Keystone

by Chloe Adler

  I glance at my watch. “Can I talk to Jules for a second?”

  “Sure.” Mom says, exchanging a worried glance with Dad.

  I walk Jules far enough away so my parents won’t hear us talk. Dart trails behind her.

  “What’s up?”

  “Jules, I don’t know where to begin.” I pause, twisting a piece of my hair. “Thank you for picking up my parents. I want to talk to you about why you stole the horn but now’s not the time.”

  “You’re right, it’s not.” She glances behind her nervously. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  I put a hand on her shoulder. “I know you well enough to know that’s true.”

  “You look really rattled. What’s going on?”

  I lean in to her ear. “I only have a few hours to get the warlocks back to Tara.”

  Her brows pull together. “Are they here?”

  I grit my teeth. “No, no one’s home, I don’t have a phone to call them and I don’t have the horn to get us back there.”

  Jules winces. “Oh shit. How can I help?”

  I pull away and hold her gaze, the breeze fluttering her fuchsia pixie do. “I need your phone to call them. I need you to distract my parents for a bit. And I need that damn horn back.”

  She fishes in her pocket and pulls out her cell, handing it to me. “Here.”

  “Thanks.” I take it from her and send a group text to all four of the warlocks.

  This is Amaya using Jules’s phone. Please meet me back at the Ridge ASAP, and I do mean ASAP, the world depends on it.

  The replies start coming in.

  Do you need all of us? texts Bodhi.

  Yes, I text back.

  On our way, Forrest responds.

  I hand Jules her phone back and force a smile.

  “I’m happy to entertain Stan and Isla but I can’t get the horn back.”

  I clench my jaw.

  “I’m so sorry, Amaya.” She runs her hands through her hair.

  “What happened? Why did you take it?”

  “Bob and Cheryl were threatening me.”

  “With what?”

  She looks down at her feet. “Cheryl has video of me with a john.”

  “What?” That fucking bitch.

  Jules looks back up, her eyes brimming with tears. “If that clip gets out . . .”

  I throw my arms around her, pulling her in tight. “You don’t have to tell me, I know.” The cops, her parents, her reputation. She’d be thrown in jail and then she’d have to leave the Edge and her life forever.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispers into my hair.

  “But what do they want with the horn?”

  She pulls back, her lower lip trembling. “They want to sell it and use the money to buy Ichor.”

  Of course. I was so busy dealing with my own problems I didn’t see this coming, but I should have. “Look,” I take both her hands in mine, “forget about the stupid horn. All that matters is that you’re safe. What happened with the video clip?”

  “They deleted it, in front of me, but who’s to say they don’t have a copy.” She shrugs. “Who’s to say they won’t use it against me in the future?”

  “They might keep it so you won’t turn them into the cops for running a whorehouse but other than that . . .”

  She shakes her head. “Well it’s not like I’m on track to become a politician.”

  We both laugh, relieving some of the built-up tension.

  “When this is all over, I’ll ask the guys if they can make sure all the copies are deleted. Arch can intimidate and Cedar’s great with IT stuff.” I shrug. “It’s worth a try.”

  “Thanks, Amaya. But . . .” She holds my gaze. “How will you get back to Tara without the horn?”

  I swing our hands, jutting my chin up. “I’m a synergist, that’s what I do.” I sound more confident than I am, but it’s true. Like Vasily said back on Tara, I’m all I need. I didn’t need anything to get back to Earth and I shouldn’t need anything to get back to Tara, especially when I’ve left a part of me there. Vasily. He can be my anchor.

  And oh yes, I almost forgot. I have an actual piece of Tara buried somewhere in my gut. What more do I need? Especially when it’s all I have.

  “I love you so fucking much.” She pulls her hands out of mine and throws her arms around me.

  “I love you too, sweetheart.”

  She pecks my cheek and pulls away. “Do you want me to take Stan and Isla out to lunch or something?”

  I shake my head. “I have a better idea.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  After a tour of the mansion, sans the spell room, my parents, Jules and I wait in the atrium for the men to return. We sit on the bench by the water element and my mother has a difficult time keeping her mouth closed. Her head keeps spinning between the rectangular pond and the glass ceiling and the marble tile.

  “I see we had absolutely nothing to worry about. You’re living in the lap of luxury here.” Mom’s smile is strained. It doesn’t reach her eyes, and she tries to hide a wince.

  Candy and Sabin rush down the stairs. I leap to my feet.

  “Amaya, you’re back from Tara.” She stops as soon as she sees my parents.

  “Candy, Sabin, please meet my parents.”

  “Very nice to meet you.” She runs to them, and when they stand and offer her their hands, she pulls each one into a hug. “Amaya saved my life,” she gushes.

  “Mine too.” Sabin steps forward and hugs them too.

  “Well, we always knew she was special,” Mom brims.

  “How did she save your life?” Dad asks.

  “Sabin was stuck in Tara in a noncorporeal form, and I was a slave to my uncle. Amaya freed us both.” Candy beams, stopping to take a breath as Mom’s jaw drops open and the pleasant smile on Dad’s face freezes.

  “And now, because of your daughter, we’re happily married and get to live together on Earth,” Sabin finishes.

  Jules face-palms, shaking her head.

  Mom turns to me. Gone is the calm equanimity of moments before. “Amaya Hope Reynolds, what on Earth is going on here?”

  I almost giggle. On Earth. Heh. Instead, I turn to Jules. “Would you three mind going into the kitchen to make us some tea?”

  “Not at all, we’ll be back in a flash.” My bestie is all over it, ushering Candy and Sabin out with her.

  “Mom, Dad, you’d better have a seat. I have a lot to tell you . . .”

  By the time the warlocks burst through the front door an hour later, I’ve caught my parents up on pretty much everything.

  “We’re in the dining room,” I call out and excuse myself, rushing to the front door to greet them.

  I look at my watch for the umpteenth time. Only three and a half hours left.

  “Amaya.” Forrest scoops me up, nuzzling my neck. “What’s going on?”

  I shake my head. “We don’t have a lot of time but I’d like to introduce you to my parents first. All of you.”

  Jules enters the atrium with Stan and Isla. I nod thanks to my friend and she beams. Poor Jules, she’s been through the wringer. It’s a wonder she’s still talking to me, let alone helping.

  Mom wears a massive smile as she shakes the hands of each warlock. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for taking care of our daughter.”

  “You’re welcome, ma’am, but it really is quite the opposite,” Arch says. “She’s the one who’s taken care of us.”

  “Well, you gave her a place to live, that’s not bupkis,” says Dad.

  “Dad.” I punch him on the shoulder. “No need to pull out your Yiddish.”

  The brothers look between me and my parents nervously.

  “I’ve told them everything, no need for concern.” I smile up at them.

  “Everything?” asks Cedar.

  My face heats uncomfortably and I’m glad my coloring hides most of it.

  “What Cedar means,” says Bodhi, “is Siobhan. Did you tell them about
your offer?”

  “I didn’t!” In all my excitement to explain my synergist powers, Tara and my five men, I totally forgot about my up-and-coming singing career. I also didn’t mention that my relationship with the five of them may only be temporary because, well, no need to worry them, and no need to admit this possibility aloud. As if speaking it could somehow make it come true.

  Dad and Mom look at me quizzically.

  “Amaya got an agent,” Jules blurts out.

  “An agent? For what?” Dad claps his hands together.

  “For her singing,” says Jules.

  “Because her operatic talents far outweigh those of her competitors.” Forrest’s chest puffs out.

  “Oh darling.” Mom scoops me up in a hug.

  “We’re so proud of you.” Dad throws himself on the hug as well.

  “Jill of all . . . basically, there’s nothing she can’t do,” adds Jules.

  “Not if she sets her mind on it,” says Arch.

  When my parents finally stop hugging me, I glance at my watch again.

  “Go do whatever you need to, sweetie, we’ll be here for a while,” says dad.

  “We have a wing for you,” says Bodhi. “Candy?” He raises his voice and a moment later the woman appears with Sabin at her side. “Can you show the Reynolds to their wing?”

  “Yes, of course, right this way.” Candy motions for them to follow. Sabin kisses her cheek as she walks past him.

  “Jules?” Mom stops halfway across the atrium. “Would you mind coming with us? We’d love to keep visiting and hear all about what you’ve been up to.”

  My BFF looks at me, eyebrows raised, and I throw her a smile. “Have fun.”

  She nods, following Candy and my parents up the far stairway and into the back of the house.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The four warlocks and Sabin turn to me. “Whatcha need?” asks Arch. “Name it, we’re all here for you.”

  “Thank you. We need to get to the spell room and get back to Tara.”

  “All of us?” asks Bodhi.

  “At least two of you and Sabin for sure. And we need to figure out how to do it without any help from the magical horn or Betty or,” I pat my stomach, “anything really.”

  “We’ll go set up. Have you eaten? Maybe you should grab a bite and meet us up there,” says Cedar.

  I am hungry. “Okay, five minutes.” I rush into the kitchen, not realizing that Forrest has followed me until I’m done rifling through the fridge. When I turn around with an arm full of quick eats, Forrest saunters over and takes them from me, placing each item on the counter.

  “I missed you,” he growls.

  “I missed you too.”

  Leaning down, he presses his lips against mine and I press back. My brain assures me that there’s no harm in taking thirty seconds to calm my nervous system with a kiss. And what a delicious kiss it is. All-consuming and deep, reaching down into my soul and twisting my heart into a delectable knot. Pressing my body into him, I devour the warmth of his soft lips and stifle a giggle at the light, lovely scratch of his invisible beard. The man is a dream made reality and I’m the luckiest woman in the world. All five men see me for who I really am and love me just the same. He breaks the kiss and I stumble back but he holds on to me, his eyes darting to the counter. Smiling, he takes all the food out of their plastic wraps and whips up a veggie sandwich. “Here you go, lover.”

  “Thank you,” I say, my mouth already full.

  “Shall we?” He motions to the door and I hold his glassy-eyed stare. Taking my empty hand, he nudges me out and up the staircase that leads to the spell room.

  Once inside, sandwich finished, I sit down at the table to stay out of the way while Bodhi finishes collecting everything and casts a circle. Sabin sits between me and Forrest. We all clasp hands, I envision Tara, and . . . nothing happens.

  “Relax,” Bodhi suggests as I peek at my watch again.

  “You’re right. We have two hours left. That’s plenty of time.” If I say it enough, maybe my shaking hands will even start to believe it. “Can you guys go get your elements and your saplings?”

  Cedar leaps up, collects everything and puts each element and seedling down on the table in front of each warlock. Bodhi recasts the circle and we try again.

  I slow my breathing, picture Tara, call in all my senses. The temperature in the room shifts. Slightly. I keep my focus, holding on to the elements of Tara, but the temperature shifts back.

  Arch squeezes my hand and whispers, “You’re doing great.”

  It’s sweet of him to say but no, I’m really not. I squeeze my eyes tighter and concentrate as hard as I can.

  “I’m going to try singing.” I clear my throat and the men sit up straighter, clutching hands again as I belt out the Queen of the Night’s aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

  Everyone leans forward with looks of rapture, and although I enjoy the attention, it’s still not working. I finish and bite back my frustration.

  At least fifteen minutes passes and we’re still in the damn spell room. I open my eyes, let go of Arch and Bodhi and slump down on my cushion. Talk about stage fright. I’d rather be singing opening night at the Met right now, and that’s saying something, considering just days ago I cowered at the thought of performing for anyone but Jules.

  “You’re too tense,” says Arch.

  That’s putting it mildly. “Yeah, I’m nervous. This has to work.”

  “What if we work on relaxing you a little?” Arch gets a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

  “Like how? You’re going to give me a full-body massage?”

  “Sure.” Bodhi jumps up, blows out the candles and moves them off the table.

  Sabin shifts uncomfortably by the window and clears his throat.

  Oops, we forgot he was here for a sec.

  “Sorry, man.” Arch looks anything but.

  What now? We need Sabin in Tara for Azotar’s unbinding.

  “I have an idea,” the sylph leader says. “I’ll let the five of you figure this out without me and once you’re there,” he looks at each brother in turn, “and your powers are working, someone can bring me back over.” He turns to Bodhi. “It’ll have to be you. Use your elemental magic.” He shrugs. “You’re air and basically so am I, in Tara.” Sabin’s grin shows off his boyish charm.

  “That’s pretty damn clever, but what if that doesn’t work?” I worry my hands. “Maybe you should stay.”

  Sabin grimaces. “I can’t.” He looks around. “I’m pretty sure that your means of travel warrants just the five of you. It has something to do with the way you’re interconnected. I’m the interloper here.”

  He does have a point. “But we absolutely need you, in Tara.”

  He brushes a strand of silken white hair off his forehead and purses his lips. “Look, I’m from Tara. All I need is a thread. I’ll wait here in the spell room. Worst-case scenario, you’ll have to planeswalk back again for me.” He grins but I can’t return his optimism.

  “He’s right.” Bodhi’s voice is low but firm. “You can come back for him if need be. You’re the synergist, baby.”

  That I am, and my watch says we’re very close to running out of time. “Okay, let’s do this.” I walk over to the door and open it, ushering Sabin out. “As soon as we’re gone, you get your ass back in here, and if that horn turns up—”

  “You got it boss lady,” he calls over his shoulder as I close the door.

  The four warlocks get busy. In a manner of minutes the round wooden spell table is cleared. Forrest lays down a sheepskin rug that usually lives on a chair in the corner.

  “Climb on, princess.” His voice is warm with a hint of excitement.

  This is crazy, but no more crazy than everything else in these mixed-up worlds of ours. I put a knee on the table.

  “Wait,” says Arch. “Take your clothes off so we can give you a proper massage.”

  I giggle. “Really?”

  “Really.”
Arch juts his chin out and I laugh.

  Well at least it’ll take my mind off things.

  Cedar moves behind me and slowly pulls my blouse up and over my head.

  Someone gasps.

  “You’re so beautiful,” sighs Bodhi. “It seems like forever since I’ve seen you naked.” He kneels before me and unbuttons my jeans, his movements painstakingly slow. With each button he leans forward to press a kiss to the exposed patch of bare skin.

  My knees grow weak and Arch moves behind me to support me with his weight. He pulls me into his hard body and I lean my head back onto his chest. Bodhi helps me shimmy out of my jeans as Arch lifts me up so they can clear my feet. I keep my eyes closed as someone unclips and removes my bra and another one of my men removes my panties. Someone lifts my legs while Arch lifts me from behind and the men place me face up on top of the soft sheepskin rug that covers the rough wooden table.

  I lose myself to the sensations while one man rubs my legs and another rubs my arms. Arch leans down to kiss me—I know it’s him from the tickle of his long beard—and I sigh into his mouth and let someone else widen my legs. This massage has quickly turned into an Amaya gangbang, but I don’t care. I let myself go, lost to the lust and sensations as one man tongues my pussy and another rubs my feet.

  Someone tugs on one nipple while someone else kneads the other nipple. My body is covered with kisses, lifted up, touched, pampered, pleased. There are so many sensations at once that instead of focusing on any particular one, I slide past all of them and into a sort of oblivion. When the feelings build and pulse, I reach my hands out to touch my men, finding that they, too, are naked.

  “I want to feel someone inside me,” I groan and within a minute, someone’s slipped in. I keep my eyes shut because it doesn’t matter who is doing what, we are all one in the here and now. I point to my mouth, opening it and one of my hot men puts his cock in me. I hold out both hands and make a grabbing motion until I feel a cock in each one. Some deep part of my brain is screaming about time and timing but the lust overtakes me. We pump in unison. My pussy. My mouth. My two hands. My own orgasm builds and I feel weightless. The sheepskin rug is no longer soft under my back. The temperature in the room shifts and fluctuates, getting colder, and wind sails down my bare back.