Date Knight

by Bridget Essex

  It's a portal.

  “We go,” says Charaxus, her voice low, and—still holding my hand—she prowls through the portal. I walk alongside her, every hair on my body at attention. There's an electric feeling, like there's about to be a major lightning storm, or I'm about to put my hand on a live wire. And then there's a bright flash of light, so bright and intense that, after looking at the portal itself, I'm practically blinded...

  And the next instant, somehow, impossibly, I'm standing in my living room, and Shelley is jumping up on me, wagging her tail and peppering my face with slobbery, dog kisses. I've never smelled anything more comforting than the scent of the lavender potpourri that I keep on the coffee table, and I don't think I've ever seen anything as comforting as my beautiful dog's face. I smoosh her with my hands, crouching down and hugging her tightly.

  “That actually worked?” asks Calla then, her hand to her stomach as she sags against the far wall.

  Charaxus shrugs, pocketing the shard and folding her arms in front of her. “There is a first time,” she says, lifting her chin, eyes flashing, “for everything.”

  “We almost just died,” Kell tells me helpfully, with a much-too-large smile.

  I hug my dog a little tighter, feeling my legs turn to Jell-o beneath me.

  Chapter 4: Unexpected Guest

  I'm going...

  I stare down at the text I've begun to type on my phone, then erase all of the letters. I blink down at the blank screen now, and I take a deep breath.

  I'm going to Agrotera.

  I slowly delete all of those letters and roll my eyes at myself as I tap my phone against my bed's coverlet in frustration. I'm doing my best to try and think of a succinct, tactful way to say my goodbyes to my best friend and brother.

  Somehow, I don't think a text message is going to cut it, but Charaxus said we have to leave right now—about five minutes ago.

  If I survive Agrotera and get back to Earth safe and sound, Carly's going to kill me for this.

  I start typing gingerly, wincing. I'm going to Agrotera. Everything's fine. I stare at the blinking cursor after the word fine, and I know that's not exactly true... I mean, Virago has been asked to return to Agrotera to protect the queen from assassins, so everything isn't fine. But I don't want to worry Aidan or Carly more than is necessary. I type a little more and stare at my phone. I'm sorry I have to go so quickly. I should be back...

  And that's when I stop typing and realize I have no idea when I'm going to be back.

  And a teeny, tiny best-left-unnoticed part of me wonders if I'm ever going to be back, considering the fact that this new world is apparently full of monsters, cannibal werewolves and, you know, Charaxus. I shudder a little and sigh.

  I opt not to type out any details and stick with I should be back soon. I love you!

  I send the text immediately to Carly and my brother, Aidan, and I stand up, dragging my much-heavier-than-an-airline-would-allow suitcase off the bed. Thank God I'm not traveling on an airline, I guess.

  I'm about to set my phone in the center of the bed, leaving it here in the house—I doubt I'll get good reception in another world, and there's certain to be no plug where I can recharge, so why bother taking it?—when it dings with a received text.

  I scoop it up off the coverlet, just as Virago trots up the stairs and strides down the hallway toward our bedroom. She's already fully dressed in her leather underclothes and her armor, with her sword's scabbard strapped to her back. Her hair is done up in its tall ponytail, the wolf's tail tied to it with a leather thong and draping gracefully over her right shoulder. Her knight's moon necklace glitters at her throat.

  “We must leave, my love,” she says, standing in the doorway and leaning against the frame. “Are you ready?” Her eyes rove over all of the open dresser drawers, all of the dresses and skirts and blouses, and—let's be serious—every piece of clothing I own spilling out of my closet as if a very irate Tasmanian Devil whirlwinded his way through the place.

  Looking at the mess, I'm worried for the umpteenth time that I didn't pack everything I needed...but that's the age-old worry for any trip, right? It's just a little more worrisome when you're visiting another world...

  “Yeah, I'm ready,” I murmur to Virago, and she crosses the room to take my suitcase and carry it downstairs for me.

  With trepidation, I slide the unlock screen on my phone, and I open the text I just got from Carly.

  It reads:

  WAIT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO AGROTERA? WTH? **WHEN?**

  Yeah, that's pretty much what I expected.

  I type back quickly:

  We have to leave right now. I'm so sorry, Carly—we have to go. I love you!

  Instantly she texts back with:

  OMG, BUT...BUT...

  And then, a second later.

  I love you, too. Please be safe.

  And it's that that causes the tears to stream down my face as I hold my phone to my chest and wonder if I'll ever see my best friend again.

  I wish she'd texted back with a joke. Like, “Bring me back a baby dragon egg!” (I have no idea if Agrotera has dragons) or, “You're going to be the first human to have sex on another planet. Do you realize you're making history?”

  Or she could have texted back with something angry. I could totally deal with anger. But what if this is the last communication we ever have? It seems so small, just a few words on a screen. I wish I could give her a hug; I wish she could tell me something funny and I could tell her something funny back, and then we could cry on each other and tell each other best friend mushy stuff, like, “Take care of yourself,” and, “I love you.”

  I just saw her today, but already it seems like a lifetime ago. And now I don't know when I'm going to see her next.

  And Aidan. He hasn't texted back yet. I talked to him about a week ago, and the last thing he told me? “Holly, if you love me, then please never, ever, ever bring your cupcakes to meditation again.” I mean, he was joking when he said it (it's not like I baked those cupcakes; I bought them at the grocery store. But I guess that's what made it extra funny. Buying them at the grocery store is my version of “baking cupcakes”), but still... That will be the last thing he said to me before I vanish into another world. His last words were about bad grocery store cupcakes...

  Virago pauses in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder, but then she really stops, turning to come back into the room, her brows furrowed in concern as she holds my gaze.

  “My love,” she murmurs, cupping my cheek with her hand and searching my eyes. “Are you all right?”

  “Oh, you know...I'm just peachy,” I tell her with a shake of my head, as I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, refusing to let it fall. I try to smile at her. “I'm excited, baby. I mean, I'm really excited about going to Agrotera,” I tell her, sniffling a little and wiping my nose on the bell sleeve of the other Renaissance-era costume dress I own. (I figured, what the hell. Maybe I won't stand out like a sore thumb if this is what I'm wearing on Agrotera). “It's just...Aidan...Carly...” I drift off, not really sure what to say.

  Virago searches my face then, her blue gaze glittering with warmth. “Holly,” she says, her voice soft and soothing as she wraps her hand at my waist, her fingers curling over my curves with a comforting strength. “You're coming back to Earth,” she tells me, murmuring the words like absolute truth as she holds my gaze. “We both are,” she tells me then meaningfully, one brow raised.

  I blink, my brow furrowing as I reach up, run a nervous hand through her ponytail; her hair is satin and slides over my fingers like water. “How...how did you know that's what I was worried about?” I ask her then. She says nothing for a long moment, and I reach up and place my hand over hers, which is still cupping my cheek gently.

  My eyes close, and I lean against her, breathing in the good, sweet scent of mint and the deep, dark sexy aroma of leather and metal and something a little like sandalwood, the scent of all that is Virago. She is so warm, so soft and gent
le as she curves her hand on my face, her thumb gently caressing the side of my mouth. I lean into her hand, breathing out, feeling her love wash over me; I can feel that love pulsing through me like my own heartbeat. Like hers.

  “I knew,” says Virago, her voice dropping huskily as she leans forward, as she bends her beautiful head to meet mine, our foreheads touching, “because I know you. I will never, ever let anything happen to you on Agrotera,” she tells me fiercely. “We will be gone just as long as the Hero's Tournament takes, which is seven days. In a mere seven days' time, I swear to you, by my blood and bone, you will be back safely. I promise you,” she says, staring into my eyes, her blue gaze flashing with a fire that she saves only for me.

  As I lean against her, as I take in the scent of her, reaching out and curling my fingers around her hips, too, feeling her strength and solidity...I trust her. I know she would never let anything happen to me there, or anywhere. I mean, she's my knight in shining armor, after all, and I know she's going to keep me safe.

  But as much as I love and appreciate that Virago will always be there for me, protecting me when I need it...I really want to be able to fight my own fights, too.

  I wielded a sword once, to keep my beloved safe, and I was completely inexperienced; I had no idea what I was doing. It could have ended very, very badly, but I still did it.

  An idea has been circling in my head lately, and I voice it now. If we're going to be on Agrotera, it makes sense to me.

  “Actually, Virago,” I tell her, smiling softly as I lean against her, placing a soft kiss upon her cheek. She raises a brow and smiles down at me now, realizing that I'm about to ask for something she might not necessarily be up for. “I've been thinking,” I tell her, “and I really, really want to learn how to use a sword, okay? I figure, Hero's Tournament, there's probably a lot of swords involved... I'd like you to give me a lesson or two,” I say, a small grin turning up the corners of my mouth as I look up at her. “I want to be able to take care of myself,” I finish.

  She gazes down at me in surprise for a heartbeat; then a happy smile spreads across her face. “It would be my greatest honor to teach you the way of the blade, my love,” she says, her head to the side as she gazes at me with warm eyes, full of pride. “But you know that you have already bested a beast with a sword, so you are well on your way to knighthood!”

  I shiver as I think about the Boston Beast, how I pierced it through with Virago's sword, the blade sinking into...ugh. Even thinking about the sensation of the blade sliding into the beast is enough to make me feel nauseated. I shake myself a little and sigh.

  “Let's not start the training on big old monsters yet, okay?”

  She nods at me, still smiling as she picks up my suitcase again. I look at my phone one more time; no text message or call back from my brother, which worries me. But I'm coming back home, I remind myself. I know I am. I'll speak to my brother again, before I know it.

  So I set the phone on the center of the bed, gazing at it with nervousness before steeling my resolve, straightening and glancing around my room one last time, trying to shove down that annoying feeling that I must have forgotten to pack something crucial, or forgotten to do something Very Important.

  I already put in a call to my boss at the library. I have about a thousand years of paid time off saved up (give or take—I never really took vacations), so she was surprised by the late hour of the phone call but was totally up for my having the week off. I'm taking Shelley with me (which is going to provide its own set of problems, but at least I won't have to worry about her tearing up the house, or herself, while I'm gone). I've brought pain medication and tampons (I'm prepared, dammit!), my favorite book, candy, tea, including lots and lots of chamomile, which just happens to be my favorite, and my favorite mug, the one with my brother's Pagan shop logo on it.

  Um...I mean, I think that's everything that I need.

  You know that game you play when you're kids, the one where you wonder what you'd bring with you to a deserted island? Yeah, I kind of feel like I'm playing it for real right now. But the upside is that I know that Agrotera isn't some destitute place. I know they have tea houses and taverns, palaces and queens, and I know they have a lot of magic. Whatever I need, if I've forgotten it, they'll probably have it there.

  I scoop up a piece of rose quartz that I usually keep on my bedside table. My brother gave it to me when he first opened his shop, quite a few years ago now. It's just a large tumbled stone—it fits in the palm of my hand—but its warm, pink-hued, and it feels smooth and comforting in my hand. Aidan told me, when he gave it to me, that rose quartz is specifically for love, for drawing love to you, for loving yourself... He said a lot of other stuff, but I was already fantasizing about the mystical powers of the rose quartz getting me laid that night in the bar (it did not), so I didn't really absorb the rest of the stone's properties.

  Since then, I've joked with him about it, how it keeps me safe in car accidents (it was with me when I totaled my Buick, and the car may have been in tiny smithereens, but I walked right out of the wreck and into a Starbucks) and helps get me the job (I brought it with me on my job interview at the library), but that it has never, ever helped me get a girl.

  But I did find Virago... Maybe it really does work.

  I don't know; I'm certainly no magic expert. Mostly, now, I keep the stone on my bedside table, but tonight I just want to take it with me. It's something small and comforting to remind me of home in this magical new world. So I slip it into the convenient pocket of my costume dress.

  “I'm ready!” I tell Virago, swallowing a little as I turn and give her a huge smile. I realize that that smile is partially ecstatic about venturing into a completely different world, and also partially terrified. I feel a little like Neil Armstrong might have felt on the rocket ride up to the moon, if said moon were populated by aliens.

  “One small step for woman,” I murmur, taking Virago's free hand and threading my fingers through hers. “One giant leap for librarian kind.”

  Virago raises a brow, but she's already shaking her head and chuckling as we both make our way downstairs. To her credit, she doesn't tease me about what I said at all. Which proves, for the umpteenth millionth time, that she's a keeper.

  When we reach the living room, I gaze around at the assembled knights, and my heart rises in me. They're all wearing their armor and their swords, their hair tied in leather thongs (or, in the case of Kell, spilling over her shoulders, because I'm beginning to realize that Kell doesn't give a damn about anything. And she still manages to do awesome stuff, so, really, more power to her), their scabbards strapped tightly to their backs. The knights are lounging on the couch and against the living room wall, but it's a very controlled-looking lounging. They're ready to go, awaiting Virago and me.

  I'm suddenly self-conscious at having held up the party. “Sorry that took so long,” I say quickly, but Charaxus raises a leather-gloved hand, curling her fingers into a very tight fist.

  “You are ready, yes?” she asks, her eyes sparking, her mouth set in a semi-permanent frown.

  “Um, yes,” I manage, swallowing again. My mouth is suddenly dry. Going through the portal from the bar wasn't that difficult, but Kell did say that we could have died. I didn't get any further clarification on that statement, but then again, I probably don't want any. And as Charaxus takes the little mirror shard out of her small leather pouch again, I have to wonder. Virago told me that going through portals is very difficult, and I'm going to believe her over anyone else. So what is it about this shard of glass or mirror that makes it so easy to open one?

  And does opening a portal so easily come at a price?

  “I would much rather we not use the relic,” says Calla softly then, reaching up and staying Charaxus' hand, curling her fingers over the knight's fist. Charaxus was just beginning to use the shard of glass to reflect the light shining down from my overhead fan onto the far living room wall. But she stops now. She tenses when Calla touches he
r, but then Charaxus covers the shard with the palm of her other hand, hiding it from the light in one fluid motion.

  “Milady,” Charaxus says, searching Calla's eyes. “It costs nothing to use the relic.” Her voice may be low and gravelly, but it's soft as velvet when she speaks to Calla. Calla straightens a little, lifting her head high, regal as she draws her cape a little closer about her shoulders.

  “We don't know that,” says Calla, lowering her voice and raising a brow. “Please. Put it away, Charaxus. We do not need the relic to return to Agrotera. It will be taxing,” she says, lifting a hand as Charaxus is about to say something else, “but it would be better to use our own magics than to borrow from something we know so little about.” These last words are spoken adamantly, her eyes wide as she holds Charaxus' gaze.

  Charaxus' mouth shifts into a thin, hard line, and she sighs but acquiesces to the queen, inclining her head gracefully as she pockets the shard.

  “As you will, milady,” she says softly.

  “Come then, my fine knights,” says Calla tiredly, with a small smile, as she steps forward. “We must all hold hands,” she says, then, and she takes Charaxus' gloved hand in one of her own and reaches out for mine with the other. “And we will have to summon up the energy to open the portal ourselves.”

  Charaxus tightens her jaw again, but she takes her queen's hand, and when Charaxus glances at the queen in that moment—it's so strange. I've known Charaxus for a handful of moments, but I never would have imagined that Charaxus has the capability to be anything but hard. Still, she softens in this heartbeat, softens completely. Her ice blue eyes train over the queen and change, transforming from the purest ice to something just a little bit melted. I realize she's looking at the queen with affection. Not only respect but genuine affection.

  Huh.