Gabriel ran back into the room. "You okay?"
Mira bit her lip and nodded. Hands shaking, she tried to concentrate on her project again. Gabriel stalked the rooms as noise was made in different spots outside.
"This place really needs windows," Gabriel muttered on his fourth trip through the kitchen.
"It would make getting home a lot easier," Mira said.
"I can't tell if there's one thing outside running around or two, or a hundred."
Mira gasped and a new wave of terror began.
"It's probably not that many," Gabriel said.
"How do you know?"
"No one in this world ever seems worried about making noise. I can't imagine these things not yelling or taunting if there were a bunch of them together. You ready?"
"Yeah," Mira said.
"Can you cast it in here?" Gabriel asked.
"Better here than in the streets."
"As soon as you're done, we're leaving."
A jarring noise from Tyler's office made them jump.
Gabriel went to the doorway of the kitchen and watched the other room.
"What happens if—" Mira stopped, not wanting to finish the thought.
"If what?" Gabriel asked, looking tense.
"What happens if Tyler is in the city?"
Gabriel looked as if he was doing some quick calculating in his head. "Let's not invite trouble," he said after far too long of a pause. "Find out the direction, and then we can decide what to do."
He left the room before Mira could respond. In truth, the answer had been written across his face. If Tyler was in the city, Gabriel didn't think they should go.
Mira took out a silk thread she had taken from her workshop and used it to help cast her circle. While she sat inside casting the spell, she could hear Gabriel's constant patrol of the house.
When she was finished, she broke the protection, then scooted back to lean against the cabinets. For a moment, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was at Tyler's house in the real world. The strain of constant terror was starting to take its toll.
"You ready?" Gabriel asked from the doorway.
Mira's eyes snapped open with a start.
"Sorry," he said. "I wish we could take a break, but now is not the best time."
She nodded and moved to stand.
"Wait," Gabriel said. He scanned the rooms behind him quickly before sitting down next to her. Then he began to pull off his shoes.
"What are you doing?" Mira asked.
"Giving you my shoes," Gabriel said.
Mira let her head fall back against the cabinet. "I'm not wearing them."
"Of course you are." He slid a boot over to her and started to untie the other.
"That's really nice and all, but not practical. You’re going to be fighting—you need to keep them."
He didn't say anything, but tugged off the second boot.
"Look at my feet," Mira said.
"I have been, which is why you're wearing my shoes."
"No, look at their size. I'd walk right out of your boots, or worse, trip over them and fall when I need to be running."
Gabriel squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed one of his temples. "Nothing is ever easy."
"Sorry."
"No, it's not you, it's this place. This whole damned world."
Mira sighed and closed her eyes. "Sorry."
"I just said—"
She cut him off. "I'm the one that dragged you to this side. Again."
"John did this." He glanced up at the sound of rattling again in the other room. After listening intently for a few moments, he continued, "You can't be blamed for what that asshole did."
Mira sniffed and closed her eyes tighter. If she hadn't brought Gabriel over the first time, this never would have happened.
They sat in silence, Gabriel twitching each time a sound came from the other room. It took a few minutes before Mira would open her eyes.
"Here, take these," Gabriel said.
"I told you—" Mira looked down. "Oh."
Gabriel held out his socks. "It won't stop anything from scraping up your feet, but it may keep out whatever grime we step in."
"You won't need them?" Mira asked.
"They're just socks." Gabriel sighed. "Put them on and let's get out of here."
The fact that she wouldn't be directly stepping into the dirt made her feel moderately better. She put them on while Gabriel laced his boots back up.
"How are we getting past the things outside?" Mira asked. "However many of them there are."
"Same way we get anywhere in this place," Gabriel said. "I'll yell at them until they run away, and if that doesn't work, you break out the big stuff."
Mira grinned at him. "I don't have much ready, but I think it'll work."
"Which way are we going?" Gabriel asked.
"Let's find out." Mira closed her eyes and held the pendulum—in this case, a piece of crystal tied to a string. She concentrated hard, kept her hand steady, and waited for the pendulum to swing.
The stone jumped, throwing itself at the wall, pulling the string out of Mira's hand.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Gabriel asked.
"I wasn't expecting it. I'll just have to remember to keep a tighter hold next time."
"Any idea how far away we're going?"
"Sorry," Mira said, "I have no idea. I'd like to say close, since the spell was so lively, but I can't say for sure in this world."
"Well, it's not the direction we were going, but it's also not the city, so I guess we have that in our favor."
Mira picked up the crystal and stowed it in her pocket. "You're okay with going after him?"
Gabriel looked at her, surprised. "That's the whole point why we came this way."
"Yeah, but Emmit will be ready in, what, around eleven hours? You're not afraid we'll miss our chance to get out?"
"No, I'm not concerned with that. I am worried about one of us falling over exhausted if we take too long, though, so let's get moving."
Mira gathered her stuff. Since she had no idea what she might need in the next eleven hours, she kept everything, just in case. Then she followed Gabriel to the front door.
"Remember how we did this last time?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah."
Gabriel wrapped an arm around her, holding her between himself and his shield. When Gabriel opened the door, he took a deep breath.
Then did nothing. No creatures stirred outside. He looked up, just in case something might be lurking on the ceiling of the front porch.
"Maybe there was only one of them," Mira whispered.
"Could be," Gabriel said. "Hold the shield."
Mira took it and held it in front of them, making it easier to walk, since they weren't crushed together. It surprised Mira that she wanted to stay that close to Gabriel.
Well, no, Mira thought, not surprised that I wanted to be pressed up against him, but a little startled that I’m thinking about it here of all places.
"You good?" Gabriel asked.
"What?" Mira asked, snapping back to their current predicament. "Oh. Yeah."
"Go slow," Gabriel said. "There could be something on the roof."
Mira swallowed hard and began to move down the steps, waiting for something to fall on them at any moment.
When they reached the road, Gabriel was watching the house, intent on finding the slightest movement.
"Do you see anything out of place?" Gabriel asked.
"No," Mira said. She was starting to feel strung out and jittery. "Not that the haze lets us see far."
"Maybe we should go around and check the back of the house," Gabriel suggested.
Mira looked at him as though he’d gone crazy. "No way," she hissed. "There's no reason to. Let's just get out of here."
Gabriel seemed reluctant, but moved with her when Mira tugged on his arm.
They walked quickly, but in silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they walked parallel to the city
. Mira concentrated on her magic and their direction while Gabriel tried to watch every direction at once. After a few blocks of nothing more than the acrid haze, their pace started to slow.
"You know," Gabriel said, keeping his voice low, "it's the silence of this place that really works its way into you."
"I'd rather hear nothing than something in this place," Mira said.
"It's so alien to our world. I mean, the city is never quiet, but even in the country there's noise all the time. People, cars, animals. Here, there's nothing."
Mira unconsciously moved closer to Gabriel.
"And the light," Gabriel said. "There's no night or day, at least that we know of. And where the heck does the light come from?"
"And the things here?" Mira asked, wondering how they couldn't be the worst thing.
"Between the two of us, I think we'll be okay against them."
She gaped at him. "You know I don't have the same spell with me now, right?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Will they chance it after what you did to them last time?"
"I guess it depends on how much choice they have. And if they're people or animals."
"Or both."
Mira frowned. "In our world, you can't be both."
"I've run into a few that might make you disagree."
"But they're smart," Mira said. "Okay, maybe not smart as in intelligent, but they have a brain and can make their own choices. It's not all instinct."
Gabriel shrugged, but didn't argue.
"The thing in the city freaks me out more than anything else," Mira said, changing the subject.
They both stared in that direction. Even if the haze had been lighter, the buildings would have blocked their line of sight.
"I can't wrap my brain around that," Gabriel said.
"Me either," Mira said. "Did you believe John when he said some people called it a god?"
"It looked more like a root the way it was twined around the Borgo building. I can't imagine anyone calling it a god."
Mira gazed bleakly around them. "I really want to get out of this place."
"We will."
"How far out of the way have we walked?"
"Not as far as you'd think," Gabriel said.
Mira held out the pendulum, still following the direction it led. "Do you think we'll make it back to Lance's in time for Emmit to bring us through?"
"He'll wait."
Remembering how he had acted when John took her, Mira bit her lip and tried to keep her eyes from welling up.
"He'll wait," Gabriel repeated, more insistently.
"Emmit was quick to give me up for dead," Mira said.
"Yeah, well, he and I had words about that."
The pendulum began to swing wider, which gave Mira the excuse to concentrate on something besides Emmit.
Gabriel pivoted on the spot. Mira's attention jumped to Gabriel as something brown and black cannoned into him, knocking him to the ground. The thing screeched in triumph and brought its head down, ready to sink razor-sharp teeth into its prey.
As Gabriel's hand raised, the sword appeared, slicing the thing open.
Within seconds of Mira looking away from the pendulum, Gabriel had dispatched the creature. Dark brown blood dumped itself onto Gabriel before he could push the beast off him.
Mira wanted to help Gabriel, but instead took up her post as lookout to ensure that nothing else was poised to attack. Her heart thundered in her chest and she started to feel sick to her stomach.
"I don't think there are any others," Mira said shakily.
"What I want to know is how the hell did I not sense that one?" Gabriel asked, getting to his feet and staring at his shirt in disgust.
"It was quiet," Mira said. "I didn't hear it at all."
"Yeah, but if it was going to attack I should have sensed it, since it could just as easily hurt you."
"Unless it specifically targeted you," Mira said.
Gabriel frowned. "That's a dirty trick."
"Where's your ward? It should have prevented the brunt of the attack," Mira said.
"I can't hold it, the sword, and the shield all at once," Gabriel said.
"You’re not wearing any socks," Mira reminded him. "Put it in your shoe."
Gabriel looked like he was going to argue, but then shook his head and pulled out the ward, putting it in his boot.
Mira took another look around before holding her trembling hand up to get the pendulum swinging once again.
"Christ, this stuff stinks," Gabriel said, curling his nose up.
"Do you think it will attract more of them?" Mira asked.
"I know it will." With a sigh, he started to take off the shirt, only to find that he was trapped in it. He struggled for a minute before giving up and ripping the shirt off his wings.
Mira had a wan smile, remembering that their last time in the Ether, she had been bemusedly upset because Gabriel had taken off his shirt and had another on underneath it. This time was no different.
"You okay?" Gabriel asked.
She shook her head. "No, but I will be when we get out of here."
"Is it safe for me to drop this?" Gabriel asked, lowering his voice and leaning in.
Mira searched around again, worried that he had sensed someone listening. "I think it will be safer to leave the shirt here than to keep it with us. If it had your blood on it that would be a different story."
They moved another block before Gabriel tossed the shirt into an alley that was just as silent and grimy as the main streets. Mira adjusted their course a few times; happy it took them slightly away from the city and not toward it. The buildings were lower here. One and two story, mostly, with the occasional taller building.
"Do you know where we are?" Mira asked, watching the blank buildings closely.
"Um," Gabriel turned around, "I think this is Short Street."
Mira stopped and took a closer look at the buildings. "That's not good."
"Why not?" Gabriel asked. "We're making good time at the moment."
"I found Barney on Short Street. That's where Ian picked us up yesterday." Just saying the word ‘yesterday’ made her feel tired. It felt like she had lived a lifetime in this world. "John was going to send me to the Ether, but had to settle for trapping me inside myself."
"That's good, though, isn't it? Not about John, but if they were around here in our world, maybe they're holding Tyler there in this world."
"It also means it's probably well-guarded."
"Probably," Gabriel said, shrugging the idea away. "We can take care of anything that might be there."
Mira wished she could be as confident as Gabriel was about their abilities. His abilities, sure—she was certain he could take care of himself. She knew she was a liability.
Chapter 23
"Let's just take it slow," Mira said.
Gabriel allowed Mira to set their pace. Despite his certainty there would be no problems, he was on edge with sword and shield at the ready.
Although she could put it down, Mira held the pendulum out as though it were a shield of her own. Since she knew where they were going, she didn't feel as though she needed it, but aside from fire, it was her only magic.
As they neared their destination, they hugged the buildings across the street, looking for movement.
"At least there are no windows," Mira whispered. "We can't see in, but they can't see out either."
"I thought this place burned to the ground," Gabriel said.
"In our world it did. Maybe it takes a while for the Ether to catch up."
"Let's go."
"Now? Just like that? Don't you want to watch to see if anyone comes and goes?"
"No, I want to find your friend and get out of here. It's not like we need to know who's behind this."
Mira gripped her stomach. She didn't trust her voice, so she nodded and followed Gabriel across the street.
He hesitated at the door. "Keep your hand on my shoulder if you can, so I know where you are."
<
br /> Mutely, Mira put her hand on his wing. Gabriel gently pushed the door open after glancing quickly around. Then he slipped inside. Mira watched their back, knowing that whatever was in front of them, Gabriel could handle.
They left the door open behind them. The light inside was almost no different to the amount of light outside.
When Gabriel moved forward, Mira moved with him. They slowly made their way across the entry.
"Do you think we have the wrong place?" Gabriel whispered.
"Through that door is where I found Barney." Mira's voice trembled almost as much as she did.
"Keep an eye on the staircase."
"If it's behind you, I've got it covered," Mira reminded him.
Gabriel said nothing. He opened one side of the double door to what in their own world was a sanctuary of sorts and checked the room.
"There's a lot of places where something could hide in this room." Gabriel backed out. "I don't suppose that pendulum could tell us if what we're looking for is in there."
Mira let go of Gabriel and dug the crystal back out of her pocket. "It should at least give us an idea."
She let the crystal drop from the chain. With Gabriel watching, she closed her eyes and said the phrase she needed. Instead of a steady shift, the pendulum tugged frantically against its chain.
Mira looked over the glow of the magic, down the hall. "It looks like we're in luck. We don't have to go in there."
"I think we're due some luck," Gabriel said. "Lead the way."
The pendulum swung back and then lurched forward again as though urging them on. The last thing she wanted was to be in front of Gabriel.
You can do this, she told herself. Mira took a deep breath, stood up straighter, and followed the trail. At each door they passed, Mira's breathing slowed. She wasn't exactly holding her breath, but was afraid even the noise of the air moving would alert something hiding behind closed doors.
As Mira walked, the pendulum shifted its trajectory slightly with each step. At almost the end of the hall, it swung side to side, the crystal straining against the chain to go either left or right.
"Which door?" Gabriel asked.
"Um, both, I think."
Gabriel sighed. "Left first. Step back."
Mira watched as he checked the doorknob.
Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1) Page 46