I felt for a ley line but then remembered that I hadn’t seen one when I arrived. The closest one was miles away, too far to let me draw enough power to activate the healing spell.
Then I laughed out loud. I no longer needed a ley line. I was a Wanderer. For a moment, I didn’t think I’d be able to stop laughing. It was ridiculous; I was no warrior. I could fight, and I’d had some self-defense classes, but obviously not enough to handle myself against five thugs.
I raised the grimoire in my bloody left hand. While reading, I formed the spell’s pattern with my right hand. There was a familiar pop of power as the spell activated. A warmth swept over me as the magic began to mend my injuries.
Setting the book aside, I fell back onto the bed and passed out.
A woman’s scream awoke me.
I sat up and stared around. What had happened? Oh, yeah, the Valkyrie.
Turning to face the door, I saw the source of the scream. It was the maid I’d met the day before. She’d dropped a basket of cleaning supplies and had her hands to her mouth.
“It’s okay,” I said, raising a hand. “I’m okay.”
Her hands lowered shakily, and she made a visible effort to gather her wits. “Why are you covered in blood?”
I laughed. “Some party last night. A friend got me drunk and then decided to prank me by drenching me in blood and leaving me in my bed.”
The maid looked skeptical.
“Seriously,” I said, standing. “Look, I’m fine.”
I was fine. I glanced at the clock; it was nearly noon. I must have slept for fourteen or more hours. The healing spell had carried on its work, just as Tess said it would. I’d used it a few times for practice, healing small cuts and even one stumped toe in the months since Tess and Rafe left, but I wasn’t sure how well it would work on the grievous wounds I’d suffered on the roof.
The maid, Estella, I think, glared at the bedspread. “Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of that?”
“I’m sorry about that, Estella. I had no idea they’d take their stupid joke so far. Here…” I got my wallet off the dresser. “Let me make it up to you.”
I pulled out a twenty and offered it to her.
She eyed the bill suspiciously.
I pulled two more twenties from my wallet and held them out with the first bill.
Estella reached slowly for them as if she was still reluctant to take the money. As her fingers gripped the extended bills, I tightened my own grip on them.
Her eyes met mine.
“We won’t mention this to anyone else, will we?” I asked.
“Si.” Estella nodded.
I released the money.
She folded the bills, and they disappeared into the top of her blouse.
“Ah, could you come back later to clean? I really need to get in the shower and get this stuff off of me,” I said, as I unbuttoned my shirt.
“Si, just let me take the bed clothes. I need to get them soaking, so the blood will come out.”
“Certainly,” I agreed. I waited by the window until Estella departed, closing the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, I threw the privacy latch and went into the bath. I hit the light switch and stripped off my torn and ripped, bloody shirt and stared at my reflection in the narrow mirror. My chest was so covered in dry blood that I couldn’t see where the last blade had gone.
Turning the water on in the shower, I finished stripping and climbed in. The water hadn’t gotten warm yet, and it was tepid at best. I let the flow cascade through my hair and down my back while I gathered my thoughts.
Damn, I was going to be a Wanderer. How cool was this? Tess and Rafe had impressed the hell out of me. The only drawback to meeting them was the loss of my mother. They’d managed to save me from whatever had possessed Mom and me but hadn’t been able to save her. It took me months to get my head around that, but eventually I came to understand that not even someone as powerful as a Wanderer could save everyone.
I opened the little shampoo bottle that came with the room and lathered up my hair.
A couple of weeks after Mom died, the internet and all of the news channels were frantically reporting on the events in Colorado. Apparently, someone had opened one of those portals Tess had told me about and all sorts of nasty critters invaded our world. The entire world seemed to be caught up in a fever of mythological proportions. Every creature caught added more and more excitement to the discovery.
The only one that no one ever found was an enormous red dragon that had flown off on the morning everything went to hell. Authorities had searched the front range of the Colorado Mountains for a month before giving up. All of the other creatures were killed or captured in the first couple of weeks. I could guess what happened to the dragon, but Rafe and Tess hadn’t been seen since that first morning. They’d disappeared from the battlefield while a news crew was zoomed in on them. One moment Tess was bending over Rafe’s mutilated body by the carcass of a black dragon and the next moment, they and their familiars just vanished. In their place, a pair of hawks leapt into the air and the camera lost them.
I’d thought Rafe might actually have died, but since his body wasn’t found, I assumed Tess had managed to get to him before he died. Tess having her own limbs regrown by magic had left me confident that they could heal any wound, if they survived the blow.
I switched from shampoo to soap and scrubbed my skin until the drain ran clear. Pushing back the curtain, I stepped out. The mirror was too steamed up for me to see my reflection at first, but once I’d dried off, I wiped down the mirror. I studied my wounds. All had disappeared beneath new pink tissue. The one in my chest was still tender, but other than that, I looked fit. I also looked a little gaunt, like the flesh under my skin had shrunk. I looked a little older than yesterday, but I knew that was a side effect of Wanderers using a lot of magic.
I was also starving. I remembered how much food Tess had scarfed down while her injuries were healing. It was to be expected.
I felt for power. There might not be a ley line nearby, but I felt energy flowing toward me from everything around me. It wasn’t as strong as when I tapped a ley line, but it’d have to do until I could find one.
Once the flow was in progress, I shaved and dressed.
I wrapped my bloody clothes together and put them in a laundry bag.
I was putting my wallet and hotel key in my fresh shorts when a thought occurred to me. Why hadn’t my killers taken my room key? Oh, yeah, they wouldn’t have known what room I was in and they couldn’t just go from room to room checking to see what it opened. Or could they? Why had they been kidnapping that girl? For that matter, why had four more shown up as soon as I confronted the first one? I hadn’t noticed anyone else on the roof when I went after the kidnapper, but that didn’t prove anything. Still, it was almost as though they were waiting for someone to intrude. But that was crazy, wasn’t it?
My stomach growled and I left other concerns alone while I went looking for food.
I was sitting on a barstool, overlooking the pool and dozens of young men and women my age having fun, while I devoured two hamburgers, fries, a chocolate malt, and a large piece of key lime pie when a thought occurred to me.
Rafe and Tess must already be on their way to find me. Tess had told me the other Wanderers had been wiped out and now it was just Rafe and her. Since Wanderers started out as apprentices, then Rafe would be having two apprentices. The thought of seeing Tess again had me grinning.
I still had trouble wrapping my mind around becoming a Wanderer, but partnering up with Tess was something to look forward to.
Chapter 7
Therese
There was movement in the branches above my head and a dusting of needles fell around me. I gazed up into the thick canopy of the immense spruce, searching for the source of the movement. My enhanced senses tattoo was already powered up and I could see as well as if it were daylight. Unfortunately, that didn’t really help when staring up throug
h the branches of a spruce.
Then a little glow of warmth came into view. It darted from one branch to another about twenty feet above me.
“Peek-a-boo, I see you,” I said softly.
The heat source froze behind the branch. Damn it, I didn’t think its hearing would be that good. There was nothing to be done for it now. I’d have to go up after it.
I focused a little energy on my muscles and reached for the branch above me. Pulling myself onto the next higher branch, I stopped and swore under my breath. My hair, which had gotten considerably longer over the last few months, caught again in the dead twigs that made up the space beneath the spruce’s canopy. Bemoaning my lack of forethought, I pulled my head painfully free and gazed up at my quarry.
I’d already followed the little guy up thirty feet of the blue spruce and the branches were getting smaller and closer together. I considered trying to knock it out of the tree, but a force blast strong enough to part the thick canopy would probably kill the damn thing.
I heard chuckling on the ground below the tree. Damn it, Rafe was enjoying this too much. He could have levitated me up the outside of the tree’s branches and I could have reached the little guy without all this work. But no, he had to say it was a training lesson. I didn’t get it. Why did I have to chase this creature through the maze of branches and twigs that formed the interior of the huge spruce? What did this train me on? I should be training on levitating my butt rather than climbing.
I spotted a hard green, seed cone at arm’s length on the outside of the canopy. Reaching over, I plucked it from the branch. Gazing down, I could see the heat source that was Rafe and our familiars about forty feet from the base of the tree I occupied. I tossed the cone through a space in the canopy and triggered my wind tattoo.
Focusing, I pushed the cone down. I wasn’t trying for speed, just accuracy. Gravity would provide plenty of speed. A couple of seconds later, I heard a thump.
“Owe! Son of a bitch. Is that damn thing throwing cones at me?” Rafe hollered.
“I guess so, Boss. Maybe you’d better move back a little bit so you don’t make such a large target,” I replied while trying to keep from laughing.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t want me to just knock it out of the tree. I’d hoped to finish this up tonight, not make a campaign out of the last one of Rowle’s creatures.”
“Because I want to catch it. You said I could. You said it would be a learning experience,” I retorted.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think the little bastard would start throwing things at me,” Rafe groused.
I glanced up. The wyvern hadn’t moved from its current branch. I didn’t want to spook the little guy into flying, because then Rafe was sure to knock it down. I sure hoped the little guy was worth the trouble I was going through. I hadn’t told Rafe just why I wanted to catch it, mainly because I was sure he’d tell me to not be stupid and just let him take care of it.
I triggered my shield tat and shrunk it down to a small cone-shaped form from my shoulders up to just past my head. That would leave my hands free to grip and keep my hair from getting caught in any more twigs. I began climbing again.
The wyvern was obviously watching me approach, but so far, it wasn’t attempting to leap from its perch. I got my foot on a branch that couldn’t be more than three inches in diameter at its base. Spruce, I was quickly learning, is a strong wood and three inches was more than enough to support my weight. But, unfortunately, the rest of the branches above me were even smaller.
Another minute passed and I could hear Rafe complaining to Beast and Maia about my taking all night to do a job I should have finished in a couple of minutes. Boy, he should could act impatient when he wanted to.
We’d been hunting down the dozens of creatures that Rowle had let loose and had escaped Rafe’s flood since November. Rafe thought this was the last one that hadn’t been captured by the National Guard or us. Those were another problem. Rafe was still on the fence about whether to leave them be or put them back where they belonged. That would mean sneaking in to where they were being held at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and opening a portal to their worlds. I was in favor of letting them stay. They’d already become quite the attraction at the zoo, although several had died from the officials making the mistake of putting some of the more dangerous ones in with ones that were their natural prey. It didn’t matter that they were all here thanks to Rowle, if you put a manticore in the same pen as a sphinx, one of them was going to eat the other.
I’d thought that Beast would have wanted to expatriate his fellow manticores back to his world, but surprise surprise, manticores don’t really like each other. He didn’t care whether they got eaten by a sphinx or not.
I had moved to within reach of the branch the wyvern hid on when it began to move. The damn thing was not going to get away after all the work I’d put into catching it.
It ran out onto the branch, its wings still folded close to its body so it could fit between the heavy layers of needles at the branches’ extremities. I dropped my shield, focused more energy into my leg muscles, and leapt.
I caught hold of its long tail just as its body disappeared between the branches. Its wings spread wide as it reached open air and it pumped hard, trying to rise.
No such luck, the little beastie was strong, but it couldn’t lift my one hundred and forty pounds.
With a screech, it began to fall, right behind me.
I attempted to grab the passing branches, but the momentum of my leap had taken me outside the spruce’s canopy. I looked down. The ground was coming up fast, but not nearly as fast as it would have if the wyvern weren’t still struggling to fly with my holding onto its tail.
It screeched again and turned its head toward me. Its mouth opened and a little jet of flame washed over my gloved hand. I could feel the heat, but the spells Rafe had woven into the leather kept it to a tolerable level.
“Stop that!” I ordered, not knowing if it understood English or not. “Rafe, are you going to catch me or do I have to save myself.”
I heard chuckling.
Damnit, everything with him had become a training session.
I triggered my wind tat again and brought the wind up from below me. It takes time to get a good mass of air moving. You don’t just start a gale force wind in a second.
Our fall was starting to slow, but the ground was still coming up too fast.
I triggered my shield and made it into a globe around both the wyvern and myself.
We reached the ground a half second later. My shield absorbed whatever momentum was left from our fall and I canceled both wind and shield tats before we started to roll downhill.
The wyvern was really getting upset now. It chattered like a damn monkey with a cold and twisted around to try and bite my hand.
“Stop that!” I ordered and grabbed its long neck with my other hand. It glared at me over my gloved hand and took a deep breath. It was going to try fire again.
I let go of its tail and pinched its mouth shut.
Smoke poured from its nostrils. Apparently, it couldn’t breathe fire through its sinus passages. After a moment, the smoke stopped and I saw the little guy’s eyes were watering.
“See, I told you to stop. You are going to have to learn manners,” I said.
“What?” Rafe asked.
“I’m not having a pet that can’t learn to behave,” I said.
Chapter 8
RAPHAEL
“Pet?” I asked with what had to be a dumbfounded expression on my face.
“Yes, pet. I think he’s cute and with a little training, I’m sure he’ll make an excellent pet,” Tess said as she held the little beast up to examine it.
“You can’t have a wyvern as a pet,” I said firmly.
Tess lowered the creature and turned to face me. “Give me three reasons why I can’t.”
“Why three?”
“Because if you’re seriously telling me that a Wanderer can’t have a pe
t, then you must have good reasons. So, let’s hear them.”
For the hundredth, if not thousandth, time I compared my apprentice to myself as Walt’s apprentice. He really didn’t know how lucky he was to have me.
I held up a finger while Tess held the wyvern close to her face. “Okay, three reasons. One, it does not belong here. It’s mythological. We need to send it back to its own world.”
Tess nodded. “That’s a pretty good one, go on.”
I held up a second finger. “Two, it’s a wild animal. You shouldn’t take wild animals and try to make them pets.”
Tess frowned. She glanced at the manticore and hippogriff that stood to either side of me.
“We are not wild animals,” Beast growled.
“The other manticores acted like wild animals,” Tess said.
Beast growled, but had apparently said his peace already.
“Okay, that’s two, even if that one is weak,” Tess said raising the wyvern back to eye level.
“Weak or not, it stands,” I said.
The wyvern blew smoke out of its nose and suddenly a stream of urine sprayed across Tess’s face. She sputtered, turned the wyvern’s body away from her, and cursed.
“Three, it’s not house broken,” I said with smug satisfaction.
Tess let go of the wyvern’s muzzle. She wiped her gloved hand across her face and then glared at me.
“You said three. I’ve given you three,” I added while trying not to laugh.
Beast and Maia were not as restrained as I was and they both laughed loudly in their own manner.
Tess glared at them, but they continued to laugh.
I took a handkerchief from a pocket and handed it to Tess. She took it, sullenly, and then wiped her face dry. She offered the cloth back to me, but I grinned and shook my head. “I can get another one.”
She balled up the handkerchief and shoved it in a pocket just as the wyvern took a deep breath and twisted its head around to face her.
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