by AE McKenna
I faced her, careful to stay on the same tile. “You see a pizza-slash-donut shop in my future?”
“Yes. I worry you’ll have a hard time getting a name for yourself in those diners. Pastry will get you that name.” Mags smiled fondly at me. “Then people will find your excellent pizza. What do you think of that?”
My eyes grew hot and I rapidly blinked them. “That sounds nice, Grandma.”
“It’s why I got that pizza oven for you…” The rest of her sentence faded into a mumble.
I returned my attention back to the map, feeling the loss of the pizza oven more keenly now. She was going to be pissed about her garden. I moved up and over two more blocks of tile before I needed to jump again. I teetered on my toes but easily regained my balance.
Sweat itched along my hairline, curved down my nape, and slithered between my shoulder blades. I rolled my shoulders. It was hot in here, and my head ached. I glowered at the observers, then the gold walls. I’d only been inside this torture chamber for twenty minutes and the gold was affecting me enough that if I didn’t concentrate, I’d fall into a pit. It surprised me how coherent Mags was right now. I had to leap across another tile, but the selfie stick rested on the tile I needed to land on.
“Be careful,” Mags called.
I waved at her, sucked in a breath, and jumped.
I totally landed on the selfie stick. My feet skidded out from beneath me, and my butt crashed through a bad tile. My head and shoulders slammed against the tile I’d been standing on. My arms shot out, fingers clawing the ones beside me, but those disintegrated. Spots formed in front of my eyes as my breathing grew shallow. I reached back, my gloves scrabbling for purchase until I found an edge to hook my fingers under. My shoulder sockets and biceps blazed with protest. The weight of my butt started pulling me down. Maybe I’d had too much cheese and crackers while watching Netflix.
Sucking in a breath, I braced a foot against the edge of the tile, then the other. Above me, the fae and djinnis watched with bated breath. Exhaling, I pushed myself back on the tile. My bag strap caught on the edge, then gouged into my back, abrading my skin. Blood roared in my ears. My arms strained and one of my fingers slipped.
I don’t want to die. I’m not going to die!
The fae leered at me. This was only a blood sport to them, and my blood roiled with fury. I screamed my fear, my anger, and my disgust at them. I screamed because my mother was a liar. I screamed because Mags would die if I failed. And I screamed because I was beginning to doubt myself, and I hated that most of all.
Growling through my teeth, I pushed against the tile with trembling legs until my butt had something solid beneath it. From there, I could sit up, then climb to my feet. I pressed a hand to my chest to calm my heart, then shook the nerves out of my hands. The viewing party booed. They could piss off.
I bent my knees a few times, then peered over my shoulder at Mags. All the blood had drained from her cheeks, making her blue eyes appear sunken into her ashen face. I swallowed and faced forward. I couldn’t waste any more time. She needed out of this room.
I jumped and landed with a thud on the tile. I referred to the map again and followed the path to the contraption. My shoulders eased and the pinched muscles loosened as I scooped up the selfie stick from where it had skidded and shoved it in the bag. I tucked the map in my back pocket, making a mental note to check out my butt for burns in the bathroom later. However, I wouldn’t leave this realm without fresh scars to carry with me, even invisible ones.
The crank wheel was simple. There was a stopper. I disengaged that, then grabbed it by the spokes and turned. Or not. I tried the other way, and it budged, but then it was stuck. Glancing down, I saw another stopper, this one gold. I grumbled. Sure, I had no-cut gloves that were coming in handy for me to touch all this gold, but you can bet your ass I’d invite fae over after I installed iron door handles. Of course, that would be a hostile act against them, and they’d kill me. This system was whacked.
The wheel still wouldn’t budge. I stepped to the side, intending to put my entire weight into it. I fell through the floor and grabbed the spoke.
“For the love of—” I gasped, my arms aching. “Watch where you’re stepping, Lucy.”
“Lucy!” Mags cried.
“I’m okay—ahhh!” The wheel moved from my weight.
The gallery laughed. Mocked me. If my hands weren’t occupied right now, I’d give them the finger.
I reached up and grabbed the next spoke and it continued to move. I groaned, trying to swing my leg up on the tile adjacent to me. The wheel moved easier now but I needed to play monkey bars to keep from being tossed to my death.
Stone ground on stone, and then a loud, clanging clunk. All the gold tiles that hadn’t been destroyed flipped over to redwood tiles. The ship’s helm came to a stop.
“That’s it!” Mags clapped. “You did it!”
“Swell,” I groaned, and pulled myself up the wheel, then onto the floor. Well, if Mal and I ever took those rock-climbing classes, I’d have some upper arm strength from this.
The gallery booed again, the bastards.
Panting, I climbed to my feet and jogged toward the cage. I stepped on one of the bottle tiles and it exploded.
Why wouldn’t it explode?
I flew backward from the blast, screaming. My eye was on fire, and the right side of my head burned. I cupped my face, curling into myself and sobbing. My stomach roiled, and I was positive I’d puke as sawing breath ravaged my throat. Oh, god, just let it end. I registered the ringing in my ears as the boiling sensation in my face reduced to a simmer. Tears flowed from my left eye, and something hot and sticky flowed from my right. I whimpered, covering my face, then flinching away from my hands.
“Lucy! Lucy!” Mags shouted, her voice frantic.
I peered at my hands; blood covered the gloves. My heart sped to triple-time and dizziness swept through me. That couldn’t be my blood, but the raging pain in my face wouldn’t go away.
“Lucy, honey, answer me!”
“I-I’m alright!” I said shakily. I squeezed my left eye shut and darkness greeted me. I couldn’t tell if my right eye was open. My gorge rose. Did I just get blinded? I popped my left open. The gallery above me swam in a sea of tears. “Just stings a bit.”
There was nothing to do about it right now. If Mal were here, he’d probably slather djinni glue on my face and order me inside my bottle. I choked on tears. But he wasn’t here, and I was damn certain I wouldn’t want to use my bottle in a room like this. So I stood. And, careful to not step on any of the bottle tiles, I approached Mags’s cage.
I’d thought she was pale before, but standing in front of her, she was white as death. I strained to examine the lock on the cage. The keyhole was huge and the white-gold map had nothing like that on it. Heckling from the observers drew my shoulders to my ears.
“Just hang on, I’ve almost got you out of there,” I rasped, my throat sore from all the screaming.
I retrieved the tablet and squinted at the map—nothing, so I flipped it over. Blood from my face splattered the grooves. My heavy stomach dropped. I probably had to return this, and they’d get pissed about the blood and demand wishes from me. Another fat drop plopped onto the white-gold tablet, the grooves guiding my blood to the middle. The four corners broke and shifted into the center, then locked together. It was a key.
Not even wanting to dwell on the fact it’d needed blood to activate a key, I jammed it into the cage and turned. The door flew open and Mags tumbled out. Gold burns covered her arms, hands, legs, and the bottoms of her feet.
“Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.” Mags wept.
I crouched next to her, and we hugged. “Let’s get out of here. Can you walk?”
She shook her head and I braced her weight against my side. The gallery emptied, but one figure cast in shadows remained. Rage dried my tears and lent me strength. Growling, I kicked the door open. The guard who had shown me to the death room jumped, then backed awa
y from me.
“Take me out,” I snarled. Blood oozed from my eye and caked my face.
I followed the guard. He wasn’t taking his time now, probably because I was dripping nasty djinni blood all over their fancy marble floors. I hoped this place reeked of it for a decade. I shivered, teeth chattering, and felt a small expulsion of magic. I guess you get what you wished for sometimes.
Once outside in the brisk autumn air, Mags sagged against me. Her bottle—foggy maroon glass with a misting nozzle—appeared in her trembling hands.
“I have to go inside,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry, I can’t help. But you take us home straight away.”
I nodded mutely. Mags shifted into dirt-brown smoke and entered her bottle. I picked it up and tucked it in my bag. I wouldn’t go home. I needed to find Mal and Mom and demand answers. I stumbled until I smacked into the first door I found to the Lantern. It was Archaeology Way, and the next door was right outside Glandyfi Castle. I worked my jaw from the transition from the Lantern to the Iron Realm.
I bowed my head. Oh, god, my face hurt. I reached into my back pocket for my phone, but only came away with Hunter’s calling card. Diane shifted in the bag, and my phone buzzed with a notification—a voicemail from Mal. It had charged while inside my bottle, and she must’ve sensed my need for it. After listening to it, and knowing he was leaving something out, I dialed Hunter.
“Penny plans to raise Frankie from the dead, using Sythradiafol as a vessel.” Ray glared at me.
That was bad news. Hunter dabbed my face and I jerked away, hissing.
“How does she plan on doing that?” I asked. “How did she come up with that idea?”
Hunter frowned over her shoulder at Ray, who ducked his head, looking guilty. She was wearing yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt that hung off one shoulder. Certainly less sexy than a leather onesie, but she could make crocs look good. I felt like an ogre next to her, and suddenly, my face was a bigger problem if it wouldn’t heal properly.
“I lured her to help me steal the Blarney Stone with the promise of bringing her husband back,” he mumbled.
“What?” Hunter and I said simultaneously.
He held his hands up, palms out. “I wasn’t going to let her go through with it.”
Hunter shook her head, muttering, “Oh sure, and yet what is she trying to do now? You do know she would’ve killed either of you to appease Hun-Hunahpu, right?” She dabbed my wound again, making it throb with pain. “How’s your eye?”
I leaned away and gingerly touched my face; the skin around my right eye was puffy. It was clean, but damn, it hurt. I closed my left, but I still couldn’t see. Maybe light and shadows? “I…” Losing sight in my eye was scaring the shit out of me. “Will I have a scar?”
“Probably. You said it was rigged with gold?” Hunter asked.
I nodded.
“Tough break, kid.” There was a heavy silence in the room. “You should heal in your bottle.”
“How long will that take?”
“That’s a lot of damage… days, maybe.”
I opened my eye to see Hunter and Ray gazing at me with pity. I sighed softly. We didn’t have days.
“Do you know where my mom was headed?” I swallowed. “Mal lost her in Quetzaltenango.”
“She’s headed to Chicabal Lake—the crater lake in the volcano. It’s the final resting place for Hun-Hunahpu,” she whispered.
“And he’s the ancient, right?”
She nodded. “In the Mayan culture, he’s the Maize God known for dying and reviving. He also had humanity wiped out a few times so he could restart it when things weren’t going his way.”
I groaned and cradled my head in my hands. This was just perfect. Of course, Mom would wipe out humanity to bring Dad back from the dead. She refused to move on. Dad was the only important thing in her life, leaving me, Mags, Mal—everyone to pay for her mistakes. Her selfishness would be the end of her. I had to try to stop her. There wasn’t time to heal in my bottle. Not now.
I gritted my teeth and raised my head. “I’m calling in my favor.”
Ray snorted. “Of course you are.”
Hunter’s eyes narrowed into slits. “For what?”
“I need help to stop my mother from waking up an ancient.” I sent a text to Mal to let him know where Mom was headed and bit my lip. I didn’t know if he could stop her alone, but I didn’t think I could help that much either, especially since I was in Wales. “And I need to get to that volcano ASAP, but I can’t find my way out of a wet paper bag.”
“You should probably stay as far from that volcano as possible,” Hunter said.
I lifted a brow, which made me wince. Lots of muscles around your eye went into that action, and my right brow was the only one I could raise. “Really? You think Mal has a chance to stop her without one of them dying? I’m not abandoning him. Plus, I need to… I need to stop her. I’m the only person left who has a shot at talking her off the crazy cliff. Please. I need your help.”
Hunter sat back and regarded me.
“I’m calling the FBI.” Ray summoned his phone. “They’ll get to the volcano to stop this.”
“I need to be there.” I stood. The room spun like a tilt-a-whirl ride, but I shook it off. “I have to see this through. I gave them the genuine piece of the Blarney.”
Hunter summoned a compass and fiddled with it. Then she held it out to me. “Here. It’s a compass. It’ll give you the most direct and fastest route to your destination.”
Ray frowned at me. “You should really let the FBI handle this.”
“I’m not stopping you from calling them. Just give me a few hours.”
“Good luck, Lucy.” Hunter met my gaze and nodded. “I think you’re right to trust your instincts about this. And… thank you for helping Ray to wish me freewill. If you survive, I’d like to buy you a drink.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need one.”
I needed a lot more than luck to make it to Guatemala in time, but luck was all that I had. Bad luck.
Chapter 21
I groaned at the early morning sky as sun showers broke out and dribbled through the canopy of trees. I’d never been ejected from the Lantern before, and I wasn’t sure what had forced Penny and me out, but I’d landed nowhere close to a Lantern door. What had happened when she’d attempted to use the door knocker relic that caused that blast? Maybe the magic had backfired, catching us both.
I raked my hand through my damp hair. Without knowing her destination, I had no direction. “Damn it.”
There was a splash from the direction of the river. I sprinted toward the noise and almost ran out of my shoes. My arms shot out for balance and I searched for why I seemed to be a fly in flypaper. Silvery spiked balls hidden within the detritus of leaves, grass, and branches. Caltrops this time. The spikes engaged the soles of my shoes and dug into the ground. I tugged hard, but the more force I used, the tighter they gripped me.
Penny glanced at me over her shoulder. One corner of her mouth quirked into a smile, and she waved. “Sayonara, Tanaka.”
Glaring, I watched her disappear through the trees. The caltrops wouldn’t release me if I continued to use force and brute strength. I needed patience. Usually, I had plenty in reserve, but I was exhausted from all the stamina I’d used to keep pace with her, not to mention I hadn’t had a decent rest since that enchanted sleep before the Taming. I scrubbed my face, wiped the grit from my eyes, and slowly eased my foot up like I was made from molasses. The spikes released from the ground and I plucked the caltrops from one shoe, then repeated the process with my other foot. Ensuring I wouldn’t step on any more, I took off in the same direction as Penny.
I caught sight of her. She continued to veer west toward the sound of rushing water. Why isn’t she moving as smoke?
“Penny, enough!” Heh, I didn’t sound as winded as I felt.
She raised her arm, probably giving me the finger. I was too far back to tell, and the treacherous terrain demanded my attent
ion—I didn’t want to break an ankle. Not now, when the only thing keeping me from her was distance. Right now, my only options were shooting or stunning her, and she was too far away for a Taser. Luce would forgive that, but I was pretty sure shooting her mother wasn’t an option. I honestly didn’t know what would happen when this was over.
Penny staggered left and right. Maybe she was more tired than she showed, which was good for me. Taking this time in my human form, even while chasing her on foot, allowed me to regain some of my magical strength.
Ahead, laughter and splashing water mingled together. I worried about Penny. She didn’t seem to care about the fae canons anymore. What was it about her ultimate destination that made her think she could throw caution to the wind and reveal magic to humans? I didn’t like whatever it was. I crashed into a trailhead and parking lot for the Semuc Champey swimming hole. It was busy this time of year, with men and women relaxing and swimming in the water.
My phone buzzed with a text from Lucy. Mom’s headed to the crater lake at Chicabal volcano. Stall her.
Stall her. I snorted. How was I supposed to stall her when I couldn’t catch up to her?
“Hey! Stop! Someone’s stealing my—call the cops, Jeffrey!” A woman in a sarong and bikini top, clutching a large beach bag, smacked a man who stared dumbfounded after a Toyota Camry peeling from the parking lot.
I stored my phone without responding and darted around a car and froze, then called upon my blending powers. People gathered, offering phones, or showing pictures. I hoped Penny was in that car because it was my only lead. On a whim, I checked the red Volkswagen Bug I’d stopped beside. It had black polka dots and the doors were locked, but I found the keys sitting on the tire. Acting natural, I straightened and unlocked the door. I shoved the driver’s seat back, and feeling terrible, started the car and drove in the same direction as the Camry.
I gunned it. The engine roared, yet the car didn’t rocket forward no matter how hard I pressed my foot against the accelerator. Ahead, a Camry fishtailed off the shoulder and darted across three lanes of traffic. Horns blared; some drivers slammed on their brakes. I smirked and followed Penny Avalon—we both had slower than preferred vehicles. Try as I might, I couldn’t force my breathing to level out as I watched her cut people off left and right. I’m not even sure she knew I was chasing her. From my experience, she was an awful driver no matter the circumstance.