“Liam, wait.” I started after him but in an instant, he disappeared into the bush.
Once more, I’d screwed things up.
“Good fucking job, Rylee,” I muttered to myself. “Good fucking job.”
I made my way back to the fire and flopped down beside Calliope. I wished Alex was there to break the tension. Or Pamela to point out something good and beautiful. I Tracked Alex first, pinpointed him in a heartbeat. Almost directly east of us, his threads were strong and healthy, but he was afraid of something. Not totally unusual with Alex; he could sometimes get spooked by his own shadow.
Then I Tracked Pamela.
While she was in the same place, she was bruised and scared. I sat up straighter and Tracked Eve. No, this couldn’t be happening, not when I was all the way on the other side of the continent. Eve’s threads, I could barely feel them, weak and fading fast.
Eve was dying. I shot to my feet.
“Dox, go help Liam—we’ve got to go. Now.”
The ogres around us rustled, Sla stood slowly. “What is it?”
“One of my wards is dying. I have to get to her.”
I reached out and put a hand on Calliope’s neck.
Warm and dry, her coat was silken under my fingertips. “Calli, do you have any way at all that we can reach your tribe, let them know that you’re okay?”
She shook her head. No. I would have done so on my own if there was some way.
I put my hands on my head and clung to Eve’s threads. So far away, I was so god damned far away. Calli’s father had said they would wait for us. It had only been three days; surely they wouldn’t have hurt Eve? Fuck!
If only there was a way I could jump the veil … my eyes snapped open and I stared into the flames. Faris had said I could learn. Maybe. I paced in front of the fire, my mind racing as I struggled to remember exactly what Faris had done. The triplets spoke with their heads bowed together, and Sla made a motion with his right hand that sent the rest of the ogres melting into the darkness.
“Where is it you must go?” Sla asked. “Perhaps one of our magic wielders could help you.”
“You got a place to cross the veil close by?” Hope flared. If there was a place we could cross the veil that would take us at least closer to North Dakota, we might have a chance.
Sla nodded slowly. “Yes, we have such a place. Though I do not know if it will lead to where you need to go. Our entrance leads to a castle.”
Hell yeah, that was what I wanted to hear. “How close is it?” I gathered up my jacket, slid it on over my damp clothes.
The grey ogre stood slowly. “An hour from here, a little more if we go slowly.”
I did a quick check of my weapons. “And if we hurry?”
Dev bent and scooped Calliope into his arms. “Come on, enough dicking about. Let’s go.”
“Wait, Dox can carry her; you aren’t all coming, are you?” Please tell me I hadn’t acquired a Gang of ogres.
Dox and Liam stepped out of the bush as I was trying to figure out how many ogres were coming with us. Apparently, Sla and the triplets had appointed themselves my newest bodyguards. Liam took charge, slipping once more into Agent mode. “Rylee, stay tight with me; Dev, you and Tin trade off if you need a break from carrying Calliope.” The two ogres gave him a salute. “Lop, you bring up the rear, Sla and Dox take the lead.”
Surprising the shit out of me, everyone did what they were told. Sla and Dox set a fast pace, crashing a path out in front of us. Jaw tight, I held Eve’s threads and struggled not to let her pain affect me. Her life leached from her, and I knew she had hours at best. Whatever damage had been done to her, it was bad enough that her natural healing abilities wouldn’t be fast enough. She needed someone to heal her.
No one ambushed us and we made it to the entranceway through the veil in less than half an hour. A massive cedar tree that had to be at least twenty feet around was our destination. Split in the middle, cored out by fire, the black opening beckoned. With my second sight, the entrance was clear as day and more welcome than anything I’d ever seen.
“Rylee, you ready?” Liam touched my shoulder. I nodded.
Sweat drenched even in the cold night air, exhausted from the day’s events, I struggled to hold onto Alex’s and Pamela’s threads alongside Eve’s.
And then Pamela’s threads shimmered like a candle being blown on. Not dead, but across the veil, the gods only knew where.
“FUCK!”
Their voices clamored over me while I fought the nausea that rose in my gut. “Just go, get through the veil.”
They did as I said and we all stepped through the veil, the tingle of it sliding over my skin. The cedar tree opened into an inner courtyard that I hadn’t seen.
And Pamela’s threads were suddenly clear as a bell.
“PAMELA!”
There was a scuttle of feet, and then, “Rylee, I’m here!” And then her threads disappeared again. This time though, they were gone, like as in across a body of water gone.
Motherfucking vampire, I was going to kill Faris. He was the only one that would have the balls to snatch Pamela. But why did he want her? Or was it just another way to control me?
Eve’s life dimmed again and my feet stilled. There really was no choice; Eve had to come first.
“Hang on, Pamela. I’ll come for you,” I whispered, turning away from where I’d heard her call out. We bolted through the castle to the exit we needed. I knew where we had to go, which doorway would take us to the mineshaft in the badlands just outside of Bismarck.
“We’ll need light, grab some of those torches.” I pointed to the walls as I ran. No time, there was no time to waste.
Hang on, Eve, just hang on.
We had to cross paths with the bloodshed of the red caps. Their bodies were putrefying, maggots crawling over them, their eyes pecked out by the carrion eaters.
“What the hell happened here?” Dox breathed out, gagging on the thick air.
“Pamela and Liam,” I said, tearing my eyes from the scene.
I sensed more than saw the approval in the other ogres. But none of that mattered, not at that moment.
We ran through the empty stone hallways without a problem; no one had been expecting us this time around. The exit we needed was open and we piled through into the dusty old mine shaft that was buried in the badlands of North Dakota. The ogres lit the torches, and I paused to get my bearings.
Sla spoke softly. “This is the home of Seps. I can smell her, but it is faint, from many years ago.”
“Great, you can visit another time,” I snapped. With the light held high, Liam led the way, and I let him. Eve’s threads were unraveling, weaker by the minute. Once I got to her, how was I going to help her? I had no ability to heal. Milly did, Terese did … .
“Here, the climbing gear is still set up.” Liam handed the rope to Sla. “You go up first, make sure the area is clear.”
Sla nodded, taking direction from Liam far easier than I would have thought. Then again, Liam wasn’t asking.
The grey ogre climbed the rope quickly and, within minutes, was at the top. “All clear, wolf, send Rylee up first.”
I grabbed the rope and Sla hauled me up. If I’d thought his ascent was fast, it was nothing compared to mine.
Thirty seconds, tops, and I climbed out of the mine shaft. Stumbling, I gained my feet and lifted my head. Across from me was a white vehicle that, with a gut-wrenching lurch, I recognized.
It was one of Milly’s vehicles. An SUV that she’d gotten after her last beau dumped her. I jerked a sword from my back and Tracked the witch. Remarkably, I couldn’t feel her at all, which meant she was across the ocean somewhere. The last thing I needed was for Milly to show back up again, proclaiming she was here to help. Scratch that; I’d suffer through it if she would heal Eve.
Liam was the next one up and he drew me toward the car. “This is how Milly brought me across to London. I was pretty sure her car would still be here.”
H
e jerked the door open and felt above the driver’s side visor. A set of keys fell down into his hand, which he then tossed to me.
“You drive, me and Calliope can ride in the back.”
It was then that I realized Liam was running things because I wasn’t holding it together. The thought of losing Eve, or Pamela, or both, had turned me inside out.
I clenched the keys in my right hand. No, I wouldn’t fall apart, that wasn’t doing Eve or Pamela any good.
“Liam, give Dox directions to the farmhouse.” They put their heads together; Liam was worried. About me.
Pull it the fuck together, Rylee.
One of the triplets set Calliope into the back as I slid into the driver’s seat. Liam got in behind her. “Let’s go.”
Eve slipped further and I threw the car into reverse, peeling out backward, and then slamming it into drive at the same time I pushed the pedal to the floor.
“Rylee, we’ll get there.”
I knew he was trying to soothe me, to keep me calm.
“You can’t feel her inside your head. We’re losing her.” And that was the crux of it; Eve was slipping too fast—unless Terese was there, waiting for us, there was no way we’d save the Harpy.
Eve was going to die and it was going to be on my head. This was my fault for sending children into battle, for asking children to protect each other.
The SUV powered over the ruts and bumps in the road, and then we were on the interstate. I pushed the SUV as hard as I could, weaving in and out of traffic with a cold precision that I clung too.
We were on the road to the farmhouse when it happened.
Eve’s life blinked out. There was no pain, no fear; she was just gone.
This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I sucked in a sharp breath and clenched my teeth tight.
Eve, how could Eve be gone?
“Rylee.” Liam reached forward, cupping the back of my neck with his hand. He knew, even though he wasn’t in my head, he knew.
Spinning the wheel hard, I cranked the SUV onto the driveway, jerking the emergency brake up, which brought the back end drifting to a stop. I leapt out and ran for the barn where I could still sense her. What was left of her.
A howl erupted out of the barn, Alex’s mournful cry burrowing into my heart. I wasn’t the only one losing someone they cared about. Alex’s howls broke through the thin grasp of control I still had; his pain on top of my own was too much. Tears streaked my face as I ran. She was so young, too young to be gone already.
I burst through the barn doors and Alex spun, a snarl on his lips, the fur standing up all over him, teeth snapping at me. “No more hurts Evie!”
Then he saw me, really saw me, and his snarl faded into a set of trembling lips. “Rylee, Evie … .”
Behind him, Eve lay in a slump, her tawny feathers covered in blood, her wings twisted at angles that shouldn’t have been. I fell to my knees, reached out and touched her back. Still warm, but I knew she was gone.
Eve was gone.
Head bowed, I didn’t hear Liam bring Calliope in. The filly stumbled up against me, her broken leg healing, but still not strong enough to support her well.
You grieve for your Evening Star as if she were your own.
I reached up and touched the filly’s nose, my voice cracking on the words. “She is a part of my family.”
Calliope said nothing else, just leaned forward, and touched Eve with her muzzle.
My father believes that she will help the other Harpies remember the bonds they once had with us.
“Why then would he let them do this?” I swiped my tears away, angry that I’d let them out, angrier that the Tamoskin Crush would break their word.
This is not my crush’s doing. This is something else. But I think I can help.
I frowned up at her, but it was Liam who caught my eye.
“Peter S. Beagle.” He mouthed to me. And I frowned harder. Then I caught it, but damn, how could I have been so stupid?
Calliope leaned forward, pressing her nubbin of a horn into Eve’s side. A soft shimmer of golden light spread from the young unicorn to the Harpy, travelling over Eve’s feathers, lighting each one up before fading into her body.
That is all I can do. She will still need to be healed.
“All you can do?” I whispered, and then jumped as Eve let out a groan and took a deep breath. Calliope had brought her back to life. Her threads were suddenly there again, and I could grab them. She was alive. But not for long if we didn’t get her healed.
“Liam, stay with Eve!”
I leapt to my feet and ran to the house. Terese, we had to get Terese here.
The back door was locked and I kicked it open, the glass panel shattering. Alex was on my heels howling. “Evie, Evie, Evie!”
“Alex, shut up and watch for the glass!”
“Okie dokie.”
I grabbed the phone, my hands shaking. We weren’t going to lose her. Terese would get here in time. The leader of the local coven picked up on the first ring. I didn’t give her a chance to speak.
“I need you at the farmhouse to heal someone who is going to die without you.”
“Rylee?”
“Yes, now hurry your witchy ass up.”
Alex bounced at my side whispering, “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
“I’m coming, it’ll take me at least a half hour.”
It would have to do. I slammed the phone down, grabbed some towels from the bathroom, and then ran back out the door. “Alex, get some blankets!”
“Going!”
Back in the barn, Liam had set Eve’s head up on a bale of hay. “She’s in and out, but hanging on. The worst injury is there.” He pointed under her left wing at the gaping wound. Blood and bone, torn muscle and the flutter of something moving inside that I suspected was her heart. Whoever did this was going to be wishing their mother never whored herself out to their father. Because I was going to fucking slaughter them. Slowly, and with great amounts of creativity and pain.
I folded the towels and pressed them against the open wound. Eve let out a groan, her eyelids fluttering. “I tried to stop them, there were too many of them.”
“Shhh. Just hold still. Terese is coming and she’ll patch you up,” I said, hoping that Terese would get here in time.
Alex came barreling in, two blankets streaming out behind him like capes. Liam took them and laid them across Eve. Calliope curled up next to Eve, laying her head against the Harpy’s side, mortal enemies no more. Alex shuffled next to me and then wrapped his arms around Eve.
“Evie hang on.”
Liam cleared his throat, and I looked up to see the moisture in his eyes. “She’ll make it. I’ll go wait for Terese.”
Seeing Eve lay out like that … he hadn’t realized how much he had grown to care about Rylee’s ‘crew’, as he called them, until that moment. When he’d thought they’d lost Eve.
Not since he’d had to bury his parents had grief swamped him like that. The bracing cold air outside the barn helped clear his head. What could have taken Eve out? What had the strength to kill a Harpy without leaving any evidence behind?
Had the unicorns gotten fed up with waiting? Somehow, even knowing as little as he did, he doubted it. Something else then. Milly? No, this wasn’t her style, too messy.
He paced the barnyard, then paused, lifted his head to the air, and took a deep breath. The scents were jumbled. Alex and Rylee came through loud and clear, a whisper of Eve, Calliope and then another scent. One he recognized all too well.
Faris, the motherfucker; he’d been here.
There would be no respite this time; he’d seen it in Rylee’s eyes. It was one thing to hurt her, one thing to take a child she didn’t know, but to hurt one of her own?
Liam had a feeling that Faris was about to meet a side of Rylee he’d not yet encountered. A side that Liam had seen glimmers of over the years, but that she’d never fully unleashed.
The squeak of tires on the hard packed snow brough
t his head up. Terese pulled into the farmyard in a small red truck. He waved at her and she ran toward him.
“Who is it, who’s hurt?”
He didn’t answer, just led her to the barn. Gods, let her have made it in time.
Terese stepped into the barn followed by Liam. A fierce look settled on his face, reminding me of his Agent days when he thought he’d caught me in a lie. There was only one thing I could think of that would leave him looking like he was ready to interrogate someone at the end of a hot poker.
He’d figured out who’d done this, or at least, he thought he did. I didn’t ask him, though; right now, there were more pressing matters. I’d kill who I needed to kill soon enough.
“Terese.” I pointed at Eve.
The witch stopped. “Are you serious? You called me out in the dead of night to help a Harpy?”
I fought not to reach over and smack her for her assumption Eve wasn’t worthy of healing. Pissing Terese off wouldn’t help anyone. “They took Pamela, the young witch I told you about. We need to help Eve and then we can figure out who has Pam.”
That seemed to get through to her. “They took … .” Her eyes widened and she dropped to her knees next to Calliope. Startled, she stared at the filly for a full ten seconds.
“Terese, we are running out of time.” Eve was slipping again, and I didn’t want to take anymore time than we had to.
“Right.” She leaned forward and put her hands on Eve, words breathed out past her lips as she wound the spell over Eve’s body.
The Harpy let out a low, pain-filled moan, her body jerking as it knit back together.
“Hang on, Eve, I know it’s bad. But it’ll ease,” I said, but I kept my hands to myself. No need to have my Immunity interfere with the healing.
Eve shifted, clacked her beak, and Alex started to jump up and down. “Evie!”
Evie, indeed. Her threads were running strong, if fatigued. She rolled to her feet, and I pointed at Calliope.
Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 5) Page 16