And then I landed on something hard. I yelled out as my stomach pain increased and I felt bile move to the top of my throat. I heard yelling and felt hands on me.
"Grab a can!" came a familiar male voice. "He's gonna puke!"
I threw up hard into something shoved into my face. Hands held me even after I was finished. I shook from my head to my feet, unable to respond or move. My teeth chattered in my head and I couldn't speak. I could barely make out shapes around me.
What the hell had I done?
Eighteen
WiTH HUMANiTY COMES KRYPTONiTE
scylla
To say Morgana was pissed that her captive Goblin was gone would be an understatement. Scylla knew better than to hang around and took his Djinn with him to a place outside of Alfheim, the Wasteland. Luckily he could get to it by ley line and took the express route just as the skies over the Spring Kingdom turned dark and thunder replaced the call of birds. Lightning chimed in and the castle experienced its first storm in years.
Probably a century. Morgana rarely got mad. She always got even.
Getting mad and even?
It was time to go.
He and Rip, back in cat form, landed just outside a lush garden tucked against the side of a rocky outcropping. It was an oasis in the center of an otherwise desolate place. Thick, curling vines with sprouts of purple, white and yellow wrapped around a broken iron gate that once served as the garden's entrance, before the Destruction. Scylla was careful as he stepped on the rockier parts, as the grass inched out of his way and bluebells tilted their bonnets from his boot and the wild flowers, including snapdragons and cockleshells, roared and chimed at his arrival.
All of this living greenery took its sustenance from a spring inside the stone, in a grotto known as Hob's. The grotto held the entrance to a known Cairn, one created decades ago by Medbh, and since her absence, left under the care taking of the Spriggan, Hob. It was in this Cairn his sister was killed. He'd begged the Spriggan to give him the answers to who had been in the Cairn then, because Hob would know.
But the faceless, expressionless creature had merely remained silent. And yet, he always welcomed Scylla when he visited. If he could have forced Hob to tell him, he would have, but his abilities didn’t work on the Spriggan, one of the few races who were immune the charms of the Incubus.
But today would not be a visitation.
The water in the center of the pool bubbled before a water funnel appeared. In that funnel formed the blank and featureless Hob. He was a black, shiny form of a man, but with little else. His appearance would unnerve those who saw him in the Human Realm, but here, his countenance was pleasing because it was devoid of features.
Greetings, Scylla the Abandoned. I trust you are well?
"Aye, Hob. I am."
You possess a solid human form now. Much has transpired.
"Yes, it has."
As the Djinn glided in close, Hob held up his hands and an invisible yet blue pulsing light separated everyone else from the Djinn. Rip hissed and spit, and it looked as if the cat's mouth moved in words, but Scylla couldn't hear him. "Hob?"
I am sorry, Scylla the Abandoned, but I cannot allow this one passage into the Human Realm, if that is what you seek.
"It is what I seek, Hob. But I have to have the Djinn with me."
It is forbidden. They are not permitted outside access.
"Yeah, but…he's already been outside." He nodded to the angry-looking Djinn. "Check for yourself."
The wall of blue folded in on itself and enveloped the even bluer cat. Rip looked panicked and Scylla found he liked that look on the bastard. A lot. After all the pain and agony it'd caused other people, it deserved some of its own. Now encased in this blueish light, the Djinn released the cat form and became himself, his mouth open as the light traveled inside, possibly choking the creature.
"Ah…Hob? What are you doing?"
I sense…the lingering essence of human within this Djinn. It seems he has worn a body not of his own. A stolen one.
"Yes, but—"
Again, this is forbidden, Scylla the Abandoned.
"I know, but—"
For this, there must be punishment.
"Punishment?" Scylla moved to Hob. "What type of punishment?”
That set aside to equal his crimes. Hob turned his blank face to Scylla. Unless you wish to advocate for the Djinn and speak in his defense?
Scylla mentally pinwheeled back from that thought. Defend this thing? No. But the thought of punishing the Djinn did give him a bit of pleasure. Scylla licked his lips and said, "I wish Ripp'n Jack the Djinn to pay for his crimes in whatever capacity was set forth."
There was a flickering of natural light inside the grotto. Hob turned his blank face to the ceiling and then nodded as a bell sounded. He'd used one of his three wishes.
Scylla watched that same pulsing blue light shift into metallic, interlocking scales. They covered the Djinn, encasing him in a metallic skin. He writhed and tried to break free as the scales pulled tighter. The room filled with pinpoints of light as the surrounding plants created tiny glowing points of dew. "Hob…what are you doing?"
I am fulfilling your wish.
The scales pulled tight, squeezing the Djinn into a smaller and smaller shape until it was yanked downward into the water. Abruptly, the grotto grew dark as the points of light went out. A beat later, the natural, subdued lighting of the spring returned from the plants and things roaming around.
Scylla opened his mouth to ask where Rip was just as something bobbed out of the water, gasping and making all sorts of racket. A nude human male climbed out, clawing its way up the muddy bank of the water and onto a patch of grass. There, he regurgitated a lot of water and Scylla winced as it splashed against the grass and stone. Scylla moved through the water, closer to the gasping human-looking creature, until it turned and he could see its face.
It was Mike Ross….but it wasn't him. There were similarities, but there were differences. A weaker chin, not as handsome or striking, and longer hair, but from a distance he could be mistaken for the human.
But this wasn't a human. Scylla could still feel the magic of a Djinn emanating from it, just not as powerful as he'd been a few seconds ago. "Rip?"
"What…" the human barked out as more water trickled from his ears, nose and mouth. "What did…you do?"
I fulfilled your master's wish, Ripp'n Jack. You are notorious, even in this realm, with your betrayals and excessive behavior. Your escaping through this Cairn into the Human Realm was a crime, punishable by a return to the Well. Hob tilted his head to his shoulder. Scylla looked from the Djinn to Hob's blank, featureless face. But I believe this is a much more fitting punishment. Like this, you can no longer steal and inhabit a body that is not your own. And your name is now a part of you.
As if to emphasis it, Scylla saw writing appear on the Djinn's back. Flowing, affluent lines that formed the name Ripp'n Jack.
"Why does he look like the human he last possessed?" Scylla said as he helped Rip up on his wobbly legs.
The magic of Alfheim merely took what it had to work with and created the form.
So…he looked like Ross, but just not exactly like him. Scylla stepped back and put his hand to his chin. "Interesting. And the curse? Does it still apply?"
Yes. That magic was folded into the body.
The Djinn held out his hands as if seeing them for the first time, then looked down at his nude body. He looked at his thighs, his legs, even his package, before he turned and looked behind him.
Scylla pursed his lips. "So…you gave him a body."
Yes.
"You really think this is a good idea?
It was your idea.
"I never said I wanted him to have a body!"
"I have a body…" the Djinn said in a harsh whisper. It wasn't Mike Ross's voice. No, Rip's was deeper, harsher, filled with gravel and sandpaper. "I have a body!" he said a bit louder and coughed up more water.
"Yes.
I see that. But you are still bound to me."
The Djinn looked at Scylla, smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile, and held out his hand to Scylla, not in a friendly fashion, but as if he were going to cast a spell. Or push him.
Nothing happened.
Scylla snorted. "What? You didn't believe me? Hob just said the curse was now a part of this body. You're still my dog."
"Where is my power?" Rip demanded.
You have a limited use now. Use it wisely.
Hob turned to Scylla. What is your reason for visiting?
Scylla had to recall why they'd come. Seeing the Djinn receive a body had sort of thrown off his train of thought. "I ah…need passage out of Alfheim."
There is only one place I can send you from here.
"I'll take it. Where is that?"
I do not know its name, only that it possesses a place called River Street.
Scylla smiled. Savannah, Georgia. "That's perfect. Let's go."
"You can't leave me here!" the Djinn yelled and then coughed.
I am afraid I must exact a price, Scylla the Abandoned.
"Really? And what is that?"
I would like a strand of your hair.
Scylla frowned as he yanked several of them out and handed them to Hob. The Spriggan took them in his black hand and they vanished. The water where the Djinn had been standing bubbled and then formed a whirlpool. Hob gestured. A guide will be there to aid you.
"I don't need a guide," Scylla said as he chanced a look out through the grotto's side at the world. Clouds continued to gather in the west. Morgana was just getting started. He ran to the pool, wading in the water, and jumped in.
Seconds later, the Djinn jumped into the pool, but not before snagging his own hair on the thin, spindly branch of a willow tree as it appeared by the pool.
Nineteen
WE HAVE TO SAVE SAM
DAGS
"Looks like he's finally waking."
Who's finally waking? I turned away from the loud voice and tried to pull my pillow over my head. That was my usual MO when I didn't want to get up and either Mike or Illiana insisted. If they wanted me awake and up on my feet, they were going to have to work for it. Huzzah!
Usually they just gave up.
So…was it me who was finally waking?
And then the nausea started as if someone flipped a switch. One second I was fine and dodging bullets of awake, and the next I was sitting up with my hand over my face.
"Dags, the can's right here. Just let it out."
"I don't think he has anything left in there," came a different voice.
Wait, did I know the first voice? Because it wasn't Mike and they were both too manly for Illiana.
Whoever they were, they were right. My stomach heaved, but there just wasn't anything left in it. Nothing. I held onto the can as someone held onto me and I waited until the last wave of sickness passed. A cool cloth was put over my face and I grabbed for it, pressing it against my eyes and finally putting a hand down to brace myself. I felt something soft beneath me and opened my eyes to see several faces bent over me.
They backed up as I jerked a bit. A few blinks and they came into sharp focus. Kyle, Levi, Crwys, and Grey. Grey was the softness I felt against my hand as she was under my hand, propping me up on a bed. A quick look around and I realized I was in Sam's bedroom; on the same bed I'd first seen Mike.
Mike!
I started to say something and coughed.
"You sure he should drink that?" Crwys said. "He's already emptied everything out."
"This won't come back up," Kyle said as he pressed the glass to my lips. I took it and downed it the moment I tasted it. It was cool and smooth and tasted like…ginger. After I finished it and waited a few seconds, I handed the glass back to him. "Ginger ale," I said in a rough voice, through a sore throat. "Good idea."
"It always helped my stomach," Kyle said. "And the ginger should settle your stomach."
Where is Samantha, Darren? Grey's voice was urgent in my head.
I looked at Grey. I handed the towel to Kyle and pushed myself back with Grey sitting up and looking at me. She wasn't actually on the bed, but leaning on it. Wolves are fairly big creatures. "First…I don't know where Sam is. Or Mike or Ivan. I—I was snatched from the Cairn by a queen named Morgana."
Crwys stood up. "The Emerald Queen took you from a Cairn? Just you?"
"Yeah.” I told them about Scylla and the pool in the garden, but I left out everything about the fact I was a Daoine Sidhe. I really didn’t want my heritage to become a big part of this.
Levi sat on the edge of the bed. “Dags…I need to ask you about Raven.”
I looked at him. "You know about her?"
But it was his demon who answered, You were weakened when you returned. Levi and I gave you blood to ease the healing, but we sensed another on you. You have tasted of Nyx.
I nodded and Levi related to Kyle what Ashur had just said.
"Who is Nyx?" Kyle asked.
Levi answered, but it was in his duel voice with Ashur, "She was…is…my sister. But we believed her gone. She was in Alfheim's realm when the…destruction was waged. When Azazel…" And he looked at Crwys.
The detective looked at his partner. "Was she paired at the time?"
"No. Not then. She had grown close to the Faerie then, and wanted to arrange a peace with the other realms. But the Faeries had already overstepped their boundaries by hunting down and killing the God Mother's children. Their fate was sealed and Nyx remained with them."
"Then she survived and was able to bond with a human."
"Apparently. I gleaned from Dags's blood that Raven, the new Revenant, was hired by the half-blood's mother to protect him. And apparently she has. Only now…she's missing. And it has something to do with the Djinn."
"Yes," I answered. They were all around me now, with Grey placing her head on my thigh. I stroked her neck, feeling her warmth traveling up my hand. And I gave them a quick review of those last minutes, when I realized Ripp'n Jack had taken Mike from the hospital and when he’d shot me. I didn't bring up my destroyed memories. It didn't seem important right then.
Crwys sat on the edge of the bed. "So, you didn't see what happened to Sam?"
I shook my head. "Scylla assumed she went to the Obsidian Palace."
"I wouldn't hold too much stock in what Scylla told you," Crwys said, and I could hear the snark in his voice. "That bastard never gives a straight answer. But I am wondering why he was in the Emerald Queen's Kingdom. She never lets anyone in unless she owns them, or they owe her. Did you see Charybdis there?"
I winced. The sister. "No…Crwys, his sister's dead."
The detective blinked. "What? When?"
I looked at Crwys. "I don't know. He's searching for the killer."
"Dags," Kyle said, switching subjects. "How did you get back to the shop?"
I looked at him. "What do you mean?"
Crwys said, "You showed up in the middle of the shop in a blaze of symbols and yellow light. Just dropped out of a hole."
I shrugged, not really sure what to tell them. “Some spell the Grimoire showed me.”
“Seriously?” Kyle said. “It took you out of Alfheim directly here?”
“Yeah?”
“Well,” Levi said. “I wouldn’t use that spell too often. Given the condition you came back in and because it took so long for you to wake up, it might be wise to file that under In Case of Emergency Only.”
I caught onto something he said. "So long…" I looked at each of them. "How long have I been in bed?"
"Over a day," Crwys said.
I looked outside and saw the sun was up. I guessed it was early afternoon or right at noon. The next day. It'd been late night when Sam and I stepped into that mirror. No wonder Crwys was so worried about Sam, which was something I noticed.
I started to get up. "Then we have to get back to Alfheim to get them out before Brendi does something bad, like turn her into a Hunt hound."
Grey whined.
But Kyle put his hand out. "No way. If the Emerald Queen plucked you out of a Cairn, she'll do it again. Especially if they want to keep you there. Then you'd be stuck." He looked at Levi. "Can they really do that?"
"Keep him there? Yes. But I don’t think this Grimoire will allow it, given what we’ve seen. Brendi’s desire to have Dags is what’s troubling. The fact his mother hired a Revenant to protect him in the Human World suggests he’s in danger from something. It might be she holds a position of power in Faerie politics?”
"I don't know who she is," I said. "I've met her. Briefly." I touched the pendant around my neck, hanging on a silver chain. The image of a wolf and a red gem.
"But what does that mean?" Kyle asked.
Levi spoke, "It means there is a rift within the ruling bodies of Alfheim. There has always been a synergy between the queens, but that was disrupted when Medbh was defeated and her head brought here." He shrugged. "It could be Brendi, or even Morgana, wishes to use Dags to manipulate his mother or use him as a bargaining chip for something. And if they can’t bring him in, they’ll use whatever means they have to get him into their clutches."
I looked at Levi. "You mean the Wild Hunt."
"That is a possibility. Right now we just don't know."
Twenty
THE GUiDE
SCYLLA
The guide Hob mentioned turned out to be a dark-skinned man in a white suit and white top hat. Scylla counted at least four other large men, all dressed in white pants and white t-shirts, as they flanked the guy in the top hat. He met Scylla with a white horse-drawn carriage. A few minutes later, the grate in the wall opened again and a very naked Rip came stumbling out.
To Scylla's surprise, the driver had a change of clothes in the carriage and suggested Rip get dressed, or his associates would dress him.
There was no ignoring the burly men in white t-shirts and angry faces. They helped them into the carriage, where Rip changed into one of the white t-shirts, a pair of gray sweat pants, and white sneakers.
Chimes At Midnight (The Grimoire Chronicles Book 3) Page 11