THE BAZAAR (The Devany Miller Series)

by Jen Ponce

Shit.

  "But I will do it. To help Devany. To try and repair some of the damage I've done since putting the heart in her hand."

  And then I was back in control of my body. I blinked, my face tingling.

  Marantha studied my face. "You're back."

  "Yes. Me. Devany." To Arsinua, I said a heartfelt thank you. To Marantha, I said, "Now, how do we go about getting my life back?"

  THIRTY-ONE

  Simple. That's what Marantha had said of her plan. She was nuts, but all right. Why be the poop of the party? All we had to do, she'd said, was catch Lucy by herself, drug her with the drink Marantha was preparing, use my power to reverse whatever it was the explosion had done to bond Arsinua and I and poof.

  Right.

  "You need to pay attention, Devany." Tytan's liquid velvet voice washed over me.

  Goosebumps time. I shivered. "I'm tired. I can't recreate what happened. I don't know what happened. Boom! That's what happened. Okay?" I tipped over onto the couch, sleep dragging me under like a kid in an undertow.

  He prodded me with his foot. "Your kids. Liam. Bethany."

  Groaning, I pushed myself upright. My eyes stayed shut. "I exploded out. Then in. I swear that's all I know."

  Words in a language I didn't know poured from his mouth. They melted into my ears, making my brain feel lighter. I slouched against the seat back as Tytan changed to English. "You are with the witch. The chythraul, giant spider, has crawled forth from its skin. It comes at you."

  "Arsinua threw bolts of light at it," I said, remembering the force of energy in the room as Arsinua spelled her magic. "It didn't bleed. Well, sorta." I kicked the spider. Did something to distract it, anyway. "I grabbed the glowing stone. The spider had its fangs out." I shuddered. Sorry Neutria, I said, somewhere in the back of my mind, but she wasn't insulted by my remembered fear and disgust. She was pleased.

  "When it got close, I struck with the ball. Arsinua struck it too, with magic. The heart was in my shirt. I split apart, outward. Then it all collapsed. The heart did it." For a moment I couldn't breathe then I forced air into my lungs in a painful gasp. "It hurt."

  His hand was on my leg, sending those calming waves again. When my breathing evened out, he said, "You will have to put Arsinua away from you. When the time comes, set her apart in your mind. Make her as real in your imagination as you can. Picture exactly how she looked." He stared hard into my eyes. "You will have to do the same, witch."

  I will, though I like it not that he can't call me by name.

  "She will," I said, a tired smile tickling the corners of my mouth. Arsinua's petulance matched my own every time someone accused me of being ignorant. "Can I get some sleep now?" I could feel myself tilting, but didn't have any desire to stop myself.

  From the kitchen, Marantha poked her head around the door. "There's a bed upstairs. Big enough for the both of you."

  Big enough for—Oh no. "No. Nope." Tytan scooped me up and I slung an arm around his neck in reflex. I'd never been carried until I met him. I didn't particularly like it. Okay, I did, but I didn't like that I liked it. Did that make sense? Up the stairs and then I tensed, expecting him to give me a toss. Instead he laid me gently on the bed.

  Nice, soft bed.

  "You aren't sleeping with me," I muttered. I didn't hear what he said. My thoughts flew away on gossamer wings and I slipped into oblivion.

  Of course, I woke up with his arm across my middle. Of course, he hadn't listened to me when I'd told him he wasn't sleeping with me. I looked at the ceiling, not sure if I should dare hope that my plan worked. I'd come to think that hope made the fickle fates perk up and take notice, so that they knew what exactly they should screw up. Oh, Devany wants her kids? Great. We'll make sure she never gets them back. What, Devany wants a faithful husband? Goody. Let's shove a perky breasted brunette in his bed and laugh our asses off when she discovers the truth.

  "Do you always wake up angry?"

  I rolled my head to see Tytan staring languidly back. "Why are you here?"

  "Once upon a time, an ancient evil decided she needed minions to torture."

  I didn't say a word, giving him my best annoyed-mother face. He didn't bother looking contrite as he said, "I wanted to touch you and feel your warmth."

  "You coerced me, forced me to work for you, showed me things that will burn in my memory forever and now you want to be all touchy feely?" My body awoke all over and the press of his arm across my middle became a weighted promise. "Stop that."

  "What?" Then he smiled. "I can't help it. It's my nature."

  "You're full of bullshit." Which is why I didn't move. Hello? Devany? Sleeping with the enemy much? "You're fallen."

  A flash of anger marred the beauty of his face then vanished. "So it appears."

  "Which means what?"

  His arm moved. I relaxed only to tense when he flattened his hand on my stomach. "This means I'm now a physical presence in the world. This one or yours. It means I can find my soul and reclaim it. If I want to return to the Slip, I have to figure out how to unmake my maker."

  Ah. Okay. "But you still have your powers?"

  "I have my nature but I can no longer access the power I pulled through Ravana. She severed the connection."

  He looked lost and for a moment, a tiny moment, I fell for that sad little boy look. Then I mentally slapped myself. "Sorry about that." I moved his hand, ignoring the disappointment I felt. I was still married. Still. Married. Still a mother to two kids who needed me, whether they knew it or not. "I'll be glad to help you unmake that one, if you can figure out how. But now, I need to go to the bathroom and then I need to get my kids." I rolled away from him, breathing easier when I'd put some distance between us. I followed the hall until I found a small bathroom. It didn't look like my bathroom at home. In one corner there was a lovely nook with a waterfall that I assumed was the shower. In another corner sat a chair-like thing with a hole in the center. No tank, no pipes that I could see. I shut the door and hoped that it was the toilet. I didn't want to embarrass myself by peeing in a sink or something.

  In the sitting room, Marantha had fallen asleep on the couch, the pale skin on her face drawn. Her snores ripped out of her as if she and sleep were fighting. In the kitchen, I saw nothing that resembled a fridge, but found a bowl of fruit. I avoided what I didn't recognize and grabbed an apple, munching as I came out of the kitchen. Tytan came down the stairs and Marantha woke with one last snore that tore at her throat.

  "No!" She blinked furiously. When she saw me, she flushed. "Dreams. Not always soothing, are they?" She disappeared down the hall, presumably to find the bathroom as well.

  Tytan plucked the half-eaten apple from my hand and sunk his teeth into its white flesh. The way he did that sent warmth shivering to my toes and he wasn't even touching me to make that reaction. Nope. That was all me. He held the apple out but I shook my head. So not going there.

  "She fixed the wall," I said, realizing I could no longer look out onto the yard from the couch.

  "She called a work crew."

  I frowned. "They worked that fast? How long did I sleep?"

  "Magic work crew."

  "Oh." I chewed at a cuticle. "Still. How long did I sleep?"

  "Enough to refresh you."

  Time was eating away at me. I hated the feel of it slipping so quickly through my fingers. "I need to get back to my kids."

  "You will."

  An iron taste filled my mouth. I pulled my finger away. I'd made myself bleed. Damn. "You're different," I accused. "Why aren't you threatening me? Pushing me?"

  "I'm closer to my soul. It has an effect on all Skriven."

  I tipped my head. “You know where she is now?”

  He reached out to touch me and I stepped back. “No. Only that she is on the physical plane. Somewhere.”

  “Why do you guys even keep your souls around?”

  He grinned. “Spoken like a true Skriven.”

  I made a face. “So not one.”

 
“If we find our souls and kill them, we are able to challenge our Makers. If we can unmake them, we ascend. It's why they take our souls and hide them away from us. Our only advantage is that the Originators cannot bear the touch of a soul and so they cannot keep them close.” He had a faraway look. I didn't know what it meant and before I could suss it out, Marantha returned.

  "Let's get going. Sooner gone, sooner done." She gestured toward the kitchen. "The drug is in the stoppered bottle on the cabinet. I'm afraid you will have to carry the book, young man."

  Tytan chuckled softly. Was it because Marantha had called him young man? Why did I care? He was a demon in all but name. I had to remember that. He would kill his own soul if it meant he could gain more power. If he would do that, he would do anything. Probably had done despicable acts that I didn't even want to contemplate and once he killed his soul ... I shook myself. No. I wouldn't even consider trying to convince him to keep his soul. Ridiculous. It was none of my business anyway.

  My kids. They were my main concern now. I forced the rest out as I picked up the bottle filled with Marantha's potion. I had to get Lucy to drink it. I would, no matter what.

  When Ty had the book, Marantha took his hand and mine. I formed the hook, conscious that they both watched me, Marantha with amazement, Tytan with a knowing smile that made me feel both proud and creeped out.

  As the hook opened, smoke boiled from the middle of the wavery formation. I stumbled back, dragging them both with me. The smoke burned and smelled of gunpowder. My legs hit the back of the couch as the ... thing exploded into the room. Marantha tumbled over a small table, knocking the plant on top of her, spilling black dirt against her pale skin. Tytan jumped in front of me, which was rather manly of him. I certainly didn't want to confront whatever it was that had come through.

  The gunpowder smell thickened. I sneezed, my back hitting the wall. I had a flashback to where this insanity had all begun, chained and bound in a dirty tent. There were glow rocks in Marantha's home, but I knew better than to grab them. "What is it?"

  "It's a syntarsus," Marantha said as she pushed herself free of the table. "A sort of reptilian golem."

  The syntarsus looked like a Frankenstein lizard. It had horns down its back like a dinosaur, but the horns glinted in the light because they were metal. One side of its grinning face didn't match the other. From one side it looked like a crocodile, from the other, a T-Rex. I raised my arms, ready to blast it with the heart but Tytan grabbed me. "No. You can't. If you made Ravana your Draw, then the power you pull through her will come right back at you through that thing." He jumped to the side as it swiped at him with one long fingered and wickedly clawed hand.

  I picked up the table and smashed it over its head. The impact vibrated my forearms. I gritted my teeth and brought the table down again. This time it splintered but the syntarsus wasn't fazed. It still had that toothy grin. A blob of drool hung off one saw blade tooth. "If she kills me she loses her pet."

  "You humiliated her. She won't stop now until you're dead." Tytan shoved the couch at the thing, driving it back against the wall. The new wall.

  "Sorry, Marantha," I said, but she was chanting and a ball of light formed between her hands. I wished I could help but didn't want to be blasted by my own weapon, damn it.

  It tore great gouts of stuffing from the couch, sending the yellowed fluff flying. Tytan's entire body strained against the couch. "Get out of here. I'll hold it off."

  Marantha let loose her magic. It broke against the deformed reptile without a ripple. But then I saw a seam on the side of its constructed face open up. It screamed like an angry raptor and sent Tytan flying across the room.

  "I have to do something," I said, concentrating on the heart.

  No! You will kill yourself. The Skriven is right.

  "Then what?" The glowing balls. I could grab one and ...

  I know you aren't going to do that again.

  The creature ran at me, the side of its face hanging at a disturbing angle. I ducked, but its claws raked my shoulder and drove me to my knees with the pain. The wound felt licked with fire. I rolled over, gasping when my shoulder hit the floor.

  Tytan yanked me to my feet, shoving me when the syntarsus swung again. I fell over the destroyed couch and hit my head hard enough to black out for a second. When my consciousness returned, Marantha had hit the thing with another energy blast. This one nearly knocked its face off.

  I crawled away from the couch, black spots still occluding my vision. The pain in my shoulder distracted me and I wasn't quick enough to dodge another attack. This one caught me on the hip, but it wasn't the claws this time. The damn thing had latched its jaws onto my flank.

  I wrenched and yanked but it had clamped on like a snapping turtle. I saw my face distorted with pain and fear in its dead gaze.

  I jabbed my middle finger into the motherfucker's eye.

  It howled and I fell from its grasp. I couldn't move, my leg felt paralyzed. Another ball of energy hit it and its face fell off, leaving strings of shredded skin and a jawbone full of teeth. It came at me, of course it did, and even without half its face it could gut me with its claws.

  Tytan flipped the tieback from the curtain around its neck and yanked upward. The rope snapped tight around the monster's neck and its claws missed gutting me by inches. I couldn't tell if Tytan was trying to strangle it or saw its head off. When Marantha let loose her final volley, the rope cut through the neck of the monster and the head fell. Its body hit the carpet and shattered.

  Marantha came, panting, her face haggard. "My dear. How many times did it bite you?"

  "Just the one." My words slurred. I couldn't swallow around the dryness in my throat. "She wants me dead." The absurdity made me chuckle, though no real sound came from my mouth. "All I want to do is go home."

  "She doesn't want to kill you," Tytan said, kneeling down beside me. He studied Marantha as if wondering whether she could keep a secret. "It's a challenge."

  "What kind of challenge?" I poked at my thigh with my finger. It was my leg, but I couldn't feel it. Reminded me of the epidural I'd had with Liam. The doctor made me stay on my left side and the medicine numbed me from hip to toe. It felt the same way now. Left leg nothing but a lump of dead flesh attached to my body. "Did I win?"

  Grimly he reached for the fastener of my pants. "It depends, I suppose, on how you define winning."

  "Great." I looked down at him tugging at my jeans. Maybe I should stop him, but my brain couldn't figure out exactly why that was necessary. "Let me guess. It bit me and now I'm going to be a werereptile. Eh?" The material rasped over my wound and I balled up my fist as I passed out.

  When I woke, I saw Tytan still looking grim with a swell to his eyelid I hadn't noticed before. I was lying on my right side, propped with pillows from the gutted couch. "What happened to you?"

  "You slugged him, dear." Marantha was smiling as she held a small bottle of liquid to my lips. "Drink. It will help."

  I drank, expecting it to taste nasty. Instead, it tasted of blueberries and maple syrup. "Mmm. What's that?"

  She didn't answer. Tytan swam in and out of view. He prodded my hip and I cussed. After the sixth time I snapped, "What are you doing?"

  "Getting you ready for your challenge."

  Oh. Another crazy thing I knew nothing about. "I want to go home. I want to see my kids." My words slurred and I dropped off. When I woke the next time, the room was in focus. My hip wasn't ablaze, though my shoulder still ached. "What did you guys do?"

  Only Marantha was there. She had covered my naked lower half with a sheet. "The Skriven ground up the remains of the syntarsus. Seems to be a cure he knew well."

  "Where'd Ty go? Wash up?" I hadn't moved yet and wasn't sure I wanted to tempt the gods of pain.

  "He's finding you a weapon." She tucked in my blanket, fussed with the pillow, and then scooted away to straighten the knocked over side table.

  A weapon. "Oh no. I'm not doing any damn thing else. I'm done. I
'm going home."

  She stooped to pick up a shimmering flower that floated above the table when she let go. "You can't.” She gave the flower a spin with her finger then sunk down onto the chair, her face haggard. “This thing will not leave you alone. Each time you try to open a hook you will release a syntarsus. You can't go home until you answer the challenge. At least, that's what your Skriven says."

  "He's not mine." I covered my face. "I can't. I cannot do this anymore. Please, let me go home."

  Her hand pressed gently against my hair. "I'm sorry."

  I didn't look up or uncover my face. I knew she meant well and I knew she cared but I was telling the truth. I couldn't do it anymore. The killing, the magic, the threats to my life and to the lives of my children. It was over. I was over.

  A door opened somewhere behind me. Tytan asked, "Is she awake?"

  "Yes." Marantha's voice throbbed with sorrow.

  I wanted to plug my ears. "Leave me alone. Let me die. Do you hear me?" I didn't hear him until his foot kicked a fallen vase and sent it skittering. His touch soothed me but I fought it. It was a false calm, a mockery of the peace I felt in the presence of my children. I didn't want to be calm. I wanted to scream hysterically and have someone rescue me. Someone that would scoop me up and take care of me. "I can't," I whispered, ashamed but unable to stop myself. What route would he choose, I wondered idly, to coerce me into this battle? Would he threaten me? Insult me? Pet me and tell me I was strong, that I could defeat any foe? Or would he feign sadness, pretend that he accepted I would give up. After all, it wouldn't harm him if I quit, would it? He'd still be in a mess, still fallen.

  "I know if I give up, then I'm giving up my children," I said, even though he hadn't spoken. "I know I can be strong, that I can face my troubles even though it means I might lose them forever. If I don't try I've already given up, right? Right?" Still neither had spoken and I finally looked at them. "Why me? Huh? Why is it I have to do this all on my own? Heroes in the books get minions but let me guess," I said bitterly, gauging the expression on Tytan's face. "I get to face this alone, like everything else."