by Martha Carr
Blazing purple light flashed on the veranda, and even with the drow and nightstalkers in enhanced speed, the light moved remarkably quickly above their heads. Cheyenne looked up at the source of the light bursting across the lawn and saw Ember standing on the balcony, both arms stretched toward the exploding Border portal and the blight spilling through from the other side.
“Whoa.”
Ember’s magic hit the creeping blight with an even brighter flare of light, sending up black smoke and sparks and a hiss like water splattering a hot frying pan. Corian, Maleshi, and L’zar raced across the lawn with FRoE agents, Lumil, and Byrd in their arms. Cheyenne set her mom down again and went to help Corian with Jamal because it took both of them to move the hulking agent more than a foot.
Ember floated over the veranda’s balcony and sailed in a weirdly graceful arc toward the lawn. When the drow and the nightstalkers had gotten everyone to the grass beneath the jutting veranda, Cheyenne slipped out of drow speed and saw Ember dropping over the side of the veranda in a barely controlled descent. The fae screamed as she floated toward the portal ridge, then stopped. The place where her magic met the black sludge and withered trails of grass erupted in violet light and high-pitched ringing.
Cheyenne clenched her eyes shut and clapped both hands over her ears, doubling over beneath the aching pressure in her head. Then the light and the awful sound disappeared, and she only heard her heaving breath.
“Holy shit.” Byrd scrambled to his feet. “I mean, thanks for the lift to safety, whoever it was, but a little warning next time would’ve been—”
Tate shouted in surprise and struggled to get to his feet, his head whipping from side to side as he tried to figure out how he’d gotten across the backyard in two seconds. Jamal grunted and looked down at his huge bicep. “Someone pinched me.”
“Might’ve been me.” Corian shot him a quick glance and shrugged. “Sorry.”
Cheyenne removed her hands from over her ears and looked at Ember. The fae’s hands dropped to her sides, her shoulders hunched, and her head drooped to her chest. “Ember. Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She darted toward her Nós Aní and skidded to a stop in front of her. “Hey. You okay?”
Ember’s eyelids fluttered, and she heaved a sigh. “I’m guessing my magic is stronger than my body. The floating spell’s still up, or I’d be on the ground. Again.” Her eyes closed heavily.
“You’re not, though. You’re gonna be okay.” Cheyenne grabbed her friend’s shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze. How is that even possible? Healing Cazerel made her lose all her magic.
“This is certainly a curious turn of events.” L’zar stepped past them and continued toward the ruptured Border portal.
“That’s it?” Cheyenne turned to glare after him. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Ember gave her a tired smile. “I didn’t do it for his recognition.”
“Yeah, I know, Em. Still not okay.” Cheyenne turned to look at Maleshi and didn’t have to tell the general to keep an eye on the still-unconscious Bianca. Maleshi nodded and squatted beside Cheyenne’s mom, studying the woman’s now much more peaceful expression. Cheyenne stalked after her father. “L’zar!”
He ignored her and kept moving toward the broken shards of glistening black rock lying in crumbled heaps across the lawn.
“Hey! Whatever you’re so interested in, you wouldn’t even be able to come look at right now if Ember hadn’t cleared up the blight.”
“I’m well aware of that, Cheyenne.” He reached the edge of the fallen debris and walked slowly along it, hands clasped behind his back. “I’m sure we’re all very grateful for her assistance.”
“No, we owe her our lives. That wasn’t just assistance.”
“No, and this wasn’t just a malfunctioning portal.” L’zar stopped, looked slowly at his daughter, and grinned. “This was intentional.”
“You mean because those things kept trying to grab my mother?”
“That’s part of it, yes.” L’zar squatted in front of a small pile of rubble and pointed at the shattered pieces. “And then there’s this.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Just tell me already. I’m really not in the mood for your guessing games.”
“Come see for yourself.”
She approached him and stepped to his right to look at the debris in front of him. “A mirror.”
“A broken mirror.” He looked up at her with raised eyebrows. “And that leaf.”
Cheyenne’s gaze settled on the glowing leaf she recognized from the last Nimlothar tree in the center of Hangivol. A leaf and a broken mirror. “Ba’rael sent those through, didn’t she?”
L’zar chuckled, grabbed the leaf pulsing with faint purple light, and pocketed it as he stood. “Very good.”
“I don’t see how that’s funny.”
“It’s not, Cheyenne.” He turned to her with something like a sneer and cocked his head. “It’s a combination of how amusing I find her failure and how much I enjoy watching you reason this out on your own.”
As he stalked past her to rejoin the others, Cheyenne stared at the broken shards of stained, dented mirror and frowned. The portal into her torture-chamber dungeon took us through a mirror. Turning swiftly, the halfling followed her father, ignoring the fact that he made her jog to reach him as he moved swiftly with his long, casual stride. “She found where this portal opened on the other side.”
“It would seem so.”
“And she wanted to send a message? Destroyed the entire portal just to show you she knows how we got in?”
“I can only assume the message was meant for both of us, Cheyenne. If it was purely for you, I’m sure the Spider would’ve waited until you returned to offer your terms.” L’zar cocked his head and searched the morning sky, which was filling with golden sunlight. “She knows I can’t return, and she knows her curse extended through the in-between. Maybe not exactly where or how, but she knew she’d hit something other than my physical person with her sentencing me to exile.”
“Other than your physical person? Are you kidding me? She hit a completely different physical person.” They reached the other side of the lawn and the gathered magicals standing and staring in awe at the destroyed portal ridge and the blight Ember had healed and cleared away. The fae watched L’zar and Cheyenne approach, but she didn’t move. “Hey, I’m serious. You need to answer me. If Ba’rael noticed she caught someone else in that curse besides you if she could—shit, I don’t even know, control the in-between to look for Bianca, why the hell would she even want my mom? She’s human.”
“Hmm.” L’zar turned slowly and eyed his daughter. “You know, I think your impressive reasoning skills must have been temporary.”
“Fuck off. What’s going on?”
“I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I do.” His upper lip twitched in an irritating sneer, then he stalked to the flagstone steps on the side of the house.
Cheyenne turned to look at Corian and Maleshi, ignoring the FRoE agents’ disbelief as they muttered in confusion and bombarded Byrd, Lumil, and Persh’al with questions none of the rebels could answer. The general sat beside Bianca, who still lay unresponsive in the shady grass, and looked up with a questioning frown. “What did he find?”
“A broken mirror and a Nimlothar leaf.”
“And a destroyed portal.” Corian narrowed his eyes at the piles of gleaming rubble in front of the tree line. “Ba’rael now knows how we got in without her picking up on it. New portals tend to do that, I suppose.”
“Yeah, well, now it’s a dead portal, and apparently, she was sending a message.”
Maleshi looked back down at the unconscious Bianca and nodded. “Apparently.”
“Why my mom?”
Corian cleared his throat. “It might’ve taken Ba’rael a few days to realize she had ensnared an additional victim in her curse, but she picked up on it. Then she tried to pull your mother through to the other side.”
; “I know that already.” Cheyenne stared at her mother. “What I don’t know is why Ba’rael would want my mom. I mean, seriously. Bianca would be useless there.”
“No doubt. And it wasn’t about your mother specifically, Cheyenne. Merely the extra prize in the Crown’s curse.”
“You’re still not making sense.”
Maleshi propped her forearms on her raised knees. “If anything got caught in her curse for her to grab and bring to the other side, kid, no matter what it was, Ba’rael would try to get it. Because whatever it was, it was something L’zar cares very much about.”
Cheyenne’s skin prickled with a cold chill. “What?”
“That’s how this one works.” Maleshi shrugged.
“Wait. You’re telling me my mom’s been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours because L’zar cares about her?”
Corian glanced at the drow thief standing by the edge of the forest at the base of the steps up the hill. “He can lie about it all he wants. Act like she means nothing and never has. But a curse doesn’t lie, kid.”
“That’s bullshit.” Cheyenne shook her head. “He couldn’t care less about what happens to her as long as it helps him.”
“You’re entitled to your opinion.” Corian shrugged. “I’m telling you what I know.”
“Great.” She scowled at him, then bent over her mom and scooped Bianca up in her arms again. “First time since we met that you telling me everything you know doesn’t help me at all.”
The halfling stormed toward the flagstone steps, refusing to look at her father as she passed him. He refused to look at her or her mother but turned instead to stare into the woods.
Ember floated slowly after the halfling. She tossed a hand weakly in the air and didn’t stop to look at the rebels or the FRoE agents. “Don’t worry about me, guys. I’m good. Just wiped the blight off the face of this planet for now.”
By the time she’d disappeared up the stairs behind Cheyenne, the FRoE agents had recovered from their shock and started moving again, picking themselves up off the ground where the nightstalkers, Cheyenne, and L’zar had deposited them.
“So, I guess that means the assignment’s over, right?” Yurik ran his hand over the yellow braid stretching down the center of his otherwise shaved head and looked at Rhynehart. “We goin’ back to base?”
Rhynehart sat perfectly still on the grass, staring blankly at the wreckage of the portal ridge with his arms wrapped around his knees.
“Hey.” Tate leaned over to their team leader and waved a hand in front of Rhynehart’s face. “You okay?”
The human agent slowly shook his head. “If you don’t get your goddamn hand out of my face, troll, I’ll bite your fingers off. ‘Cause either I’m crazy, or everything that happened was a hundred percent real.”
The tattooed troll straightened and stepped away from their team leader. “I like my fingers, thanks.”
Bhandi snorted, brushing bits of black stone and grass off her black fatigues. “So, what now?”
“Well,” Lumil sniffed and looked at the floor of the veranda protruding from the back of the house. “I mean, it’s not like we have a reason to stay here.”
Chapter Sixty-Six
After settling Bianca in the master bedroom’s king-sized bed and covering her with a throw blanket she couldn’t remember being used in any capacity other than decoration, Cheyenne pulled together the French doors to her mom’s room, leaving them open a crack just in case.
“Hey, Em.”
“Yeah.” Ember waited at the top of the staircase, her eyelids drooping.
“Wanna pinch me?”
The fae snorted. “Tempting, but I’m not sure I have enough in me for that.”
Cheyenne stepped toward the staircase and cast one more glance at Bianca’s room before heading down the steps to the foyer. “None of this makes sense.”
“The part where you just tucked Bianca Summerlin into bed? Or the part where the FRoE’s now working with L’zar Verdys and his rebels? Or the part where your aunt accidentally cursed your mom too because your dad cares about someone other than himself?”
“How about the part where you flew out of the house and healed the blight with fae magic? We can add that to the list too.”
Ember chuckled wryly. “Not like that. I didn’t fly.”
“Oh, I get it. Falling with style, huh?”
“Very funny. Levitation spell. Or hovering spell. Whatever. You know what? Corian didn’t tell me what it’s called when he taught me that one, but I figured I’d take a page out of your book and use it to keep myself from eating shit.”
“I’d love to know what page of my book you’re referring to.”
Ember gave the halfling an exasperated look and raised an eyebrow. “Cheyenne Summerlin, drow halfling, overthrowing the O’gúl Crown and incapable of not jumping off every balcony she sees.”
“Oh.” Cheyenne laughed as they turned left at the bottom of the stairs toward the sitting area. “It’s not like I see a balcony and go, ‘Hey, I hope somebody needs me to clean up a shitty magical mess for them, ‘cause I’d really love to jump off this thing right now.’”
“Yeah, I know. Wasn’t something I analyzed before I did it either. So, now that there’s no portal…”
“I guess the immediate danger’s not so immediate anymore. Except for my mom.” Cheyenne headed for the loveseat. “L’zar said something about finding what we needed to take to Ba’rael. You know, my terms and everything. And that it’s here on Earth.”
“Oh. That’s odd.”
“I know, right?”
“Shouldn’t you be out there threatening him or something if he doesn’t go get it right now?”
“I need a minute, Em. We almost stepped into seriously deep shit out there. Don’t get me wrong. I’m super grateful.”
“Please. Like I ever thought you weren’t.”
“I just want like five minutes before we head somewhere else, thinking we’re wrapping up one thing and finding a dozen other things we have to deal with first.”
“Sure.” Ember nodded. “No problem. Want me to leave you alone?”
“Not really.” Cheyenne snorted. “Only if you want to.”
As soon as she sank into the loveseat’s cushions, a crash of metal and a startled shriek came from the kitchen. The halfling and the fae looked at each other, then Cheyenne was on her feet again and racing toward the swinging door. Both girls barreled into the industrial-grade kitchen and found Eleanor bent over a pile of pots on the floor.
Cheyenne stepped hesitantly forward. “Everything okay in here?”
“Oh!” Eleanor jumped and straightened, slapping one hand down on the stainless-steel counter to steady herself and the other over her heart. “Cheyenne, I swear, one of these days, you’re going to sneak up on me and make me keel right over.”
“I didn’t sneak.” The halfling turned to the swinging kitchen door and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I guess. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Catching her breath, Eleanor stooped again with a groan, picked up two pots, and set them gingerly on the counter, grimacing. “I’m sorry too.”
“For what?”
“For sleeping so late, sweetheart. I’m usually up way earlier. You know that. It’s this pounding headache. I’ll have breakfast ready as soon as I can. I’m a bit slow.”
Cheyenne swallowed a laugh. “Is that a euphemism for a hangover?”
Eleanor put a hand on her hip and turned slowly to shoot the halfling a warning look. “Most likely. It’s the headache that woke me up. Still waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in.”
Ember opened her mouth with a sharp breath and glanced behind her at the kitchen door, slowly settling into stillness again. “You just woke up?”
“Yes.”
“From a headache?”
Eleanor frowned. “You know, I’m quite familiar with being hungover, girls, and as far as I can tell, I’m still perfectly coherent.”
“
You are, Eleanor. Hungover and coherent.” Cheyenne shrugged. “You missed the entire showdown out back.”
“Really?” Eleanor glanced at the kitchen door too, though the round window only looked out on the sweeping central staircase. “Was it loud?”
“Might be what made your headache worse. Mine too, actually.”
“Well, do enlighten me.”
* * *
When Cheyenne finished recounting everything the housekeeper had slept through without knowing, she eyed the half-dozen eggs Eleanor had cracked into the skillet two minutes ago. “And you forgot to turn on the burner.”
“No, I didn’t…oh.” Eleanor chuckled and then winced at the jolt it brought to her head before turning on the stove with a click and a whoosh of igniting gas. “I need to pay attention.”
“Happens to the best of us.” Cheyenne and Ember exchanged knowing glances. “You heard everything I told you, though, right?”
“Of course I did. My hearing’s not the problem, sweetheart. I think I have a better appreciation for your sensitivity to loud noises right now.”
“We might have to head out again pretty soon. One more time-sensitive thing, I guess.”
“Oh. So you don’t want breakfast, then?”
Cheyenne eyed the frying eggs. “I definitely do. Just let me see how long we’ll be sticking around, and I’ll let you know, okay?”
“Sure.” Eleanor grabbed a spatula and poked the eggs with it.
“Like I said, Mom’s upstairs.”
“I am perfectly capable of watching her while I feel awful, Cheyenne. Of course, I’ll look after her, and I’ll call you the second something else happens. Assuming she doesn’t disappear or…oh, I don’t even know what else is possible.”
“Anything, really,” Ember muttered.
“What was that?”
Cheyenne shot her friend a sidelong glance and shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“I’ll let you know when we’re leaving, Eleanor.”
“Sounds good.” The housekeeper looked up from her distracted cooking and managed a weak smile. “I’m glad everyone’s all right.”