by Quinn Loftis
“Go suck it?” Jen added, helpfully.
“If that’s the terminology that gets the job done, Jennifer, then by all means, tell it to suck it until hell freezes over. The point is to face the fears that are going to be thrown at you, face them, and defeat them because the greatest fears are the ones your mind creates. Those are the only fears that can truly have power over you. Don’t let them.”
They all sat in silence, their eyes closed and their minds twisting and turning, taking them on turbulent rides through the terror that lie deep inside each of them. Peri watched as their faces changed and morphed as they went through the process of dealing with their fear.
One by one, they opened their eyes. Sally squinted against the brightness of the flames from the fire. She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had pictured her greatest fear, had stared it straight in the face, and she had not fallen before it. That was her triumph. It was still there, simmering in the dark, but she had faced it, and it had not broken her. She wouldn’t let it. Not now, and not when they entered the In-Between.
Everyone finally settled down to get some sleep. Like every night, they took turns taking watch. Sally’s eyes drifted closed and she hoped that she would speak with Costin again. She hoped that she could tell him that tomorrow she would hold him in her arms. But, it wasn’t Costin she dreamed of. To her surprise, it was Jacque.
“Jacque?” Sally took a step towards her friend. They stood in the forest near a fire much like the one Sally had been sitting at before sleep.
“I’m fighting Sally. I’m fighting, but I need help.” Jacques words were laced with desperation and she looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.
“What are you fighting Jacque?” Sally asked. “I’ve tried to help you but I can’t get through.”
“I’m pushing against the spell,” responded Jacque. I’m thinking of everything I can to bring myself back to our world. Fane told me to fight, that you all needed me. Please Sally, help me.”
Sally closed the space between them and wrapped Jacque in her arms. She couldn’t believe how real the embrace felt. Maybe her mind was just that desperate to have her friend back. She felt tears gather in her eyes as Jacque squeezed her closer.
“I’ve been so alone,” Jacque’s words were muffled as she pressed her face into her friends shoulder.
“We’ve been with you this whole time,” Sally tried to reassure her.
“I know. I can hear you, I just haven’t been able to move or respond. It’s like something has wrapped itself around my brain or something.”
“I will get Rachel and we will see if we can help you, okay? We won’t let you stay like this Jac, you need to know that.”
Jacque pulled back from their embrace and collected herself. A slow smile stretched across her face.
“You had better get me awake. I hear that we’re going in to rescue our men.”
Sally nodded with a smile of her own.
“Jen hasn’t started using military lingo just yet, but I figure it’s coming.”
Jacque gave Sally one last nod, as if to say: let’s do this. And then, Sally felt the dream fading, slowly morphing into another dream... one that she would never forget.
Lying around the circle, one by one each woman slipped into her own dream. The Great Luna was blessing them, helping them bolster their wills. They each got to meet with their mates. Brief that it was, they were able to tell them to hold on, that they were coming for them very soon. Tears streaked down their faces as their fleeting moments of time with their men slipped away.
Morning came much too quickly and the chill crept into their bones, drawing them to consciousness. The females were solemn and even Jen was more subdued than ever. But, a sense of urgency, which seemed to grow with every second, danced at the edges of their nerves. They gathered their few belongings, ate some Fae bread, and every now, and then smiled encouragingly to one another.
It was Jen’s singing that finally broke the silence as the words to Leaving on a Jet Plane–Jen style of course, rang out into the gradually lightening forest.
“All our crap is packed, we’re ready to go,
We’re standing here moving too slow,
I hate to tell you all to get in gear.
But the dawn is breakin’, it’s early morn,
The troll is waiting, he’s scratching his horn,
If you going any slower I will die
If you kiss me I’ll kick your ass,
Shove you into the grass,
Let’s just get the show on the road
‘Cause we’re leaving, coming or not,
Can’t leave our men left to rot.
O’Crap, we need to go.
By the time Jen was finished with her rendition of the song, the urgency was still there, but instead of the solemnness as its company, now hope had taken root.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Peri said, shaking her head.
“It’s simple,” Jen told her. “You just pick a song and go with it. I believe my versions are always better than the originals.”
“That’s just because you use explicit words in yours and questionable content,” Sally chuckled.
“That is definitely a bonus.”
They were all finally packed and ready to go. They stood staring at each other, and steeling themselves for what was to come.
“I have another song for this moment, shall I share?” Jen asked.
A collective, “NO,” rang out among them.
Jen held her hands up in surrender, muttering under her breath. “Good grief. Let a prego chick down gently.”
The group had just begun walking when they heard a small whimper coming from the direction Jacque occupied. They all froze, waiting in rapt silence to hear it again. After a few moments, they heard what sounded like another whimper. Sally and Rachel were the first to reach Jacque’s side, and they both instantly laid their hands on her. They closed their eyes and tried, like they had so many times before, to push through the shield that was keeping them out of Jacque’s mind. But, there was no resistance this time. They slipped right in and what they saw amazed them. They saw a cage with a writhing, living darkness trapped inside. It was as if Jacque had pushed the evil from her mind and locked it up. Sally and Rachel called to her, drawing her back from the place where her wolf had taken her to protect her. Slowly, they felt her coming to consciousness until finally she opened her eyes.
Jacque looked up at eight pair of eyes staring, hopefully, down at her. She drew in a painful breath, her lungs stretching under the amount of air filling them. She blinked to clear her blurred vision and attempted to use her voice, which had lain dormant for so long.
“Hi,” she croaked.
Silence.
Then the inevitability, that was Jen, broke in. “That’s all you have for us, hi? Really Jac, we’ve been lugging your butt around for more than a week and all you can say is hi.”
Jacque smiled up at her friend and her eyes sparkled. “I missed you too Jen.”
Jen winked at her. “Well, you woke up just in time. We have a black ops assignment and you need to start pulling your weight.”
“And, so the military lingo begins,” Crina muttered.
Peri pushed around Jen so she could examine Jacque more closely. Rachel and Sally continued to try and expel the evil that was still inside Jacque's mind, although it was contained. They chanted in a language the others did not know and pushed with the magic drawn from the nature around them. Peri laid her hand on Sally’s shoulder and shared her own magic with the healers and it was enough. Jacque’s eyes closed and she let out a breath that seemed to have been frozen in her lungs. She felt the evil dissipate and the murkiness that had been filling her insides fade away.
She started to stand, but was stopped when Peri put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hold on there, wonder woman. Take a few minutes to get your bearings.”
She handed Jacque some Fae bread and a bottle of water
. Jacque looked at the bottle and grinned. “Where exactly did you get a bottle of Aquafina water?”
Peri shrugged. “I have my ways.”
Jacque gulped the water, allowing it to wet her dry throat and cottony mouth. She could feel it following the path of her esophagus. It was cool and refreshing and helped her body rejoin the living. She took a bite of the Fae bread and remembered that it was supposed to give them energy that they would not otherwise possess on their own. Within minutes, she felt its effects. Finally, she stood, her legs a bit shaky, and her muscles stiff from disuse. She grinned as she watched all of her friends hold out their arms, waiting to catch her if she fell. The symbolism in that thought was profound and hit her like a herd of elephants. These women, her pack, and friends, had been there for her when she had fallen. They had caught her and eased her to the ground instead of letting her fall to her demise. They had cared for her, wept over her, talked with her even when they thought she couldn’t hear. Yes, she thought as she looked at their eager faces, outstretched arms, that they would always catch her.
She waved them off. “I don’t need eight mother hens cramping my style.”
Reluctantly, they backed up and gave her some room to move. She took a couple hesitant steps forward and when she didn’t fall over, took a few more. She stretched up on her toes, reaching her arms up in the air feeling her muscles resist against the motions. She felt good, better than good. She felt ready to get her mate back.
Peri saw the fire beginning to emerge in Jacque’s eyes and knew what was coming. She held up her hand to stop the inevitable. “Let’s give it a little while, let you get used to moving and being conscious again. You won’t be any good to us if you just fall over while we’re in that hell hole.”
Jen stepped forward and held up her hand. “I’d like to point out that if she just fell over like a fainting goat, for one second I’d laugh. That's all.”
“Thanks for the positive thoughts, Jen,” Jacque said, dryly.
“I’m always there for you babe.” Jen grinned.
Jacque’s eyes met Peri’s and there was a fire that lit them burning with unwavering determination. “We aren’t going to wait any longer, Peri. They have been in that place for long enough. My mate is not going to rot in that terrible place, because I’m some pansy that can’t pull it together after being asleep for a few days.”
“When you put it like that you sound pretty awesome,” Sally pointed out.
“Well, I am awesome, dammit,” Jacque stomped her foot.
Jen threw her arms up in the air. “That’s it, people, decision made. Jacque has stomped her foot. If she can cuss and stomp her foot at the same time, I say she’s ready to barge through the gates of hell.”
Peri looked over to Alina. “You okay with this?”
Alina looked her daughter in-law over. She saw nothing by a will of steel. “She’s going with or without us.”
Peri nodded. “That’s what I was afraid of.” With a huff, she waved for them to follow. “Well, hold on to your butts, it’s about to get messy.”
“Jurassic Park,” Sally, Jen, and Jacque all yelled out at once at Peri’s movie quote.
Peri looked back at them and shook her head. “I think your parents must have dropped you guys on your heads five times too many.”
“My mom claims it was only three,” Jen walked alongside her two best friends, finally feeling a little bit more like herself. “But, I swear it was four because I remember this one time…”
Jacque slapped her hand over Jen’s mouth, and the others let out a collective sigh.
Crina smiled at Jacque. “It’s good to have you back.”
“You’re telling me that no one has been censoring this beast?” She motioned towards Jen.
“She’s quite dangerous these days. We all wanted to keep our clothes dry and our hair on our heads.” Sally said in defense.
Jen growled low, her wolf getting agitated along with her. “I’m standing right here you know.”
“Actually you’re walking,” Jacque dodged the hand that reached out to smack the back of her head and laughed along with the others.
They walked, nearly two miles before Peri finally stopped. She turned around and held a finger to her lips. Motioning for them to come closer, she quickly glanced back over her shoulder before beginning to speak. Her voice was so low that they had to lean forward to hear.
“The bridge is just beyond those bushes. The troll is there and has very good hearing and a very good sense of smell. We are down wind at the moment so we should be safe. I’m going to approach him first. You all just sit tight and try not to screw this up.”
Elle raised a single brow at Peri and narrowed her eyes. “How about you, try not to screw this up.” Peri quietly clucked her tongue as her fellow Fae. “Come now Elle, you mustn’t hold a grudge about the past.”
Elle’s face relaxed as she shook her head. She had learned long ago that arguing with Perizada was a futile endeavor.
With a final warning finger like a mother to a child, Peri turned and disappeared from view to face the troll.
“How long do we give her before we make our move?” Crina asked.
“There’s no need to worry,” Elle said, dryly.
“Why not?” Sally asked.
“That troll has nothing on Peri. The only reason she’s going about it this way is to keep the balance of magic right. Going around blasting everyone into oblivion just because you can does not mean that you should.”
A thoughtful look came over Jen as she listened to the Fae. “When did you get so Yoda-ish on us?”
“I have no idea what that means, but if it means I freaking rock, then I’d say always.”
Their attention went back to the bushes where Peri had gone through and they waited. The opening to where their mates were suffering was most likely less than fifty feet away. Sally looked around at the girls and could tell it was taking everything in them not to just take off at a run. She too felt the urgency, but she steeled herself to wait. Wait for the exact moment when Peri gave them the go ahead, wait for the moment when she would enter the In-Between and possibly lose herself to its evil influence, wait for the moment when she would see Costin for the first time in what felt like months, even though it had only been a couple of weeks. Waiting seemed to be the theme of her life at the moment and if she were honest, she would say that it was a theme that sucked eggs. She smiled to herself at her thoughts because for a moment she felt the inner-Jen and realized she hadn’t had many of those moments lately. Sally liked to think that it was because she no longer needed inner-Jen, she was becoming exactly who she needed to be, exactly who they all needed her to be. It was time to let go of inner-Jen and embrace Sally, the gypsy healer, and mate to Costin. As she stood there, enduring the waiting, she absolutely loathed, and in that moment, she found the strength in herself that she had always turned to her inner-Jen for. It had been there all along. It had just taken trials, experiences, loss, anger, love, joy, and life to uncover it. And now, Sally, with her new found strength, was going to storm the gates of hell. Okay, not all by myself, she thought, but it’s a start.
Chapter 7
“There is often a moment in life where you feel like you have run out of options. You think and think, trying to pull something from nowhere, but still no possibilities jump out and smack you in the face. It is in those moments that I would like to think that the best in me comes out. I shine in all my calm glory and levelheadedness and others bask in my controlled state. If that ever happens, I’ll let you know… don’t hold your breath.” ~Lilly
Cypher, Lilly, and Cyn had been on the run from the draheim for nearly two days. They had taken cover in a cave after running through the freezing cold river to cover their scent. It had been nearly six hours since they had heard the beast fly over again, undoubtedly searching for its prey.
“You think we lost it,” Lilly asked, Cypher?
His jaw was tense and the crinkles around his eyes deepened as
worry, anger, and resolve all fought for a spot on his face. He had finally built them a fire and they were beginning to get dry and warm. As the cold dissipated from Lilly and her teeth no longer chattered, her mind began to work again.
Cypher looked over at her and his face relaxed a tiny bit. She smiled at him. He opened his arms to her and she went without thought. They were alive, uneaten, and that warranted a moment to process what had happened and what better way to do that than in the arms of a big, handsome, warlock? He pulled her close against his chest and she felt his warmth seeping into her. She relaxed and found relief in the knowledge that he would protect her. She could let herself just be for a few moments, completely trusting that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Finally, after several quiet moments spent rubbing her back and kissing her hair, he spoke.
“I have a responsibility to take care of the draheim. It can’t be allowed to stay in this realm. It’s too dangerous.”
Lilly nodded. “I kind of figured that much. What do we do next?”
Cypher smiled. “I like it when you say we.”
Lilly blushed and he ran a finger along her warm cheek. “I like it when I make you blush as well.” Lilly didn’t stop him when he leaned forward and kissed her. She didn’t think about how awkward Cyn must feel having her and Cypher make out like two teenagers. All she could think about was how good the kiss was, how soft his lips were, and when they parted, how incredible he tasted. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he pulled her closer. The kiss lasted longer than Cypher had intended, but then he could never get enough of Lilly. He could kiss her every day, all day, and it still, wouldn’t be enough. He would still crave her as he did now.