by Mel Todd
"What are you doing? You are mine. You will obey me," Paul shrieked that last part as the oily darkness wrapped around his leg and started to climb up.
~Why would I be jealous? I prefer the solitude. Go, take your toy. I think they would be glad to be rid of him.~
Her words didn't stop the pain, but like a salve they coated over the wounds left by Chaos’ voice, easing the ripples of agony.
~Quit being so dramatic,~ again that sound that made me shudder in pain, ~take the mageling and leave. If we destroy this world they would be most annoyed at us.~ The unicorn's crystal bell voice added another layer of ease and I managed to look up when Paul started to scream.
"I will destroy you!"
Laughter from the three of them brought me curling around my knees as joy, pain, amusement, and contempt were all expressed at the same time.
~Humans. Always so arrogant. That is why I do love to keep them as pets. Oh well, maybe next time,~ the gorgon murmured slithering backwards a little.
Paul thrashed as the black living ropes wound around him. Fire and lightning slammed down at the thing that gripped him. The earth began to shake and wind rose fast and vicious. We were in the middle of the field, but I saw a tornado starting to form, something I didn't even know was possible for a mage to do.
Oh Merlin, if a tornado forms, thousands will die.
Chapter 43
That which men do, be it for greed or power, has little to do with whether they are mages or not. Some people will always use others for their own gain regardless of the cost. Do not confuse magic with the ability to do harm. All people have that ability, the difference lies in their choices, not if they have magic or not. ~ OMO Interview
Even if Jo had broken the poison, people were still in need of medical care, there were people milling around, and this stadium with a capacity of over sixty thousand people had been almost full. That meant tens of thousands could get killed. My stress ratcheted up as I tried to think of something, anything.
~Really, I don't need my girls pouting for a week,~ the gorgon sighed with a sound that made me want to weep with sorrow. I raised my head to watch her. She moved over to where Paul was thrashing and lashing out with magic I'd never seen, even at the movies. Her face changed. Where she had been perfectly beautiful, something any woman would have longed to look like, a monster emerged. It was so horrid that I choked, unable to breathe as her snakes rose up around her head creating a corona of horror around her. My mind kept trying to figure out how incomparable beauty could change, then it was gone. As was the magic. I looked at Paul and he had frozen. A statue of stone? Marble? Something hard and elegant.
The tornado fizzled out into a few wisps of wind and cloud, then there was nothing to show one had been about read to ravage downtown Atlanta.
~There. It will wear off in a few hours. I only glanced at him. He annoyed me.~ The gorgon's voice rang through my skull and my attention was jerked back to her.
A burble of something, then the black thing oozed over Paul's statue and pulled him into the gaping rip. I relaxed, so glad to have that awful dark thing gone. To have Paul gone. I saw all three openings into other realities were still rippling and burbling at the edges, which the ones Indira had created never did.
~Until next time, Tirsane. Don't linger too long, their mundanity might leak in, and that takes forever to cleanse out of the soil.~ The unicorn turned and stepped through the Order rip, though it seemed to me the hooves stepped over something. Once fully in it, she turned, (I'd had ample proof from the hind view it wasn't a male, at least not how we identified males,) and swung her horn from one side of the tear to the other, sealing it behind the glowing silver spike until it disappeared.
~Oh that creature can never close doors.~ Tirsane sighed like a wash of cooling water through my mind. She reached up and grasped the opening to Chaos with both hands and pulled it together.
I blinked and waved my hand outward, mimicking her actions. That made no sense. I'd never been told you could pull them closed, besides I'd assumed she was six, maybe seven feet tall but to reach that wide easily, she would have been close to twenty feet tall. It snapped closed like magnets pulled it, leaving a ripple that faded into nothing. Then she turned and looked at me. Well, at us, I supposed. Niall, Siab, myself, and from the crunch and breathing behind me, I assumed Alixant.
I guess he didn't die. He might not be so lucky in a minute.
~Now what should I do with all you humans?~
I swallowed. Or at least I tried to. The lump in my throat didn't want to move. The gorgon’s gaze swept over all of us as she moved forward, the length of her serpentine body cracking the former grass as she moved away from the Chaos rip and towards us.
What had the grass turned into?
I dismissed the thought as she got closer. She was taller than I thought, at least seven feet, but not the monstrous twenty feet she'd had to have been to grab the tears like that.
"Who are you?"
I jerked, not at the words but more at the aggressive tone in Alixant's voice. I wanted to turn around and slap him. Hadn't he seen everything that happened? This creature, woman, whatever, was not something to annoy, much less piss off. Siab's hissed intake of breath told me she had the same reaction.
Laughter boomed like thunder and I winced. ~Mortals are so amusing, thinking they have power when in all reality their little slice of existence is nothing more than fodder for our dreams. But I have no desire to deal with your posturing at the moment.~
Her face changed, just for a split second, looking behind me. Then she was back to beautiful. The lump of fear that rested in my throat might never ever go away as I turned to see Alixant standing behind me, frozen like a statue. I could see his pulse beating in his neck, so I turned back to look at the most dangerous being I'd ever heard of.
She caught me in her gaze, and I couldn't escape, look away, or even close my eyes. This close I could see her eyes were the green of pale jade. Her pupils were slitted like a snake, yet rather than black, they were white slits that seemed impossibly deep and bright.
~You are interesting, though. I suspect I may see you again someday. But your lives are so fleeting. Ah, I know.~
Her words sounded like musings out loud, but none of us made a peep. At this point I figured we were all dead anyhow, so I just stood there, waiting.
She leaned in close, her face filling my vision, and I heard Siab whimper even as Niall made a sound somewhere between a growl and a cry.
~Yes, that will work well.~ One of her snakes, one with red and blue diamonds on it, lashed out and sank fangs into my left arm about two inches below my wrist.
"Ow!" I yelped, but the snake had pulled back before the words died in the air. I dragged my gaze away from her beautiful and deadly visage. My wrist burned where two drops of blood oozed out of my arm. I wiped them away and saw two holes, with dark blue outlining them like a tattoo.
~It will serve to remind anyone that I have a prior claim. Though I do not believe you shall follow the path of the other one.~
"What will happen to him?" I hadn't really meant to ask, but the words were out. Once again, my issue of speaking to authority without thinking came to the forefront.
A shrug of shoulders made her breasts rise and fall, and my eyes snapped to them. While I didn't want to touch them, they commanded attention. She spoke, that name that caused pain and I almost whimpered in unison.
~… will play with and use that mageling until bored or the mageling dies. Then either let other toys play with it or dispose. Do you really care?~
I didn't have an answer to that and glanced over at Niall and Siab.
"Not really. The sentence was death for what he did, if we could have done it." It sounded like the words were dragged out of Niall, but he was correct. Paul had been terrifyingly powerful, and no mage could really be locked up.
~Then worry not. I should go.~ She smiled, both unsettling and beautiful. ~You will have other things to occupy you until we meet
again.~ She turned and slithered, though it came across as an elegant movement.
"What things?" Siab's voice quavered but she spoke, having risen to a kneeling position on the grass, though tears still stained her face. "And is Steve dead?" She waved back at Alixant, still frozen there. A perfect statute.
Tiriane glance back, at the edge of the tear. ~No, killing him would be counterproductive. He will regain mobility soon enough.~ She started to slip through the last tear, then speared us with her eyes, the pale jade green glowing. ~You may want to track down some of the denizens of the planes that slipped out into your world. While not all of them are deadly, neither are all of them familiars. They may not be what you want roaming around your existence, though I could be wrong.~ She smiled, showing black obsidian-like teeth with long fangs. ~Some people enjoy having dragons and Salistra's children roaming around.~
With that comment she slipped into the fissure and turned to face us.
"There are dragons loose on Earth? But I didn't see anything come out." The words had an unsettling level of squeak in them and I clamped my mouth shut with a hand over it, the other still clutching Carelian.
~Do you not think any creature from our existences could not manage invisibility? Silly mortals, you see everything as if you are the only ones that can think. I wonder how long your world will last before you are forced to choose?~ Her snakes writhed outward creating a halo of serpentine bodies and she waved at me.
Reacting on automatic I waved back. As I did so the opening began to shrink. I stood there watching her until, with one last fang-filled smile, the tear sealed.
Sound rushed in. I hadn't realized how much the rips had dampened the sound until they disappeared. Voices spoke over the speaker system, people were still yelling and screaming, and even more people streamed towards us. I turned around and looked at everything. Siab and Niall were checking on Alixant, who looked like something that should be in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. But even as I watched, I saw him blink.
If everything around us was this active, people should have reached us while we were dealing with the monsters.
~Time stop. A bubble.~
I looked down at the cat in my arms, his fur all fluffed and his ears laid back. Since I felt freaked out, I understood completely.
"Why?"
Siab looked at me funny, then saw I was looking at Carelian and just shook her head, turning back to Alixant, who managed to swallow.
~The great ones don't like to explain themselves. Tiriane likes you.~ He licked my wrist where the two blue punctures sat. I stared at them.
"Why do you say that, and what do they mean?"
~Must like you, or you dead.~ His voice was amused as he licked the punctures once more. Then he wiggled to get out of my hold. I let him go and ignored the people that had almost reached us—football fields were big.
"He going to live?" I nodded at Alixant as I spoke to Siab.
"Yes, thank you," he replied, his voice a bit stiff. I watched him roll his shoulders and stretch. "Did everyone hear what I did about Lovecraft and toys, and finding Cori interesting?"
"Yes," Niall and Siab responded together and all of them focused their attention on me. I squirmed.
"Then you heard what I did," I said, my voice defensive.
Alixant sighed and looked around. "Our unsub is taken care of and in a way we can't be held responsible for. Which is oddly nice. Writing up the report will be a bitch and a half but must better than trying to pull in a merlin. One that is insane on top of it all." He paused, people reached us and started to clamor, demanding explanations, wanting updates, giving reports. "Cori, go grab a first responder and have them put you to work. Be in the office Tuesday," he stopped for a second and gave me sharp look, "with your friend. I'll want to know everything, and I'll decide where we are going from here."
I started to protest, but the need to help people decided it. I looked down at Carelian. "You want to go stay with Jo?"
Rather than answer, he jumped into the bag and looked at me. I grabbed it and bent over to grab my shoes, then stopped. They looked like solid obsidian. Felt like it too. I blinked then shrugged. Barefoot it was. Wearing those wasn't an option. I turned, holding Carelian in his bag and ran, my heart singing at the idea of being useful and not stuck in a job I couldn't do. Maybe they'd even have a spare jumpsuit and booties for me.
Epilogue
While we think we know everything about magic, we don't. Magic changes as we do, and how we use it in the future may change everything we know about it now. ~ Entropy Merlin Rasputin
I didn't leave the stadium until two A.M. Monday morning. Jo had left with her family, and they were keeping Sable overnight. Sanchez was fine, but Sable needed supervision and the hospitals were full. I thought they would go back to Rockway, but when I opened the door, the lights blazed out and I saw Jo, sleeping in her computer chair with her feet on the arm couch while a dark haired figure lay on it, snoring softly under a blanket.
Jo jerked up as I closed the door, her all but bald head looking wrong after years of hair to her butt.
"You okay?" The first words she said to me. She stood, stretched and moved towards me as I set down my bag. Carelian was sound asleep and was about as tired as me.
"Tired. Hungry," I admitted, my nose twitching at the scent of Mexican rice and beans.
She pulled me to into a hug and I just wrapped my arms around her, leaning in for a long minute, trying to let her love erase a day of hell.
"Go change. I'll get some food ready."
"Sable okay?" I asked as I headed back to the hall.
"I'm fine. Still a bit sick to my stomach, but I'm fine. Thank you." Her voice was soothing and had traces of the south in it, but not enough that I could tell from where.
I didn't respond, just headed to peel out of the borrowed suit and shoes, shower, and get some food.
The three of us talked until four am, then we all crashed again. Jo and I had our meeting tomorrow with the FBI, though I'd already sent him a text that we wouldn't be there until well after ten.
Sable had quickly fallen back asleep, so I didn't get much chance to talk to her, but what little I did, I liked.
On Tuesday we left her sleeping there on the couch when we headed to meet with the FBI people. Oddly, Carelian wanted to stay so I left him sleeping on my bed after making sure his food and water were filled.
Jo drove me there on her bike, though she had to run back up to get a scarf since her helmet wouldn't fit without all her hair.
We made it to the office about ten-thirty and I stood outside, not wanting to go in yet. My phone buzzed and I jumped, then looked at Jo. She texted me more than anyone else. I pulled it out and looked at the text message.
*Laurel gave me your number. Knew him. Whiney mage. Hated doing anything he didn't have to do. Good riddance. BTW - good job with the gorgon. Shay.*
"Huh, Shay got back to me a day late and dollar short. But what does he mean, good job? And how did he know about the gorgon?"
"It's Shay. Do you expect him to make sense?"
"Point." I grinned and I walked her in, feeling myself tensing at every step. I still didn't know how to deal with Alixant.
"Ladies, come on in."
I stared at Alixant. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that clung to his body. I dragged my eyes to the others and they were all in similar casual apparel, nothing like the almost formal stuff from the last few weeks.
Jo looked at him, then at me. "And you aren't chasing that?" Her voice carried and I thought about turning and walking back out of the room, though the blush that tinted his cheeks made me laugh.
"That is my boss, so no."
Jo just rolled her eyes and walked in, holding out her hand. "I'm Jo Guzman."
Alixant rose from his chair and gave her a narrow look. His eyes focused on her nude skull, then at me. "Steven Alixant. Come on in. I think you both have a story to tell."
We got everyone introduced and I noticed that Niall gave her
one or two interested looks. We took seats and Jo started talking first about the paint. There had been five to ten people handing it out. Her family had painted it on once they got seated, so it took a while before anything happened.
"Honestly, at first I just thought Stinky was hitting the beer harder than he should have in that heat."
"We had a few jars of it away from the stadium when the transformation happened, so we discovered he mixed it with the wax in the paint. Once it melted it started to absorb into the skin. A few other chemicals made it last for a while, but once it was in a victim’s system the results couldn’t be stopped." He paused and looked at us. "Except they were. Would you like to explain how?"
I looked at Jo—this was her tale to tell, not mine.
She reached up to push hair back, hair that wasn't there and her hand fell awkwardly to her lap. "I'm a Transform mage, archmage rank. Cori showed me the molecule and I could sense it floating through people, the air, everywhere." Jo didn't look at me, her hands made abortive gestures to twist her hair. "I could do it, but it would cost everything."
"Wait? Cori asked you to-" Siab broke off and stared at me. I shifted back uncomfortably, but Jo continued.
"No. She didn't ask, but it was my brother, my friend. It was people. Was my life so precious that I was willing to let them all die so I could live?" She shrugged. "I'd figured it out, the offering clear in my mind, when Carelian said he'd help."
Alixant jerked up as it hit with a jolt of electricity, staring at Jo. "Cori's familiar offered to help you? Spoke to you?"
Jo looked at me, frowning, and I shrugged, confused about his intensity.
"Sure. He talks to me occasionally. Not much, but he likes having his ears scratched." I watched, and all of them seemed shocked and surprised at what she was saying.
"You're only a freshman, right? Just emerged? And you two aren't lovers?"
I almost snapped at Alixant's question but he didn't seem curious about our sex life, just verifying facts.