Garden of Dreams and Desires

by Kristen Painter

  He charged toward them. “Don’t touch her—”

  Giselle’s hand shot forward as a single word left her mouth. The man was immobilized. Holding her hand out toward the man, she looked at Ava Mae and raised an eyebrow. “A friend of yours?”

  Ava Mae shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  Neither had Harlow. Could this man be working for Augustine? Her panic level jumped a notch.

  Giselle’s mouth was tight. “Enough of this. Let’s get to why you’re here, shall we?” She seemed to be holding the spell on the intruder without effort. With her free hand, she pointed to the pond. “This water has the power to grant your deepest desire.”

  “So it will bind my soul to this body?”

  Giselle’s frustration showed in her eyes. “If that’s your deepest desire, then yes.”

  “It is.” Ava Mae’s eagerness washed through Harlow. “So what do I do?”

  Giselle smiled but it was plainly forced. “Just walk in and submerse yourself. The water will do the rest.” She took a few steps back until she was equidistant from her sister and Ian, then nodded. “Whenever you’re ready, but sooner rather than later.” She tipped her head toward the intruder. “I can’t hold this spell forever.”

  “I have to get my clothes wet?”

  Giselle’s smile thinned. “You may remove as much or as little as you like.”

  Ava Mae nodded and toed off her shoes, then stripped down to her underwear. “This outfit was very expensive. I don’t want to ruin it. Or go home soaking wet.”

  Giselle’s sigh was audible. “The sooner you get in—”

  Ava Mae put a foot into the water. “I’m in.” She pulled her foot back out. “Are you kidding? It’s freezing.”

  Giselle glanced at Zara. “If you could help?”

  Zara’s returning glance was strained. “I’m already helping.”

  “I can do it,” Ian said. He lifted a hand over the water and mumbled something. “Try it now.”

  Ava Mae stuck her foot back in the water. “It’s warm now, thank you.” She gave him a sly smile and put her other foot in, too. Harlow couldn’t believe her twin was flirting at a time like this, but then again, maybe she could. Ava Mae took a few steps and was waist deep. “I never would have guessed this pond was so deep.”

  Harlow planned on throwing every bit of anger into Ava Mae to shock her out of control as soon as she submerged. She hoped Ava Mae would be concentrating on holding her breath and not on what her sister might do.

  Giselle nodded wearily. “Please, all the way under. I can’t hold this spell much longer.”

  Ava Mae waved her hand. “All right, I’m going. I hope you have a towel.” She took a deep breath and ducked under.

  A flash of light and an audible crack of sound followed, rending Harlow senseless and blind for a moment. Ava Mae was oddly silent. And still.

  Harlow’s awareness returned. There was no water. Not exactly. She lay on her back on hard, damp earth, but the ceiling above her danced and rippled like a sheet of water. Light filtered through, illuminating the space with a faint, diffused glow.

  She pushed to her feet, aware that she was at least partially in control of her body again. A look around told her she wasn’t alone. A few others shuffled around her like they were sleepwalking. Some sat against the sloped walls, hunched in the fetal position. Six in total. Another clap of light and sound, and a body fell through the ceiling, landing beside her, head cracking hard on the ground.

  Ogun. The man who’d gotten her into this… whatever it was. He lay still. She nudged him with her foot. “Hey. Get up. What have you done? Where the hell are we?”

  Another flash of light and sound. She ducked as yet another body fell into the pit. One she recognized. “Oh no.” She forgot Ogun and sank to her knees. “Cy?” She grabbed his shoulders as his lids flickered open. “Are you okay? How did you get here? Were you that intruder in disguise?”

  He sat up. “That was me.” He rolled his shoulder and winced. “Damn witches. I’m okay, but my shoulder is killing me.”

  “Please tell me Augustine is on his way and that you know what’s going on.”

  He stared at her. “Are you… you again?”

  “Kind of. I don’t know if it was the fall or what, but Ava Mae seems to be taking a breather.”

  “Glad to hear that.” He stood, helping her to her feet. “About the other stuff, I have no idea what’s going on and that includes with Augustine.”

  “What do you mean?” That wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

  “I was on the phone with him telling him what was happening, but we got disconnected and… then nothing.” He shrugged, then grimaced in pain. “I think my shoulder’s dislocated.”

  “I’m really sorry about that. If I knew how to help you, I would.” No Augustine? And Cy was injured. They were in deep trouble.

  “I can fix it.” He went to one of the walls, clenched his teeth and then jammed his shoulder into it. He cursed loudly as he worked the joint. “It’s back in.”

  Okay, maybe not that deep. “You’re hard-core, you know that?”

  He snorted. “Not hard-core enough to keep myself out of here.”

  “What on earth just happened to us?”

  He glanced up, shaking his head. “That spell paralyzed me, but I could hear everything. Before they forced me into the water, Giselle said something like, ‘Ten down, two to go.’ ”

  “Ten down? With you here, there are nine people in this… whatever this is.”

  “Some sort of holding cell. Maybe you counted wrong.” He looked around. “No, I count nine, too.” His gaze stuck on her. “You’re Harlow again but you say Ava Mae’s still with you?”

  “Yes, I can still feel her in me. But it’s like she’s knocked out.”

  His eyes widened. “There’s two of you. That makes ten souls.” He scrubbed a hand across his face and looked around. “There’s no way this could exist below the pond without some sort of spell. This must be a kind of magical holding tank.”

  “For people?”

  He frowned. “I guess. No doubt the witches are planning something big. No clue what, but it can’t be good. Not if they need souls to make it happen.”

  The thought made Harlow shiver. Then something else disturbed her. Someone else. Ava Mae was awake.

  What’s going on? Where are we? Why are you still here?

  Harlow smirked. Not the end result you were hoping for, hmm, Sister? If anything, the fall into the witch’s holding pit had stripped Ava Mae of some of her power.

  No! Ava Mae yelled. I was supposed to have control of the body now, not you. You’re supposed to be gone!

  Harlow grabbed Cy’s arm. “Ava Mae’s awake and angry.”

  “Fight her,” Cy urged. “You’re stronger. You can do it.”

  Harlow nodded as Ava Mae screamed in frustration. The emotion ripped through Harlow like a shot of electricity, frying her nerves. She gasped and fought back, calling on her anger and her years of loneliness, letting Ava Mae feel everything that had built up over time.

  Ava Mae shrank back. Stop fighting me. Let me have the body. It’s supposed to be mine.

  Like hell it is. I was born into it, remember? You lied your way in. Harlow shoved more emotion at Ava Mae, then added to it the rage accumulated from every time Ava Mae had tried to take Augustine to bed. You can dish it out, but you can’t take it, can you?

  Ava Mae whimpered. She sounded far away now, like she was in a deep well. You’re hurting me. I need the tree. I’m too far away.

  You’ve been hurting me since you lied and took over.

  But I’m your sister. I love you. You love me.

  Harlow snorted. I loved the idea of you, but you’re not really my sister, you’re the lightning tree’s idea of my sister. My twin died at the hands of our father. There’s so little of her left in you that you’ve become a monster made of dark magic and witchcraft. Get out of me.

  Ava Mae went still. She wa
s there, but so diminished Harlow had to work to feel her. Harlow reached for Cy again. “I think I did it. She’s not gone but she’s barely hanging on.”

  “Good. Now we get you out of here.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait for the others to come?”

  “What others?”

  “Augustine and the rest of the lieutenants? Won’t they show up eventually?”

  He took a long breath. “I have no idea. I honestly don’t think anyone knows where we are.” He stared at the ground like he was embarrassed to have to tell her this. “Like I said, I was trying to tell Augustine where I was when the line went dead. And I was about to call the others when you, or Ava Mae rather, walked into the pool. You looked like you were in danger. I couldn’t wait. I jumped the wall and that’s when she froze me.” He frowned. “So like I said, we need to get you out of here.”

  And just like that they were back to deep trouble. “How exactly are we going to do that?”

  He cocked one brow. “Remember the Star Alliance episode where the crew was being held prisoner in the Rathian slime pit?”

  Her mouth opened slightly. “It’s not that I doubt your strength but your shoulder is hurt and… are you serious?”

  “Do you see another way?”

  She looked at the watery ceiling above them. It was at least fifteen feet over their heads and the walls were too slick with pond scum to be climbable. “Assuming I make it, what if the witches are still up there?”

  “You’ll have the element of surprise on your side, but otherwise… run like hell. You’re the only chance any of us has of getting out of here alive.”

  A small knot clogged her throat for a moment. He’d risked his life to try to save her. She wasn’t about to let him lose it because she was too chicken to try this. “Okay, that’s the plan then.” She took a breath. “I’m ready when you are.” She glanced at the ceiling again. “You sure about aiming and everything? I don’t want to fall back through.”

  “I’ve got this.” He laced his fingers together, then bent down, holding his hands out. “Put your hands on my shoulders.”

  She put her foot into the step he’d made and braced her hands on his shoulders. The amount of muscle beneath her palms was nothing short of astonishing. There was no doubt he had the strength to get her out of here. She smiled down at him. Of all Augustine’s lieutenants, she felt the most connected to Cy. “Whatever happens, thank you. For everything.”

  He gave her a nod. “Just get us out of here.”

  “I will.” She hoped.

  “Ready?”

  She nodded. Ava Mae moaned distantly. Harlow prayed that her twin wouldn’t revive when Harlow got home and close to the lightning tree again.

  “Make yourself stiff like an arrow, arms at your sides. Stay that way until you’re through, then roll like a ball to land.”

  She positioned herself as he asked, tensing in preparation.

  “Here we go.” He sank into a deep bend, counting as he hit the bottom of each squat. “One… two… three.” On three, he exploded upward and hurled her through the air.

  She pierced the waterline a second later. A cold shock ripped through her, leaving her breathless and hurting to the point she almost forgot Cy’s instructions. She managed to wrap her arms around her knees just before she landed. She hit grass with a thud, one arm awkwardly bent beneath her. She bit down to keep the yelp of pain to herself.

  She lay there, for how long she wasn’t sure. A numb, empty feeling spread through her. Like she’d lost something. At last she pushed to her elbows.

  The garden was dark and deserted, but lights blazed in the house. How long had she actually been in that pit? Shivering in her underwear, she crouched behind a few plants bordering the pond while she got a better look at the house. There was movement inside, but she couldn’t be sure who it was. Water trickled off her hair and down her back. The clothes Ava Mae had left at the pond’s edge were gone. Damn it, Ava Mae. Why did you have to get undressed?

  Harlow waited for her twin to snap back with some comment, but the response never came. Frowning, she pulled her focus inward. The hollow place Ava Mae had once filled was empty again. Ava Mae seemed to be well and truly gone. Had she gotten stuck in the pond? Was hers the soul that the witches’ magic had stolen? Was that the icy shock she’d felt as she’d been thrown back through the pond? Cy had said it was a holding pit for souls, after all.

  Harlow leaned forward to gaze into the pond. The water was black and glittering beneath the newly risen moon. Here and there a few koi swam lazily. Nothing indicated the pond was anything more than a pond but somewhere under there, Cy was trapped.

  With a sigh, she sat back and stared at the house once more. Three figures were visible through the sheer curtains, so all the witches were in there. And judging by the fact that her clothes were gone, they probably felt confident she wasn’t getting out of their trap. She lifted her chin. Let them think that. It meant she had the upper hand.

  She tried to focus on that as she kept to the shadows and made her way to the garden wall. Gaze still on the house, she reached for the latch on the garden gate. The metal burned her fingers. She yanked them back, hissing softly. Wearing gloves all the time had made her forget that iron hurt. Getting through the gate wasn’t going to be fun. She took a deep breath, yanked the gate as wide open as she dared and slipped through. Welts swelled on her fingers where she’d made contact. The gate clanged shut behind her.

  Startled by the noise, she ran into the darkness, hoping she’d see a street she recognized or a patrolling police car, anything to guide her home.

  Zara’s head jerked up. “What was that?”

  Giselle frowned. “I didn’t hear anything.” Holding the necessary spells for the chaos magic was wearing Zara’s nerves threadbare. Giselle worried the work required for the ruina vox totem was too much for her sister.

  Ian tucked his hands behind his head where he lounged on the couch, watching some game on the holovision. Thankfully, he’d kept the sound low. “I didn’t, either.”

  Zara went to the window and pulled back the sheers to stare into the darkness of the garden. “I heard something.”

  “Maybe it was the holovision,” Ian said.

  Zara needed comforting, assuring. Anything they could do to keep her stress free. Giselle motioned at Ian. “Make Zara a cup of tea, would you?”

  “On it.” He got off the couch.

  Giselle turned to her sister. “Please rest. You’ve had a long day and there are more long days to come. I’ll check the garden. It was probably just a neighbor’s cat getting into your catnip bed again.”

  Zara turned away from the window. “Maybe you’re right.” Her shoulders dropped and the creases in her forehead smoothed out. “Thank you.” She went back to her chair.

  Giselle opened one of the French doors. Ian shot her a concerned look as he went into the kitchen. “I won’t be long.”

  She closed the door behind her and let her eyes adjust to the dark. What she could see of the garden looked just as they’d left it. She strolled the stone path that led to the pond. The water rippled in the breeze, but was otherwise undisturbed. A few of the koi surfaced as she neared, their mouths gaping for food.

  Ignoring them, she surveyed the whole of the property, her gaze finally stopping on the gate. The tall rectangle of wrought iron sat oddly. The swirls and twists of the metal were so thick and intricate, there was little space for anyone on the outside to see through. Still, she went to inspect it. And found it unlatched. From the inside.

  She slipped through and checked the street in both directions. Nothing. Back inside, she studied the pond and garden again. There was no way anyone could get out of the pool once they’d gone through. Was there? She couldn’t imagine how. After Zara had designed the pit, Giselle had overlaid a numbing spell on it so that anyone inside would become too lethargic to attempt escape. She stared at the pond. She’d created that spell for humans. She hadn’t considered how long it might t
ake to affect a fae.

  Regardless, it would work. None of their gathered souls had escaped. The gate was merely an oversight. Zara was so tired lately, she’d probably left it unlatched herself. Or maybe Ian had done it. Giselle brought the bar down into the slot, secured the door and made her way back to the house.

  They only had two more souls left to gather and by tomorrow, they’d have them. Now was not the time to become scared of their shadows. None of them, Zara included, needed the pressure of paranoia. One more added stress and Zara might crack. Then there would be no chaos magic at all and their hard work would be for nothing.

  She went back into the house, locking the French door behind her.

  Zara looked up from her tea. “Did you find anything?”

  Giselle gave her a warm, reassuring smile. “Nothing at all.”

  Chapter Ten

  Augustine came to with every inch of his body throbbing in pain. He blinked, trying to get his bearings. Not in the warehouse anymore—

  “He’s awake! Thank the Lord, he’s awake.” Lally leaned over him. “Lay still, Augie, you’re hurt bad.”

  Two more faces appeared behind hers. Fenton. And Grantham. The scent of old paper and leather told him they were in the library. Being back on home turf was good, but not enough to quell his anger.

  “You.” Augustine jabbed his finger at Grantham. The small movement created a wave of pain that rippled through him. “What the hell happened back there? Did you know what they were planning?”

  “Look at me,” Grantham said. His right eye was swollen and his lip was split. “Do I look like I knew what they were planning? Damn Pellimento’s thugs.”

  “I will kill Sutter the next time I see him. Maybe the senator, too.” Augustine swung his legs off the couch and onto the floor. New pain erupted as his feet touched down. A wash of nausea caused his mouth to water with the urge to vomit. He took a deep breath and dug his fingers into the couch cushions until it passed. Rings of red, blistered skin encircled his wrists where the iron shackles had been.