by Callie Rose
Home, sweet home.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Our landing was a lot less rough, since we all knew exactly where we were going this time, and we weren’t teleporting across dimension barriers, just across a large distance on earth.
We’d be drawing Custodian attention by using a portal, but after the melee we’d just had on the streets of Toronto, I figured we were about done with the “lying low” portion of this mission. We were out of time for that. Now we just had to move fast enough to stay ahead of our pursuers—both Custodians and Gavriel’s minions—until we were ready to face them.
“Everybody okay?” I asked quickly, shrinking back down to regular size and glancing around the rough circle we’d formed.
All my mates had shifted back into their human forms, and since we were all dressed in regular street clothes now, I was hopeful we’d blend in better than we had the first time we’d come here a few days ago.
“A little beat up, but what else is new?” Jayce shot me a little grin, which made him look innocent and boyish despite the trickle of blood running down the side of his face from his hairline, and the smear of other people’s blood that still coated his lips.
“You’ve got a little something…” I pointed to my own mouth, and Jayce cursed, lifting up his shirt to wipe his face, baring his washboard abs for a moment.
Kai did the same thing. His most effective method of attack involved literally tearing people’s throats out with his teeth—which was a bit horrifying if I allowed myself to think about it too much—so he also has blood smeared over his face.
“Okay. So, what now?” Hannah asked, glancing around the alley as if she expected more fallen or Custodians to pop out and attack us at any moment.
Which, for all I knew, was a very real possibility.
“We need to go check out those portals for ourselves. The big five,” I said grimly. “I know it’s risky. We’ll draw Custodian attention, and we could even get caught by one of Gavriel’s scouts if our timing is bad. But we need to risk it. We know when he’s coming—although we still need to account for the different timelines between here and the underworld. We know about the huge fucking army he’s bringing with him. The one piece we’re still missing is the where. Once we know that, we can start figuring out how to stop him.”
“Agreed.” Kingston ran a hand through his brown hair.
The car chase and the battle seemed to have sharpened his focus and brought him down from the sleep-deprivation high he’d been on earlier. At least he’d gotten some breakfast before all hell broke loose, but I was sure that between the shock of seeing his parents and the three days of non-stop work, he was going to crash soon.
I stepped up beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist. He relaxed slightly under my touch, and I could feel the contact healing the scrapes and bruises on my body.
“You’ll have to lead us on this,” I said quietly. “None of us have ever been to the location of these portals before, but you’ve spent the most time studying. We’ll be stabbing in the dark a bit, but at least you know where we’re aiming.”
“Yeah. I can do that. We’ll do Kazakhstan first.”
He nodded, and Jayce came up on his other side, offering him more support. Everyone gathered into a tight knot around us, and we all grabbed onto each other somehow. We weren’t so much a circle as a giant glob of bodies this time, but hey, it got the job done.
A shimmering portal opened up around us, and a moment later, we were sucked through space.
The trip was a little rough, and I couldn’t shake the fear that we’d miss our target and end up embedded in a rock formation somewhere. But I should’ve known Kingston was too stubborn to let that happen.
We popped into existence near a large swath of open space in a rocky desert. Wind whipped over the landscape, blowing my hair across my face.
“What do you think?” Kingston glanced around, taking in the terrain that surrounded us before turning to me and Jayce. We’d been the two who’d overheard Gavriel’s general discussing their plans, which meant we had the best chance of guessing whether this was the right location.
I studied the barren landscape around me before shaking my head at the exact same time Jayce did.
“Nope,” he said sadly. “I don’t think this is it. They mentioned something about an uphill climb on all sides. There’s nothing to climb at all here.”
“Yeah.” I nodded decisively. “I agree.”
“Okay,” Xero said, gripping my forearm as he stepped closer, shielding me from the wind. “Next.”
We all gathered together again and teleported to Iguazu Falls in Argentina. Jayce and I spent more time debating the possibilities of that location while the other four members of our group stood around like bodyguards with itchy trigger fingers, scanning the landscape for any threats.
Finally, I turned to look at Kingston. “No, not this one either. There are waterfalls all around, so that could be considered an uphill climb. But the pentagram is barely visible here, and the general seemed to think it would be really important. This doesn’t seem prominent enough.”
He nodded grimly, not questioning my logic. We didn’t have time to stand around debating, so we had to trust each other’s intelligence and instincts.
I just hoped mine were worth trusting.
We linked arms again and transported to the Barringer Crater in Arizona, and by the time we arrived, I was dizzy from so many quick jumps through the ether.
“This could be it.” Jayce scratched at his chin, his blue eyes narrowing a little as he took in our surroundings. “What do you think, Pipes?”
“Well, there’s a climb all around, that’s for damn sure.” I sighed. “But again, what about the pentagram? I don’t see one at all here.”
“Fuck. You’re right.” He grimaced.
“Okay,” Xero said, sounding exhausted and a bit defeated. “Next.”
We transported to the final two large portals in quick succession, but Jayce and I couldn’t agree on either of them. As we stood in the Eye of the Sahara in Mauritania, I bent over, resting my hands on my knees and squeezing my eyes shut to press back frustrated tears.
Fuck.
That was it. We’d gone through all five. And none of them had stood out as being the obvious site of Gavriel’s planned attack. We could tell the Custodians to station fighters at each one, but given the size of Gavriel’s army, they couldn’t afford to divide their numbers like that.
“Hey.” Hannah rested a hand on my shoulder, her touch light. “You okay, Piper?”
“Yeah.” I scrunched up my face, fighting for control over my emotions, then straightened, looking up at the sky. “I just—”
My voice broke off. I blinked up at the sky again, my mouth falling open slightly.
“Oh, shit…”
“What?” Kai looked up sharply. All the men tensed, picking up on my feelings but not sure what was causing the shift in my emotional state.
“We have to go back,” I said quickly, glancing around at all of them.
“Where?”
“To Arizona. To the Barringer Crater.”
“Um, okay.” Jayce shrugged. He looked like he was trying to remember what he might’ve seen or not seen the first time we were there that made it so important to go back.
Instead of explaining, I just reached for his hand, grabbing onto Kai’s too. There would be time to explain if it turned out I was right, but first I had to figure out if I was right.
We all linked up and opened a portal, then popped back out of the ether in Arizona.
Just as I’d done in Australia, I tilted my head back, scanning the sky. Then my heart leapt. “There!”
I pointed upward, and five sets of eyes followed my gesture.
“Oh, fuck. You’re right.” Xero’s voice was thick with relief.
“Yep,” Jayce said. “I see it now. Good fucking catch, Pipes!”
We’d been looking for a pentagram on the ground. We hadn’t b
een looking toward the sky. I had noticed a flicker of light out of the corner of my eye the first time we’d been here, but I’d thought it was just the sun glinting off a bird’s wing or something.
But it came from a portal that spanned the entire crater, shimmering in the air like a mirage. I was willing to bet it was invisible to most humans, and hard to spot even for supernaturals. But if you knew where to look, it was definitely there. And the more attention I paid to it, the stronger the lines seemed to glow, and the more power seemed to pulse out of it.
“It’s this one. It has to be.” I glanced around again. “It meets all the criteria. There’s definitely a climb on all sides, and I can see why the general thought this pentagram would be important. Although I still don’t quite know why.”
“Hey, we can figure that out next.” Jayce slung an arm around my shoulder, pressing a kiss to my temple. He exhaled a soft breath against my hair. “We’re one step closer, thanks to you.”
I hugged him back, wrapping my arms around him and melting into his side. His sea foam scent was slightly tinged with sulfur from the fight we’d just had, but I could still smell Jayce—my Jayce—under the stink of underworld monsters and blood.
“We should get out of here. Head someplace safer to regroup and figure out what to do ne—”
Before I could finish speaking, a loud burst of music filled the air, and I almost jumped out of my skin.
“Fuck.” Kingston quickly dug into his pocket, retrieving his phone and swiping the screen to answer. “Hello?”
I was shocked he got reception here, but I was grateful as hell that he did. The rest of us all stepped forward quickly, and Kingston put the cell phone on speaker just in time for us to hear the gruff voice on the other end finish speaking.
“…had some interesting developments.”
Michael’s voice was as gravelly and deep as usual. And even though I’d missed the first part, I didn’t bother asking him to repeat himself.
“What developments?” I asked quickly. “What’s been going on down there?”
“Well, our recruitment efforts went better than I ever could’ve expected,” he said. “I found that Vee woman. She’s a real interesting character, I’ll tell you what. Anyway, despite living as a hermit for years, she knows more about the underworld than just about anyone I’ve ever met. She was able to point us in the direction of a shit ton of small hidden villages and communes.”
He chuckled darkly. “Turns out, I’m not the only one who’s finally had it with getting kicked around by Gavriel. A lot of the people we talked to agreed to help us, and the ones who didn’t are at least supportive enough of our cause or scared of the dark lord enough not to go blabbing to him. Probably a good call on their part. He might appreciate the warning, but it wouldn’t stop him from shooting the messenger—literally.”
“That’s great.” Kingston spoke into the phone as his gaze flew up to meet mine across the small circle we’d formed. Excitement flashed in his green eyes. “And you think you can get people ready to fight in just a few days?”
“Ready as in prepared? Fuck, no. Ready as in willing? Hell, yes.” Then Michael paused, the silence stretching on long enough that I glanced at the phone’s screen, worried the signal had been lost. “But that’s not why I called.”
“Oh? What’d you call for?”
My stomach tightened, and I stared at the phone as if I could will it to spit out the answers more quickly.
“We got some more intel on Gavriel’s plans. Two more of our own snuck into his camp. Barely made it out alive, but they picked up a piece of information I thought you outta know.”
“What?”
“Gavriel’s got this massive army all ready to go, right?” Michael asked, the question obviously rhetorical. We’d all seen it. It was huge, and it was terrifying. “Well, he’s not sending them all through at once like we thought. He’s going to send a first wave through—something just big enough to draw a massive Custodian response, to get them to send all of their forces to the portal.”
“And then what?” I asked, my skin chilling.
“Well, once the Custodians all arrive at the portal, once they think they’re winning against the first wave, that’s when the rest of the army will come through—from all sides of the pentagram. They’ll have the Custodians surrounded, and they’ll pick them off like fish in a goddamn barrel.” I heard a low growl from the phone speakers. “With the defenders of earth wiped out, Gavriel and his followers won’t have to fight for domination of earth. They won’t have to recruit in small batches like they’ve been doing so far. They’ll have free rein to do whatever they like, and they can turn it into a second version of the underworld.”
“Oh. Shit.” Jayce looked horrified.
Michael’s voice was as heavy as a hammer falling.
“Yup.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
My mind spun.
Goddamn it. Why does it always have to be so complicated?
A measure of guilt rose up in my chest. If we had managed to warn the Custodians about Gavriel’s planned invasion without knowing his full strategy, we would’ve been sending them to their deaths—playing right into his hand, and making it even easier for him to decimate their forces.
What if that Custodian with the lightning power had passed on my message?
Shit. We needed to tell them about this new information, no matter how dangerous it was to try to get them to listen.
“Anything else you can tell us?” I asked Michael quickly, my heart thudding rapidly in my chest.
“Well, this is speculation more than actual advance knowledge, but I’m guessing Gavriel won’t even show up to the fight until the second wave hits. He’s a coward, the kind of leader who leads from behind. He won’t want to put himself in any danger until he feels assured of victory.”
“Yeah. I buy that.” I scowled. “How many rebels have you been able to recruit? And how close are you to Gavriel’s army’s base camp?”
“How many rebels?” He grunted. “More than I expected. Fewer than we’ll probably need. We’ll keep workin’ on gathering more though. And as to how close we are, I dunno. Half a day, maybe? They’ve been moving pretty quick, and it’s been a little tough keeping up with them while also porting all over the underworld looking for support. But we’ve got Maori, Elena, and Jemma all stickin’ close by the army while remaining hidden, and they help us find our way to the right spot when we transport back.”
“Good. Call us again soon. Stick close to their camp, but don’t get yourselves caught.”
An idea was starting to form in my mind, but I needed more time to let it marinate before I knew if it was any good or just a suicide mission. And we needed to get out of this crater.
“I will. And we won’t. Talk soon.”
The line went dead, and all six of us glanced around the circle at each other, shock passing back and forth in the air between us.
“Well.” I shook my head, blowing out a breath. “We’ve put it off as long as we possibly can. But there’s just no help for it anymore. Anybody up for a trip to the Custodian headquarters?”
“This is the worst fucking tour of earth ever,” Jayce grumbled, huffing a laugh.
“Agreed.” I ran a hand through my dark hair, which was tangled as hell from all the shit I’d been through since breakfast. “Maybe next time we’ll get to go to a tropical island. Preferably with no giant portals anywhere.”
“A-fucking-men.” The hellhound nodded fervently, his blue eyes widening.
“First, we gotta save the world, big guy,” I reminded him, chuckling at his enthusiasm.
He grimaced. “Yeah, yeah. All right.”
We all linked arms again for what I hoped would be the last time in a long time—all this portal travel was making me feel like I’d left bits and pieces of myself behind, as if my body was missing essential atoms or something.
“Where’s the headquarters located?” Jayce asked.
“Utah
,” Hannah, Kai, and I all said simultaneously.
His nose wrinkled. “Aw, ma—”
And then we were hurtling through space.
When the portal spat us out a moment later, I blinked at the almost alien-looking landscape all around us. We’d just taken a tour to some of the most bizarre places on earth, but I was still pretty sure this took top billing in weirdness.
We were about two hours outside of Salt Lake City, in a desolate part of the state. If we’d had to drive here, it would’ve been a massive pain in the ass, but the whole point for an organization like the Custodians was to be essentially unreachable—for humans, anyway. They didn’t want the human population to have any idea what their organization was up to, and it wasn’t like they recruited from the local community college. They recruited directly from Fallen University.
The large building squatted stoically on the hard-packed earth in front of us, its hard edges and cement walls looking completely out of place in the natural landscape. We’d ported in about twenty yards from the entrance, and I didn’t even hesitate. As soon as we blipped into existence, I started marching toward the door with a quick, determined stride.
My five companions kept pace with me, forming a phalanx around me. I could feel tension pouring out of them in waves, a mixture of worry and righteous anger.
There was a very good chance we wouldn’t even get to make our case before we were banished again—best case—or killed outright—definitely worst case. But at this point, I was practically beyond caring about that. These stupid fuckers had banished us when we hadn’t even done anything wrong, and now they were going to walk right into an ambush and die themselves if they didn’t listen. I wanted to shake them so hard their brains reset like those old Etch-a-Sketches.
Before we even reached the door, it burst open. Ten Custodians spilled out, moving down the short set of stairs and fanning out quickly to encircle us. A second later, two more people emerged from the entrance, although they didn’t even bother walking down the stairs. All around us, I saw people powering up various magical spells and weapons, and my heart pounded so hard I could barely hear over the rush of blood in my ears.