The Unseen

by Thea Harrison

  She loved it when he talked geek, even if she tuned it out half the time. “You’re sexy,” she told him.

  A masculine grin creased his face, even as he asked, “Does that add anything to this conversation?”

  Lifting one shoulder, she muttered, “It adds to my conversation.”

  The sexual awareness in his gaze deepened. As he stepped closer, she knew she was about to be kissed. Yippee ki-yay.

  Something brushed past her.

  The hairs on the back of her neck rose. She spun, staring, eyes opened wide. There was nothing… There was….

  There was the faintest, transparent outline of a tall figure walking past. She received a fleeting impression of flowing grace, an exquisite, inhuman face that turned to look at her, a grand curving shape that trailed behind, and radiant eyes.

  “Did you see that?”

  With the flex of one muscled arm, Dragos unsheathed his sword. “No. What is it?”

  The frame of the concert hall listed. With a great yawning noise, it collapsed.

  The figure had disappeared. She stared open mouthed at the rubble, then at Dragos. “It was magnificent.”

  Gripping his sword as if he wanted to cleave something in two, he snarled between his teeth, “What was it?”

  He was the perfect killing machine. There was nothing more barbaric or splendid than he was when he got ready to do battle, but he had nothing to hit and no one to fight. She shook her head. “You might as well put your sword away, because it’s gone.”

  Scowling, he snapped his sword back into its sheath. “Describe it.”

  “I barely caught a glimpse,” she told him. “It was transparent, like you might expect a ghost to look on a TV show.” That sounded lame, and she scowled as she struggled to find the right words. “It was as tall as you are, only more slender, and it had radiant eyes. And I think… I think it had wings. Dragos, I don’t think we’re alone here like we had first thought.”

  The foreman of the construction crew rushed up. He looked deeply distressed. “My lord, I am so very sorry this happened again. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong—we’ve tried everything we can think of—”

  “You’re going to stop building,” Dragos told him.

  The man stammered, “Of course, if that’s what you think best—”

  Dragos cut him off again. “Instead, I want you to clear this area and start digging. Something doesn’t appear to want us building here, and I want to know if there’s anything underneath this site.”

  “Yes, my lord. I think we can have it cleared enough to start digging this afternoon.”

  After that, they toured the rest of the settlement, inspecting each site where the reports indicated that incidents had occurred, but they didn’t discover anything else. Finally, they returned to Graydon and Bel’s.

  Tiago and Niniane had been taking babysitting duty, and after the six had gathered Dragos and Pia told the others what had happened. “Have any of you heard of a creature like this?” Dragos asked. “And why is Pia the only one who can see it?”

  Bel leaned forward, her beautiful face alight with fascination. “You don’t know that yet,” she said. “The only thing we know for certain is that Pia is the first to see it.”

  “Fair enough,” he growled. “But there are a lot of experienced magic users here, and several of them have been looking into the anomalies.”

  “That’s true,” the Elf murmured, her speculative gaze resting on Pia. Thoughtfully, she tapped one of her front teeth with a fingernail.

  “And as it turns out, I happen to be a very experienced magic user, myself,” Dragos pointed out. “I was in the same location as Pia, and I didn’t see a damn thing.”

  Bel’s gaze shifted from Pia to the dragon. “Not all magic is the same, as you know very well. I have no doubt that you are at the height of your Power, but you are not an Elf, and I cannot breathe fire. And neither one of us can call a thunderstorm like Tiago can. Pia may not be the only one who can see the creature. But that doesn’t mean we will all be able to. Do you think this is connected to the sense you got of something being in your house?”

  “Oh, boy.” Pia thought back over the two events. “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Why do you think you saw it today and not yesterday?”

  She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I reacted a lot quicker this morning. Maybe I looked in the right place at the right time? Maybe it helped that it was outside, and the sun was shining? It was a lot brighter than it was in our bedroom. All of this is speculation, of course. Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Tiago said, “There might not be only one of them. There could be more.”

  Graydon pinched his lower lip. His daughter rested on his lap, her tiny rosebud mouth open, occasionally making a slight squeak as she snored. “Why move things around and collapse the building site? Is it—or are they—trying to get our attention, or are they like cats and knocking shit over for the hell of it? If they want to get our attention, they’ve achieved that. But what are they trying to say?”

  “That’s assuming they’re the ones that made the building collapse, and we don’t know that either. Let’s get back to trying to identify it,” Dragos suggested. “That might give us some idea of its motive. What is it?”

  Niniane lay on the floor, curled on her side as she played with Niall’s plump fingers. She remarked wistfully, “It sounds like an angel.” When everybody fell silent to stare at her, her expression turned self-conscious. “Or at least, it sounds like how I imagine an angel might look.”

  Bel’s smile deepened. “In ancient Elven lore, there are creatures called the seraph that are not quite of this world. They are, we believe, the origin of the angelic beings described in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Personally, I’ve never seen one.”

  Dragos’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, not quite of this world? I don’t much care for the sound of anything that I can’t see, hear, touch, taste, or kill.”

  Once Beluviel had hated and feared Dragos, as he and the Elves had a long, acrimonious history, but now she gave him a look filled with, Pia could have sworn, sincere affection. “Of course, you don’t. The Great Beast is very much grounded in the material world.”

  Pia said suddenly, “Every Other land is in another dimension from Earth, and they’re all connected with crossover passageways. What if these seraphs are in yet another dimension that comes very close to overlapping the ones we live in? We already know we live in a multiverse. Earth is not in the same place as Rhyacia, or Adriyel, or Ys. So by that logic, wouldn’t it be possible for the seraph to exist on yet another neighboring plane?”

  “You’re making my head hurt,” Niniane said cheerfully.

  Dragos leaned back, stretched out his legs and crossed his arms and ankles. He stared at the ceiling. “What I don’t like about that idea is that it appears they can affect things on our plane, but that doesn’t mean we can affect things on theirs.” He said to Pia, “I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying I don’t like it.”

  “Apparently, you don’t like anything about the seraph,” Bel murmured, sounding amused. He lifted his head to glare at the Elven woman.

  “We don’t even know yet if that’s what it is,” Pia said, suppressing a smile.

  “According to our lore, the Elves were sometimes able to see and speak to the seraph,” Bel said. “But we only just arrived in Rhyacia a few days before you did. Tomorrow, I would like to send some of my people out in teams to see what they can discover.” She glanced at Graydon. “Maybe we can join them. If there are seraph here, I don’t believe they would do anything to harm a child.”

  Dragos said, “We shouldn’t relax any precautions until we know for certain one way or another.”

  “No, of course not.”

  While they talked, Dragos received a hand-delivered report that the construction crew at the concert hall had cleared the site and had begun digging below the foundation. They were using telekinesis to shift away soil
and planned on working through the evening to take advantage of the cooler temperature, and the foreman would let Dragos know if they discovered anything.

  The group lingered for a while longer but came to no further conclusions. Finally, Dragos and Pia gathered up Niall and headed home to be greeted with extreme ecstasy by Skeeter.

  “You have no dignity,” Dragos told the dog.

  Not only did Skeeter have no dignity, he clearly didn’t care as he leaped and pranced about. Laughing, Pia went to the kitchen to discover what Jocasta and Ramone had made them for dinner. She discovered a large pork roast cooked to perfection for Dragos, along with fresh baked bread, and a salad for her made with grilled strips of jackfruit and avocadoes.

  Mmm, grilled jackfruit. Her mouth watered. She was still wearing the leather pants and half armor, and she’d slung her bow and quiver of arrows on her back for the walk home, so she left Niall with his father and went to change.

  Partway down the hall, the floor began to shake. Pia flung out a hand to brace herself against the wall. Skeeter howled.

  “Dragos?” she called out.

  “Don’t panic,” he called back. “It’s an earthquake. Get outside.”

  The closest path to outside was through the master suite. Staggering through the bedroom, she stumbled onto the deck just as Dragos loped around the corner of the house, the baby on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” She looked around at the others in their little village exiting their houses. As Eva raced over, a deep rumbling rolled over them. Dread pulsed. “What is that?”

  “People are telepathizing reports to me. Other construction sites are collapsing,” Dragos said. He met her gaze. “Are you going to stay here with the baby?”

  “What?” Waggling her head, she sassed, “Are you going to stay here with the baby?”

  He pointed at her. “I had precedence for asking.”

  She knew he did, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. She made a face at him and turned to Eva.

  Before she could say a word, Eva said, “Of course.”

  Eva took Niall from Dragos, who shapeshifted into the dragon. He bent his head so Pia could climb on, and once she was seated securely, he launched into the air.

  He quickly climbed to a height that allowed them to see the full extent of the damage. They both fell silent as they took in the scene. All of the other construction sites had collapsed, and deep depressions indicated the presence of several sinkholes.

  A dusty brown haze smeared the evening sky, and the largest sinkhole of all gaped at the concert hall site.

  A flutter of movement caused Pia to look up.

  Barely seen and transparent, dozens upon dozens of radiant creatures like the one she had seen earlier swooped and whirled in the evening sky overhead.

  Chapter Eight

  “Oh, fuck me,” the dragon muttered irascibly. “If it’s not one damn thing, it’s another.”

  He arrowed over to the concert hall construction site. As he landed, Pia jumped to the ground and he shapeshifted. Several workers ran over. One of them was the foreman.

  “My lord!” he exclaimed. “We lost two men in the collapse. They fell into the sinkhole. We’re searching for them now.”

  Dragos and Pia raced to peer down into the hole. It was even more massive close up, and deeper than Pia expected. The bottom was lost in shadow. A couple workers were climbing carefully down the rubble.

  Power coalesced around Dragos. He extended one hand toward the hole, and a ball of light exploded from his fingertips. It fell like a meteor, and for a moment the darkness below was completely illuminated.

  Pia glimpsed a segment of a large broken column, lying on its side, along with the base of other columns, and a rubble-strewn floor. “Those are ruins!”

  “I see one of the men at the bottom. He’s not moving.” Dragos looked at Pia. “We need to get down there.”

  “Ready when you are.” If the man was still alive, she might be able to do something for him.

  He scooped her up and the bottom fell out of her stomach as he leaped into the hole. As he landed, he absorbed the shock of impact by bending his legs, then he straightened and set her on her feet.

  They picked their way over to the unmoving figure. The illumination from the sunlight above was indirect and slanted. Pia got the impression of a large space arching into darkness. Kneeling, she felt at the unconscious man’s neck for a pulse.

  “He’s alive,” she said with relief.

  Dragos’s Power flexed again as he scanned the man. “Couple broken ribs and a concussion.”

  I can help him, she said telepathically. All she had to do was prick her finger and let a little of her blood trickle into the unconscious man’s mouth, and all his injuries would be healed. We’re far enough away from the surface, the others shouldn’t sense anything.

  He shook his head. He’s not in danger of dying. Besides, if you heal him, by the time we get him to the surface he wouldn’t have any injury at all, and that would cause speculation. It’s not worth the risk of exposure.

  What he said made sense, but it was still difficult to hold back. Dragos cast a few simple healing spells while she assessed the area.

  The other rescuers had located the second victim partway down the hill of rubble, and they were in the process of lifting his limp figure out.

  Watching the rescue from below, she decided jumping down into the hole for Dragos was a lot easier than trying to jump out. The cavernous space was big enough for him to change into his dragon form, but he wouldn’t have enough room to launch out of the opening. The dragon could climb his way out, but with his massive size and weight she was pretty sure that would cause more collapse.

  She shouted, “We need a stretcher down here!”

  One of the people working at the surface shouted back in reply, “We’ve almost got one ready!”

  They lowered a stretcher down. Dragos picked up the man and they strapped him in. Tugging on the rope, he stepped back, and they watched the rescuers haul him up.

  “You guys okay down there?” a familiar voice called down. Graydon had arrived on the scene.

  “Yes,” Dragos shouted. “We’re going to need ropes to get back out—but first, I want to have a look around.” He looked at Pia. “Are you coming?”

  What? Widening her eyes, she waggled her head, silently sassing him. Fill in the blank, Dragos.

  He grinned. “I heard what you said, and you didn’t utter a word. I don’t know how you did that.”

  “You know me so well.”

  His amusement died as he turned his attention to the cavernous area. “What a clusterfuck.”

  “I know, but you had the area surveyed and assessed before anybody started building here. You did everything you could.” She scratched along the edge of her jaw with one fingernail. “Who was it that recently mentioned something about ancient buried Roman cities?”

  “I think this is much older than a Roman city. It takes thousands of years of sedimentation and soil erosion to bury something this deep, and I discovered this Other land only a few hundred years ago. Whoever once lived here was long gone by then.” He held out his hand, igniting another ball of fire. His Power intensified as he held it up, and gradually the light grew to fill the space, illuminating what appeared to be a great hall. He took her hand. “There might be another collapse. Stay close.”

  They walked past giant shadowed columns covered in carvings. Dust lay thick on the floor, but in patches she could see a faint, complex mosaic, and murals carved in stone towered the height of three men.

  “You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of stepping out on my own.” As they walked forward, she laced her fingers through his. “This may be splendid and fascinating, but it’s also creepy.”

  “It is creepy,” he agreed. “Ruins usually feel more peaceful.”

  She stared at one panel of a mural. It appeared to be the scene of a great battle. There was a huge army on the
ground and winged creatures overhead. One figure on the ground appeared bigger than the others. He wore a crown that shone with a dim glint of gold and pointed a scepter or weapon toward the winged creatures in the sky.

  That reminded her. “When we were on our way over here, I saw a lot more of the creatures flying overhead.”

  “Did you?” he said absently. He strode forward, pulling her along with him. “See that large rectangular stone on a dais? We seem to have a sarcophagus here. This entire hall may be a tomb.”

  Carvings covered the giant rectangle of stone, and more sparks of gold glinted in the reflection of Dragos’s witchlight. A pile of rubble and large stones had damaged one end of the carved sarcophagus. A breath of wind blew against their faces with a dry rustle.

  “The creatures seemed agitated.” Her voice came out breathless. Was it her imagination or did the creepiness factor just kick up a notch or three? She stopped moving forward and tugged on Dragos’s hand. “I don’t want to go near the sarcophagus thingy.”

  The wind increased, bringing with it a darkness that enveloped them. Dragos’s witchlight dimmed but did not quite go out, and his fingers crushed hers.

  No really, he was crushing her hand. She felt caught in a vise of hot flame. “Dragos—you’re hurting me!”

  He turned to look at her. The expression on his face was indescribable. He whispered, “Run.”

  In agony now, she struggled to pull away from his grip. Then his hand loosened, his back arched, and he fell to the ground and convulsed. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. Even as she dove to try to turn him onto his side, he exploded into his dragon form, the huge bronze body slapping into her. She tumbled backward and fell. With a sharp crack, the back of her head hit the floor.

  Pain lanced through her skull. Dragos’s witchlight had extinguished, and it was pitch black.

  No, it was the faintest bit gray. Gradually her eyes adjusted. They had walked far enough from the sinkhole that very little light penetrated. The giant dragon lay immobile, and her soul echoed with emptiness.