by Multiple
He placed the watch in his pocket. “Let’s finish this.” He picked up the vial of tears. “You step back. This is water.”
He let a drop of tears fall on the mixture. I passed him the rat urine, grimacing. “So far, so good.”
He added the smelly yellow liquid, and a wisp of smoke rose from the pot. “We’re getting the chloromethane reaction,” he said.
“It’s manageable still.” I stepped back to the garage door, ready to throw it open if necessary.
“Only the sea foam left.” He picked up the green bottle.
My heartbeat thumped into my throat. I tried to listen to everything, my intuition, my fear, to tell me if we were doing the right thing. As he began to open the sea foam, a warning bell jangled in my head. “Don’t do it! We’re wrong!”
But I was too late. As he removed the cap, the boom resounded in the room and the air filled completely with smoke.
12: Black Holes
The acrid air stung my eyes, and I could scarcely breathe. Dad!
I had been thrown against the garage door and now felt my way along its metal frame, searching for the handle.
It hadn’t been opened in years, and the latch was reluctant to turn. I yanked on it, hard, and finally it screeched and started to move. The door rolled up partway before getting stuck again. I breathed in a gulp of fresh air and dove back into the room, feeling around the desk and floor for Dad.
He was nowhere.
I ducked under the door again, gasping. The smoke that had seemed so thick inside the lair dissipated almost instantly outdoors. A neighbor across the street got her mail from her box, waved, and turned back toward her house as though nothing was wrong.
I leaned against the brick wall. Where had Dad gone? He couldn’t have evaporated.
From inside, I heard a voice, tinny and far away. “Jet? Are you there? Jet?”
I stumbled back into the room. The smoke had lifted, and I stooped low, able to breathe in shallow gulps. From the silver portal, Caleb’s concerned face filled the bowl, dirty and black, his hair blown back. “Jet? Please, Jet!”
“I’m here!” I coughed and hacked. “I’m okay.”
“I have your dad.” Caleb stepped aside and showed my father sitting on his bed, smoky and red-eyed but otherwise all right.
“I’m coming!” I said. I could remember the lullaby, surely. “Into the colors, a bountiful whirl,” I began.
“Don’t forget to aim where you want to go!”
I nodded, remembering the silver circle from last time. “Holding our breath as the world starts to swirl.” Yes, I had it. “Passing the darkness —” Wait, I didn’t remember the darkness. Was there a portal of darkness? I finished out the rhyme, still trying to remember. Had there been another choice when I left Caleb’s, someplace dark? Is that what the rhyme was about?
The colors came again, the kaleidoscope just like before. When my lungs felt collapsed, instead of sucking in air, I held my breath. No throwing up in front of Caleb!
But this time, I did see the darkness, a black patch in the swirl of color. I stared at it, wondering if that was what the spell referred to, when I realized I was aiming for it.
Crap! I tried to turn my head and look back toward the silver ring, but it was too late. I burst through a portal and landed on hands and knees in a pile of pine needles.
I jumped to my feet. It had been midday at home, but here it was night. I had either traveled to the other side of the earth, or I was in some different place altogether.
My headband hummed, and I pressed my hands against it. Thank goodness I had put it back on. I held on to a tree, hoping to blend into the shadows until I got my bearings. The moon overhead was full, but when I looked at it, I realized it wasn’t the right size, or the right color, and the craters were different. I felt like I was looking at a painting of a moon, some stylized version. Or maybe it wasn’t my moon at all.
Something skittered in the bramble, and I stifled a squeal. In the distance, I could hear a rumble and footfalls, almost like hooves. Horses? Wheels? A carriage? Was I in the past?
I looked up at the tree. Just above my head was a branch that forked out, but I didn’t think I could reach it. I turned around, assessing the others. Another one had a lower branch, and a second and third within climbing distance. I hoisted myself up, grateful for jeans and practical shoes, rapidly climbing until I was well above the eye line of anyone who might be looking.
The sound of running horses grew closer, and I squinted to make out anything. From here I could still see only the outline of trees, empty of leaves, and now as I settled in, a chill came over me. I was going to get cold fast. When the contraption passed, I would have to search for the portal that got me here and go back through.
Unfortunately, as the hoofbeats grew closer, they also slowed.
“Where’s the portal?” a deep male voice asked.
“Right here, sir. Very close.” Another man, higher pitched.
The shadow of the carriage came into sight about forty yards away. I could make out a rough road there, but they couldn’t drive into the denseness of the forest itself. The sense that I had jumped into the 1800s washed over me, but when a tall man stepped down from the front seat of the vehicle, he looked as modern as a movie star — fair hair pulled back in a ponytail, suit jacket, and white collarless shirt. His pants were just a dark shadow, but his dress shoes gleamed. When he turned, a pair of sunglasses perched on his head caught the meager light. He must have just come from somewhere bright.
I couldn’t make out his face, but naturally I wouldn’t know him anyway. I stared hard at his forehead as he approached, looking for a telltale sparkle of his enchanter marking. Yes, I was sure I saw something, but the light was way too low to make it out.
“Over here?” he asked.
The other man still held the reins of the snorting, antsy horses. “Right about there, sir.”
Perfect, let him show me the portal and not look up!
“You sure she came through it?” the man on the carriage asked.
“Absolutely. Right after the explosion.”
God, they were talking about me. Someone had been watching me.
The tall man grew closer. “Good. We’ll make sure she stays a while.”
“You sure you want to destroy a portal? Aren’t too many of them left in the spirit world.”
“It’s worth it this time. Once we have her, we can force her to build more.”
I stifled my gasp. He stood almost directly below me. I couldn’t let him remove my only way back! And why did they think I could build one? I couldn’t even do a basic spell! Maybe a nix had more power than people were letting on. Oh, that ferret.
The horses stamped and whinnied, clearly restless. I was grateful for the noise. My arms ached from clutching the tree trunk, and I feared moving, as I might send bits of bark showering down.
“Ah, here it is.” The tall man bent over, pushing aside pine needles. I couldn’t see anything next to him at first, but as I stared I recognized the absence of anything, a black hole in the ground.
“Not wise to close a portal,” the other man muttered.
The tall one stood again, pulling something from his coat pocket. A glass bottle glittered when it caught the moonlight. He began an incantation, nothing I could understand, and poured something fiery and red into the blackness. I bit my lip in misery. I should stop him. Maybe he wasn’t so bad; maybe he wouldn’t do anything harmful to me. Or maybe I could get through before he caught me.
My headband buzzed a warning. The black hole burned with red smoke, then closed up, leaving a scorched circle in the pine needles. The man kicked leaves and brambles over it until it disappeared completely.
“She can’t have gone far,” the tall man said. “And she doesn’t know anything about this place; I’d stake my name on it. Her arriving here was pure ignorance.”
“She’s a foolish one. Should be easy to nab,” the other man said. “Maybe get some kind-looki
ng spirits to lure her into a trap.”
The tall man strode back to the carriage. “Yes. Round up a few fairies. There should be some about. We’ll convince one to help her and take her to the white forest, where she’ll feel stupidly safe, all that nonsense in the human world about black and white.”
“We’re lucky she hasn’t been trained proper. She’d be a force then.”
The tall man climbed back up on the seat. “Oh, we’ll train her. After she’s fat-bellied with my next child.”
The two men laughed, and the horses took off down the lane.
I relaxed my grip on the tree. I had never felt more lost or frightened. How could my mother have set me up for this? This whole screwed-up world, straight out of some horror novel. And I knew nothing!
Maybe she thought she was protecting me from it forever. Dad, too.
I climbed down the branches and jumped to the ground. The circle still glowed faintly red from where the portal had been closed. I shoved aside the leaves. “Please work anyway,” I whispered. “Please let him suck at potions.”
I started the incantation, but I knew right away it wouldn’t work. My headband buzzed, so I stopped. Maybe using magic would attract attention.
I headed toward the road. If I went the way they came from, surely I’d encounter another portal. Whatever I did, though, I couldn’t trust anyone, least of all fairies. Or white forests.
I started walking.
13: Rat-Fink Ferrets
I sincerely regretted my dislike of watches. As expected, my cell phone was useless. It wouldn’t even turn on.
I tried counting as I took each step to get some idea of the passing time, and when I might expect a sunrise, but overhead the moon never moved, stuck in its position like a Chinese lantern. Maybe this place had no cycles of light and dark. Only dark.
If other portals were as hard to find as the last one, I really had no hope. I’d asked my headband to help me a million times, but not even a buzz. I was actually missing Hallow, the little mean-mouthed weasel. Where had he been when we made the potion? Dad must have let him in the house while I slept.
Just as well. My stomach was growling, a sure sign that hours had passed, although we had missed lunch. It might even be Christmas Day. At this point, the meeting with Dei Lucrii was growing increasingly unimportant. Take the house, creditors. We had bigger problems now.
More small things scampered in the woods along the road, but I was used to it by now. I had no fear of rabies, or snakebite, or normal forest dangers. Apparently fairies were the real problem, tricky little liars.
It did seem like the color of the trees had grown lighter over time. The moon still shone above, so there wasn’t additional light. But the bark itself had a luminous quality, a glow beneath the top layer.
The path became easier to navigate, less broken rock and fewer ruts. The landscape was definitely changing. As the world brightened by degrees, I became more and more wary. If I was entering the infamous white woods, I’d be better off turning back.
I spun around. Behind me lay the hours of walking in the dark. There didn’t seem to be any point in returning. I sat at the base of a tree, ready to break down and bawl. By now, the tall man would have a legion of spies ready to intercept me and try to be helpful and nice.
The woods rustled behind me, close this time, and I struggled to my feet. Nothing had entered the road while I walked, but then, I’d been moving.
An undulating wave of fur surrounded me, white and gray and black. I lifted one knee, not sure what to do. None of the trees were easy climbs.
I looked down. I felt like I was surrounded by bandits, dozens of little masked faces peering up at me. Wait. Ferrets? They were all ferrets?
I dropped my raised leg. Well, this was worth a shot. “Do any of you know Hallow?”
“I’m Hallow,” one said, coming forward.
“Me too,” said another.
One by my foot shook his head. “Enchanters aren’t too inventive with names for their familiars.”
“My Hallow is all white.”
“Ah,” said the first Hallow. “Now that IS unusual, for one of us. Risky, being all white in this business. You can’t hide.”
“Is he here?”
An oversized ferret stood on his hind legs. “Why would your familiar be in the spirit world? Did you kill him?”
More of the ferrets shifted to standing.
“No! I mean, I’m lost. I thought he might come find me.”
“She’s a nix. Nixes don’t get familiars,” the big one said.
Great. Even the furry misfits played favorites. “Well, he actually belongs to my mom. Or did.”
“Did SHE kill him?” the big one asked.
“No! He’s alive. Or at least he was, last time I saw him. But she’s not.”
The ferrets dropped back down. “Sorry,” the big one said. “Nobody likes to lose their mother.”
“I’m trying to find a portal back to my lair. I didn’t mean to come here.”
“Nobody does,” the ferret said. “The spirit world is for the dead.”
“Do all dead come here?” My heart beat faster. Maybe Mom and Grandma Gem were here!
“Naw,” the first Hallow said. “Only the ones sentenced to live in eternal exile, and those they trap.”
I took a step back, pressing flat against the tree. “So you are all exiled familiars?”
“Or abandoned.” A mostly black ferret huffed in disgust. “I got left here ten years ago by a noncompliant nix.”
“Why does anyone come here if they might get trapped?”
“People have to harvest ingredients,” Hallow said. “Pea spiders. Fairy mushrooms. Those who can’t afford to buy topside. And the black-market agents.”
Now things were making sense. “I need a portal. Can you show me one?”
“Not on your life,” the big ferret said. “Word in the woods is that Dei Lucrii is looking for you. Nobody’s messing with Dei Lucrii.”
“Really? That’s great! I am supposed to meet him in a few days. I’m fine with doing it now.” I could buy some time, maybe, or tell him the deal was off. And go home.
But wait. If he was the supreme bad guy… “What does he look like?”
“Tall, blond, and handsome,” Hallow said. “Ponytail, sharp dresser. Wears his sunglasses at night.”
That’s what I figured. He was the one looking for me. “So is there anyone in these woods I can trust?”
“Nope,” the big one said. “And you shouldn’t have been talking to us.”
I realized now that there were fewer ferrets than at first. “Are they running off to tell Dei Lucrii where I am?”
“You betcha,” said Hallow. “They still think it’s good to curry favor. Me, I got no predilections.”
Shit, shit, shit. I started running up the road, away from the furry horde. I had to put some distance between me and the last place I’d been spotted, although if the woods were full of informants, my cause was pretty lost.
After a few minutes, I stopped running, sucking in air. I had to just accept the worst. I would die, or I guess, be bred by some movie-star bad guy for an evil love child.
Things could be worse.
Something shimmered in the woods, gold and sparkling. Probably a fairy, ready to lead me to my doom. It didn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t beat what I couldn’t even see. I knew nothing. Untrained, stumbling in the dark, surrounded by spies.
Time to meet my fate. “Sorry, Dad,” I whispered. I wondered if I’d even see him again.
I walked toward the golden light.
14: The Golden Rules
As the golden shimmer grew nearer, the woods darkened again. I looked back at the road, trying to keep my bearings. Maybe I’d get lucky and starve to death before anyone actually found me. Or thirst, I guess. You died of dehydration faster. I certainly couldn’t accept food or drink from anyone, remembering Alice’s debacle in Wonderland. At least no one was trying to impregnate HER. Eat me, ind
eed.
The light began to resolve into a human shape. Okay, I could deal with that. Fairies had wings, theoretically. I could only assume that human mythology was based on the real deal. How far I’d come from Boston College’s chemistry program, all science and facts, experiments with certain cause and effect.
But the face was familiar, the shoulders, the petite frame. I stopped cold. What sort of cruel joke was this?
“Grandma Gem?” I finally squeaked out. “Is that you?”
Had Grandma been trapped? Could she still be alive?
Grandma held out her hands. “I recognized your light, child. How long I have waited for you to come.”
I didn’t want to believe it. Everything here was a trick. But it wouldn’t hurt to hug her. I had accepted my fate. I might as well have a few last good minutes.
I stepped into her embrace. Her golden luminance faded into normal color and shadow. She even smelled like Gem, all primrose and garden dirt. Most of my scant memories of her were digging in Mom’s flower bed, the few times she visited before she and Grandpa were killed in a car accident when I was very small.
“Tess,” Gem said. “We haven’t much time. I need to undo what I have done.”
“I’m not Tess,” I said. “I’m Jet, her daughter.” I pulled away.
Gem searched my face. “I recognize your light. How long I have waited.”
Hadn’t she said that before? I stepped away. “Grandma, are you okay?”
“I was wrong, Tess. I told you when we marked your baby as a nix that this was the right thing to do. I know I frightened you. But I was wrong.”
Gem walked in a circle, wringing her hands. “When I was killed, I sent this doppelgänger to the spirit world, in hopes you would find it. I didn’t dare leave one with the humans.”
Okay, so this was a hologram or something, like what Caleb made for the party.
“I must teach you the spell that will fix Jet’s enchantment marker.”
I touched my hand to my forehead. “What are you talking about?”
“Listen carefully and memorize the words. When you go back to your little girl, sprinkle her with Poison Lyceria — I know — it’s normally deadly, but you must trust me. Then say this incantation.”