I sighed, then shrugged. “The offer is on the table, but I haven’t said yes. But times could change. Especially when it’s my turn to step into the ring.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What is your role in this? What is the battle you said you needed to speak with me about? Who is your target?”
A dark grin split my cheeks. “Me? I get to kill a goddess. And, I’m pretty sure, my ex. Maybe one other person. We’ll see.”
She nodded. “Your part also needs to be sensational. An example.”
I found my grin splitting wider, and turned to her, nodding. “True. But I need your help with something else. I think it’s time I go shopping, but the store is currently closed. You and I… share something. Power from another place. Power we don’t fully understand, but that I may have more experience in managing.”
She nodded slowly, remembering our first encounter.
Because little Callie here was kissed by Heaven. I had my guesses on exactly what that meant, and was pretty sure she did, too, but we didn’t bring up that part.
Fact was, her magic would sometimes turn white, a force much more powerful than our typical magic. For example, she could make her flame white, her blades white, her whatever white, where most wizards, when thinking fire, saw an orange ball of flame.
I also had this taint, and mine was related to the damned disc at my throat.
The Horseman Mask the Mad Hatter had made me for my birthday. The one I would wear if I ever accepted Death’s offer to ride with him and his Four Brothers.
I had a horse – Grimm, the dark unicorn that had adopted me.
And now I had a Mask – given to me by the Mad Hatter. Just in case, he had said.
And the Horsemen had already given me a title, reserved just for me. The Horseman of Hope.
Regardless, I had the white-flavored power, too, and I was pretty sure it had something to do with Heaven interfering, using us as cat’s paws. I wasn’t sure, of course, because my only source, Eae, wouldn’t talk about it. He would actually disappear when I tried to pester him.
But Callie had the same power. Or a similar power.
And I was pretty sure that using Callie as a battery would be enough to kick down the door to my Armory.
“You can’t use your own?” Callie asked, frowning, eyes considering my cane very subtly.
“I need your help. It will take both of us. I need your strength to overwhelm the defenses. You and I, combined, can break the door down.”
“And why are we breaking the door down?”
I winked at her, climbing to my feet. “To go shopping, of course.”
“Sold,” she grinned.
Chapter 47
We stood outside the giant white tree, Chateau Falco looming over us. I held the cane in one fist, thinking as my eyes roamed the night, idly getting a feel for the various camps.
“This is an odd place to shop,” Callie said, glancing up at the glowing tree, smiling at its beauty. Two ravens watched us, sitting beside each other, but not talking. I scowled at them.
They had been oddly absent since my return. Other than shitting on Talon.
“Women. Just give me a minute and we can go shopping, Callie,” I said, rolling my eyes.
She laughed as I sat down at the trunk of the tree and crossed my legs. This was the first place I had conversed with the Beast inside the cane. Well, I had imprisoned him.
Dominated him.
And woken up my house in the process.
But I hadn’t wanted to do this inside Chateau Falco, and I didn’t want to simply hop to some other country and free the Beast. That would be like finding one of Grandpa’s old grenades in the attic and then testing it in your neighbor’s yard.
Callie watched me in silence, glancing at the cane curiously, but not pestering me.
I closed my eyes, and reached into the cane. The Beast waited in a dark corner, staring at me warily. He watched me for a time, not speaking.
I nodded my head. It is time.
The look of relief that washed over his face was profound. He shifted, waiting impatiently.
After a good thirty seconds, I finally spoke again. So, uh, how do I do it?
He stared back at me, and then burst out laughing. You simply wish it.
I nodded back. Yeah, okay. Just checking. Um, you’re free. I wish it so, I said lamely.
He shook his head, chuckling, and then stood, brushing off his hands. Then he extended one to me. I met it in a firm metaphysical shake. Not too long or short. Not too strong or weak.
It was a science between us men. The Art of the Handshake.
Then he was simply gone. The cane suddenly felt lifeless in my hands. I opened my eyes, fearing to see hellfire raining down all around me. But nothing had changed. I still heard soft songs at some of the nearest campfires, but other than that, nothing.
I patted my chest. “Huh,” I said, scanning everything within sight. “That was certainly anticlimactic.”
Chateau Falco seemed oddly silent. As if watching me. Hyperaware that something had just happened, even if no one else knew it.
“What did you just do?” Callie asked, sounding concerned.
I climbed to my feet, glancing up at the tree. The two ravens stared down at me, still not speaking. I turned back to Callie and shrugged. “Nothing. Let’s go shopping, I guess.”
She took my hand, studying me with amusement, and then shook her head, her white hair flicking back and forth, sending me the scent of lavender.
I tossed my cane in the grass. “Won’t be needing that anymore.”
“Grandpa feels stronger with a pretty flower in his palm?” Callie teased.
I chuckled as I squeezed her hand. “Something like that.”
I took two steps, and a bolt of lightning seemed to strike my soul, knocking me flat on my ass.
Not a bolt of painful lightning, but a… pleasant bolt of power. Something filling my power reserve in an instant. I shook my head with a surprised smile, but the sensation was gone in a blink.
Callie was frowning down at me, holding out my cane. “I think you might still need this.”
I laughed, batting it away playfully. She helped me to my feet, still frowning, and she didn’t let go of my hand, seeming to grip it tighter, as if to prevent me from falling down again.
I glanced back at the tree thoughtfully.
The branches swayed back and forth lightly, like trees do. But I saw the ravens flapping in the air, off on sudden important business of some sort.
I grunted, and continued after Callie, heading towards Chateau Falco. It wasn’t until I reached the door that I realized there was no wind tonight to make branches move.
I let out a soft breath. I had fulfilled my promise, and my power was back. Not that it had drastically been drained or anything, but I had sensed the limit, and it had concerned me. A sudden ceiling on my power, when I knew there was so much more just beyond reach.
And I hadn’t wanted to risk hitting that limit at a critical moment.
I had made good on my promise.
I had my power back.
And I was – hopefully – about to go shopping with a stone-cold fox.
If we were successful in kicking down the door.
Chapter 48
We stood before the door to the Armory. Callie, having never seen it, was of course playing with the fishlings. The wolf actually looked interested in risking his hiding spot for a quick pat from the enthusiastic girl playing with his food.
I cleared my throat, and she stepped back, waving goodbye to the fish. “This isn’t going to hurt them, right?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, having no idea.
She folded her arms stubbornly. “I won’t hurt the fishies.”
I scowled at her. “More than fishies will be hurt if we don’t do this. And they’re called fishlings. Fishies sounds stupid.”
“Fishlings?” she asked, incredulous. “Of all the ridiculous names, that one tops the list.” She glanced back
at them, as if apologizing for my crude name. “At least try not to break the door.” Her eyes drifted to the scorch marks on the wall where I had tried just that. “I see the big bad Nate already tried huffing and puffing, but this piggy was too smart.”
I scowled. “Fine. But all I have to do to open the door is pet that wolf, and he’s having none of it. Used to be a cool guy, but now?” I shifted my scowl to him for good measure. “Jerk.”
“It’s not his fault. You said there’s a spell preventing him.”
“I can still be irrationally angry about it. Don’t take that from me, Callie. It’s what keeps me going when all hope is lost.”
She chuckled. “Right. Let’s do this. What do you need from me?”
“Embrace your power. I don’t know if you’ll be able to stop me once we start, so we’re going to hold hands. If you feel close to burning out or anything uncomfortable, I need you to dig your nails into my palms. Deal?” She nodded uncertainly. I gripped her chin suddenly, gently, but very directly. “Callie… I would never ever do anything to hurt you. Not intentionally. That’s why I want to hold hands. So you can get my attention. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sense your limits, or what you’re feeling. I’ll be too busy directing the power.”
She swallowed, and then gave me a tight nod. I let go of her chin, my fingers feeling suddenly hot. She glanced down at my hand for a long moment, rubbing her chin with a light finger. Then she grasped both of my hands, placing her thumbs in my palms for an easy stab.
We both took a breath at the same time, and I drew on my magic. Power raged into me like a flood, enhanced by Wylde calmly adding in his own subtle gifts, strengthening the cord of power I braided. With the cane now just an ornament, my power was back. I considered giving this another go on my own, but remembering how it had almost killed me last time, I decided overwhelming force was best. I met Callie’s eyes to find her staring at me in awe. I nodded at her, and waited for her to return the gesture before I reached through her.
Power crashed over me like nothing I had anticipated. I actually had to release some of it, not drawing as deeply, almost losing control of my own cord of power. I saw her nose wrinkle in confusion, sensing me take and then give back some of her power, but she didn’t stop me.
I began to braid her power into my own, and Wylde suddenly began panting with excitement, grabbing shadows, memories, and feelings from all around us, even from us. Pain, love, sacrifice, happiness, loneliness, draining it from us with alien magic. Callie frowned at that.
Then, he began pulling memories from the door itself – from the creatures on the living door. Memories of the wolf groaning as my dad scratched his ears. Memories of terror as a fishling was snatched up by the claws of an owl in the tree. And then the immediate sensation of life as the fishling was reborn into the stream, since nothing ever died on the door. It was one giant circle of life.
And as those memories rolled into the cord, it began to throb, pulse, and expand, the memories feeding it like a steroid.
A patch of wild black thorns erupted around the two of us, and I heard Callie gasp on instinct, growing very still. None of the thorns touched her, but pointed outwards, protecting her, just as they did me. But they did continue to grow – taller, wilder, vines snaking out around us, until it stretched a good five feet out, and as tall as our hips.
I tugged the braid tight, confident no threads were loose, and I touched the door in a polite knock.
No one answered. Remembering Callie’s quip about breaking the door down, I spoke, “Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff…”
And for the second time, I dove into the wood, but this time I used my braided cord of combined power – the power of two white hats. Or the power of two suckers touched by Heaven.
Callie followed me in, a silent observer, but I felt the moment she began to shake. Not in warning to me about her power, but at the sheer alien nature of the power against us.
Savage magic met us in a unified front, this time, well aware of my previous attempt, and armed to retaliate. In fact, the defenders took on form – a row of wolves – and they attacked in unison, whispering, taunting, mocking, threatening in one incessant wave of emotion.
But this time, I also had Wylde.
He chuckled good naturedly in my ears. My turn…
I nodded, still maintaining my control, but allowing him to guide me. The pack of strange wolves, saw a man before them, but with the soul of an ancient wolf. A kindred spirit.
And he began to whisper back. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I was glad for that.
The wolves danced nervously, still whispering, arguing, fighting amongst each other, shouting at me, welcoming, attacking, defending, pressing, relenting, but they did this in a quivering mass, as if I was getting a look at the brain of a schizophrenic.
They were scared of the man before them. The man with the soul of an ancient wolf.
Their conflicting emotions raged into a harmony, not cancelling each other out, but joining together into one braided cord, much like mine, but different.
Their cord was grey, flecked with blacks and whites, against our purely white braided cord.
Wylde met this serpent of power with a grin and a tip of his hat, and then…
He did the damn thing.
Like a rain dance, he began to hop about, a mental construct before us, before the door, but also inside the door. By Callie’s gasp, I knew she saw the same as I. A wild, savage Nate getting his freak on all by his lonesome, against a serpent of power that was born at the dawn of time.
The cord of power – and the wolves – watched, transfixed.
So, you could say it was a total surprise when Wylde flung out a hand, and our white cord of power launched entirely through their gray cord.
It exploded into a thousand shreds of confetti, and the wolves were suddenly gone. We stared into the same blackness I had briefly seen before when trying to break in on my own, like black velvet soaked in blood. Twin eyes stared back from those depths, each larger than us. I’ll admit it. Those eyes were terrifying. And, judging by Callie’s sharp intake of breath, she agreed.
But old Wylde?
He just cackled with joy.
And started flinging starlight into the darkness.
The great beast didn’t quite know what to make of that as the area exploded with light, and this light actually let me see the creature behind the eyes for the first time.
It was the wolf.
The one that I usually had to pet to get into the Armory.
But he was just a puppy. Now, before you think I’m a big meanie for threatening a puppy, you should know that his shadow was a great hulking werewolf on steroids. But as Wylde’s starlight destroyed the darkness, the shadow shrunk, snarling, screaming, and howling, leaving only the puppy behind, staring at us with cute, loving eyes and a lolling tongue as he panted.
The last of the darkness disappeared with a popping sound, and the pup began to wag his tail.
Then, as if made of fog and someone had turned on a fan, the wolf pup collapsed into drifting smoke before disappearing, and a very familiar voice called out.
“Nathin, my host. It has been too long…”
Callie passed out, and I moved too late as she began to fall.
But the bed of thorns around us caught her like the world’s softest mattress. Not a single thorn touched her skin, either disappearing entirely or suddenly pointed a different direction. She sunk deep into the nest of deadly thorns, and then bounced back up to me. I caught her, scooped her up, and the thorns evaporated, also like smoke.
We stood in the same hallway.
The door stood before us, and the wolf carving was now pressed against my hip, panting happily at the edge of the now open door.
The Armory was back online, and judging by the welcome…
It was all mine.
Callie murmured in my arms as I carried her across the threshold of my castle.
Chapter 49
Pand
ora looked much the same as I remembered, if rather wan and pale. But not from sickness. She looked like anyone who had been cooped up in their house alone too long. She stared at me for some time, occasionally glancing down at Callie in my arms with a sad look, and then back to me. She finally sunk to her knees directly before me.
“I tried to lock the doors, but I was moments too late,” she said in a soft whisper.
I nodded hesitantly, not knowing where things truly stood. If I could trust her. “Let’s get Callie taken care of. Then we’ll do a damage report. And talk.”
She climbed to her feet, and led us deeper into her home, my Armory.
Wylde liked the fact that I had a beautiful woman locked away in a secret cave, but I ignored him. Pandora chuckled lightly, reading my thoughts.
As always, she glided to a stop in a large room full of couches and chairs with a wall-to-wall balcony overlooking a sandy expanse. I set Callie down on a couch, frowning in concern. Pandora smiled, placed a palm on her head, and closed her eyes in concentration. She opened them a heartbeat later, smiled, and placed a blanket over her. Callie nestled into it with a murmur.
Pandora silently clutched my hand, and led me from the room. I changed her direction slightly, wanting to check something. She didn’t object, and we walked for some time before she spoke. “The poor dear is just exhausted. Possibly overwhelmed. You showed her your insides.”
I tripped over a bump in the floor, scowled down at the suspiciously flat tiles, and then continued on. I grunted affirmatively in response to her statement.
“That is a lot to take in. For some.”
We reached a set of windows, and I casually glanced out of them as we walked. The same otherworldly landscapes filled the openings as I had seen before, and I began to avoid looking at them for fear of remembering them in a future nightmare.
But we finally found the one I had wanted to check, and she paused before I did, sensing my interest as she turned to face me. She grasped my other hand as I stared over her shoulders at a roiling ocean of shifting stone, like mixing concrete with boulders tossed in. No white island.
Wild Side: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (The Temple Chronicles) Page 27