by Krista Walsh
Jeff’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t about to argue for myself.” He looked to Cassie. “If Venn comes with me, are you sure you need to be there? I just think it would be safer if you were out of the Sisters’ reach. Maybe they could just give me my imagination in exchange for something else. Something that isn’t you.”
“You know it won’t be as easy as that. They won’t trade for anything less valuable than what you want. If it’s not me, it’ll be something equally important.”
“Like your liver,” said Venn. “Wouldn’t put it past them. So unless you have some other lousy idea that neither of us will listen to, how about we get out of this stupid storm, go upstairs, and hop onto the Meratis highway.”
She crossed her arms and stared at them both, but again Cassie looked to Jeff. “It’s your call.”
“If we get out of the storm?” Venn asked.
“If we go to Andvell,” Cassie corrected.
Venn’s jaw dropped. “That wasn’t the plan. I fully plan to tackle the fucker and knock some sense into him if he doesn’t make the obvious choice.”
“I thought you were adjusting to this world, Venn,” said Jeff, amusement at her persistence almost cancelling out his nervousness and hesitation.
Venn shrugged. “My weapons are getting lonely and need some attention. I wouldn’t mind the chance to kick some ass in another world for a while.”
“Why are we preparing for ass-kicking?” asked Cassie.
“Because it’s Andvell,” Jeff and Venn replied in unison.
“Nothing is ever straightforward in that world,” Jeff added.
Cassie stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Let’s try to think positive. So what do you say?”
Jeff took a slow breath, but couldn’t escape the look of hope and support in Cassie’s expression, or the impatience and excitement in Venn’s. How could he say no? In spite of Cassie’s decision to leave it up to him, he still wouldn’t put it past Venn to hit him over the head and drag him to the orb anyway.
“All right. Let’s do it. Let’s see what happens.”
“Yes!” Venn gave a fist pump and grabbed his arm, tugging him towards the door of his building with Cassie dragging behind, holding onto Jeff’s other hand.
“I can’t wait to see what’s happened to the place while we were gone,” Venn chattered. “The Keep is probably nothing but charred rubble. Those guys can’t do anything without us. Think Brady’s still alive, sharing his brain with a dragon? Think he and Jax are still together? I doubt it. I bet she got tired of the guy and threw him over for someone better with a weapon. Maybe Jayden wouldn’t mind teaching me one or two sword steps. I could use some extra training. He was so busy last time we were there, what with the whole Raul dragon thing and all, we didn’t really have much time.”
Venn kept up the train of enthused babble the entire elevator ride up to his apartment, but once they reached his door, Jeff had to stop her.
“We can’t assume we’ll see them,” said Jeff. “They have no idea we’re coming. They may not even be at the Keep. If we even reach the Keep. If we’re lucky, this will be a there-and-back-again kind of trip.”
The light in Venn’s eyes dimmed, and he felt a little guilty for killing her enthusiasm.
Feeling pressured, he added, “But you never know. Maybe the orb will take us right to them.”
“Could be,” said Venn, but didn’t pick up her whirlwind plans.
Jeff saw her pat down her coat pocket again, and wondered what she was carrying that she was so anxious to keep track of.
“So where’s the orb thing?” she asked.
Shoulders slumped, Jeff headed towards his desk and picked up the glass sphere the size of a small snow globe, resting it in the centre of his palm to avoid too much contact. The glass felt warm in his hand, which surprised him, considering how close it sat to the window. And were his eyes playing tricks on him, or were the colours inside shifting? As if it knew he was planning to use it.
He hated that the Sisters knew so much before he did.
Turning to face the others, the three of them stood in a circle in the middle of the room.
“So what now?” asked Venn.
Jeff scrunched up his mouth in uncertainty. “I guess we should all touch it or something?”
Cassie and Venn exchanged a glance, and each rested a finger on the warm surface. Nothing happened.
Jeff cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and waited. After a few seconds, he squinted one eye open only to find the sphere hadn’t changed, and his apartment was still in view.
“This is fun,” said Venn. “I don’t suppose the Sisters gave you an instruction manual.”
“Not so much. Just that it was a key, something about doors, and bridges.” Jeff tried to remember everything the witches had said when they gave him the damned thing, but nothing stood out as being the answer to this riddle.
Cassie rested her hand on his back, brow furrowed in thought.
Venn dropped her hand. “I feel like an idiot. We should try something else.”
“I don’t know else what to try,” Jeff snapped. I don’t even want to use the orb, why do I need to come up with the ideas? “I doubt it’s as simple as saying, ‘Take me to Andvell.’”
The words had barely fallen from his lips when the room lurched. In a burst of light, the sphere opened, and bands of green, yellow, and blue spilled out, wrapped around each of them until Jeff could see nothing but those three glittering colours. Blindly, he grabbed at air, latching on to Cassie as they fell through space, moving but still, the Meratis incantation on speed.
After the rush of the bullet-train trip, the stop felt especially jarring, and the three crumpled to a heap on the ground.
Dazed, Jeff shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears.
And I thought Maggie’s version of the spell was rough. Would have figured the Sisters could come up with a better way to travel. Or at least a softer landing.
But as the fog of the spell cleared, Jeff’s brain continued to yell and wave its metaphorical arms. Something wasn’t right.
The lights were too strong and harsh to be natural, and his eyes took a while to adjust.
He crawled his fingers along the surface beneath him, expecting to find something familiar. But it wasn’t the stone of the Keep, or forest debris. Not even the parquet flooring of his apartment. This was tile.
He looked closer, running his fingertip along the mocha-coloured swirls against the beige background. Just like the tile in—
“What the hell?” Venn murmured.
She and Cassie had recovered enough to accept where they’d landed, and Jeff rushed to catch up. The sound of voices and clattering dishes through a pair of swinging doors, the warmth of steam billowing from the bulky machines covering the surface of a rounded countertop.
Slowly, the three of them got to their feet and looked around.
“What the hell,” Jeff agreed.
They were standing in the middle of Le Café au Coin coffee shop.
Chapter Three
I think we hopped on the wrong light beam,” Venn mumbled, looking as perplexed as Jeff felt.
“How is this possible?” whispered Cassie.
Her sights were locked on the booth in the corner where three customers laughed over their coffee. Jeff breathed a quick sigh of relief that they didn’t seem to have noticed the trio’s strange arrival.
He rubbed his eyebrow, trying to think of what they might have done wrong.
“It’s so much easier when someone else is navigating,” he said.
Venn looked over her shoulder towards the swinging doors as someone on the other side laughed. “We should probably get out of here before someone comes out.”
Following Cassie, they went around the counter and slid into a booth on the other side of the room from the other customers, Venn and Cassie on one side, Jeff on the other. No other people were in the café, which didn’t seem too odd, considering the hour and weather.
“Where do you think we went wrong?” Cassie asked. “It’s not like Andvell and café sound the same.”
Venn looked from Cassie to Jeff. “It did work, right? I wasn’t the only one who saw the light show, and felt like I was in a cab with a driver who likes his brake?”
“Nope, that all sounds about right,” said Jeff, scanning the coffee shop.
“Do you still have the orb?” Cassie asked.
Drawing his attention back to the table, Jeff opened his hand, the glass sphere sitting in his palm.
“Think it’s broken?” he asked. “Maybe I should have asked for the extended warranty.”
“I already want to kick you for getting us lost,” said Venn. “Don’t add horrible jokes to the mix.”
Jeff quirked his eyebrow. “Me? How is this my fault?”
“Maggie told me the story about the time you were supposed to think of home, but you thought about Cassie so ended up here instead,” said Venn. “What if that happened again? Sure you said Andvell, but maybe you didn’t mean it. Like, really really mean it.”
Cassie pressed her lips together to stop a laugh, but Jeff could see the effort it took. He sighed and rubbed his eyebrow, considering. “All right, I admit it could be a possibility. Maybe. But even if I didn’t want to go to Andvell, I wasn’t thinking about this place.”
Venn pulled her coat collar up around her neck. “Let’s get out of here, head back to your place, and try again. At least we don’t have far to walk.”
Jeff set the orb on the table and rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t suppose we could get a coffee before we do? My head’s spinning. Why couldn’t the Sisters have created something that opened a door? That we could walk through. In a straight line. I don’t understand why every trip between worlds has to be a carnival ride.”
“Because where’s the fun in that?” Cassie asked. She smiled, but Jeff saw the greenish tint to her skin, shaken from the dizzying trip.
As his head cleared, Jeff felt something nagging at his rationality. Something about what happened bothered him, and he didn’t think it was that he failed. With no direction on what to do, and no expectation of how it would go, he was impressed they’d gone anywhere at all. But something didn’t sit right.
“It’d be easier to get coffee if someone would come out of the kitchen,” Venn grumbled. “I bet it’s Sam. Have you worked with Sam, Cassie? She’s new. And a flake.”
Cassie smirked. “Sounds like a gem, but I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”
A slow grin spread across Venn’s face. “You’re about to meet her. I haven’t been able to say anything while I was working with her, but now…” she trailed off with a quick glance at Jeff, “let’s just say I have less trouble with the idea. I’ll be back with our coffees.”
Jeff was about to call her back, but Venn was already at the counter.
“Hey!” she called out. “Hello?”
She slapped her hand on the surface, but still no one came out from the back.
As she hooted and hollered, Cassie covering her face to hide either her amusement or her embarrassment, Jeff narrowed his eyes and took another look around the room. He wished he could put his finger on what was wrong.
Looking over his shoulder to stare out the window, he saw nothing but clouded glass, no snowy streets or skidding cars beyond.
Now that’s not right, he thought, sensing that he had just tapped into the source of his dilemma.
Now that he’d found a crack in the impressive veneer, he focused even harder on the small details of the room.
“Jeff? Is everything okay?” Cassie asked, twisting her head to follow his gaze.
“I think Venn’s wasting her time,” he said.
“What do you—” Cassie started, but stopped when Jeff frowned.
His gaze settled on the three customers at the other booth. Three middle-aged women, two with brown hair streaked with white, and the third with black curls, all well-dressed in casual sweaters and jeans. They huddled together over the table as if sharing some confidence, but Jeff noticed that none of them were speaking.
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place as he watched them, and he swallowed the acidic taste of anger creeping up his throat.
“Do you notice anything strange?” he asked.
“What do you mean? It’s just the café,” said Cassie. “The service is lousy tonight, but that happens depending who’s on shift.”
“Lousy is right,” said Venn, coming back and dropping down beside Cassie. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this bad.”
“You don’t notice anything missing?”
Cassie and Venn looked around, shaking their heads as they settled their attention back on Jeff.
“Looks the same to me,” said Venn. “And gods know my schedule has me practically living here these days.”
“Now that you mention it, something does feel off,” said Cassie, her brow furrowing. “I thought it was just disorientation from the spell, but it doesn’t feel… familiar, somehow. But Venn’s right. I’ve spent the better part of three years in this place and I don’t see anything out of place.”
“You’re right,” said Jeff. “Everything is exactly the same as I remember it. Right down to the broken tile over there in the corner. But close your eyes and tell me what you notice.”
After a moment, Cassie’s eyes flew open. “It doesn’t smell like coffee.”
Venn smacked her hand on the table. “Son of a bitch.”
At the other table, one of the women glanced towards Jeff. As their eyes met, he shuddered and any doubts he had flew out of the clouded window. The longer he stared, the more the woman’s smile grew.
In the face of her amusement, Jeff’s anger seeped out like dye into his veins, making his hands shake and his legs tingle.
“Jeff?” Cassie called to him, but he couldn’t answer, too wrapped up in his fury.
Slowly, he got to his feet, hands clenched at his sides. He heard the glass orb hit the floor and roll across the tile, but didn’t turn to look where it went, too boiling mad to care. He strode over to the other table, and the smiling woman rose to meet him, the other two standing to flank her.
“Jeff!” Cassie repeated. She and Venn hurried over to him. She rested her hand on his arm, but he barely noticed.
“This was a cheap trick,” he said, trying his best to keep his voice steady but failing. “Using the images—memories—you ripped out of my head and throwing them in my face. For witches as powerful as you like to think you are, it’s a pretty juvenile game.”
“We thought you would feel,” said the woman in front.
“More at home,” the woman on her left spoke up.
“More welcome,” finished the woman on her right.
Jeff’s jaw ached as he ground his teeth together. The Sisters’ unusual speech patterns, once so novel and hypnotic, now grated on his nerves. The more interaction he had with them, the more he wished he never had to see them again. No matter that they’d saved his life more than once.
“You were wrong,” he said. “So you may as well save your energy and drop the pretense.”
The dark eyes of the woman in front of him cleared into the colour of sparkling emerald, the wrinkles on her face smoothing out, the colour of youth rising back into her cheeks and up into the brown and grey hair. Red leeched from the roots, spreading down into full copper curls.
The change rippled downwards, smoothing her neck, tightening her skin. The casual clothes wavered in his vision, replaced by the sheer green silk Kay always preferred.
The woman on her left had undergone a similar change, the white streaks in her hair spreading through the waves until thick snowy locks covered the smooth ebony skin of Aya. The cashmere sweater faded away, replaced by matching silk the colour of Venn’s blue eyes. She crossed her arms, her expression appraising.
On Kay�
�s right, Lan’s black hair stretched down into blue-black tresses, the fine hair sliding like water over her olive-hued shoulders and down over the yellow silk dress. Her almond-shaped eyes, deep pools of blackness, twinkled in the depths, amused as always by Jeff’s reaction.
“That will never not freak me out,” said Venn. “But hey, at least we know the orb thing worked.” She took a last look around the coffee shop. “And, I gotta say, they did a damned good job recreating this place. Although if they pulled it from your memory, Jeff, you spend way too much time here.”
Jeff didn’t answer, back to clenching his teeth so hard his ears hurt.
Around them, the café faded like the rest of the façade, leaving them in the lush green Andvellian forest. A setting that would have been beautiful if not for the three stunning sociopaths in front of him.
Kay’s smile widened as though she heard his thoughts, and she sashayed closer. Aya and Lan vanished, but he felt their presence return behind him so he was pressed in by all three, separated from Cassie and Venn.
Kay pouted. “You act as though you’re not,”
“Pleased to see us,” said Aya. “As if we’re not,”
Lan leaned in to whisper, “Exactly why you’ve come.”
Jeff inhaled slowly. “You know damn well why I’m here, so don’t give me the bullshit about trying to make me feel welcome. You know I’m here to get back those exact images you wanted to show off. How about we skip the games and jump right to the point.”
Kay tilted her head. “The Storychanger continues to grow,”
“Stronger. Each time we meet him, his spine,”
“Is made of sterner stuff.”
Cassie made a noise of disgust. “Now you’re paraphrasing Shakespeare? Listen, ladies, leave the wordsmithing to the Bard, all right? Jeff said let’s cut to the point, so let’s do that. Give him his creativity back. I’m sure you won’t lose what he’s given you. You’ll still be able to create all sorts of Earth-based illusions for people if you want to.”
The women laughed, disappeared, became nothing more than a breeze that crept under Jeff’s collar and made him shiver. Venn spun in a circle to follow the sound, and Cassie followed it with her gaze, but Jeff stayed glaring where he’d last seen Kay. He was through indulging their mind-fuckery.