I staggered back away from the spinning abyss, and within seconds, it disappeared. I felt nauseous, but not like before. It was tolerable, and I figured if I needed to puke, I'd do it on the other side of the cypress trees. A quick look between the two showed me there was no one around. Ivan's truck was still parked by the cabin. But no other cars.
The mirror was where we'd left it, but covered by the woven sack. I pulled it off and realized the thing was pretty much solid and it wasn't going to fall over and break. The ground was even, but it was the thing's weight that kept it in place.
I looked at myself and did a double take. I looked awful. I had bruises on my face, my hair needed a comb, and there were circles under my eyes. Come to think of it…when was the last time I'd eaten?
I ignored myself and stared at the mirror, not really sure how Kyle had activated it. I didn't want to go through it. I wanted to, in essence, make a call.
So without any real guidance or knowledge, I touched the glass. It was ice-cold, and frost formed on the glass around my fingerprint. That frost traveled across the entire surface until ice was the only thing I could see. Then it cracked, and broke, and fell to the ground at my feet.
When I looked back at the mirror, someone was looking back at me.
She was taller than I remembered, her hair longer. She wore a long white slip of a dress, bare feet, and a garland of red roses in her hair. There were subtle changes to her features, but those could be attributed to growing up. But no matter what, it was Brendi Ross.
"Uncle Dags!" she squealed and clapped her hands. "I was so sure it was that Witch again, complaining about my hounds on her land."
I figured she meant Arden Vervain, the land owner and Kyle's aunt. "No…no. Just me. I heard you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, I do!" And she backed up and gestured for me to come to her. "Step through. You can, you know. You're actually Faerie. More Faerie than me!"
"So you know."
"Of course I do. I'm the new queen." And she smiled again. But the smiles weren't actually reaching her eyes. And that worried me.
"If you don't mind, Brendi, I'd rather just talk to you from here."
"I do mind, Uncle Dags. I need you here."
"And I need to see your father. Is he there?"
Her brows turned down over her long nose and her expression was fierce. "You don't want to talk to me. Just my father."
"Is he okay, Brendi?"
"Of course he is. He's in the other room with that weird Witch."
Weird Witch? "Ivan?"
"Yes."
"And Sam?"
She smiled again, and again, it creeped me out. "She's mine now."
"Even if I come to you?"
"Yep. Because the deal was with her, not you. By the way—" And she leaned toward the mirror. I wondered if it was a mirror on her side as well. "Did you have something to do with that Incubus getting away from me?"
"Scylla? No. I haven't seen him."
Now she frowned. Her face was very animated. "That's a lie, I'm afraid. Morgana insists you were in her palace the other day. Said she saw your true form, beyond the glamour your mother placed on you."
"No." I thought of Scylla's words. "What she saw was what she wanted to see. I don't look like a Faerie, Brendi. I look like my father, not my mother."
"I'll say. Your mother's beautiful."
That statement stopped me in my tracks. "You…you know my mother?"
"Everyone does." Then she laughed and pointed at me. "But you don't, do you? Is that why you have no idea how valuable you are?"
"Valuable?"
"Yes. See…" And she clapped her hands together in front of her. "You're a guy, right? And you're a Daoine Sidhe mixed breed, kinda like that really cute dog I used to have, that chiweenie?" she paused for a second, as if she'd just remembered that and wanted to live in that memory.
"Uh, Brendi, who is the prey for the Wild Hunt?"
She looked at me as if I'd grown a third head, and then she clapped. "That's right! You heard my announcement. It's all so exciting, isn't it?"
"Are you hunting Sam?"
She blinked at me. "Why won't you come and help me?"
Her lack of focus was going to drive me nuts. I didn't know if she'd always been this way or if it was life in Alfheim that did it. "I can't help you, Brendi, unless you help me. I need you to release Ivan and your dad."
"Dad wants me to come home with him. But I don't want to. I like it here."
WHY?! But I didn't ask that. Nope. Didn't even scream it, though I wanted to. "You don't have to, but your dad has to. He can't survive in Alfheim for very long, remember? It's not good for humans."
"We have air, you know. Not like the Abysmal."
"Yes." I had a fleeting memory of being some place without air…and it was painful. And there was a dark-haired, olive-skinned woman with me. I had to put that memory away and figure it out later. "I know. But I need him."
"Then come here with me and you two can be friends here."
"Brendi," I said in a much sterner voice. "What would it take to let them all go? To let Sam, Ivan and Mike return here?"
I wasn't sure if it was my voice that sort of brought her attention back to the now, but something shifted in her expression, in her demeanor. She straightened and I saw a sixteen-year-old again, and not the little adolescent. "They won't accept me as I am, Uncle Dags. The only way I can be the full Obsidian Queen is to be accepted by all the queens. Tzariene stands against me. Morgana won't make up her mind because I know she'll go with the winning side. So if I can bring Oona to me, Morgana will side with her."
I had no idea how this pertained to what I was asking, but since she was making sense, I didn't interrupt.
"If I had you…if I controlled you…Oona would side with me."
I shook my head. "Who is Oona?"
Brendi frowned at me. "Oona is the Autumn Queen, the Amber Queen, the fourth of the four, Uncle Dags. Her stone is the ruby." She pointed to my neck. "And her wolf is the black wolf."
I put my hand to the pendant around my neck, the one with the red stone and the howling wolf.
"She is your mother, Dags."
Twenty-Two
THE DEAL
DAGS
It was one of those glass-breaking moments for me. I knew my mom was Faerie. I knew she hired a Revenant to watch over me. But it never occurred to me my mother was anyone important. Other than to me.
Brendi moved as close to the mirror's surface as she could, pressing her hands against it and then her forehead. She looked at me through her brows and the image was frightening. "Ahh…you see maybe a way to free Ivan and dad?"
I stared at her, not really seeing her, because my mind kept going over the news my mom was a Faerie queen. She was the Autumn Queen.
Did that make me a prince?
Brendi's clapping brought me back to reality better than a smack over the head. "I see it! You will bargain yourself?"
I doubted Brendi's plan to sway my mother by controlling me was a valid one. I didn't know the woman, other than in fleeting memories and having only glimpsed her face that night in Mike's garden, because now I was the surest I've ever been that that wolf woman was her.
"Dags?"
"On a few conditions, Brendi." I looked at her. "You let Ivan and your dad go, unharmed. No curses, no promises, no deals."
"Done."
"And…if it's in your power to make sure your dad never remembers what Ripp'n Jack made him do—"
"That's already done," Brendi said, a little surprised. "Did you really think I'd let any of that shit stay with my dad?"
I honestly didn't know, but I doubted now was the time to comment on this. "Can you change the perception of him doing those things?"
"I don't understand."
"Can you change everyone's perception…" I tried to find a good way to say this. "Everyone thinks it was him because your dad's face is who they saw. Can you change their perceptions?"
She shook
her head and I noticed she was wearing a serious face. "No. I don't have that kind of power, Dags. I can only make sure my dad never remembers what Ripp'n Jack did."
"What about Sam?"
She smiled. "I can't help you with Sam. That deal is done." Brendi produced a black rose from somewhere out of the frame of the mirror and waved it at me. "So…are you mine? With no fight and no arguments?"
I swallowed as I stood in that Circle, very much aware I was about to do something stupid. I'd sort of gotten in the habit of calling Illiana and asking her opinion, but that just wasn't a good idea right now because I was sure she'd talk me out of this.
I knew about Faerie bonds and the unbreakable bargains, because I'd been studying Faerie legends and traditions ever since I discovered my lineage. I scolded myself for not knowing more, but my limited knowledge was going to have to do.
I took in a deep breath, visualized a bell in my head and pulled a clover leaf from my pocket. This was something I'd gotten from Kyle's cabinet of ingredients. It was the only one I'd seen, so I hoped he wouldn't be too put out. I held the clover up and spoke before she did, "I invoke this bargain, Brendi Ross, to be written in the four Elements and subscribed to the magics of Alfheim. Upon your adding your blood to this clover, a symbol of our bargain in this sacred grove, I will step into the Cairn and give myself to you without contention. You will release Ivan Westerfield and Mike Ross unharmed, back into the world of the humans at Sam's shop. But—" And I held up my other hand. "If this bond is broken by you, for whatever reason, meaning you no longer wish me to stay within the confines of Alfheim, then I will be free and granted one wish of my choosing."
She waved dismissively at me. "Yes, yes, of course. Humans and their wishes. Fine." She pulled a small knife from somewhere outside of the mirror's view and sliced her finger. She held the bleeding finger out and it pierced the mirror's surface. I set the clover on the closest stone by the fire pit and retrieved my pocket knife. I cut a small incision in my own finger, dropped the knife and it stuck into the ground, blade down.
Holding the clover in my left palm, I held it under her own bleeding finger for three drops and then added my own three.
A bell sounded from somewhere and I felt a slight tightening in my chest. I knew the deal was done and there was no going back.
"Now come here!" She pulled her hand back inside the mirror and pointed to the ground at her feet.
I felt the compulsion easy enough. It wasn't very strong, and I assumed the distance between us was a factor. But once I was close to her, would it be as easy to resist? And once inside…could I find a way out? ‘Cause, you know I had no plans of staying in Alfheim as some leverage to use against my mother.
My mother.
That thought stopped me in my tracks. Was I really doing this for Mike and Ivan…or even Sam? Or was there some part of me that hoped I could see my mother? That being in the hands of the Obsidian Queen would bring my mother to me?
I would be an idiot if I didn't think these things, wouldn't I?
"Hey!"
I looked at the mirror and a very disturbed Brendi. "I'm coming," I said and placed the bloodied clover, which now felt hardened and petrified between my fingers, on the same stone I'd placed it before. Something told me not to bring it with me, and it was in that same gut-entrenched voice I'd started listening to over the years. So, the clover stayed there. And hopefully, some day, someone would find it. Maybe even Sam, if I could figure out a way to get her out of Alfheim.
With a glance around at the darkening afternoon, I took in a deep breath and stepped through the mirror into the realm of Faerie.
Twenty-Three
THE DOOR
SCYLLA
The screams lasted for hours…or it could have been days. Scylla lost all track of time as he languished in that room. Never did the sun set to give him the relief of shadows. Food would come in when he slept and the door remained locked. He went through every drawer and cabinet a dozen times and opened every door. All but one gave him a bricked wall. It was as if he'd been locked inside a nightmare funhouse.
Only he wasn't having any fun. He knew the screams belonged to Ripp'n Jack, but he felt no empathy for the creature. Djinns were made of raw emotions, mostly greed. They themselves never knew empathy or true raw feelings, only what they stole from their hosts, when they could get them.
He rubbed his chin and felt stubble there, the only real marker for the passage of time he could find. The door unlocked and he expected more of the same strange human to step in and bring him food. When no one opened the door, Scylla stood and tested it himself, turning the knob and pulling it in toward himself.
No one stood in the hallway, and still, no shadows. He crept out of the room that had been his prison and spotted the front door. But as he approached it, another door opened behind him and he turned to see a beaten, bruised and misshapen man run out. It took a few seconds before he realized it was Ripp'n Jack. Scylla had almost forgotten what the Djinn's new body looked like. And even now, it still resembled that of Mike Ross.
The two of them stared at one another. Scylla still intact and not bruised, and Ripp'n Jack with his obviously tortured disposition.
Jason Lawrence spoke behind them. Scylla turned to see the Revenant before the front door. He still wore the same clothes he'd been wearing when Scylla had come to the house. Had he been in that room long enough for the Revenant to recycle this clothing—or was it still the same day?
"Now you have a choice," Jason said, in his arrogant and grating way. "This door will lead into two possibilities. The first one defines the second one. The door will open into the place where the winner wishes to be in the Human World. The second time the door opens, will be in Alfheim, where you both belong."
"Winner?" I heard myself say.
"Yes. Because it's between you and your protector here." Jason gestured to the panting and still half cowering Djinn. "You see, Ripp'n Jack has given me the location of my sister, but he must be punished for what he did, just as you must be punished for what you did." He ended the sentence by looking at Scylla.
"For what I did?" Scylla said. "I didn't do anything. I was propositioned by the Obsidian Queen to bring her back a Goblin." He held up his hand. "Which I didn't do."
"This is true. But you killed an innocent by taking that body."
Scylla pursed his lips. Damn Revenants and their holier than thou opinion of human life.
Jason put his hands together. "So, you'll have to fight for whoever goes through the door first."
"How do we know the first one through gets the location of their wish?"
He smiled. "You don't. So please, you both enjoy yourselves, and I will be seeing you soon." With that he turned, opened the door, and stepped outside.
Scylla didn't see Rip coming at him, but he felt it when the asshole slammed him into the wall. The impact knocked the air out of his human lungs and he gasped as Rip delivered two very hard and very painful blows into Scylla's gut, preventing him even further from taking more air in as his knees gave and he went down, sliding against the wall.
He could just see Rip half running, half limping to the door. He looked back at Scylla, shot him a bird and opened the door.
Scylla had no idea how long he leaned against the door. He just knew he couldn't even try to escape unless he was breathing properly. After a good while he pushed himself up, and with an arm against his chest, opened the door and looked out. The street didn't look any different than it was before. It was Savannah, Georgia, as it had been before. Peaceful. Hot. Little traffic. And the sound of cicadas filled the stagnant air as Scylla put his foot through the doorway.
It was only a second later he realized he hadn't wanted to be in Savannah.
Twenty-Four
THE PREY AND CHAMPiON
DAGS
The room she had her guard put me in was round. No corners, just a big round room. The walls and floors were made of black marble. There was nothing in the room, except me. No
bed. No chair. No window. Nothing. The only light came from the sun I'd conjured and set at the ceiling, which was several feet above me. The light illuminated enough to let me know I'd screwed up.
I had no idea if Ivan and Mike had been released. I had no idea where Sam was. I had no idea where I was. When I came through, two people grabbed me—I assumed they were her guards—threw a black bag over my head and manhandled me up several flights of stairs. When they shoved me forward, I'd bashed my knee against the marble and whipped off the bag only to find nothing but blackness around me.
And now…who knew how much time had passed? I sat on the floor on my side healing my knee as well as I could. I'd waking the Grimoire to give me the spell and power again to make that big spinning hole. But even the book was closed and silent. I was alone and cussing myself out for being such an idiot to trust a half-crazy girl like Brendi.
Sorry Mike, but your daughter is a nutcase. I started to wonder at that. Medbh was also a nutcase, and the two women had both sat on the Obsidian Throne. Was it the chair? Or the office that drove them batshit?
After a while I started cramping and tried to lay down on the hard floor. But that just made me ache in places I didn't know I had. Luckily, I found a position that wasn't so bad and was almost asleep when I heard a lock tumble. I sat up to see a seam of light form in the dim light, since my sun had started to go out when I started falling asleep, outlining a door. I slowly got to my feet and held up my hands as my sun went out, and I was blinded by the light coming in from the opening.
I made out several shapes. Soldiers in crazy medieval, but more modernized, armor stepped in. The armor gleamed black and looked like wood where it covered their bodies and faces. Six of them stepped in and took up stations around the door. When they stopped moving, a seventh guard came in. This one was obviously female. The armor covered some of the same areas, but left a nice open space to show off a well-trimmed and flat mid-drift, nice thighs and a nice rounded rack below a pointed chin. Her mask covered her face from her nose up, giving her an almost Tree Ent look. Ruby lips smirked at me as her bare hand came up and touched my lips.
Chimes At Midnight (The Grimoire Chronicles Book 3) Page 13