Jason appeared at that moment, two plates in hand. He had made thick sandwiches, piled high with meat and cheese. “You’re out of chicken, by the way.”
I groaned. “You just cleaned me out of three days of food.” When he gave me a pointed look, I added, “It’s a tight month, okay?” But then I remembered the three hundred cash Hecate had slipped me and the cash I had made off readings at the shop. I also had a job to call about on Monday. “Never mind, it will be all right.”
“If you need a little extra, just ask.” Jason pulled out his phone.
“No. I’m not your responsibility anymore.” I tried to wave him off, but within less than a minute, I had a text telling me he had transferred two hundred cash to my account. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“No, but I did, so shut up and eat. Where’s your first-aid kit?”
“In the bathroom,” I muttered. “Top drawer on the left.”
He set his sandwich aside and headed into the bath.
I stood up and opened the curtains. I was on the fourth floor of a brick walkup. My apartment was small—a bedroom, living room, kitchenette, and bath—but I didn’t care, because my view overlooked Idyll Inlet, on the northwest edge of Darktown.
I lived in the King’s Cross apartment building, directly across from a Monotrain platform. My apartment overlooked the water, and sometimes at night, I would turn off the lights and watch the silver crest of the inlet against the moonlight. The sight seemed to soothe the perpetual fire that burned within me. Jason had once remarked that watching the water tempered me—like fire and snow tempered steel. When I thought about it, he was right. Hecate bathed me in her fire day and night. I could feel her in the tattoo on my neck, in the whip inked into my leg. When the gods came calling, they weren’t subtle about it. The water gave me a respite from that continual burning that raced through my blood.
Jason returned with first aid supplies and a basin of water. He set them on the table, then took hold of my left hand as I continued to eat with my right. He examined my wounds.
“We should have stopped at the Care Clinic. This is bad, Kae. Why you aren’t on the floor whimpering is beyond me. I think I can manage this, though.”
I had no desire to head back out into the night just to see the doctor. “If you can take care of it here, I’d rather do that. I’ve got some Sleep-Eez, which will help me through the pain tonight.” One thing about Sleep-Eez, it came in quarter doses and each dose provided for two hours of sleep. There was no morning-after hangover, either, and it wasn’t addictive.
Jason began cleaning my hand. I grimaced, gritting my teeth, but kept quiet as he flushed the wounds with clear water. Then he examined them closely.
“Well, they’re nasty, but I think you can avoid infection. We can’t let them heal over too soon, though. I’m going to pack them with the antibiotic powder and then cover them loosely for the first day or two.” As he tamped the powder into the holes where the acid had burned through the flesh, I let out a sharp yelp. “I know it hurts, but this will help prevent infection.”
As he wrapped my hand in gauze, he glanced around the apartment. “Where’s the Sleep-Eez? You’re going to need it.”
He was right. My hand was throbbing and I wouldn’t be able to sleep without help. “In the bathroom, in the top right drawer.”
While he was getting the meds, I finished off my sandwich. Jason returned and shook out three of the tablets. I placed them under my tongue, wrinkling my nose as they fizzed into a bubbly grape-flavored liquid in my mouth. As the medication began to absorb into my system, I felt my pillows calling me. I let out a soft murmur and yawned.
“Usually this doesn’t hit me so fast.”
“You don’t usually don’t get burned by acidic spit from a bog monster.”
“Stay here tonight.” I blurted out the words before I could stop myself. “I mean…you can sleep on the sofa. It’s comfortable. And that way you’ll get more sleep than you would if you drive home.” I blushed a little, partly because I was hoping he didn’t think I meant it any other way and partly because the image of us together in my bed had suddenly flashed through my mind, totally unbidden, but nevertheless, there it was.
He stared at me for a moment, then slowly nodded. “I’ll take you up on that. I don’t feel like driving home to…” With a pause, he winced, leaning forward to cradle his head.
“I’m sorry.” I pushed away my own fantasies to make way for his reality. “I’m sorry, Jason. I wish…”
“I know, Kae. You’re a sweetheart and a good friend.” He gazed up at me, his cool eyes piercing right through my heart. Never had a compliment stung so much and yet felt so good. I yawned again, suddenly realizing I was about to pass out. “Come on, sleepy girl.”
He lifted me into his arms, and as I protested, he carried me into the bedroom. I was drifting off already, and the last I remembered was whispering something to the effect of “This is nice” as he undressed me, slid me under the covers, and tucked me in. Too tired to be mortified, I closed my eyes and was out for the night.
I woke to my alarm going off. I blurrily looked at it. Five-thirty. At first I thought Jason had set it, but Queet was swirling near the end of my bed. “I set it,” he said, his voice thundering through my brain. That alone drove the cobwebs out. “Get up. Jason is up, Tam will be here soon, and you need to head out to the Arbortariam.”
“Everybody will just have to wait until I take a shower.” The Sleep-Eez had soothed my aching muscles, but I felt grimy. I eased beneath the inviting spray, jerking my hurt hand away as the pounding water stung it through the bandages. Using my right hand, I soaped myself with violet-scented bath gel, my all-too-abundant boobs peeking out from the lather. I lathered up my hair, too, washing the crimson and black strands as best as I could with one hand. Finally, deciding I was as clean as I could possibly get, I turned off the shower and stepped out of the stall.
Fifteen minutes later, my hair was dry and I was dressed. Getting on my shorts and bra was a chore given my hand, but at least the tank top was easy. My hair was a mass of waves and I did my best to brush it back into a ponytail. I slapped on some eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss, and called it good. It was then that I checked my phone and saw that Hecate had phoned an hour before. I decided to call her back after I’d had some coffee and headed into the living room.
Jason was there, along with Tam. Queet was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished after waking me up. The guys had made coffee, and Tam had brought breakfast: pastries and sausage sandwiches and a bag of grapes. As I accepted a mug of coffee, we gave him the rundown of what had happened in Bend and at the Bogs.
“This isn’t going to play out well. If whoever’s behind this has already started mucking around with weather magic, either they have figured out how to use that disk, or they already knew how to call up storms.” He found my plates and portioned out the food.
As we gathered around the table, I gulped down the coffee, burning my tongue in my haste.
“Slow down. We have time,” Tam said. “How’s your hand feeling?”
I shook my head. “Achy. It hurts, but not as much as last night.”
Jason finished his sandwich and held out his hand. “Let me see.”
I switched my sausage muffin to my right hand and then let him remove the bandages. The wounds were red and inflamed, although there was no sign of pus oozing out of the holes. The antibiotic powder was still packed inside them, serving to keep them open as it slowly worked on my system. Jason examined my fingers.
“Can you feel this?” he said, wiggling them from side to side.
“Yes, I can feel it, and it hurts. There’s a lot of pressure there.” I bit my lip, staring at my puffy fingers. “Should I go to the doctor?”
“At this point, I doubt if there’s much they can do for you. But the fire in your system can’t be helping. You need water to counter the swelling. Healing magic.” He glanced over at Tam. “Can you d
o anything?”
Tam took a closer look. “I have a spell that might offer some relief, but…” He paused, then smiled. “I can help you, but you have to let me kiss you.”
I blinked. That was a new one on me. “Say what?”
“A great deal of my magic is transferred via kiss and touch. My healing magic is the magic of the Grove and the Crystal Grotto.”
I wasn’t sure what the Grove and Crystal Grotto were, but said nothing as he scooted his chair around, sliding it in between Jason and me. Jason leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest, watching with a smirk.
“All right.” I found myself growing nervous. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like I was about to enter new territory and I didn’t like doing so without a map.
Tam caught my gaze, holding it firm. His eyes were silver as the moon and I couldn’t look away as he leaned closer to press his lips to mine. A deep shiver raced through me, so deep I almost lost myself in it. I melted into his arms, and he shifted, drawing me closer as a sudden wash of his breath entered my mouth, cool like mint, cool like winter ice. I drifted in the kiss as his energy worked its way through my body, stretching me, embracing me. And then, the wash hit my hand—a rush of rainwater, whitecaps on a mountain stream. It washed through the injury, soothing the pain and relieving the pressure.
Another moment, and he slowly drew away.
I started to blush, but the embarrassment faded as I realized just how much the kiss had helped. I held up my hand, staring as the swelling began to visibly subside as we watched. It wasn’t fully healed, but within the space of a few moments, the angry color was almost normal.
“That’s amazing.” I turned to Tam. “Thank you…” Then, I found myself blurting out, “You have the softest lips.”
“My pleasure,” he said with a wink. “You have nice lips yourself.”
Jason interrupted. “Hadn’t we better get going if you are supposed to meet Jerako by seven?”
“I suppose we better.” I stood, turning to Tam. “I’m taking my sword. I don’t want to chance not having it when I need it.” Slinging the sheath over my head, I said, “Let’s go. I’m not sure how to get there or how long it takes. I’ve never been to the Arbortariam before.”
“I’ll drive you to the ferries. I might as well head into the shop and set up early. After yesterday…” Jason paused.
“After yesterday we all need to regroup.” At six-fifteen, I followed the men out the door, locking it securely behind me. Jason and I sat in front, Tam in back, as we headed toward the eastern border of Seattle, where the Arbortariam was.
My phone jangled and I glanced at the text. “Hecate wants to see me at noon. I hope we’re back in time.”
“We should be,” Tam said.
We arrived at the docks shortly before the next ferry was scheduled to leave. Jason had very little to say as Tam and I slipped out of the car. He waved, then drove off, speeding into the center of Darktown.
Tam watched as the car disappeared, then turned to me. “He was pretty quiet.”
“I think he’s still thinking about Eileen. Yesterday when we were headed out to Bend, he told me that it had been an arranged marriage and was doing his best to convince me he would have done right by Eileen.”
“Methinks our fair-haired hawk-shifter didn’t want to get married and now feels guilty over it,” Tam mused. “Whatever the case, he has to work it out. Come, let’s go meet the Greenling.”
The ferries over to the Arbortariam ran every half hour. We had five minutes to get on board and managed it with seconds to spare. As we stared out over the bow, the dark water churned beneath the boat.
The morning was shrouded with mist, rising off the inlet. At one time, they said, Idyll Inlet had actually been a lake, but between the Weather Wars and the World Shift, all the coastlines had changed. Now, the inlet was a long stretch of water feeding in from Pacific Sound through the Locks. Idyll Inlet stretched along the inner coast, where the Edge was nestled between water and forest. Not many people lived over on the Edge, and those who did were rife with rogue magic. Creatures sidled out of the Wild Wood there, and the rumors were thick about magical valleys deep in the wilds.
The ferry ride was short—fifteen minutes at best—and as we pulled into the docks, the stretch of forest spreading before us made me nervous. It was then that I realized there was a force field—invisible but extremely tangible—surrounding the entire thicket.
“You can see the barrier, right?”
Tam nodded. “Yes, I can. It’s very much like the ones that we erect around our barrows in Briarwood. The field surrounds the island, save for a thin strip that circles Arbortariam. If you were to try to walk through it, you’d find yourself turning around and walking the other way. It’s extraordinarily powerful.” He sounded delighted.
“You’re really looking forward to this, aren’t you?” Impulsively, I looped my arm around his. “I suppose they’ll have someone waiting for us.” We were among a handful of people to get off the boat. Most walked up to the forest and did exactly as Tam had predicted: turned around, walked back to the ferry, and re-boarded.
But as we approached the front of the copse, a figure slowly moved out of the shadows. He had been standing near enough to observe, but had been cloaked—camouflaged, perhaps. He was lithe and svelte, and reminded me oddly of Tam, but with a far more feral feel. Branches rose from his head, but unlike Tam, they were actual branches, not his hair frizzing out.
“I am the one they call Zhan. Please follow me and I will take you to Jerako. Neither touch nor seek to gather any of the plants.”
“What about my sword? I promise to keep it sheathed.” I expected they might take it until we finished, but our guide merely shrugged.
“It is unimportant. You may bring it with you.”
The thought occurred to me that if they weren’t concerned about my sword, they must have pretty damned powerful magic to counter it.
He turned to Tam. “Welcome, Bonny Brother. We are honored to greet one from your world.” He didn’t sound so much honored as intrigued.
But Tam responded graciously, inclining his head. “As am I. I have always longed to meet the Greenlings, and I am grateful for this opportunity.” He gave me a little pinch on the elbow as he took my arm to walk me along.
I hastily nodded. “Yes, as am I.”
“Then we are all honored and mayhap be moving the meeting along.” And with a vague smile that might also have been a frown, Zhan led us into the world of the Greenlings.
Chapter 11
It was as though the force field were a translucent veil that lifted as Zhan led us toward it.
As we stepped through the shimmering veil, I caught my breath. The forest inside the Arbortariam was totally unlike what it looked like outside the veil. The island of Arbortariam had been connected to land at one point, but now it was connected to the Edge by two bridges, and to Seattle proper only by the ferries.
Outside, it looked like a dark forest, sprawling and spooky. But one step through the veil and we were in fairyland. The mood shifted—the Wild was all around us. The trees began to shimmer, as if dusted in miniature stars that sparkled under the silver sheen of clouds, as a light rain began to fall. The air seemed clear here, almost richer in oxygen, and smelled like wet cedar and fir and moss. I thought I heard a stream in the distance.
Everywhere, the dripping rain echoed off the trees, cool and crisp, and smelling like ancient forest. The trees were jumbled, tall and laden with bracken, and oak moss hung from their branches like long beards on old men. Mushrooms sprouted along nurse logs that lay silent on the forest floor, their trunks slowly working their way back to the sludge from which they had first sprouted.
I stopped, overwhelmed by the sheer beauty around me. The very air seemed to sparkle. Suddenly dizzy, I stumbled and Tam caught my arm, steadying me.
“This…what is this place?” The words sprang to my lips before I
could stop them.
“This is the home of the Greenlings,” our guide said, turning with a faint smile on his face. “I am one of their servants. I’m a hedgemite.”
Tam stiffened. “Your kind still exists, then?” He turned to me. “We thought the hedgemites had died out eons ago during the Weather Wars.” He turned back to Zhan. “I had no idea what you looked like.”
Zhan gave us a solemn nod. “We do exist, yes. The Greenlings brought our kind back to life. There were few of us left by the end of the great wars. Thanks to the ancient race, we have recovered. We now serve them as a measure of our gratitude.”
I had no idea what a hedgemite was, but figured it would be impolite to ask. I’d save that question for later. “The Arbortariam is breathtaking. I’ve never felt anything quite like this.” I wanted to close my eyes and drift in the energy swirling around me. I felt like I was being gently rocked, encased in soft petals.
“We are grateful for your joy. Joy means so much here. Hedgemites thrive on it.”
He turned back to the path and led us deeper into the woodland. Tam reached out and took my hand and I let him hold it. It felt totally natural in this space. His fingers closed over mine and my stomach fluttered. I blinked, wondering if I should pull away, but then my thoughts drifted on to the birdsong echoing through the morning chill and I quit worrying.
We rounded a bend in the path and I stopped, Tam halting beside me. Ahead and to the left, the ground mounded up to form a hill, from which a waterfall trickled down, creating a lazy pool beneath it. The water shimmered with prisms, and I thought I could see women bathing in the pond below but when I blinked, they were gone.
I let out a slow breath. “That veil…it wasn’t merely an illusion to fool the outer world, was it? We really are in a different world, aren’t we?”
“There are illusions, and then there are illusions,” was all Zhan would say. But Tam squeezed my hand and shook his head just enough for me to see. I fell silent, but my sword tingled against my back as if it could hear me and agreed.
Fury Rising (Fury Unbound Book 1) Page 11