by Laken Cane
“From me?” Rune pulled away from Z and climbed to her feet, carefully, slowly. “You thought to guard him from me?”
“Relax, sweet thing,” Z said, standing as well. “It’s what they do.” He snatched his jeans off the ground, stepped into them, then handed Rune her clothes.
Blue shrugged, seemingly unimpressed by the danger of Rune. She looked at Z. “I need to talk to you.”
Nadaline didn’t look away from Rune—not even to give Rune some privacy as she dressed—and on her face was a look Rune was not comfortable with. It was strangely close to a look of hero worship. Rune had the feeling word had already spread from the city people beside whom she’d fought.
Z leaned over to grab his shirt off the ground. “Sounds like trouble.” He grinned at Rune. “I had to create my own version of Shiv Crew. There are a lot of people in need of help here. Blue and Nadaline are my crew.”
“Z,” Blue said. “There’s always trouble. But what I meant was—”
“Want to fight together?” He interrupted the blue-haired woman as though he wasn’t even aware she’d been speaking. He pulled on his boots, his gaze on Rune. “Like old times?”
But the memory was too much for him. He bent over, clutching his stomach, and groaned.
“Z,” Rune cried. “What?”
“It hurts too much, sweet thing.” Sweat slid down his face, and lines of pain radiated from the corners of his eyes. “Too fucking much.”
Her being there was killing him. Again.
Blue’s face was blank but her voice was full of emotion. “Help him. You came, you fucking help him.”
Mad Nadaline said nothing, but she gasped and darted a wide-eyed look at the outspoken Blue.
Z closed his eyes and when he opened them again, his gaze was clearer. “Hush, Blue.”
Blue’s lingering glance at Rune was not especially unfriendly, but Rune recognized the look of protection.
Because whether she meant to or not, Rune was hurting Z.
And his people didn’t like it.
His people.
Z belonged to them. To Skyll.
He cupped Rune’s face and leaned forward to kiss her, a kiss that, for a brief moment, held all the longing he’d felt before.
Before, when she’d rejected him.
“Mine,” he whispered. “At last.”
“In another world you’re meant for me.”
She shivered as Owen’s voice slithered through her mind.
And even with Z standing there, back from the dead, she still missed her crew. All of them.
“I missed you so fucking much,” she told him. “Every second.”
He pulled her against his chest.
She could have stood like that forever.
“Let’s go kick ass, sweet thing.”
She stepped back and entwined her fingers with his. “We’re Shiv Crew.”
“Yes,” he breathed. “We’re Shiv Crew.”
“And that,” they said together, “is what we do.”
Then they stared at each other, smiling, until Blue cleared her throat impatiently.
Z pulled away, his sharp glance raking her body. “You need weapons.”
She started to laugh until she realized he was serious, and then her heart broke just a little more.
She shook it off. “I have weapons, baby.”
Pain flared in his eyes. “Yes. You do.” Then he grinned. “Break those mothers out. You’re going to need them.”
So she shot out her long, silver claws and dropped her fangs, hoping the anguish in her heart wasn’t visible in her eyes.
Chapter Three
Blue strode to Z and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. “Z. Get your mind off her and listen to me.”
He focused on her, his gaze sharpening. “I’m listening.”
She ran her hands through her blue hair and glanced at Rune. “I need to tell you something. In private.”
“Don’t mind me,” Rune said, withdrawing her claws.
“What is it?” Z asked Blue. “You can speak freely in front of Rune.”
Nadaline stepped forward, her stare still planted firmly on Rune. “She’s…” But she couldn’t finish.
“I’m happy to help if you need someone killed. But first I have to find Damascus.” She took Z’s hand when he held it out to her. “For Lex.”
“Lex…” he said.
“You remember her, Z. You remember her.”
He nodded. “I remember. The sweet little blind Other.” He looked relieved. “I remember. And the twins.”
“Lex is dying. Damascus infected the Others with a rotting disease and it’s wiping them out. She also has the antidote. I have to get it back to Lex—to all the Others—before it’s too late.”
“Damascus.” Nadaline glared at nothing, and her voice shook. She spat into the dirt. Then she gave a nervous glance around.
“Z,” Blue insisted, and she reached out to turn his face toward her. “Rune is the princess.”
He paled and turned his head slowly to stare at Rune. “The princess?”
Rune frowned. “Somebody needs to tell me what the hell that means.”
Z closed his eyes. “I should have known it was you.” Then he looked at Blue. “How do you know for sure?”
“She drank from the kelpers.”
Rune felt a return of her old shame as revulsion flashed through Z’s eyes. It was there and gone in a second, and really, she couldn’t blame him. The beasts were disgusting. Drinking from them was unthinkable.
Her monster hadn’t cared, though. It had just needed to feed.
“The fuck does it mean?” she demanded. “This princess shit?”
“It was foretold,” Nadaline said. And her voice was filled with awe and hope and a fear caused by an eternity of slavery and horror. “The noble princess will come and death will come with her. Amid perilous days and endless nights, the clash will see an end to the darkness and the world will begin anew.” Her smile was wide. “You have come to free us, Princess.”
And she dropped to her knees.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Z fell to his knees beside her.
“Fuck you, Z,” Rune half yelled, incredulous. “Get up.”
Like she wasn’t his Rune, his captain, his friend.
His eyes clouded for a second and then he shot to his feet. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
But he did.
They both did.
“I’m going to kill Damascus,” Rune said, almost unable to look at him. She was terrified she’d see a stranger looking back at her. “But I’m no one’s princess. I’m just here to take out the evil and grab some meds.”
Blue crossed her arms. “You’re our redeemer. Get used to it. Princess.”
“Princess,” Nadaline breathed, still on her knees.
Z shrugged, smiling slightly, but he couldn’t hide the uneasiness in his stare. “They’ve been waiting for you for a long, long time.”
Rune slid her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest. “And I’ve been waiting for you.” At that moment, nothing else really mattered to her.
It should have. She had a crew, and people, and problems she could not ignore.
But Z.
Z.
She was getting a second chance. It wasn’t too late. For once, it wasn’t too late.
She shuddered against him, relaxing slightly when he squeezed her.
But she was Rune Alexander, and she had responsibilities.
There were others she loved.
Choices. Always choices.
She could stay with Z, who would forget the Rune from before but could start a new life, a new memory with her there, in the new world.
Or she would leave him to his fading memories and go back to save her people. Her world.
But that thought was fleeting and its hold was timid.
No. She would not leave him.
Could not.
She stepped out o
f his arms but devoured his face with a stare she knew was full of joy and love and other soft, emotional things only other people ever felt.
“I know,” he murmured.
His beautiful eyes were brimming with the same softness, love, and desperation surely overflowing from hers.
But then, his always had been.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“We need to go,” Blue interrupted, her voice holding a little surprise and maybe more than a little anger.
Rune understood that the other woman didn’t see her as the bad motherfucker Z had made her out to be.
Not yet.
Rune glanced down at Nadaline. “Get up.”
Nadaline stood, but the hope in her face never dimmed. “I’m so thankful you’re here, Princess.”
“Don’t call me Princess,” Rune said. “I don’t like it. I don’t want it. Don’t let it come out of your fucking mouths again.”
Blue’s grin lit up her eyes. “You got it.”
Rune gave her a sharp nod. “So let’s get started.”
“The hunt will begin,” Z said. “For you. Damascus won’t give up until you’re…” But he couldn’t finish.
Rune grinned. “I’m immortal, baby. I can’t die.”
“It’s already begun,” Nadaline said. “Can’t you feel it?”
They were all silent for a long moment, listening, waiting, feeling.
And it felt dark.
But for Rune, there was something deeper.
The world of Skyll embraced her, held her the way she imagined a loving mother might hold her child.
She was home.
And home loved her.
“Yeah,” Rune said. “I feel it. And when I first arrived I saw it. Are you saying it will get worse than what I’ve already seen?”
Her three companions glanced at each other.
Finally, “Yes,” Z said, quietly. “What you saw has become normal life in Skyll. It’ll get worse. It’ll get…”
“Frantic,” Blue finished for him. “Hysterical.”
“Rivers of blood will flow.” Nadaline’s voice was flat, her gaze distant, as though she listened to long-silenced voices. “It will get bloody.”
“Agitated,” Blue said.
Rune took Z’s hand, unable to help herself. “I’m here to help calm it the fuck down.”
Blue frowned, but there was no accusation in her voice when she spoke. “You’re the reason for the turbulence and blood, redeemer.”
“No. Damascus is responsible for that. I’m responsible for ending it.”
Nadaline held a hand up, as though silently begging Rune not to get angry for what she was about to say. “Some people believe you will destroy Damascus only to step in and control us all, maybe in worse ways than even she does.”
Blue nodded, the shrugged. “She’s the devil we know. You understand.”
“Yeah,” Rune said. “I do. Damascus is an unimaginable horror, but she’s familiar.”
“And you could go bad,” Nadaline said. “You may. But we trust in your goodness. Some people wonder how you could be any different.”
“I’m a monster,” Rune said, suddenly angry. “Don’t expect goodness.”
“Rune,” Z said. That was all. But he smiled.
“Damascus is the beginning,” Blue said. “It all starts with her.”
“Yeah.” Rune curled her lip. “And it all ends with me.”
“We’ve been preparing for this forever,” Blue said. “Things are in place. We are ready for you, Prin…Rune.”
“It’s time,” Nadaline said.
“It won’t be easy,” Z added. “Not even close.”
Rune shrugged. “That’s okay. Easy confuses me.”
She’d have been happy lying in Z’s arms for the rest of forever, but there was no more time to waste.
She couldn’t think about what it might mean to leave him again. Not right then.
So she trotted with them through the woods, toward her destiny.
The woods were suddenly behind them, and Rune slowed to a walk as she surveyed the area.
A gravel road lay between her and several cabins on the other side. The homes were unpainted and small, and had been built in neat rows. The yards were barren and uncluttered.
Chickens scratched in the dirt, and she saw two goats inside a small fence. A couple of dirty cats ran toward the arriving people, chased by three young, skinny dogs.
There were no children.
The rough cabins sat against a backdrop of distant silver mountains over which rose a vividly blue sky. It created such a peaceful, beautiful picture that Rune forgot, for a second, where she was.
“Doesn’t look dangerous,” she said, suspicious of the serenity.
“This entire world is dangerous,” Z told her. “Nothing is as you believe it. You can trust no one.”
“Not even you?” She tried for a smile but couldn’t raise one.
He cupped her cheek. “I’m not of this world, sweet thing. Even if I were…you can trust me. Always.”
Rune gave him a nod, but said nothing. She knew she could trust him. He might have been the only person ever born that she would completely trust. With Z, she had no doubts.
Not about trust.
“It’s not the world that’s dangerous,” Nadaline said. “The world is lovely. But those who rule it refuse to let us live in peace.”
Blue sheathed her blade as they walked toward the coarse houses. “It’s because of the witch.” Then she looked at Rune. “May I ask—”
“No,” Rune said. Then she took a deep breath and stared at a flickering, translucent curtain between her and the houses. No one else mentioned it. Perhaps it wasn’t even there.
But when she walked through it, she felt the difference between the sides of the curtain.
“You feel it.” Nadaline wasn’t asking.
“What is it?” Rune shook her head. “I took a step and the world changed.”
“In Skyll there are shimmers,” Z said, then he gestured at Blue. “You’ve been here longer than I have.”
Blue took over the explanation. “There are four shimmers in Skyll. Each shimmer space is ruled by a different leader. Shimmer lords, they are called.
“Shimmer One is ruled by blood, and is assisted by immortality. Damascus’s shimmer—Shimmer Two—is ruled by magic and is assisted by perception. The third shimmer is ruled by death and is assisted by…” She trailed off, then shrugged. “By death, of course.”
“And the fourth?” Rune asked.
“Shimmer Four is ruled by flesh,” Blue said. “Humans. Or as close to human as one can truly be here. It is assisted by mortality. And,” she continued, “by love, some believe.”
Rune knew her smile was mocking. She couldn’t help it. “Love?”
Z looked at her. “Love is powerful. More powerful than evil.”
Yes. Yes it was.
“Which is your shimmer?” she asked them.
“We are of Shimmer Three,” Z told her, his voice somewhat stilted.
Rune stared at him. “Death Shimmer?”
He refused to meet her gaze. “This is where I…appeared.” Finally, he did look at her. “I did die, sweet thing.”
“It means nothing, really,” Blue said. “So we belong to the shimmer that’s ruled by death. Here, we’re not dead.”
“Damascus has taken three of the four shimmers,” Nadaline said. “She won’t stop until the fourth is hers as well.”
Rune swallowed past the sudden dryness in her throat. “What happens if Damascus conquers all four shimmers?”
Nadaline shivered and rubbed her arms, but remained silent.
“She’ll rule all that is,” Blue said, a hand over her heart. “She’ll rule all that is and all that ever was. And that, Princess, means all the worlds—existence—will be...” But she trailed off, unable to find a word horrible enough.
Z closed his eyes for a long, long moment, and when he opened them again his s
tare made Rune want to run as fast as she could back to her own world.
“Hell,” he said. “There would be only hell.”
Chapter Four
The one who controlled the shimmers would hold all the pieces that made them up--death, magic, blood, flesh.
There would be no boundaries for such a ruler—of any kind.
No wonder the people of Skyll were terrified.
The people of all worlds should be terrified.
“Now is the time,” Blue told her. “If she is to be destroyed, if the foretelling is true, it has to be now.”
“That’s why you’re here,” Nadaline added.
“I’m here because the witch poisoned my people,” Rune argued. “I’m here because…”
The others watched her silently when her voice trailed off.
Nadaline opened her mouth to speak, but Z held up a hand to stop her.
Rune closed her eyes, shutting everything else out, thinking…thinking.
Why did she believe Damascus was the cause of the rotting sickness?
Why?
Because Gunnar had led her to believe it was so.
Gunnar.
Your Highness.
If Damascus thought Rune was a threat, a possible end to her evil attempts to take over the worlds, would she have wanted Rune there?
No.
No, she would not have.
“Gunnar,” she whispered. “What did you do?”
She would not believe he intended to do anything to hurt her. But he had an agenda.
Everyone had an agenda.
She opened her eyes. “The only thing I know for sure is that Damascus must die. That’s what I’m going to concentrate on. Everything else will fall into place.”
Z gazed at her, something soft in his face. “You’ve changed.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I guess I have.”
“Gunnar,” Z said. “He was here. He found me, told me you were coming. Insisted I patrol the area every night until you arrived. Then made me forget until I actually saw you.” He shook his head. “I didn’t understand why I felt the need to wait there. To watch. That old guy is…”
“Full of magic,” Rune said, and she heard the discouragement in her voice. She hadn’t expected the ghoul to betray her. He could have told her Z was alive.
“Now we journey to Shimmer Four,” Blue said. “It is ruled by a man whose hand is a boy of flesh. We will join forces with his army and the rebels from the other shimmers, and we will set everything right again.” Her eyes were shining. “At last.”