by R. L. Naquin
I sucked in my breath. “Fire you? We have two people on a thirteen-person board, and he’s getting rid of you?”
Art’s voice was dry. “Canada is taking over. Turns out, Bernice wasn’t crazy in thinking there’d be a territory grab if another country got wind. Marcus doesn’t have a full board, either, but he has more than we do. We’re being replaced.”
I dropped on my bed and pulled my fingers through my hair. “That’s bullshit. That’s not right.”
“No, but it’s happening anyway. We found a letter in his desk after he left. It was pretty clear that we would be out and they’d be in.”
Poor Art. All he’d ever wanted was to advance to the level of board member. I’d helped him get there. We both seemed to regret it, now.
“He’s here, Art. That’s why I called.”
“He’s there? Why? What does he want? I figured he went north to get his people ready to come down here.” Art was a little out of breath, and I suspected he was pacing. “I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not going out without a fight. I spent most of my working life trying to get where I am right now, and I refuse to roll over and get drunk, like some people.”
My heart felt a little lighter knowing that at least one of them wasn’t giving up. Bernice had probably been through too much already to have anything left to fight with. But Art had become something greater than he’d been before. Someone stronger... “I honestly don’t know why he’s here. As far as I can tell, we’re a day, maybe two away from the end of the world, and he’s making a power play.” I rubbed my forehead with my fingertips. “Listen. Just take care of Bernice for me. Don’t let her do anything stupid. I’ll figure all of this out. Either the world ends in a few days or everything goes back to normal. You will not be ousted from your job for anything less than the apocalypse, okay?”
He gave a dry chuckle laced with irony. “You know, I used to despise that stubborn attitude of yours. Now, I think it’s the only thing that might save us.”
* * *
To my surprise, Marcus didn’t object to his VIP placement next to the dung pile. He was, however, an even bigger micromanager than we had imagined. No wonder Bernice had increased her daily intoxication level and had started smoking.
By the following afternoon, I understood why he didn’t object to the smell of his tent—he was too busy trying to control everyone else’s business to actually spend any time in there.
He’d spent his first day following Riley around for the grand tour he’d requested, pointing out anything he saw as a security flaw and demanding ridiculous changes be made. While I was now well aware of the weakness at the far corner of my property near the woods, I was not inclined to put up barbed wire around everything I owned. Aggie didn’t need a password to cross into my yard, and Maurice most certainly didn’t need to sign in and out before travelling to other locations through a closet.
Marcus was out of his freaking mind.
The last straw came at lunch on his second day. Maurice had baked several quiches and served them with homemade roasted-red-pepper-and-tomato soup. Sara collected the empty plates while Maurice ran water in the sink. I grabbed the leftovers to wrap up and put in the fridge.
Marcus sat back in his chair and patted his stomach. “Well, that was certainly satisfactory. My congratulations for finding such efficient help.”
Maurice’s back was to us as he loaded dishes into the soapy water, but his shoulders twitched at being called help. It wasn’t the first time we’d run across this sort of prejudice—Bernice had treated Maurice the same way when she’d met him. Until I stuck a boot up her ass and made her stop.
Everyone went quiet. The tension in the room squeezed like a lycra bathing suit two sizes too small.
I scraped leftovers into the garbage and didn’t look up. “Maurice isn’t the help, Marcus. I didn’t hire him. He lives here.”
Marcus dropped his napkin on the table. “Excellent. Then I won’t have to compensate you for his loss when he goes with me to run my kitchens.”
The fork I was using dropped into the trashcan. “What?” I was too startled to come up with anything scathing as a retort. Normally, I’d have taken him down a size or two, but he’d caught me off guard. No one else in the room seemed to have any powers of speech either.
Taking advantage of the stunned silence, Marcus scooted his chair out and left the room, a vaguely pleasant smile on his face. On his way through the living room, he stopped to change the angle of one of my overstuffed chairs, then went out the front door—no doubt to pester someone into rearranging my flowerbeds into a more efficient pattern, or re-parking the cars in the driveway into a more uniform configuration.
The moment the door closed, the room erupted into chaos.
“Zoey, I don’t want to go with him!” Maurice’s hands dripped suds on the floor. “I’m not running anybody’s kitchens. That’s ridiculous!”
Sara stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, hands on her hips and scowling at the front door. “One more word from him. Just one.”
I had no idea what she would do if he uttered that one more word, but Sara had always been formidable, even as a human. We didn’t know what she was capable of doing as a demon.
I half wished he’d come inside and test her so we could find out. Two birds. One stone.
Mom surprised me the most. Her face was as stony as a gargoyle’s, and her fists were clenched into hard knots. “No one’s touching my boy.” Her voice was almost a whisper. If I hadn’t been standing right next to her, I probably wouldn’t have heard what she’d said.
Kam didn’t say anything at all. She sat, unmoving, staring after Marcus. At first glance, she looked perfectly calm. But I knew Kam, and there was no mistaking the fire burning within her pupils, turning the blackness into angry flames. No. Kam wasn’t calm at all.
Dude needed to watch his back. He’d managed to mangle the last nerve of several powerful people.
Riley, alone, seemed unaffected by Marcus. I glanced at my boyfriend across the room and he winked, then shrugged. He was the only person among us in the full-time employment of the Board, which was why he’d taken it upon himself to escort Marcus around and try, as much as possible, to act as a buffer between his boss’s boss and the rest of us.
From Riley’s attitude, I gathered what we’d just witnessed was what Riley had been putting up with since Marcus’s arrival. And Riley didn’t take it seriously. I’d have to try to take his lead and not let the Mr. Pushypants get to me.
“Okay, guys,” I said, once people had settled down a little. “Here’s the deal. Marcus isn’t staying forever. And no, he’s not taking anybody with him when he goes. For now, tolerate him. If you can’t tolerate him, ignore him. Under no circumstances should anyone bait, argue, or otherwise negatively engage with him.” I handed Maurice the empty plate I’d finished scraping, along with the fork I’d had to dig out of the trash. “Tonight is the last night of the full moon. If Lionel wasn’t the only priest the church had—and I think we’re pretty sure he wasn’t—we need to be prepared for more portals to open.”
Riley nodded. “The cultists are still out there. We gave them a beating the last time they were here, but we had to let them go when we realized they were decoys so we could get to you out back. The ones at the clinic got away too. If we have a portal tonight, we’ll probably have an aswang attack.”
I wiped my hand on a towel and dropped into a chair. “Guys, it’s our last chance. If we don’t stop them tonight, they’ll probably get the zombie lock figured out.” I looked around the room at all my friends—minus Darius who was up on the roof keeping watch. “This is it, guys. Tomorrow could be the end of everything, and it all comes down to us.”
Sara snorted, but gave me an affectionate look. “Drama queen.”
“I know, right?” Maurice mimed a high five at her from across the room. “We’re the good guys, Zo. We’ll win. Relax.” He went back to washing the dishes.
Kam col
lected the empty coffee cups and rose to carry them to the sink. I’d have sworn she was wearing shorts and a tank top a minute before. When my attention was elsewhere, she’d changed.
Her gold-beaded, green dress hung straight from sleeveless shoulders to a few inches above her knees, and ended with a beaded fringe. A thick ribbon of green satin rounded her hips and formed a huge bow on one side. Her long hair had turned into a short bob and was held down around her forehead by a beaded band with several fancy feathers waving over her head.
Our djinn had transformed into a flapper.
I smiled. “Pretty.”
She smiled back and dumped the cups into the sink.
It made sense. Kam had escaped her master for a time back in the 1920s, and by all accounts, had a great time until he caught up with her. Now that she was missing a gem, there was no reason to save up her magic. Plus, after what she’d been through, she deserved a new outfit.
A thump sounded from the roof, then the back door opened. Darius stood in his human form looking especially serious and dire. “You’d all better come look outside.”
I took a deep breath. “Let me guess. The evening’s expected portal is already here.”
He glanced past me to my mom. “Try five of them.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Five portals sparkled in the late afternoon sun, spaced out around the front of the house and stretching toward the woods. Five.
Nothing had come out of any of them yet, so that was a good sign. Also a good sign: I didn’t hear any humming or chanting, so the religious guests hadn’t arrived yet.
As the group of us stood slack-jawed on the front porch, two more portals popped into existence.
I swiveled my head back and forth from the portals to the rest of my friends and family. “Guys, whoever’s doing this can’t be far away, right? Spread out. Those who are most vulnerable, try to stay in the ring, but we have to find who’s opening these portals before they crack the code or whatever. With this many portals open, the zombie world can’t be far from opening.”
They scattered. Maurice headed straight for the woods, and by the look on his face, I think he was more concerned with the safety of the people living that way.
Darius kissed my mother, then climbed the porch railing and onto the roof for a bird’s-eye view.
“I’ll look for cultists. I’m sure they’re on their way.” Kam took off down the driveway.
I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling for backup. We need everyone here. I think this is it.”
“Wait.” Sara put her golden hand on my shoulder. “I’m going to look inside the portals. See where they go.”
I frowned. “Do you know how dangerous that is? You’re going in blind. Anything could be standing on the other side.”
“I have a feeling I’m more resilient than I used to be.” Her voice was laced with irony.
I rubbed my face with my palm. “Hold on, at least. Give me a minute.”
I typed a frantic text message into my demonic cell phone.
Seven portals open here. HELP!
I hit send and handed it to my mom. “Hang on to this.” I handed my real phone to her as well. “And call Andrew and Daniel, please. They need to know what’s going on. But tell them to stay put until we call for them! I don’t want my healers getting hurt in the crossfire.”
I stomped down the steps with Sara.
“Zoey, wait!” Mom ran after me and threw her arms around me. “Be careful.” She whispered in my ear, then let go and backed away. Her face showed how frightened and worried she was, but she didn’t ask me to stay behind with her.
She didn’t ask me to be someone I wasn’t.
Then her face changed. I only saw it for a moment. The fear and worry evaporated, leaving her expression blank, her eyes unfocused.
And then I saw nothing. Blackness spun around me. I tried to reach out for Sara. I knew she was right next to me, but my arms didn’t move. Or maybe they did, but I couldn’t feel them.
I couldn’t feel anything.
A tiny spark ignited in front of me, then went out. It lit a second time, caught and grew into a great blaze that gave off no heat. A figure stood before me—a moving shadow, small and round, but had no other discerning qualities than that.
The rush of wings was familiar from the last time darkness had swallowed me like this. I might have been frightened, but the figure gave off no animosity, only a deep weariness, heavy with time and wisdom. This was an ancient thing that wanted to help, and I was small and young and ignorant in comparison.
“Curator,” it whispered in my ear. “Ablaze.”
The figure dissolved and the whooshing of wings increased, then faded away. Light returned and I stood next to Sara, watching my mother’s eyes blink back to life.
“Curator ablaze,” she said.
I nodded. “Me, too.”
Sara scowled. “Another secret Aegis vision?”
I scratched an itch on my head. “It doesn’t make any damn sense.”
“Neither does this,” Sara said. She pulled an enormous, colorful feather from my hair. It was far longer than my hair had room to hide, as if she were a magician pulling flowers out of a hanky or Mary Poppins pulling a tall lamp out of a short carpetbag.
“What the...” Mom pulled a similarly impossible feather out of her shirt. If we hadn’t been in the middle of a dangerous situation, it would have been comedic watching her pull and pull with the feather going on forever.
I handed her my feather to add to the collection. “I don’t know who’s sending us these ridiculously obscure clues, but until they speak in full sentences, I can’t do a damn thing about it.” I kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back.”
The portals, of course, were all outside the safety zone, since the magic of the ring kept even an insider from opening a portal within its boundaries. But they were damn close to the edge. Each portal had maybe two feet of space between itself and the barrier. Anything coming out would smack into it if it came out at a run. After watching the aswang test the strength of the field a few nights ago, I wasn’t feeling as secure as I had been. The fairies had kept the aswang from breaking through. Did that mean without their intervention, the aswang eventually would have made it?
I shuddered. The local fairy tribe was large, but not large enough to keep out seven aswangs at the same time, should they all come flying out at once.
Sara and I approached the portal on the far right. It hung in the air with no visible support, its surface rippling like a puddle of quicksilver.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I gave Sara a worried look. “If this goes wrong, you could be fried on entry. Or be attacked the minute you cross. Something.”
She gave me a half smile. “Let me do this. Don’t let this awful thing that’s happened to me go to waste. I need to do something.”
I understood. Everything about Sara—externally, anyway—had been changed without her choosing it. She wanted the change to have meaning. Nobody knew what was on the other side of those portals. What if the zombies were already coming? Better to be proactive and find out. Sitting there waiting wasn’t doing us any good. I nodded. “I’ll be right here.”
She stepped toward the portal and stuck her fingertips through the shimmering surface. Nothing grabbed her, and her hand didn’t get torn off, so she sent her arm through and waited. Nothing happened.
Sara stepped through the portal and disappeared.
My heart banged against my ribs, and my breath came in short, shallow bursts. A minute went by. Two. I stepped forward to go after her.
Sara stumbled out, her odd, silver hair disheveled and golden eyes blinking. “Well,” she said. “So, that happened.” She plucked a piece of what looked like straw from her hair, then smoothed her sweater. Mud caked her shoes and the bottoms of her pants. Dark splotches spattered her thighs and arms.
“What the hell did you walk into?”
She patted her hair in a fruitless attempt at taming it. “
Pigpen. I walked into a damn pigpen.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “You stepped through a magical portal to another world and ended up in a muddy pigpen? Were the pigs at least green or furry?”
She gave me the stink-eye. “No, they were just pigs. I saw a village in the distance with smoke rising into the sky, but there weren’t any people around. I came back so you wouldn’t worry.”
I’d been worried. Hell, I’d almost gone in after her. I struck a casual pose. “I wasn’t worried.”
Sara didn’t seem convinced. Fooling her had always been next to impossible. “Well, nothing dangerous seems to be coming out of there. Not for the moment, anyway.” She tried again to smooth her hair and smacked her hand against one of her horns. “Dammit.” She winced and shook her hand to get rid of the pain. “That’ll take getting used to.”
We picked our way across the grass to the next portal. “Don’t get cocky,” I said. “Just because the last one was deserted doesn’t mean this one won’t be.”
“Yes, Mom.” She squared her shoulders and stepped through the portal.
Within seconds, she backed out, laughing and holding her hands up, as if someone had her at gunpoint.
I grabbed her by the elbows before she tripped over me. “What did you get this time?”
She spun around, still laughing. Her gold cheeks were darker than the rest of her face. “I can, without a doubt, tell you that portal leads to the werefolk.”
“You saw someone?”
She laughed. “Let’s just say, I now know they don’t necessarily do it doggy style.”
My eyes grew wide. “No! You walked in on somebody?”
She nodded. “My guess was goat people, but mostly all I saw was his tail flick back and forth and her hooves up over his back. And the bleating. Oh, the bleating! It was so loud.”
“Oh. God.” I would need brain bleach to get rid of the picture she’d described.
“Yeah.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay. Third time’s the charm, right? Maybe this time I’ll find out something useful.”
“Well, that last one was sort of useful. We know where it leads, at least.” I grinned and raised my eyebrows.