by Zoe Chant
Behind her a voice demanded, “Is it my shieldmate or isn’t it?”
Daniella shushed him.
Heather laughed weakly. “I should say that the ornament found me,” she said. “Rez is here.”
“Oh good,” Daniella said in relief. “That definitely simplifies things. I wasn’t really looking forward to explaining that you might have to kiss the ornament to break the spell and having you call the police to have me committed.”
“I figured that part out,” Heather said with a grin. She already liked Daniella.
“Robin wanted to do a video chat because they might be able to build a portal if they can get a good enough look at the place there.”
“Robin!” Rez whispered.
He had been lurking out of the view of the phone trying to be polite even though he was clearly wild with curiosity, but Vesta had no such manners and crawled directly into Heather’s lap and craned her head around to the strange voice.
“Aww!” Daniella said. “Italian Greyhound?”
Yes, Heather definitely liked Daniella. “This is Vesta. She’s a rescue.”
“I’ve got an Afghan. His name is Fabio because of his fabulous hair.”
Heather giggled, but Daniella sobered. “Here, I’m going to give the phone to Robin so they can see if they can make a portal from this kind of visual.”
The picture see-sawed and there was suddenly a square-faced woman with dark eyes standing on the screen. Daniella must have put the phone further away, because she could see almost all of her, from the long, dark hair to the hem of a very stiff-looking skirt near her knees. Her eyes were dark, almost black in the poor picture of the phone.
But most remarkable of all were her wings: glimmering butterfly wings sprouted behind her, fluttering slightly.
Chapter 21
While Heather was staring in astonishment, Rez lost his battle of willpower and squeezed in to look over her shoulder. “Robin!” he exclaimed in joy. “I have longed to see you.”
“Rez!”
At the other end of the connection, there was sudden bellow of delight and a huge face crowded in behind a cross-looking Robin.
“Trey!” Rez reached out to touch the phone, minimizing the screen by accident. “I have broken it?”
Heather brought the screen back up. “No, it’s fine. Don’t touch.”
“Trey!” Rez repeated loudly. “Are you a giant?”
“No,” Robin said crossly, “It is I that have been diminished in this world.” With Trey for scale, it was clear that Robin was likely as tall as Vesta: only about a foot high.
Rez reached his hand to the screen again, and stopped himself at the last moment. “I, too, have found that power flows strangely here. My magic form is also small and weak.”
Rez thought that Robin and Trey both gave a significant look at Heather, but it was tricky to read that kind of thing from such a tiny scrying screen.
“It is you that released Trey from his spell, Heather?” Robin asked gravely.
“Er, yes,” Heather said.
“Did you feel drawn to the ornament from the beginning?”
Heather gave an embarrassed laugh. “Yeah,” she confessed. Rez smiled foolishly.
“You must be Rez’s key,” Robin declared.
“Oh-kay,” Heather said slowly. “What does that mean?”
“This world has a significantly different flow of power than our native place, and we cannot access it without local assistance. You, and Daniella, were called to act as keys. Through you, the knights can access the magic ley lines that lie dormant here.”
“The glowy electric yarn,” Heather surmised.
Robin frowned. “It seems that the ley lines appear differently to each different key.”
“I hear music,” Daniella offered from offscreen. “Like there are bunches of different voices singing different songs, and I can lead them with my voice.”
“I see these tangled lines of light,” Heather said. “And I can pull on them.”
“With Daniella’s help, I can access the power here,” Trey said, smiling adoringly out of the frame.
Rez resisted the impulse to turn and smile foolishly at Heather in kind.
“There are dours here,” Rez said grimly, remembering. “Several of them, working in concert, which suggests a bleak’s work. Heather was able to purge them when I proved incapable.”
The party at the other end of the line swore in concert. “We had a bleak here, but Daniella was able to slay it,” Robin said soberly. “We were hoping it was alone, but perhaps it was not.”
“I thought we got rid of all the dours!” Daniella said, disappointed.
“I don’t understand how they have power and you do not,” Trey growled.
“Could it have come from our world? Could more come?” Rez asked.
“Not at this time,” Robin said thoughtfully. “The veil between our worlds only thins at the end of the year. It must have been here already, dowsing for you as I have been.”
“Dowsing?” Heather murmured sideways to Rez.
“Seeking with magic,” he explained. “Though it has had success enough to get this close, that suggests it has some way of tapping the magic of this world.”
“Oh, like a dowsing rod,” Heather said. “I’ve heard of that.”
“There are many echoes of our own world here,” Robin said, nodding solemnly. “And the bleaks would desire to cut Rez off before he can fully activate his power through his key.” They gave Rez a significant look this time.
Rez understood what Robin was implying but not saying: the bleak would also be happy to kill Heather, in order to cripple Rez. It seemed likely that they had been seeking her, to show up at the place where she worked.
Heather asked cautiously, “Are you a fairy?”
Robin scowled fiercely. “I am a fable,” they said through pursed lips. “Now let me see about portalling you here.”
Robin bowed their head and concentrated. Heather gasped and nearly dropped the phone as a swirling crackle of light appeared in front of them briefly and then vanished.
To Rez’s dismay, Robin looked winded. “I can do it,” they said wearily. “But it will take a great deal of energy to make it the size of a human form. I have been spending much of my power dowsing for you and your shieldmates and I will need a few days to get back to what counts as my full strength now. Then, we can bring you both here.”
“Wait, what?” Heather frowned. “Where is here? Am I coming back? I have two jobs and a lease. You want me to just step through a magical door and turn my back on my life for no reason?”
“It is not for no reason, lady,” Trey said earnestly from the phone. “We have a duty to prepare for battle.”
Robin added, “When the veil between our worlds thins, the dark forces on the other side will attempt to come through and take this world for their own.”
“You’ve seen what dours can do,” Trey said mournfully. “Now imagine them so thick that everyone wears one and lives without mercy or grace. It is an unspeakable destiny.”
“What am I supposed to do with my apartment? With my dog? Where am I supposed to stay? Look, I appreciate that you’ve got some unfinished business or something, but I’ve got bills to pay.”
“Let me take the phone, Robin,” Daniella’s practical voice said. “This is a lot to dump on her, and I should know. You guys go reminisce about battles or something, I’m going to talk to Heather for a while.” The view in the screen tilted and spun, and she was once again the only person in view. “Nice to meet you, Rez.”
Rez knew a dismissal when he heard one. “A pleasure,” he said sincerely. He bowed his head politely and said to Heather, “I could wait in the bedchamber.”
She gave him a distant nod. Rez was tempted to give her a farewell kiss, but he didn’t want to presume. He went back down the hallway quietly, letting Daniella’s voice fade to nothing.
He was surprised to find that Vesta came with him, prancing at his feet and j
umping up on the bed with him when he lay down. He stared at the ceiling and petted her absently.
He was relieved to know that Trey and Robin were safe, for now, and most all, to have confirmation that his attraction to Heather was not a malicious spell. But her reluctance to go where they were clearly needed made Rez keenly aware that he was rudely uprooting her life…and that he did not deserve the happiness she brought him when he had so much unfinished business.
She had told him that she would understand if he returned to his shieldmates and his world...but she hadn’t mentioned coming with him. Had she been trying to warn him away from becoming too attached?
It wasn’t just that he craved her lush body, it was that she completed him in some fashion he’d never realized was possible. Vesta cuddled close to him, and he gathered her into his arms.
He’d fallen in love with this crazy world and this strange woman, and her tiny dog, and he didn’t deserve it in the slightest.
Chapter 22
“Okay, I love those guys dearly, but if I have to hear another word about honor and duty and destiny, I might have to scream,” Daniella said frankly. “Let me lay it out for you in twenty-first century speak.”
Heather laughed despite herself. “I’d appreciate that. It’s been…a little overwhelming.”
“I’ve been dealing with these weirdos for six months and it’s still a little overwhelming,” Daniella said with sympathy. “I so hear you.”
“Did you...know magic before this?” Heather had to ask. “Like, that it even existed?”
“Not even a hint,” Daniella confessed. “Not in my wildest imagination. Then I saw this ornament on the shelf in a second hand store and I had to have it. Had to. No choice in the matter. Like I wouldn’t be whole again without it.”
“Because you’re Trey’s key. Key to what?”
Daniella’s expression went warm. “His key to this world. I keep trying to think of analogies, but they always fall short. He’s slightly out of phase, if you want a geeky scientific example. He can’t access the magic here without local help. Has he shifted? Is his magic form pretty small?”
“Yes,” Heather said, remembering the magnificent but tiny unicorn stallion that had faced down foes many times his own size. “About the size of Vesta. Why isn’t he small in human form, like Robin? Does she have a key?”
“They,” Daniella corrected her. “Robin doesn’t have a human half, they are entirely magic, and as a construct of magic, they have no gender.”
“Oh.” Heather cast back, trying to remember if she had referred to Robin by pronouns. “Sorry. I saw long hair, and a skirt, and assumed…” Come to think of it, their face had been quite androgynous.
“It’s a lot easier to find a skirt that fits a doll-size person than pants that aren’t going to chafe or drag. And Rez has pretty long hair himself,” Daniella pointed out.
Heather touched her own short hair. “Point taken,” she said.
“Anyway, Rez’s human form is undiminished, because that half of him isn’t magic.” She paused, then said teasingly. “Have you slept with him yet?”
Heather nearly dropped her phone. “Excuse me?”
Daniella laughed. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. I remember how it was those first couple of days, absolutely dizzy with need. It was this crazy, whole-body, whole-soul craving for him, and I thought I’d lost my mind. You don’t have to answer about the sex, it doesn’t matter. But give him a chance, because the closer you get, the better it is and the stronger you’ll both be, even when you’re ready to kill him for sticking a knife in the refrigerator or whatever crazy thing he thinks has insulted your honor.”
She sobered. “What I really want to talk about are the things from their world. The dours, the bleaks, they’re real, and they are evil, and I saw what they can do. I saw the army that was poised to come through into our world at the end of last year. I have never been so terrified in my life, and I have never known so clearly that I had to do something.”
Daniella shook her dark hair. “They weren’t prepared to meet us last time, but they will be this time, and frankly, I don’t think we can stand against them alone. We won by the skin of our teeth. We haven’t had any luck finding Tadra or Henrik, though we found Henrik’s key. I don’t want to sound needy, but I’ll be honest, I nearly cried when I heard your message and it’s the first ray of hope we’ve had in a while. We thought we’d find the rest of you sooner, and we’d started talking about what we’d do if we couldn’t.”
Heather wanted to believe Daniella. She was earnest and genuine and so much of what she said resonated. It was reassuring to know that someone else had gone through the same revelations and shattering world-view shifts. But… “I’d like to help you,” she said reluctantly. “I’m sort of in favor of saving the world.”
She paused, but Daniella was nodding. “But there are a lot of real-world things that need to be solved. I get it. Fae knights and protectors of broken crowns can’t seem to wrap their heads around jobs and utilities and stuff.”
Heather snorted gracelessly with laughter. “Yeah, that stuff.”
“We’ve got a place you can stay here,” Daniella said. “And while we’d like as much time to train with you as possible and strategize, we don’t have to portal you over this week like Robin was threatening. When does your lease run out? Do you love your job? Can I help you get set up with something here?”
Heather’s giggle was nearly hysterical. “I don’t even know where here is. Am I committing to live in Alaska or something equally crazy?”
“Just Michigan,” Daniella told her. “The weak spot in the veil to the world of darkness is in Michigan.”
“Who knew,” Heather said weakly.
They talked until Heather’s phone battery began to wear down, about dogs and jobs. “College degree in English. I’ve done retail and food service, I’m good at knitting and spinning and sewing, and I’m not too proud to wear goofy costumes,” was Heather’s unimpressive resume.
“It’s a small town with not that many great opportunities,” Daniella said apologetically. “But we’ve got a craft store. I’ll see if they’ve got an opening. And you won’t have to worry about rent for a while, at least. Or a plane ticket, because hey, magic portals.”
Heather finally hung up, shaking her head in wonder. Here she was, talking casually about uprooting her entire life, and stepping through a rift in space to help prepare for a battle with the fate of the world in the balance.
And it really wasn’t the worst idea in the world. She didn’t like leaving her bosses in a lurch, but what was she really giving up? Some minimum wage jobs with no real advancement possibilities? A crappy apartment with a drunk landlord?
She was being offered a chance to be a hero, to start over somewhere new, with a great—if slightly lost—gorgeous guy who absolutely adored her. How many people ever got opportunities like that? How stupid would she have to be to walk away from this chance, and how selfish, if she could help keep dours and worse from the world?
Vesta was nowhere to be seen, but as she walked back down the hallway towards her room, she heard Rez crooning through the half-closed door, “Who’s the best little hound? Such a pretty hound, so clever.”
He even liked her dog.
Heather opened the door. “How do you feel about moving to Michigan?” she asked.
Chapter 23
Rez had no idea what Michigan was, or where, but he knew that he was ready to go anywhere that Heather asked him to.
“What do I have to do?” he asked.
“I’m going to give notice, and we’ll keep in touch with your shieldmates and Robin should be able to make us a portal when we’re ready to go. I’ll list my furniture on Craigslist and...start packing, I guess?”
“Heather,” Rez started, and then he fell silent. He could face terrible enemies in battle without fear, but he was unskilled and inexperienced in speaking of the complications in his own heart. She was so beautiful, so trusting.<
br />
“Daniella says I’m your key.”
They were quiet, neither speaking.
“I—”
“You—”
Rez gestured for Heather to continue first.
“I don’t really know what it means,” she said in a small voice. “But I’m going to give this a shot. There’s...a lot at stake, and if I’m a magical combination lock to saving the world, I’m going to do my best. Tell me more about magic.”
She was so brave and true that Rez couldn’t speak for a moment over the pride and awe that rose in his chest. She had been patient with his unfamiliarity with her world, and now she was being fearless in the face of all the dangers of his.
“I was never the wisest of us in magic,” Rez said humbly. “We could battle in our magical forms without knowing more than instinctively how to tap the leylines and use the power to make our talents work. Henrik can—could—make portals and dowse and scry with ease. I had some success with scrying, but the other skills were beyond me. Everyone who accesses the magic does so in different ways.”
“Like Daniella with her voice,” Heather said thoughtfully.
“Some people use chanting, or herbs and oils in particular combinations. Robin insists that it is not the ritual itself, that it’s just a matter of accepting the perception of the ley lines. You can’t see them, they don’t exist as we do, so you have to find a way to explain them to yourself that works for you.”
“I don’t see them now,” Heather said. “The magical yarn things.”
“They are still there,” Rez assured her. “What were you thinking when you did see them?”
“That I had to save you,” Heather said.
Rez stopped his flinch before it reached his face. He should not need saving. He should be the one protecting his key, not the other way around. But he couldn’t let Heather know how guilty he felt for his weakness. That he could not help her find her access to her magic.
“I could...put myself in peril again?” he suggested lightly. “Perhaps if I attempted to battle the subway?”