by T. G. Ayer
Glad she was taking the route of impersonal interrogation, I replied, “I checked and the Veil entrance to Mithras was still in perfect condition. And the ward around it was still giving off the same magical vibration so I know the spell hadn’t been broken or strengthened.”
Something flickered in her eyes, either surprise or curiosity—or both. “Thank Alat for small mercies,” the queen said, her tone dry as she watched me with now-emotionless eyes.
I threw my hands into the air. “Don’t look at me like that. I honestly only wanted to check on him, to make sure he was okay. And it was a good thing too as he heard the message I left in the ether asking for maps. And what he’d given us had just about turned this whole mission from stalled-indefinitely to likely-ready-to-depart-at-the-break-of-dawn tomorrow.”
Aisha’s eyebrows shot up. “Not if you’ve alerted them to your presence enough that they strengthen the wards again,” she snapped.
“I was careful. And I did go back and check the Veil. I admit I was a little hasty but the outcome is definitely a good one. We have maps, but we also know Saleem’s alive but in more danger than ever. Which means we need to move ASAP. And now we can.”
Then Aisha paused, her brow furrowing. “I do think that perhaps we need to find an additional way to support our transition. Baa’ruk and I have been working on the spell, but it will only allow us to part the current protective ward. The transition through the Veil is where we need additional help to enter without detection.”
“Like an invisibility cloak?”
She nodded. “The ward is powerful, but our spell will cut through the magical protection. But, with our departure so imminent, we don’t have the kind of time we would need to boost our magic in order to hide our trespass.”
“And what do we need? We tried the portal key and that was a spectacular failure.”
Aisha’s eyebrow curved. “I’m not sure. Mithras has many portals so perhaps the DeathTalkers have other keys? There are a number of defunct access points we could try, but Lady Kira would be able to update you if any are still functional. A portal that Division 7 is unaware of has a higher likelihood of being unprotected.”
“Okay. I’ll speak to Nerina and get this show on the road.” As I spoke, I caught Barry’s amused glance as he chuckled.
Aisha glanced over at him. “And what’s so amusing, Baa’ruk?”
“Kassim would like her.”
Aisha snorted then gave me a slow once-over. “It’s probably the only reason I’m not going to turn her into a pile of embers.”
I let out a silent sigh. “Can we quit with the incineration threats already?
Chapter 13
I’d sent a message to Nerina on the way home, relieved when she’d replied she’d meet me there in an hour. I was in the kitchen, making a mug of peppermint tea, staring off into the distance, when she materialized beside me.
“Hey,” she said, giving me a half smile. Her eyes were shadowed, and she looked like she’d lost some weight with her cheekbones standing out more starkly, confirming that whatever was taking so much of her attention this last week wasn’t easy for her.
“Hey, yourself,” I replied, raising the mug in question. When she nodded and sank into the nearest chair, I popped a teabag into a mug, topped it up with water and set it in front of her.
Nerina curled her hands close to the mug and blew softly over the surface of the tea. “So, what do you need?” she asked, smiling enough that her eyes lit up for a second. Pale irises shifted to silvery for the briefest moment and then returned to normal. I blinked, wondering if I’d imagined what I’d seen.
I settled into the seat beside her. “I’m on a mission for the djinn queen to find an alternative to the portal key that almost killed us all.”
The DeathTalker frowned. “Why? I thought Aisha and the demon overlord were concocting some spell to counter the ward around Mithras?”
“We’re on standby to leave within the next day. Did you not get the message from Logan?”
“Oh, yep. Got it. And I’m ready. So we need a bit of help to get into Mithras then?”
“That’s about the gist of it. She said something about portal access points that haven’t been used in years or forgotten altogether. One of those would work best.”
“Of course, they can’t block access points they don’t know about.” Nerina nodded as she sipped her tea. “I think I know of something, but I’ve heard it’s dangerous, and probably near impossible to find.”
“Do tell,” I said, curling my fingers at her in a move that said gimme.
“It’s called the Sharaita, and it accesses Mithras in an area that’s been mostly abandoned by the people. Probably exactly what we’re looking for, to be honest. I can look into it a little more when I head back to the estate.”
I waved a hand at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to speak to Horner in a while. I’ll see if he can give us a hand finding it. I’m only worried we won’t be able to get our hands on it before we’re required to leave.”
Nerina’s expression was sober but she did appear to be a little distracted, eyes focused on a distant corner of the room. I waved a hand in front of her face. “Hey, you with me?”
She blinked and shifted her focus to my face. With a twist of her lips, she said, “Sorry. Just a lot going on.”
“You okay, though? Anything I can help with?” I asked, the question dead serious, though a little voice in the back of my head asked where in the list of things to do would helping Nerina out fall.
Nerina shrugged. “Not yet, but trust me, you’ll know as soon as I do.”
Chapter 14
I materialized inside the Elite Agency headquarters’ front hall, my mind filled with all the things I needed to attend to in preparation for our departure, an a little restless with anticipation of the visit by the rebel agent meant to help us.
Gerda, the receptionist, didn’t even blink at my sudden appearance out of thin air. She merely gave me a cheery smile and said, “If you want to see High Councilman Horner, you’re going to have to wait about half an hour. He’s in a meeting right now.”
I gave her a brief nod and said, “Guess I’ll have to wait. Can you put me down as his next meeting?” When she smiled then bent her head and scribbled something into her ledger, I said “I think I’ll just go upstairs for a bit and pop in to chat with Ash, maybe check my mail.”
She didn’t even look up to meet my eyes as she waved me off. “I’m sorry to have to say that Agent Ash isn’t in right now. She and her team are on an off-world mission.”
I nodded—to myself of course—before heading into the front room to wait for my appointment time. My last visit to the Elite HQ had been of the rather explosive variety, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had told me to leave the moment I’d arrived.
Horner would no doubt have had his team repair the room I’d decimated, but I still felt guilty about it. And though I’d suggested on numerous occasions that I would pay for the damages, my boss had merely shaken his head and smiled before saying it was all part of the job.
Later, I hurried upstairs and made my way to the boss’s office, grateful that the door was ajar, informing me that it was okay to enter.
With a light knock on the heavy oak, I pushed the door wider and popped my head inside to make sure I wasn’t intruding. Horner looked up at the sound of creaking hinges and gave me a narrow smile.
The sight of my boss, his skin paler than normal, the creases at the sides of his eyes deeper tonight than I had ever seen before, was no comfort to me, especially when I was already juggling a bunch of worries. He beckoned me forward and I walked across the deep pile carpet to take a seat in one of the two overstuffed armchairs in front of his desk.
The old leather creaked beneath me as my weight flattened whatever cushioning was left in the chair. I winced and stilled the urge to fidget.
Horner’s dark head was now bent over a file and I waited in respectful silence for him. Ther
e was nothing arrogant at all about the man, and in fact he had only ever treated me with fatherly kindness ever since he’d succeeded in convincing me to come on board.
His treatment of me had in turn inspired my desire to do my job as best as I could and to ensure that he’d never regret his choice. Though I often questioned his motives for making such an effort to have me join his agency, I couldn’t question the choice, especially with the extra privileges he’d afforded to me, even going to the extent of agreeing that my own cases would always take priority, and that he’d have a team ready for me should I ever need it.
Horner scrawled a signature at the bottom of one of the pages then closed the file and set it aside with a sigh.
“I apologize for making you wait, Agent Morgan. Unfortunately, it does appear that a number of things insist on going to hell in a hand-basket—I think that’s the most appropriate EarthWorld term for the current state of affairs.” He smiled at me, a corner of his mouth curling as his eyes twinkled. “I am making a concerted attempt to corral the renegades but as you well know, there are few guarantees despite the level of dedication one puts into the effort.”
I chuckled. “I don’t think I could have come up with a better description than that.” Though I wanted to throw my questions at him, I fell silent.
Horner straightened in his seat and waggled his fingers at me. “Come, Agent Morgan. Out with it. We have a bond of trust between us, which ought to give you the peace of mind to speak to me without concerns. Please let me know how I can help you?”
His words seemed to emit an energy that reached out toward me, dosing me with a warm energy that resonated within me, and helped me calm my thoughts.
I gave him a weak smile. “There is one thing I’d like to have.”
“Name it.”
“We need a key to the kingdom.”
Horner’s brow furrowed, not in ignorance but rather to indicate his mind was racing off on a tangent in an attempt to find us a key.
I figured I’d make it easy for him. “I believe there is a key that could work, although it’s not like our regular portal keys.”
Horner stiffened, eyes flashing. “What are you talking about?”
I let out a sigh. “The Sharaita.”
“Oh,” he said and sat back as though I’d just slapped him across the face. “How did you find out about the Sharaita? Only a few possess the knowledge of this artifact.”
I shrugged, reluctant to dob Nerina in, although I suspected Horner knew she’d given me the super-secret details. “We’re working really hard to make sure we get in safely. The magic of the ward may be far more powerful than we know and having a lifeline in our back pocket will help. Especially when we almost killed ourselves even before we got into Mithras the last time. Would be good to at least survive the journey there.”
Horner nodded. And his silence spoke volumes. The man—or Immortal as I believed him to be—almost certainly knew more than he was letting on. I supposed I should be grateful that he wasn’t a roadblock because I wouldn’t have enjoyed that battle.
I liked having Horner on our side.
“Very well,” he said, letting out a sigh that sounded as though he were Atlas with the weight of the world on his shoulder. “I will procure the Sharaita for you. I will let you know when you can pick it up.”
I almost groaned with relief. “Thank you.”
Horner held up a hand. “Just be warned. The Sharaita was the precursor of what we know now as portal keys. This ancient key that took payment in more than blood.”
My blood cooled at his words. “What payment?” I’d been prepared for a blood-letting to consecrate the Sharaita but Nerina hadn’t mentioned anything about the key taking its own payment.
Horner shook his head. “I don’t know. It holds a danger that not many would choose to tempt. I would suggest you find another way to access the realm. The use of the Sharaita may have consequences you and your team are likely to regret.”
“My team?” I’d been prepared to risk my own life but now that Horner had implied the team would be in danger, I knew I had to put the brakes on this option.
“Each member of your team will have to perform a bloodletting to consecrate the key. Blood and pain, that’s what the Sharaita craves.”
“You talk as though it’s living thing.” My stomach twisted now.
“Some say the Sharaita is part of the Veil, a living essence of the Veil trapped within the relic. She allows you to move through the Veil but she must have her payment.”
I exhaled on a ragged whisper. “If blood and pain are not the only payment, what will she want of us as payment?”
Horner’s eyes met mine as he said, “That is what we cannot know. The relic has not been used in three millennia. And in ancient times, blood and pain were only two parts of the price of passage. I believe a group of people can use it together and provide their blood for the consecration, but I can’t be certain if the Nahra will be asked of each traveler or of only one.”
His words were sober and so grave that I knew instantly what he was saying without voicing the words.
The Sharaita will want a life as payment.
Chapter 15
I had to admit that now that we had sufficient maps and information that would allow us to prepare better for the mission, I’d now found something else to worry about:
The first was breaking the news to the team about the price of using the Sharaita relic—which I admit I was stalling on. My own mind was still reeling from Horner’s words and I had to wonder if it was worth paying a price that none of us even knew the value of.
It’s a life. No sense in avoiding the obvious.
I ignored the voice in my head as I tried to figure out how we’d go about releasing Steph, Lily, and Baz from the team without pissing them off too badly.
The second thing bugging me was when and how would the rebels make contact with me. Saleem hadn’t been very specific about when or where this somewhat clandestine-sounding meeting would take place, though I’d expect the rebels would—like me—prefer sooner rather than later.
Still, the djinn prince had left me in the dark as to the specifics, which had been enough to make me uneasy. So it was a bit of a surprise to me when they finally did make contact.
Even more surprising was the method.
In all my time as a SoulTracker, I’d never had the experience of being contacted through the ether.
I’d returned to the house to find Steph gone, she had a major project going on for one of her courses and had spent hours focusing on it in the last few days. Between her project and her training with Lily and Baz, we’d been passing each other at odd hours, with barely a moment to talk.
I’d caught myself short numerous times, running up the stairs to ask her something and realizing she wouldn’t be in the comms room.
Made for a lonely house, if you asked me.
I had just sat down to a late lunch—having said goodbye to Nerina after calling her to give her an update on Horner’s confirmation and bad news regarding the Sharaita—when I felt what could only be described as a knock on my ethereal door. The thought had sounded ridiculous at the time, and it still did—even after the experience had ended.
Nerina had cut the call, leaving me with a bowl of risotto which had gone cold during our catch-up. I’d popped the dish into the microwave to reheat, the events of the day beginning to take their toll, and I knew I’d need to nap at some point if I planned to head back to our little HQ to prep further for our impending departure.
In the meantime, I had to take care of normal things like sustenance and hygiene, not to mention dressing changes—which I disliked even more as I’d been looking forward to a soak in the tub to ease all my sore muscles when I remembered the wound and the bandages, neither of which were conducive to being fully immersed in hot water.
I’d been about to spoon risotto into my mouth, my stomach twisting with hunger and anticipation, when I felt a strange tapping somewher
e inside me.
The weirdness of the sensation rippled along my nerves but I ignored it, mentally labeling it as a twinge of hunger—since I was often in the habit of eating only when I was starving.
I paused, spoon in front of my face, aroma of garlic and chicken now forgotten as I concentrated on the odd feeling, which on further probing was more of a heartbeat in my mind than anything within my physical form.
I remained frozen, holding my breath and waiting, and when it happened again, this time it included a sort of tugging on my spiritual essence. I put the spoon down slowly, and stared around the kitchen, frowning at the cupboards and counters half expecting them to begin opening and then slamming shut, half afraid that maybe we hadn’t gotten rid of my tokoloshe after all.
And when nothing happened in the following moments, I swallowed hard, afraid now that maybe all those brain zaps were finally taking their toll on me.
Maybe I should book myself a room in the nearest looney bin.
I relaxed against the back of my chair and waited. And when still nothing happened and my stomach rumbled, I reached for my spoon, bringing it closer so it would finally make it into my mouth—cold or not, my hunger didn’t give a damn.
Then I felt the knocking again. It took me a few moments to understand how I had recognized what this strange sensation felt like: I had something to compare it to. It felt very much the way one’s muscles would sense movement if someone tugged on a string tied around one’s torso.
I stiffened, then straightened, eyes narrowed as I considered the possibility that something was happening to my life-thread in the ether and I was now experiencing its translation in my physical form.
Food forgotten, I took a deep breath and focused on the ether, transitioning slowly, well aware that this could be a trap.
I was a powerful SoulTracker, and according to Samuel, the most powerful in existence, but that didn’t mean I was invincible. So, I slipped slowly into the astral plane, awareness at 100% although I still felt incredibly vulnerable.