by Carla Rehse
Once she had her back to us, Sebastian placed his finger to his mouth. Bubbles twisted from his other hand and landed on my abdomen. At each place a bubble touched, heat burst from me in a shimmery wave that surged toward my friends. Within seconds, the pain in my throat faded.
The swollen lumps in Chase’s front legs retreated, and he sat up with his head tilted, reminding me of a confused Scooby-Doo. His thick, reddish-gray fur shone in the rays of the setting sun. He was the spitting image of a large tundra wolf, in deference to his Eastern European heritage.
Luna and Janice moaned, while once again, Lawson sputtered out a wide range of curse words that a preacher’s son shouldn’t know.
“What happened?” he asked.
Nevaeh shot Sebastian a suspicious glare. “What happened, indeed? Strange that the humans and wolf recovered from their serious injuries and Bleakness venom so soon. Especially as you and I have such limited resources and must conserve our strength. As you keep telling me.”
Sebastian waved a graceful hand at me. “It appears the Gatekeeper has finally tapped into her powers. You were correct when you said she was manifesting them in strange ways.”
I beamed an innocent smile. Or maybe it appeared more like a gassy stomach grimace, but either way, no one challenged me.
Seraphs had strict orders against healing humans. Apparently, Sebastian had a rebellious side I’d never seen before. I loved it. “By the way, Sebastian. I really dig your breeches. The color is a gorgeous blue.”
He focused on straightening his ruffled cuffs. “Yes, well, The Rogue Establishment sells acceptable garb.”
“Uh-uh.” Nevaeh rolled her eyes. “You look like a drunk pirate.”
“More like a badass one,” I countered.
Though I didn’t understand what had happened with Tien, the angels had saved our bacon, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. For now.
Janice kneeled, then popped her back. “Could we stop the fashion talk for a moment? How much danger are we in? Again.”
Sebastian gave her a solemn look. “Conjuring a Bleakness Wraith is the most serious violation of the Celestial Edict of 891. Regardless of any other crimes, the sentence will be death by burning.”
“The witch or witches will know that.” I gingerly rose to my feet, pleased when my bum knee didn’t twinge. “They’ll be even more desperate. And dangerous. It’ll be a fun hike to Mack’s place, that’s for sure.”
“Mack Valencia’s warded cabin? A wise choice.” Sebastian gestured to Nevaeh. “We will conduct a sweep to ensure the Wraith is nowhere in the vicinity. But I urge you to hurry. Demons generally are as frightened of Bleakness Wraiths as humans, so they may decide to sacrifice you to appease it.” The angels disappeared in a quickly extinguished orb of light.
“Thanks for the ride!” I called out, expecting—and receiving—no response.
Lawson turned to Chase. “You staying on all fours?”
Chase let out a quiet woof and padded to the tree that he’d smashed into earlier. His boots sat on a pile of shredded cloth, proof he hadn’t taken the time to disrobe before trying to rescue Luna.
Luna jogged to Chase. “Hey, thanks for trying to save me and all. That was … it was … I’ll carry your boots with my gear, okay?”
Crimson colored her cheeks as she scooped up the boots. Chase inched over to her and pressed his head against her hip. Interesting. I hadn’t noticed a connection between them before.
Young love was so dang adorable.
Janice cleared her throat but managed to keep her mouth shut. Thankfully. It would’ve been a shame if I had to break our détente due to ancient prejudices. I had never understood why, here and out in the real world, people got so bent about other people’s relationships. As long as it was between consensual adults, who cared?
In general, life was hard and unfair. Love was the one miracle everyone had a chance to receive.
“So, not wanting to be rude or anything.” Lawson scratched at the dried blood on his cheek. “But how much can you realistically carry to Mack’s?”
The boastful idiot in me wanted to snark that I’d carry as much as he did, but the adult pragmatic won out. It was a valid question. Once we left the Jeep, we had no guarantee we’d be able to return to it. And it would be in character for an Elemental Demon to set it on fire just to be an absolute jerk.
I shrugged. “Honestly, it depends on what it is and how it needs to be carried. I would do better with a backpack versus a box, especially hiking miles up a steep hill.”
Janice raised her hand. “Same here. My lower back has been messed up since having my son.”
I smiled. “Once you hit thirty, things just won’t snap back in place, will they?”
Janice snorted. “Exactly.”
Lawson stared at us but, wisely, didn’t comment. We followed him to the back of the Jeep, retrieving our weapons as we did. Chase stayed by Luna’s side but kept scanning the area for threats with his ears up and tail twitching from side to side.
I, for one, was glad he stayed furry. We needed every advantage we could get.
The back of the Jeep contained supplies, but luckily, not more than what we could handle. Plus, everything had been stuffed into military-grade rucksacks. Backpacks were for schoolkids. Rucksacks were built with weight and distance in mind. My shoulders already felt relieved.
Lawson handed me a rucksack filled with bottles of water and several boxes of granola bars. There was more stuff underneath them, but I didn’t take the time to dig through it.
Within minutes, we were mostly on our way. Translation? Lawson kept pacing at the tree line as Luna and Janice argued over who would carry Chase’s bag with his extra clothes. And after taking three steps, I managed to get a pebble the size of a boulder crammed into my boot. While bending to dig it out, I forgot to compensate for the weight on my back and ended up face-planting. But, on the bright side, I managed not to impale myself on my rapier, and Janice laughed so hard that Luna was able to snag Chase’s bag.
Lawson slapped his ballcap against his thigh. “Anyone not ready to die a grisly and slow death by Bleakness venom, follow me.”
I shifted the rucksack more comfortably on my shoulders. “Well, if it were a quick and grisly death, I’d go for it. But a slow one?”
He gave me an exasperated glare that created a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows. The wrinkle was almost as cute as his evil dimple.
After thirty minutes of climbing up loose caliche gravel, while avoiding cacti, trees, and biting bugs that I swore seemed large as cats, I began rethinking the whole ‘go to Mack’s cabin’ plan. Lawson, blazing the trail for us at a fast, but steady pace, seemed to be having no issues. Damn the man.
“This is steeper than I remembered,” I said, trying to keep my breathing under control so the others wouldn’t realize I was dying. A woman had to have some pride.
Luna, looking more like she was strolling through the mall and less like she was hiking Mt. Everest, had converted her duffle bag into a modified rucksack. “Still beats Angel Transportation, doesn’t it?”
I slowed down to swat at a horde of mosquitos, then skidded on loose gravel. “Uh huh.”
Crossing Shadows still had the sky stuck at sundown and allowed no wind, which had been helpful in town. Out in the woods, the shadows made the terrain more difficult to see. And why the hell were there mosquitos? Unless they were mini-blood sucking, demon-fairy hybrids. Sounded about right for the day we’d had.
“Peter will never believe this,” Janice said, huffing and puffing a little. “I always refuse to hike with him. Not on this hill, of course, but those south of town.”
“Where’s the sabbatical this time?” I asked, desperate for something to focus on rather than the burning pain in my lower back and hamstrings.
Janice bent to check a small pile of tall prairie grass before veering around it. “Disney World. Can you believe it? That’s why most of the town went.”
“Florida?�
�� I shook my head. “Seriously? We thought we were so special when we went to Six Flags in Arlington. That took some serious cash.”
“And they flew. Plus, they’re staying at one of the resorts. For a week!” Janice said. “The Bakers donated most of the funds. Said it was in memory of their son. The anniversary of his death is tomorrow.”
“Poor Delilah,” Luna said softly. “Ya know, we used to be friends, but she’s been so withdrawn since Nick’s death. Only time I ever see her is when she’s working at the Grill.”
I rubbed the burn mark on my wrist, just under the Hellhound bite. The burn was healing but looked as if it would leave a weird loop scar. The very least of my problems, to be honest.
The Bakers must’ve given a huge amount of money. Over a hundred adults and children were enjoying the extravagant vacation. Money was weird in boundary towns. Every adult human and Shifter received a paycheck from the Celestial Governing Body. Real, regular cash, not fake Leprechaun gold or something. We paid no taxes. Medical, housing, and utilities were provided for free. I even received a scholarship and stipend from them when I left Crossing Shadows. But where the money came from, I had no clue. Maybe they magicked it or had pixies steal it from Fort Knox.
With that said, none of us were wealthy. So how did the Bakers have tens of thousands of dollars to splurge? They could only sell so many sugar cookies.
A loud cracking sound to the left froze everyone in place. Chase, behind us, made a loud sniffing sound. He pushed in between Janice and me, then scampered to Lawson. He let out a low chuff with his tail violently wagging, clearly indicating we needed to get a move on. Whatever he sensed must not be an imminent threat, but I didn’t plan to stick around to see what it was.
We went silent as we concentrated on climbing. The cracking noise continued at odd intervals but didn’t get closer. And it was a weird cracking sound. Not like tree branches splintering but more like hard plastic breaking.
The trees and cedar bushes finally thinned, revealing the steepest part of the hill. And the most treacherous. The loose caliche covered a dry channel that flooded during a hard rain. Good thing Crossing Shadows didn’t seem to have rain on its menu, or we’d be in serious trouble.
“Should we go around?” Luna asked.
Lawson shook his head. “The area here is off-limits and guaranteed to have nasty surprises if we veer off this path.”
“Path?” Janice muttered.
“It would be easier to spot in the daylight,” Lawson admitted. “Just keep to the darker gravel.”
“At least we can see the top,” I said to Janice. She didn’t seem that encouraged.
Lawson went first. He scrambled up with little difficulty, though the rest of us had to duck from falling gravel.
“I’ll go next,” Janice said with a loud sigh. She poked Chase in the side. “If I get stuck, grab my backpack and drag me up, okay?”
He whined in what I assumed to be “oh, shit, no way” in wolf talk.
Janice’s comment about never hiking seemed to be a bit of a fib, as she used the shallow pocks in the ground as knee and hand holds. It took her a lot longer than Lawson, but she also dislodged a lot less gravel. Chase trailed her closely as if he was part mountain goat. Which, I guess, was possible. Hungary had the largest were-goat population in the world.
The disc in my arm flared warm just as the loudest crack yet echoed. The horde of mosquitos that had been hounding me—or demon-fairy hybrids, I still hadn’t decided—flew away. I twisted toward the sound but spotted nothing in the deep shadows. I waved at Luna. “Go. I’ll follow in a bit.”
“But Gatekeeper?” Luna glanced where the noise came from, then checked on Janice’s progress.
“Go on, git.”
She muttered something I was glad I couldn’t hear but followed my instructions with no audible complaining. I was so introducing Luna to Sadie.
Lawson was helping Janice over the edge, and Chase, showing off, had skidded back down to pace Luna. Which meant it was my turn. Oh joy.
I inched up to the first handholds, debating the merits of living with the humiliation of requiring Lawson to throw a rope and haul me up. My idiot pride overruled my bad knee.
The cracking noise sounded again. And of course, I was dumb enough to look.
A section of a snake, easily the circumference of a large tree trunk, wiggled out of the shadows. Spines, as long as my arm, adorned it.
“Holy Saints on fire!” I screamed. “Darty the Farty snake is a landlubber!”
How I scrambled up to Lawson’s waiting arms, I never rightly can explain, but I was damn glad I did.
I peered over the edge and shook my fist. “Water serpents belong in the water!” A volley of spines flew in the air but missed us by several feet. “And the lake is on the other side of the hill, you silly snake!”
Janice sighed. “This day can’t get any stranger.”
“Stranger! Stranger! Double jinx back!” Lawson and I said in unison, as if we’d regressed to our ten-year-old selves.
Luna patted Chase’s head. “At least the cabin is still standing.”
And it was, about two hundred feet away. One of the happiest places of my youth. The sorrow and stress that had weighed on me lessened a little. I always did better when I had a plan of action.
“As the Valencia heir, I request permission for my friends and myself to enter,” Lawson called out.
The porch lights flared on, and light shined through the windows. The front door creaked open, and the scent of peaches and cinnamon wafted in the air.
Lawson grinned. “Looks like we’ve been welcomed.”
He took a step forward, then disappeared.
SIXTEEN
Whispering meltdowns are my jam
I lifted my leg to step forward, but Luna pushed in front of me. “Gatekeeper! Everly. No, it’s not safe.”
“Lawson.” I whirled around.
Nothing. There was no sign of him. He was just … gone.
This dumpster fire of a day had taken a sharp turn into a B-rated horror movie. Why would the witch want Lawson? To prevent us from entering the cabin? Though, I wasn’t completely sure the witch had done this. But if the witch hadn’t, we had even bigger problems to add to our already enormous pile.
“Some days you’re the bird, other days you’re the statue,” I muttered.
“Huh?” Luna asked.
“Something Lawson used to say. It means there are days when shit just keeps piling on no matter what you do.” Luna and Janice stared at me like I knew some magical way to get him back. I didn’t. “Anyone know of another place in town with books on spellworks?” The weapons in Mack’s cabin would be irreplaceable, but our need for information was just as great.
Luna and Janice shook their heads, while Chase tilted his and whined. In his wolf state, he was still Chase with a complete understanding of what was going on. Communication would be a problem though.
Part of my brain stubbornly wanted to know if Chase could tap out Morse code with a paw—like I knew how to interpret it if he did. The majority of my mind, the reasonable adult portion, wanted a plan of action to find Lawson. Because without a plan, I was gonna fall apart. Of course, I was 0–2 on brilliant plans, so there was that.
This left me with two options: melt down into an epic conniption fit, or focus on getting into the cabin, finding Mack’s journals on spellworks and the weapons, then locating Sadie and Lawson. As fun as option one would be, I obviously had to suck it up and go with number two.
Now to come up with Brilliant Plan Three. Or maybe I oughta call it Amazingly Airtight Plan One. I could shorten it to AAPO—well, perimenopause was really affecting my concentration. Along with worry and grief. Though if there was any justice or mercy in this universe, Lawson was now with Sadie and Heather so he could protect them.
AAPO didn’t come to me, nor did a SAP—Somewhat Amazing Plan. I took a slow step forward, as if that would stop me from getting zapped into another dimension or wherev
er. Luna didn’t complain this time as she was staring at something over my head.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a shadow diving toward us. When I turned to look, it disappeared. The shadow appeared on the other side of me, just at the edge of my sight again. Whatever the thing was it sure enjoyed games.
I took another teensy step forward. The cabin’s door slammed shut with a loud crack, and the porch lights flickered off. The delicious scent of cinnamon wafted away, replaced with the nauseating stench of rotting garbage in the late summer heat.
The lights inside the cabin brightened, showcasing shadowed, hunched figures pounding on the windows with stretched, too-long arms and no discernible hands. None appeared to be Lawson. At least, I really, really hoped he wasn’t one of the twisted, contorted shadows.
Branches in the small stand of Texas ash to the left of us swayed, causing their yellow-orange leaves to rustle. Without a doubt, the fall foliage was the most beautiful in the area. But with no wind, what was shaking the trees?
Janice tugged my sleeve. “Guess the house isn’t welcoming, after all. Maybe we oughta go back?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Because fighting a sea monster that walks on land and can throw foot-long spikes would be so much easier?”
Janice blushed.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t be rude.” I took a deep, calming breath. “We must’ve triggered one of Mack’s trapdoor spider spells.”
Luna raised her sword and edged closer to a whining Chase. “A spell? Why would Mack Valencia, a High Marked and a Master Hunter, have spells on his property?”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to remember everything possible about the security system he’d installed. “Well, he had several witchy lady friends, and they liked helping him out now and then.”
Mack might’ve been a gruff old buzzard, but he had known how to slather on the charm when needed. I always thought he digged playing the outlaw ladies’ man as it offended his preacher brother. Lawson had characteristics of both men. He could be an upstanding citizen but also knew how to charm the pants off me. Literally. Damn that dimple.
“Lawson!” Yelling was futile, but I was beyond sick of losing people. “To the residence of Master Hunter Macario Enrique Valencia. I, Everly Ivona Popa, seek entrance.”
