by C. T. Phipps
“You were a far better survivor than I ever was. I owe you for the lessons you taught me,” Gerald said.
“You still owe me for child support,” Robyn said, pointing at him.
“Absolutely,” Gerald said, smiling. It was one of the few times I’d ever seen the vampire display such emotion.
Alex took several deep breaths and cupped his hands in prayer, or maybe he was just performing martial arts breathing exercise. I couldn’t tell which, if not both, he was doing. “I’m not sure how much help I’m going to be. I exhausted much of my power fighting the Visigoth. Still, you have every bit of my remaining strength.”
“Anyone else know anything about magical groves or supernatural hoodoo?” Robyn asked.
I looked over at Lucien.
“Not as much as he does,” Lucien said, shaking his head. “I’ll keep any surprises from following you in.”
“Thanks,” I said, giving him a thumbs up. “I’m willing to forgive for earlier.”
Lucien arched his eyebrow. “What the hell did I do wrong?”
“Ugh,” I muttered, heading to the gateway. “This is why men are going to eventually be replaced by the inexhaustible android.”
“I feel offended,” Alex muttered, standing beside Robyn.
“You will be spared when the revolution comes,” I said, pointing to him. “You and Ryan Reynolds.”
“Why not build the robots to look like Ryan Reynolds?” Robyn asked.
“Ooo,” I said, smiling. “You going to be okay with this group, Emma?”
I was hesitant about leaving Emma behind, not because I didn’t think she’d be safe with this group, but because I didn’t like going into the heart of the supernatural without my best friend. I honestly thought it might be better to take her along than Alex.
“Are you going to be okay with this group?” Emma asked, trotting up to my side on all fours.
I scratched behind her ears. “I absolutely promise not to be killed. If I am, you have the right to be upset.”
Emma growled at that.
“Who’s a good girl? Yes you are, yes you are!” I said, smiling before giving her a kiss on the snout. “Seriously, if I die, I want you to find out whomever Jones reincarnates into and eat them.”
Emma whined. “Can’t I just kill them?”
“No, I expect full digestion,” I said, pointing at her. “Eat him. Got that?”
“All right,” Emma said. “I’ll eat him…or her.”
“Good,” I said, patting her on the head.
“You know I only let you do this, right?” Emma said, grumbling.
“Absolutely.”
I turned around and took Robyn’s hand as Alex took the other. It felt right to have the three of us together and I saw events in the future with us involved.
I saw the image of us in New Detroit at some kind of mixed martial arts tournament where my brother was fighting a werewolf. The three of us were in the stands, watching him. That confused the hell out of me, because Jeremy was a mechanic.
I saw a golden-haired man wearing a yellow tracksuit staring down at the three of us in a biker bar, bodies lying across the ground, and pointing at Alex. I saw an—honest to Goddess—ninja dressed in black attacking me with a sickle chain on a rooftop. I saw Robyn kissing Lucien, which made me jealous.
I shook that image away before the three of us stepped through the gateway. We found ourselves in a forest that felt like a truer, more real version of Shadow Pine Park. The trees were larger, standing taller and wider than the ones in reality. The air was cleaner and fresher, lacking all of the traces of smog that was ever-present in the United States for those who had the nose to smell it. I saw a squirrel the size of a medium-sized dog dart past us carrying a nut along with a path lead down toward a light I could only describe as heavenly.
“Wow,” Robyn said, staring at the place. “I can feel everything.”
“Yes,” Alex said, taking a deep breath. “Plato called this the Realm of True Forms. Native Australians Dreamtime. The Cervid Clan call it the Great Forest or Underwood.”
“What do you call it?” I asked.
“Home,” Alex said, sighing. “When I was trapped in the Bedford Asylum, drugged up to my eyeballs, I learned to project myself here. It was the only way to stay sane.”
“You had a really crappy childhood,” I said, not sure how else to respond.
“There were some good times,” Alex said, pausing. “Like when my father sent me every summer to Hong Kong to study with Kim Su. Those were good times.”
That was when I heard a gun cock behind us. “Don’t move.”
I looked over at Alex. “Well, that’s unexpected. I was thinking more Aslan than getting mugged.”
“You never know,” Alex said, unconcerned.
I had a suspicion who was holding us at gunpoint. There was only one person, really, left in this sordid mess.
Robyn turned her head to look at the man behind us. “Dad?”
Okay, that was actually not whom I was expecting.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I turned around to face the man from my earlier vision, the one who’d “killed” Dr. Jones and his bodyguard on the commode (such an undignified way to die—no wonder he became a ghost). Andy Taylor was wearing the same clothes from earlier, a hoodie over a pair of thick gray Michigan Forest Ranger pants.
He was a black man in his mid-fifties with slightly graying hair as well as thick, round cheeks that reminded me a bit of Lawrence Fishburne. He had a goatee and mutton chops that looked like they belonged in the seventies. Andy Taylor was holding a gun on Alex while looking at Robyn.
Robyn stared in shock. “I didn’t want to believe it was true.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Robyn,” Andy said before a furious fit of coughing over took him, causing him to lower his gun.
I grabbed for it first and wrestled it away from him before pushing him back.
“Hey!” Robyn said, growling at me. “That’s my dad.”
“Don’t have him point a gun at me!” I snapped back.
“You’d survive,” Robyn said, looking at the weapon before frowning. “Right? I mean, unless it was silver bullets.”
“I do not want to test that theory!” I shouted.
Birds the size of puppies flew from their nests in nearby branches. Apparently our fight was disturbing the idyllic peace of the region.
Andy continued to cough before falling to his knees, Alex going to his side to help. “You’re very sick, Mr. Taylor. You should not have used the magic you have.”
Andy tried to fight him off but just waved his arm a bit in Alex’s direction. “I’ll do whatever I have to.”
“A philosophy that has caused the destruction of many a great man.” Alex put his hand on Andy’s chest before both started to glow.
Magic came from the Spirit World and was much stronger here. I could feel it in my bones, in my heart, and all throughout my body. I wondered what sorts of miracles were possible here and whether I could learn to harness that power in the real world.
No, Raguel said.
Spoilsport, I thought back to him.
“Your father is dying,” Alex said, standing up and offering his hand to the fallen park ranger. “I’m sorry.”
“What?” Robyn said, her voice cracking. “What the hell?”
Andy looked at Alex’s hand as if it was diseased before climbing up. “This doesn’t change anything.”
“We’re not here to defile the Grove,” Alex explained. “Jane is the new shaman of Bright Falls and the intermediary between the spirits as well as man. I am an enemy of Dr. Jones and am working to put a stop to the Shadow Pines Project. Peacefully, though, not through assassination.”
“Dad, what the hell is he talking about?” Robyn asked. She had lost all of her usual snark and was in full panic mode, clearly still processing the blunt pronouncements Alex had given.
“I tried nonviolent ways,” Andy said, coughing a few more times. �
��I wrote letters, I attended meetings, begged, borrowed, and stole. Nothing worked. Alice O’Henry owns this town and has the local crime boss in her pocket too. There was nothing an ordinary man could do in that sort of situation.”
“Stop ignoring me,” Robyn said, balling her fists. “What is going on?”
“He’s the Guardian of the Grove,” Alex said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “The last of the Brotherhood of the Tree, or perhaps the first of the new, depending on when he found the Dryad. He attacked Alice with the griffon and Lucien with an assassin, though I have no idea where he found her. He also killed Dr. Jones and his colleague.”
“He’s basically those guys from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” I explained to Robin. “You know, the ones with the fezzes who didn’t do much to slow the Nazis down from getting to the Holy Grail. Which, as we saw with The Ark of the Covenant, probably could protect itself. You know, Indy didn’t even need to be there in the first movie.”
“Wrong,” Alex said. “If Indy wasn’t there, Marianne would have died in Nepal.”
“Oh right,” I said, having never thought about it that way.
“Guys,” Robyn said, taking a deep breath. “Shut up, please.”
I went silent.
Huh, so that’s what that felt like.
“Dad, is this true?” Robyn asked.
Andy Taylor stood up and took a deep breath. “Yes, though I don’t know anything about a Brotherhood of the Tree. The Goddess mentioned it several times, but it’s meaningless to me. I found her when I was twenty-one and walking through this place. She showed me many things and made me her priest. I’d always loved nature and the world, felt it was divine, but it wasn’t until her I could put a face on it. She may not be God, but she’s certainly an angel.”
Not even remotely, Raguel said.
Not now, I said.
“An angel who abandoned babies to die,” Robyn said, her voice dripping with confusion and betrayal. “Her own children. Me.”
“No,” Andy said, covering his face. “It’s not like that. It was the fact I found you and took care of you that opened the Grove to me.”
“So you aren’t Robyn’s biological father,” Alex said.
Both Andy and I looked at him like he was an idiot. I mean, I loved Alex (wow, that was a bit premature) but it was pretty obvious they weren’t biologically related.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“It’s possible,” Alex said, frowning. “Unlikely, but possible. You wouldn’t think Lucien was half-Japanese or you—”
“Please stop,” I said.
“No,” Andy said, looking down. “I don’t know who her father was. She lets whomever she wants through the gate. Though, seeing as you’re here, it’s clear it also opens up for you, Robyn.”
“God, Dad, you’re a pacifist,” Robyn said, taking a step back. “Were a pacifist! Now you’re a murderer!”
“The Grove needs to be protected,” Andy said, his voice low. “The Goddess of the Forest brought you to me and later your son. I had to protect her and the other things here. Things that don’t exist in nature anymore.”
“Like the griffon you forced me to kill,” I said, looking at him. “Because I don’t think there’s many of those left, even here.”
Andy had been ignoring me for the majority of the conversation but I could tell those words struck him like a kick to the face.
“Where did you get the magical tools to work your sorcery?” Alex asked, speaking even more like a comic book character than usual. “Your body is full of residue from improper use. I don’t think that’s your doing, though. Whoever sent you the tools to bind magical creatures sent you improper instructions. Like a faulty radiation suit.”
“Don’t talk to my father like that!” Robyn said, turning her back to us. I could sympathize with her situation. She wasn’t acting that dissimilar to how I’d responded to discovering my mother was a killer.
“I can help you, Mr. Taylor,” Alex said, looking at Robyn then back to her. “I can burn out the black magic from your body and heal some of the damage.”
“You’ll be dead within the hour, otherwise,” Alex said, his voice cold.
Robyn spun around and stared.
“I—”
Alex stared at him. “You have betrayed your oath to the Earthmother. You have blasphemed and brought the taint of Hell to her holy place. You have killed the creatures under your charge. You can feel how this place rejects you. It does not reject us or your daughter. Accept our help and that you are not carrying the burden to protect this place alone or submit to pride and die a blasphemer to everything you have loved. Including your own daughter, who looks on at you in horror and confusion rather than love.”
Andy didn’t say a word for a moment. “I have been a fool.”
“No kidding!” Robyn said, staring at him. “You lied to me! All this time! You knew where I came from and you hid it from me! There were times I thought I was going insane and you pretended it was all in my head.”
Andy’s eyes were close to tears. “I did what I thought was right. If people knew what was here, what Robyn was capable of, they’d send government teams to tear it apart. To slice her open and find out what was inside of her. Even after the Reveal, people don’t know what to do with the holy.”
Or the damned, I thought, but I didn’t say that. “Yes, because her being ignorant of who she was worked out so well. What with the running away from her home, getting involved with an evil cult, and wanting to kill her mother.”
Robyn glared at me then her father. “What she said. Also, I should have been the one to say it.”
“Sorry, was just trying to move the conversation along.”
“Wow, and I thought I was rude,” Robyn muttered.
“Sorry,” I said, grimacing. “I blame the fact I’ve almost been killed like three times today.”
“Please,” Andy said, lowering her head. “Forgive me, Robyn.”
“If you let these people help you,” Robyn said, walking over to him and grabbing his hands. “They’re good people. Something I never say about anyone. Even if I want to punch the deer girl right now.”
I nodded. “It’s a fair cop.”
“All right,” Andy lowered his head. “I don’t like it, though.”
Well, in an hour it won’t matter, is what I wanted to say, but didn’t, because I have some tact.
Not much, but some.
Alex placed his hand on Andy’s chest again. “Robyn, I would like your help again.”
“This is getting irritating,” Robyn muttered.
“Don’t blame him, you’re the demigod,” I said. “Plant Wonder Woman.”
“Do you communicate entirely in pop culture?” Robyn asked. “I mean, you’re like Buffy with a side order of venison.”
“Don’t say venison,” I said, lowering my voice to dangerous levels. “Only we can use that word.”
Robyn looked slightly cheerier and put her hand in Alex’s. “This will heal my dad, right?”
“Yes,” Alex said, frowning. “Somewhat.”
There was a hint of remorse in Alex’s voice and I knew that whatever he was about to do wasn’t going to fix Robyn’s dad completely. Given Alex could cure cancer at the top of his game, that struck me as tragic, but I’d felt what it was like to be inside Andy Taylor’s body. The taint of black magic had seeped into his blood, lungs, and soul. It seemed there were no free lunches, even when there was magic involved.
This time, though, there was no scream of pain or sounds of agony from anyone in the spell. The forest seemed to respond to Alex’s request and channel energy through Robyn to Alex to Andy. All three of them glowed in unison and there was a scent of verbena in the air that burned my nostrils. After a second, Alex pulled his hand away from Andy and Robyn.
“It is done,” Alex said, taking a deep breath.
Andy took several deep breaths. “I can feel the difference. The air, the moisture against my skin, and
the spirit running through my soul are all sharper. The anger has lessened, too, though I wonder if that’s because my daughter is back.”
“So everything is cool, huh?” I said, trying to put a positive spin on things.
“We are not cool,” Robyn said, clearly searching for something harsher to say. “We are not cool at all.”
Andy lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry for lying to you, I truly am.”
“You could try apologizing for trying to kill my friends,” I replied. “Also, being an actual murderer.”
Alex cleared his throat and mentioned something about the beam in one’s own eye versus the plank.
He says you’re being a hypocrite, Raguel translated.
“Oh really?” I asked, turning to Alex. “Just because I wanted to kill Jones and killed a bunch of guys in the forest, I should ignore… Okay, yeah, actually I get what you’re saying. Forget it.”
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Robyn said, looking to Alex. “What’s going to happen now?”
“It is not my place to judge you,” Alex said, his words coming from a place of authority beyond his role as an FBI agent. “I will not protect you from the mortal authorities but I think you’ll find them less inclined to judge you than you might think—assuming they even bother to investigate the case. My brother is more reasonable than you’d imagine and has no wish to further endanger this place. Alice O’Henry? Well, pray she never discovers you were responsible rather than Dr. Jones. She is even more ruthless than her father.”
“I knew Marcus O’Henry,” Andy said, his voice low. “I thought him to be an honorable man, but everything they’ve accused him of makes me think otherwise.”
“Yeah, he hurt his kids and grandkids. Screw that guy,” I said simply.
“Where did you get the items you used?” Alex said. “You need to divest yourself of them.”
“Points for a man who uses the word ‘divest’ in a sentence,” I said.
Andy reluctantly removed a chalice from his jacket pocket. It was copper lined and made of stone, but felt wrong to look at. I could feel the unnatural energy surging from it and knew someone had decided, Oh, I know what I’m going to do today. I’m going to make a Satanic Grail. That is not something a person does unless they’re on drugs, seriously messed up, evil, or all three. He also pulled out a small Bible-sized notebook that was bound in coarse leather that I felt contained even more black magic than the Satanic Grail. Alex picked up the objects and somehow put them in the pocket of his jacket that couldn’t hold them.
