by May Dawson
“Sorry,” I said. “One hundred percent business.”
“For the record, I don’t mind your hairy toes,” Jacob said.
I nodded. “You think they’re adorable.”
Jacob’s golden eyes crinkled at the corners. “I hate to disappoint, but I don’t have any strong feelings about your toes.”
Levi leaned in the doorway. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, and he pulled his long blond hair back into a man-bun. His t-shirt pulled up from the waistband of his jeans, revealed his chiseled abs and blond happy trail. “I put up new wards to hold the house while we’re in the Far.”
“Come on in. We need to run through the plan for the Far again, and Ellis has an idea.”
Levi pulled a face of dramatic concern—these guys all thought they were so funny—and pulled out a chair across from us. When he sat down, as tall as he was, I could still barely see more than the top of his head and his forehead thanks to the pile of books between us. Jacob had been hard at work.
Levi pulled his chair over to one side, and his handsome face came back into view. “What’s the plan, Ellis?”
Three sets of eyes were intent on me: blue, green, gold. For a second, I felt ridiculous. But then, despite their teasing, I remembered what Ryker had told me in a rare unguarded moment. You’re our leader. They protected me fiercely, but I was here at their center. I trusted them, and they trusted me.
“Jake found this spell to reveal a lie, but it only works if you know what kind of lie. Demon or spell,” I explained. “I was going to call Maria. To try to figure out if it was Beliel, who didn’t die until later according to Dani, or if there could have been another witch with a grudge against Nim and Dani.”
“What if Maria is the witch?” Jacob asked.
I shrugged one shoulder. Jacob was not a very trusting person, but we all knew that he had good reasons. “We’ll be careful. If one spell doesn’t work, can’t we try another?”
“If Dani knows what we’re doing, she’ll probably try to use it against us even if it doesn’t work,” Ryker said. “We can’t trust her, that’s for sure.”
I’m going to kill your mom too. Dani had sounded so casual when she said that. It still made me shiver. Jacob’s arms tightened around me.
“Can we distract her somehow while we do the spell? What’s involved?” Ryker ran his hand through his damp hair, mussing it. “I hate having her in the house while we’re in the Far. If she gets out somehow—”
We were helpless when we were in the Far, our bodies left behind here, deep asleep.
“Maybe we could call Olivia in to keep an eye on her while we’re gone,” I suggested.
“You and Olivia are friends now, huh?” Jacob rested his hand on my thigh. A little bit too high, like always.
I resisted the urge to point out that I’d always tried to be her friend. But Olivia had finally stopped being a giant witch to me and apologized, and seemed to have stopped pining after Jacob. I didn’t want to make things awkward between Olivia and the boys, though, when they had been friends for so long. Jacob had clearly known about Olivia’s crush, as gently as he’d tried to dissuade her from it.
Speaking of awkward.
“Are you and the rest of the McKennas friends again?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how much Jacob had meant it when he said he’d never liked them.
“I don’t know if I’d go all the way to friends,” Ryker said. “It’ll take time to trust them again. But I’m glad they were here for you when you needed them.”
Ryker had told me when I first met the McKenna brothers that they wouldn’t have people in their life who didn’t care about me.
“For the spell,” Jacob said, “We have to put her into a hypnotic state. Seeing the night again. If it was a witch.”
“What if it was a demon’s spell?”
“Well, then we need some of Beliel’s blood or hair. Something that was a part of the body he occupied, since it will have become infused with his particular demon magic. If it was him.”
“Why blood?” I demanded, of no one in particular. “It’s disgusting.” I shook my head. “I’ll call Maria—maybe she’ll have some idea where to find Beliel’s body, too. Dani said she was with him when he died.”
The boys shifted slightly, glancing at each other, but nodded.
“You’re trying to trust my judgment,” I teased. “It is so cute.”
“It doesn’t come naturally,” Jacob muttered. But his arm tightened around my waist, quickly squeezing me, and he kissed my hair just above my ear. “Call in the reserves. We’ll set up for our next walk in to the Far.”
“I know where they liked to bury their bodies,” Maria said. “If Dani buried Beliel, I bet that’s where she would have gone.”
“Call me if you find anything,” I asked.
“If I find some bits of Beliel, I’ll bring them to you,” she promised. “I still can’t believe. Nim’s gone.”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to raise any false hope, and I didn’t want to tell her too much when maybe we shouldn’t trust her.
“What do you know about Final blades?” I asked, because I still hoped—as crazy as it was—that there was a way to reverse the effects of the Final blade. I didn’t want to just rescue Nim from Hell. I wanted to pull him back out of the afterlife and into our world. I flashed back, when I thought about that, to kissing him against the porch of that haunted house.
“Not much. I’ve run across them in some witch’s lore, but I always thought they were just a fairy tale. There are a lot of those to sort out from reality.” Her tone changed. “Is Dani okay?”
“She’s fine.” My tone came out tense. “Remember, we’re the good guys?”
“Of course,” she said, her voice just as light now. “I just worry about her. After I got to know Nim, he started bringing Dani around. Knowing who their parents were, I tried to help them…”
She trailed off, so I filled in: “Not turn evil?”
“Exactly,” she said. “And Dani’s a handful. She’s impulsive and dangerous at times, but she loves Nim.”
“I know,” I said drily. “To the point of murder. I’ve noticed, believe me.”
“If you guys weren’t involved in what happened to Nim, we’ve got to make her see sense. I want to help.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She hesitated. Then she said, “I care about Dani. But you should know… she is a very powerful witch in her own way. She buried Beliel in pieces… she was working on some kind of powerful magic. I’m worried about what she was up to.”
“I’ll be careful,” I said.
“Take care of yourself, Ellis.” She hung up.
My stomach twisted with anxiety as I tossed my cell phone onto the sofa across from Ash’s bed.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, taking her hand in mine. “Hey, sis. I’m coming over to the Far soon, if you’re ready to help.”
The faint mechanical whirring of the machines droned on. I always hoped now for a sign of life on this side of reality, but nothing happened; she didn’t squeeze her fingers around mine again. Her face was still.
If I didn’t know better, I would think that my sister had already passed on from this world.
“Love you,” I said softly.
I missed her. I’d thought everything would be better once I found my sister in the Far, but it turned out that even if you can walk through Heaven and Hell, losing someone is always brutal.
Chapter 22
This time when we walked beneath the shaking trees in the Far, we emerged into the same field we always had before. It was empty. I still shivered, remembering the torture garden I’d walked into before.
“There’s got to be another way to do this that doesn’t involve you going off alone,” Ryker muttered. “Which, incidentally, is exactly what Samael wants.”
“But I won’t be alone. You guys will have my back.” I took his muscled forearm in my hand to keep my balance as I bobbed up on my toes, planting a kis
s on his cheek. “I couldn’t feel safer.”
Ryker made a grumpy grunt at that.
“This is just the practice trip,” Jacob reminded us all. “We’ll see if Ellis can even get back into the Far with Ash’s help.”
Levi glanced over the lush green landscape in front of us, that led down to the sandy path that twisted between Heaven and Hell. “If Ash comes.”
“Ye of little faith.”
The four of us turned, fast. My sister stood in the shadows of the trees, and her lips parted in amusement. “I came right here when Ellis told me. Even though I was a little busy.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said. “What were you doing?”
My sister’s life here in the Far was a mystery to me, and that bothered me.
She strutted over to us. Unlike the boys with their shoulder harnesses for their swords, she wore her sword belt around her narrow waist, hanging down one hip. The sheath was partially covered by the shiny remnants of her sapphire skirt. There were new tattoos marking her skin, running up her neck and even covering the tops of her breasts, until the designs were lost in the top of her dress.
“Where do you get the tattoos?” I asked.
“Why haven’t you gotten any yet?” She met my eyes evenly, then looked at the boys in challenge. “They’ll make her stronger. Safer.”
“We’ve been busy,” Levi said drily.
“You can’t just keep her your princess,” she said.
“She’s more than that,” Ryker promised her. “Runes or no runes.”
“And yet my sister has no runes,” she said, staring Ryker down. He crossed his arms over his chest in response, meeting her gaze frankly.
“Ash. We just haven’t had time.” I hated for her and my boys to fight, out of their protectiveness and affection for me. I reached out to touch her arm.
Her eyes fell to the mark on my wrist, the one left behind when Nim grabbed my arm the day we fought Zuriel, the one that let Nim and I communicate wherever he was. She took my wrist in hers, turning it over to look at the mark.
“Well, you’ve got one at least,” she said. “But I don’t recognize it. Does it help you hear lies? Protect from possession? What does it do?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. I lied before I even knew why, and then I just went on, spinning a half-truth as my brain tried to catch up with my mouth. “I got it in a fight. We haven’t figured out what it does yet.”
Ash frowned, and when she looked up at me with her eyes full of worry, I felt suddenly sick with guilt.
“That can’t be good,” she said. “If an enemy marked you. El, we have to find out what it is.”
“We’re working on it,” I promised.
She nodded. “Well, this is our practice run, right? You slip out of the Far, and tell me on the other side that you want me to bring you back?”
“Right.”
“Here goes nothing.” She winked at me, the same way she had when we were kids. She had learned how to wink first and knew it drove me crazy that I couldn’t. “I’ll be listening.”
I nodded, but turned back to my boys. I couldn’t leave them in the Far without saying goodbye, not even for a minute. Olivia had been right when she told me no Hunter should leave someone they love without saying goodbye. I’d found the truth of that out for myself.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said confidently. Levi was nearest, so I wrapped my arms around his lean waist and squeezed. “Be careful without me.”
Levi squeezed me back, holding me against his hard body with one muscular, tattooed arm. “You be careful without me.”
“You’ve got the bigger job, looking after these two.” I tilted my head up, and Levi pressed his lips to mine. His lower lip was soft, and I kissed him fondly, leaning back into his grip, knowing he would hold me up easily.
He squeezed me one last time before I slipped out of his arms. I turned to Ryker, who held out his arms, and I ran to him. He caught me in a tight hug, lifting me off the ground. He squeezed me hard, his lips brushing my cheek, and I felt the scruff of his five o’clock shadow on my face.
“I’ll see you in just a few minutes,” he said, but I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince me or himself. “You’ve got this, Firestarter.”
“I know.” I caught his high-boned face in my hands and pressed a kiss to his lips. Their faith in me—no matter how many wisecracks they made—made it easier to have faith in myself.
Jacob rested his hands on my shoulders when I came over to him, his arms stiff, as if he were holding me at a distance. I looked up at him, wondering if he was angry, but his deep golden eyes were soft. His narrow lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but then he just pulled me toward him. His lips brushed feather-soft over my forehead.
“See you soon, Princess.” His voice was low and gruff.
I nodded and stepped back. Ash took my hand in hers, bumping her shoulder against mine. She smiled brightly at me, her head cocked to one side. She was still the same sister I’d shared earbuds with when my iPod broke on vacation, the two of us slouched in the backseat of my mom’s mini-van. She’d flashed me that look a thousand times.
I squeezed her hand in mine.
“I’ll be right there,” she promised me.
“I know,” I said.
I let go of her hand and stepped back from them all. For a second, I looked at them intently. Ryker, with his powerful arms crossed over his chest, his jaw set because he didn’t like this one bit. Levi with his blond hair ruffled in the wind, his long warrior’s fingers curling into fists as if he were waiting for a fight. Jacob, his aristocratic face as still and neutral as ever, but those eyes gave him away. They were so bright and intent. And my sister, with the shreds of her skirt blowing in the breeze away from her tanned legs, her familiar face and her mysterious marked, muscular arms. I saw them as if it might be the last time I saw them all, even though that superstitious thought freaked me out.
“I pertinent sunt in terra viventium.” I said, pushing my fears away. “I pertinent sunt in terra vicentium. Et ego revertetur.”
I belong in the land of the living. And I return.
Belatedly, I realized I hadn’t rearranged myself the way I’d been when we came into the Far. I started to sink cross-legged into the grass.
I came down hard on my ass, on the smooth wooden floor in the office. I gasped in shock at how the world had shifted before my eyes, feeling sick and dizzy. One minute I’d looked into the green landscape beyond the ones I loved, and the next I’d seen the greenery and their faces swirl and sink away, replaced by a blur where I could make out nothing but the vaguest sense of places and faces looming out at me, and then I’d snapped back into reality. My stomach felt tilted, as if it hadn’t quite caught up.
Even though I knew they were sleeping, I still felt a jolt seeing the boys’ still faces, turned up toward the ceiling. I leaned over Jacob’s chest to press my fingers to the side of his throat. His pulse was a low, steady beat. His chest rose and fell under my elbow.
I shook my head at myself, and stood. I couldn’t shake the strongest sense of unease.
“Are you all right?” Olivia stood in the doorway. Her wide eyes met mine, and I knew she was mirroring back my own anxiety. I must have freaked her out, scrambling up to check on the boys.
“Yeah, I think so.” I glanced toward the bookshelves, which hid the cell where Dani was contained. It freaked me out, and I was glad Olivia was here so we weren’t asleep unguarded, just steps away from someone who fantasized about murder us all.
Everything was fine, but my heart was pounding. Like my subconscious knew there was something wrong.
I headed toward Olivia, and the doorway. I stopped when I reached her, and she turned to head up the stairs.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I said, and I meant it.
She turned back, looking at me over her shoulder. “Me too.”
I hadn’t thought there would be room for both of us in this house when we first met, and I reali
zed she must have felt the same way. No wonder we’d gotten off to a rocky start.
“Your mom went out with a shopping list,” she said as she headed up the stairs. “Maria’s on her way with Bits O’Beliel, to try undoing the spell, but we don’t have everything we need.”
“My mom’s out there alone?” I ran up the stairs behind her, eager to get into the Far again. I had a bad feeling. I’d be grateful when I was with my boys again, safely back in this house.
I stepped into the warm, sun-soaked hallway that ran between the front door and the living room.
A hard knock pounded against the front door.
Olivia turned to me, her eyes widening, her hand pressed to her chest for a second. My own heart raced.
She ran down the hall and came back with two sheathed swords. She held one out to me, and I threw the straps over my shoulders quickly.
If this knock on the door was just a misplaced missionary, we were probably about to terrify some poor man of God. But then, I didn’t approve of people who knocked on other people’s doors unsolicited, anyway. Unless they’re selling Girl Scout cookies.
I nodded to Olivia, who stepped back behind the door, just out of view. Her fingers twitched, as if she were eager to draw her sword.
The knock came again, loud and impatient.
Maybe it was just Maria. Maybe she’d found a piece of Beliel and made record-time getting here from New England.
I pushed aside the curtain alongside the window.
The Council stood massed on our front porch. Men in heavy armor. Calla, in her leather trench coat and jeans, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail.
She swiveled and her eyes met mine. She crooked a finger at me. Come here.
I nodded and let the curtain fall between us.
Out of view, I yanked the buckles on my shoulder harness a little tighter, making sure I’d be able to draw my sword smoothly in a fight.
“We’ve got trouble,” I said. “Can you wake the boys?”
“I don’t know if I can,” she said. “But I’ll try.”