, though. The spirits may get…upset.”
“Maybe if we explain why we need them?” Garuda suggested.
Jeremiah knelt and placed his palms on the ground. He closed his eyes for a long beat. When he opened them, they were shrouded in concern. “They’re not happy.”
“What did they say?” Garuda asked.
He lifted a shoulder in an uncertain gesture. “They didn’t say anything; it was more a feeling.”
I sighed. “We don’t have time for this. We need those bones, and the spirits are just going to have to forgive us.”
Jeremiah’s eyes grew huge. “Upsetting the balance is not a good idea.”
Garuda grabbed my elbow as I moved toward the mound of rocks. “Are you sure?”
“It’s not like we have a choice.”
He released me and nodded. “Fine, let’s be quick about this.”
We removed the rocks and laid them to one side to expose a shallow grave. The bones were wrapped in some kind of thick woven fabric. It felt wrong, of course it did, but the fate of my world depended on this. Bracing myself, I untied the fabric to expose the pile of bones. This had been a creature once. A living, breathing being, and here I was, robbing his grave. I picked what looked like a phalange, tucked it into my trouser pocket, and quickly wrapped up the remaining bones.
Jeremiah stood hunched, his eyes scanning the trees and foliage. Probably looking for some kind of sign that we were about to be struck down where we stood. After a few beats of nothing, his shoulders relaxed.
Garuda quickly buried the parcel of bone under the rocks. “Let’s get out of here.”
I looked him over. “Can you fly?”
He nodded. “I should be able to carry both of you—”
A sharp crack filled the air, followed by a deep, ominous rumble.
Jeremiah threw up his hands to shield his head. “No, no, no. Please. I’m sorry. I told them not to.”
But my eyes were on the sky, watching as the amber and purple atmosphere was torn asunder by darkness. This was no spirit intervention. This was the unraveling Loki had spoken of.
It was happening now.
“The spirits…” Jeremiah fell to the ground, quivering.
I went over the details Loki had given me about this unraveling. From what he’d said, it had happened really fast and was focused around Elara. Elara, who was at the temple. “We can’t go back to the temple. That will be the first place hit.”
“We don’t have a choice. The doorway is in Elara’s closet.”
Jeremiah wailed.
“That isn’t strictly true…” I grasped Jeremiah by the upper arms and yanked him up. “Snap out of it. This isn’t the spirits, but it is bad. This world is unraveling, and you’re the only one who can get us home.”
He stared at me with glazed eyes.
“Jeremiah, we need you.”
“Yes…go home. We can go home.” He fumbled with his sleeve and pulled it up to expose twig-like arms and skin so thin the veins were clearly visible. A string of beads was wrapped around his wrist. He yanked it off. “The combination. I need to find the symbols.”
On closer inspection, the beads were etched with symbols similar to the ones drawn in the journal.
“Got it.” Jeremiah had isolated the beads he needed. “Hold onto me.”
Garuda and I each grabbed an arm.
The darkness above us expanded with the crack and creak of wood under immense strain. Jeremiah began to chant, and a spot of light appeared before us. Jeremiah’s voice rose, and the light began to expand.
A doorway.
We were going home.
I glanced at Garuda, and he locked eyes with me. We’d done it. We had the hinn bone. We were going home. The light grew brighter and brighter. We began to walk toward it, into
it. Then Jeremiah froze. He turned to me, eyes like saucers, and looked down. I followed his gaze. A vine as thick as Garuda’s bicep was wrapped around his legs.
Shit. I grabbed Vindra and bent to slice it, but I didn’t make it. Something grabbed me around the waist. For a moment, I thought it was Garuda, but then I was being yanked away from Jeremiah. I hit the ground a few meters away and scrambled to my feet to see Garuda fending off more of the vines. Jeremiah was on the ground, unmoving.
The spirits had struck after all.
Garuda tore free of the tendrils holding him captive. “Malina. Quick.”
With Jeremiah out of commission, the doorway was closing rapidly. I ran toward Garuda, who scooped up Jeremiah and flung him over his broad shoulder. I grasped Garuda’s hand and leapt for the light. It bathed me in its glow, wanting me, accepting me.
The world roared as another crack tore it asunder.
We were in. We were going to make it.
Garuda yanked on my arm so hard it strained in the socket, and I almost lost my grip on him. I glanced back. His face was obscured by vines. They covered him entirely, leaving only his beautiful eyes visible—eyes that were filled with sorrow.
“NO!” I struggled against the pull of the door. My legs whipped out from under me as the magnetic force of the gateway grew. It had me, and it wasn’t letting go.
“Garuda, please fight.” My grip on him tightened. I could do this. I could pull him through. The vines would have to let go. They’d have to…
But it wasn’t the vines that let go.
It was Garuda.
11
I came to on the mansion’s sitting room floor.
Garuda…
I’d left him to die in an unraveling world.
I’d left him.
My stomach rolled with nausea. I had to find Loki. Get him to send me back. Standing on shaky legs, I wound my way through the kitchen and out onto the patio just in time to watch myself jump into the triangle.
The movement in the periphery of my vision…that had been me coming back. The multi-verse had returned me at this very moment. It wanted me to use the doorway again. I rushed forward, pushing past Ajitah and Carmella.
“Malina?” Carmella said, her voice saturated with confusion.
“What the fuck?” someone else cried.
I made a lunge for the triangle only to be grappled to the ground.
Drake held me down. “Chill, Malina. Shit.”
“No. No, I have to go back. You don’t understand. I have to go back. I have to find Garuda.” Using the last of my strength, I shoved him off.
I made a break for the triangle again, only to have another stronger set of arms grab me around the waist and lift me off my feet.
“Malina, calm down. Slow down,” Ajitah said. “Where’s Garuda?”
“I left him. I left him behind.”
The doorway flickered and died.
“No!”
Loki turned to me. His brow furrowed. “I couldn’t hold it. Something happened. I got cut off.”
The unraveling…
I sagged in Ajitah’s arms. Garuda was gone. Truly gone.
Loki said there was nothing to be done.
Nothing.
He was lying. He didn’t want to try. They didn’t want to risk losing me. This was all a big fucking lie. But it wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t. I just…I couldn’t let this be it. How could this be it?
Could he really be gone? The biggest, brightest star in my universe extinguished? That smile, those deep, telling eyes. I would never see them again. I would never…
I locked myself away and curled up on my bed, waiting for the nightmare to be over. He would come back. Any moment now, he would fly onto my balcony and make some wisecrack about how he’d cheated death, ripped open the gateway to come find me.
Any moment now.
“Malina…” Garuda’s breath tickled my ear. His scent washed over me.
I squeezed my eyes closed. “Stay with me.”
“Always.” The heat of his body pressed against my back.
Hot tears snaked out the corner of my eyes, leaving raw tracks on my cheeks.
A knock at the door. The heat vanished.
No! “Go away!” My scream was primal. Desperate.
I squeezed my eyes shut—please come back. Please…
“Malina, I know this hurts but—”
“Go away.”
“Malina, please come down and eat some—”
“Fuck off!”
“Malina, we need you.”
“I don’t care. I just don’t care.”
He was gone. The illusion had been torn to shreds.
It hurt. It hurt so bad I couldn’t breathe. It was more than pain, more than agony. It was a gaping, hungry maw that swallowed every bit of hope and light inside of me and turned it into something twisted and ugly. It hurt to move, to speak, to eat. So I remained still, alone on my bed, running every moment of our time together through my mind, reliving every touch, every kiss, and every smile.
He’d let go. Let me go to save me.
He’d wanted me to live, to save this world, and I would do it. I’d get up and do whatever needed to be done, even though all I wanted to do was die. I’d save the fucking world if it meant I could see him one last time. If it meant I could tell him that I…that I loved him.
God, I loved him so much.
So much…
But saving the world wouldn’t bring him back. And was a world without him in it worth saving?
“Malina, it’s time to get up,” Ajitah said.
Something warm and wet licked my hand, and Toto’s warm body settled against me.
My eyes were so puffy from crying I could barely see through them. “Go away.”
Toto whined. The bed dipped as Ajitah sat by my hip. “I can only imagine what you must be going through. I suspected you cared for Garuda; I just never knew that…you loved him.”
My throat pinched painfully as a tearless sob attempted to climb up it.
“I’m sorry this happened.”
White-hot rage lanced through me. “I bet you’re thinking this is karma. I break your heart and the universe breaks mine.”
He was silent for the longest time. God. I’d hurt him. I hadn’t meant to. Oh, shit. I was so fucked up.
Guilt writhed in my gut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
He exhaled heavily, as if he’d been holding his breath. “I would never want you to hurt like this.”
His words rang with sincerity. For once, I hated my bullshit detector. His compassion was chipping away at my rage.
“You know you have to get up. You know you have a duty,” Ajitah said.
I bit the insides of my cheeks until the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth.
“Garuda let you go. He let you go so you could finish this, Malina. Don’t let his sacrifice be for nothing.”
That wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t… My eyes stung with fresh tears. “I don’t know how to…I can’t.”
His hand was warm and reassuring on my shoulder. “Then let me help you.”
He scooped me up into his arms and cradled me against his chest, carrying me to the en suite bathroom. Setting me on the edge of the tub, he wet a flannel with chilly water and gently began to dab my grief-swollen face. He brushed the tangles from my hair and braided it.
“Now let’s get some food in you.”
I trailed him back into the bedroom, where a tray of soup and sandwiches was waiting for me. Aria, no doubt. Toto sat up on the bed, his beady eyes watching me warily. I climbed onto the mattress beside him and gave him a quick ear rub—just to let him know I wasn’t mad at him. He lay down, his head by my thigh, content that all was well with the world. If only that were true. The aroma of chicken noodle had hunger gnawing at my stomach, but the thought of eating was just too much.
Ajitah sat me down and fed me, one spoonful at a time, until the tray was empty.
He peered into my fac
e, forcing me to lock eyes with him. “You are the gatekeeper, Malina. You’re all we have. There are a bunch of people downstairs right now counting on you. So, for now, you need to shelve the grief and save the world. You think you can do that?”
I was no hero. And despite the power coursing through my veins, I was no savior. Right now, I didn’t give a fuck about the world. I didn’t give a toss that this was what I’d been born to do. Duty could go take a leap. Those reasons didn’t matter. What mattered was that Dad would want me to carry on. What mattered was that Garuda had let go of my hand for this. I’d do it, not for the world, but for them.
“Malina? Are you with me?”
I lifted my chin. “Yeah, I’m with you. Let’s do this.”
12
Strange how the man I’d hurt was the only one who could reach me. Not my best friend Carmella or my buddy Aaron. No. It had been Ajitah, the lover spurned, who I’d let in. Maybe it was because I knew deep down that he understood what it was like to love and lose, or maybe it was because, like always, he brought a sense of comfort and security to my life. The reasons didn’t matter, what mattered was I was sitting in the kitchen surrounded by my friends, sharing a meal, while we gathered strength for the next phase of the plan—the summoning. The high witch had released the locator spell, so we were all set. Except that the triplets needed another day to recover. They’d slept for an entire day after the spell to open the doorway, and even now, two days later, they were a little groggy. Loki was looking much better, though. The dark circles had gone from around his eyes, and his skin had regained its former healthy glow.
This was my first sojourn out of my room since my return, and everyone was doing a bang-up job of acting as if nothing untoward had happened. Garuda was probably a banned word. I swallowed a lump in my throat and shoved some noodles onto my plate. Had to eat if I was gonna finish what I’d started. Find the hinn, get my mum back, and put the Daughter of Chaos back to sleep. Shoveling food into my mouth, I chewed on autopilot.