Triumph

by A L Fogerty

  “A bank?”

  “What is a bank?”

  “The place where lots of people store money,” Gloria said.

  “I doubt it would be very easy to do. We need something more subtle.”

  “Maybe I could portal into the vault. Then we would have all the money we need.” They walked fast through the parking lot toward the road.

  “Now you want to use your magic?”

  “I have a plan now," Gloria said. "If the location is close, it’s more likely to be accurate, like when we portaled out of jail.”

  “Okay. Let’s find a bank.”

  Chapter 25

  Kayla stood, squaring her shoulders. The memories of her true life wavered around the edges of her consciousness. She and Felix were mates. They belonged together. They had another life in another reality where things had gone much differently. She looked back at Felix as he began to put on his clothing. “Jagger isn’t dead. Neither are the others. This is all an illusion of a life that could have come to pass but did not.”

  “An alternate timeline.”

  “Maybe," Kayla said. "All I know is that this is not our life.”

  “How do we get back?” He joined her where she stood, the sun shining around his russet hair like a bronze halo. Since getting washed and making love with her, he looked as if he’d grown six inches in height. It was so good to see him looking well—looking like himself.

  “I’m trying to figure out how. I can’t quite remember where we were before all this started. Do you?”

  “I remember darkness… this sense of being choked… my love for you. Feelings awakening in me like never before.” Felix snapped his fingers, his eyes growing bright. “We had a mission.”

  “I feel that too. I just can’t remember what it was.” A swallow dove over the burbling creek.

  Felix’s eyes grew wide. “There was a child.”

  Kayla shook her head, turning away, the deep despair of this life descending around her like ashes from a burning building at the end of the world. “No, that was this lifetime.”

  “There are similarities. This world diverged from ours at the alpha tournament. But we do have a child. You are my mate and the mate of my brothers. We fulfilled the prophecy. The baby… something terrible happened. But you were determined to save her—we all were.”

  “Save her from what?” She turned to him, hope returning to her empty heart.

  He rubbed his chin, deep in thought, his eyes cast down at the rocky ground. “Gods, I can’t remember. Gods… wait. I do remember something. You, Kayla. You were magnificent. Angelic. Powerful like a god. You destroyed a legion of demons with a sweep of your arm.”

  She laughed, thinking it was a joke, but the expression on his face was anything but humorous. Gripping her shoulder, he gazed into her eyes.

  “You have power unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this timeline or in our true one. If you could tap into it, you might be able to bring us back.”

  “I have no idea how to do that.”

  “Just listen to your heart,” he said, placing his hand on her chest. The gesture was so genuine and true that they were both caught in the resonance of it, remaining silent for several minutes.

  Kayla took a deep breath and closed her eyes, Felix’s hand still on her heart. She searched the depths of her being for the power he had suggested she possessed. If it existed at all, it was hidden from her perception, buried so deep that it was beyond recognition.

  “It’s there, Kayla. I swear it.”

  She took another deep breath, not opening her eyes. Felix held his warm palm close to her heart, his love flowing into her like the stream flowing through the forest behind them. She tapped into his love. So tender. So true. She drank it in and let it quench the thirst of her soul.

  Using her alpha power, she swam deeper into her psyche, down in the dark where only formless, nameless shadows lingered. Dense emotions lived in this place—fear, shame, guilt, despair. She took a shuddering breath, determined not to lose her strength.

  Deeper she dove, down into the very blackest shades of memory and time that were hidden in the core of her being, removed from the outer layers of her consciousness. Finally, she stepped through the shell of her shadow into the light at the center of her soul. The light radiated so brightly that it nearly blinded her, and she almost fainted on the creek bed. Felix caught her in his arms and helped her sit.

  She remained in that deepest corner of her consciousness, in the bright light of her infinite soul. Walking softly in the blinding white world, she stepped in front of a mirror. At least, she thought it was a mirror. Before her stood herself, dressed in golden white light. The wings of an angel swayed gracefully at her back. Light glowed like a halo behind her head, and in her hand, she held the sword of truth and justice.

  Her eyes met those of the reflection. Beams of pure radiance shot through into her, and she opened her eyes, gasping. Felix held her close, but she stood in an instant. Once she was on her feet, the knowledge of her true self flooded her senses.

  She turned to Felix and then looked back at the creek. She swept out her arms to the sides, throwing her head back. Then, with the strength of her alpha magic, she clapped her hands together, releasing the source of her true power.

  As the cracking sound of her hands slapping echoed all around her, she found herself in a dark room with stone floors and walls. She heard water trickling. Her wings had emerged from her back, and her sword glowed in its scabbard.

  Looking around, she found the rest of her party lying on the stone floor as if sleeping. She bent beside Felix’s prone body and tried to shake him awake, but he did not stir. With a battle cry, she drew her sword and held it aloft. The light of truth beamed through the cave, infusing everyone in her party with its power. One by one, they began to move, slowly sitting upright and rubbing their eyes.

  Felix was the first on his feet. He stumbled toward her with awe in his eyes. “You did it,” he whispered, reaching out and taking her hand.

  “I would have been stuck there forever if it weren’t for you.”

  “What the hell was that?” Jagger grumbled, palming his head and squinting as he climbed to his feet.

  “It appears that we were in a different timeline or an alternate reality of some kind,” Felix offered.

  “I was living my worst fears,” Kayla said.

  “That’s a good way to explain it,” Quinn said, blinking in the darkness.

  “I would not want to experience that again,” said Malik, sitting with his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground.

  “We’ve lost a lot of time. I lived in my reality for two days.”

  “Same,” Jagger said.

  “Welcome to hell,” Quinn said, checking his bags.

  “We should eat and continue,” Kayla said. Hunger gnawed at her stomach.

  “What if that happens again?” Quinn asked, pulling tea from his pack.

  “At least we’ll be prepared if it does,” Kayla said. “Now, who’s got the food?”

  They sat around the campfire, sharing their stories of what had happened to them. Even Bane had been made distraught by the spell. She sent Kayla visions of a life on the run without her. Jagger’s timeline had diverged when the pack was kidnapped, but without Kayla’s help, he and his brothers went looking for their pack alone. In their attempt to infiltrate the slave auction in Dark Haven, all of his brothers were killed. Jagger lost his horse and had been wandering the forest alone for days.

  Quinn’s path had also diverged at the alpha tournament after Sid and Jagger died. He returned home with his brothers to their burned and broken village and took sick. He went mad with fever. His goddess had remained silent to him, and he'd been attacked by a band of cannibalistic humans who’d locked him in a cell, intent on eating him when their meat stores were empty.

  Riddick’s timeline had been the same as Felix’s. He’d left Mist Valley when the riders arrived from Smoke Mountain and had taken to the forest. He lived a
lone in the woods, hunting in wolf form, dodging zombies and cannibals. He survived but with a heavy heart. He’d lost three brothers and had abandoned the last. The guilt started to eat him up inside, and he was beginning to lose his will to go on.

  Malik had experienced a completely different scenario in which he'd never met the Blackfangs or Kayla. He’d never even teamed up with Willa and Mackenzie. He’d joined the dark side and participated in the black-magic masses of the elite members of Dark Haven, just as his parents had always wanted. The things he’d seen in those few days chilled him to the bone.

  “What did you do?” Felix asked, probing for specifics.

  “I’ll never speak of it,” Malik said, firelight flickering in his haunted eyes. “I knew something was wrong the whole time. I couldn’t believe I'd ever agreed to do the things they were asking me to do. But they were so casual about it, like they never would have expected me to object.” He shivered. “Thank you for bringing me back, Kayla. You saved my soul.”

  “We all did things we weren’t proud of, Malik. Don’t let it get to you.” Kayla knew it would stick with him for a long time—maybe forever. She hadn’t experienced anything close to what Malik had, but her own alternate reality would haunt her for the rest of her life.

  Chapter 26

  Sid and Gloria wandered through town, the heat of the desert sun glaring down on them.

  “Should we ask someone?” Gloria said.

  “I don’t think so. Not with how they react to things. Could be a mistake.”

  “How else will we find a bank?”

  “We’ll just have to keep looking.”

  Gloria grumbled, but Sid knew that after being misunderstood twice by the residents of hell, they should assume the worst. They’d find the bank eventually.

  “Maybe they don’t even have banks in hell,” Gloria said.

  “Everything else about this place is the same as the pre-cataclysm world. Why wouldn’t that be? They’re all obsessed with money. I’d assume they’d have signs for banks looming over the entire skyline.”

  “Have you got sun stroke again?” Gloria asked.

  Sid gave her the side-eye and looked back down the street. The glare of the sun beamed down on the pavement, bouncing back into his face. It was almost impossible to see.

  The people were hiding in the shady patches beneath umbrellas and awnings. No one walked down the street in the sun except Sid and Gloria. He was afraid they would draw attention to themselves if they stayed out there too long.

  The walk from the mall had been rough. At first, the streets were wide and the sidewalks exposed to the sun. Since they’d made it into the narrower streets with smaller businesses, Sid and Gloria had been able to duck into the shade on and off as they walked, but most of the time, they’d been absorbing the direct sunlight. It wasn’t doing either of them any favors. Gloria had grown increasingly irritable since they’d left the mall. Sid couldn’t blame her. Stan and Marla had seemed so nice at first, and they’d had a cool place to sit and drink iced tea. Now they were stuck out in the sun again, which both of them had had enough of over the last few days.

  At the end of the street, Sid saw a sign for Mirage City Bank. He pointed at it and nudged Gloria.

  “Finally,” she huffed.

  They continued to the bank and walked inside, looking around. It was cool and smelled of paper and stale air.

  “What do you think?” he asked her. He didn’t have any experience with banks, so he had no idea where the money was kept.

  “Let’s talk outside,” she said, taking him by the arm and leading him through the door. They slipped into an alley. “The money is usually kept in a vault. I have a good idea of where that is now that I’ve seen the inside of the bank.”

  “Do you think you can portal in?”

  Gloria sighed, her shoulders rising and falling. “I hope so.”

  “Do you need anything?”

  “I don’t have my wand, but I can cast using my hand. It’s slower and less accurate, but it works. We should find a place close by, where we'll be out of sight.”

  “There’s a park across the street,” Sid said, pointing at the palm trees and water fountain.

  “Hopefully, we can find somewhere in there.”

  They hurried across the street and ducked into the nature trail along the large lake. After walking for several minutes, they veered off the path and into the bushes.

  “This is good enough. I doubt anyone will see from here,” Gloria said, squaring her shoulders.

  She began to chant her spell, moving her finger in strange motions. Sid had seen Mackenzie and Willa cast spells for the last year, but it never ceased to amaze him. Quinn, Kayla, and even Jagger had their own magic, but Sid had to content himself with the power of his hands, head, and heart. A moment later, a black oval appeared before them, shimmering in a swirling void.

  “Should we both go?” Sid asked.

  “No. You wait here. I’ll be right back.” She prepared herself to walk through.

  “We don’t need much. Just enough to function in this place.”

  “Got it.” She stepped into the portal and disappeared.

  Sid stood near the portal, waiting patiently for her to return. Moments passed. His heart began to speed up. He started to pace. He didn’t know what to do if she didn’t return. The portal was still open. He wondered if he should follow her inside. He was about to step through when she popped out and crashed into him.

  He fell backward with shock, landing on his behind. Gloria laughed, her hands full of paper bills. She said a few words, and the portal closed.

  Sid sprang to his feet, excited. “You did it!”

  “I think I got enough. But we need to move. I think they're onto me.”

  “There was a bus station back near the mall.”

  “Let’s take a cab,” she said, shoving the money into her skirt.

  “What is a cab?”

  “It’s a car that will give you a ride for a fee.”

  “How do we find one of those?” Sid asked.

  “I saw one pass while we were walking. I’m sure people in this place have cellphones. We didn’t use them in Dark Haven since we had scrying bowls in most homes, but the vampires used them in their cities. They were common communication devices before the cataclysm.”

  “I’ve seen them in the homes we’ve stayed in during our travels,” Sid said.

  “If we could get our hands on a cellphone, it would be helpful navigating this place.”

  “How do you know they will work deeper in?”

  “I don’t. I just don’t want to walk back to the mall.”

  Sid snorted. He didn’t want to walk either, but Gloria was willing to go to a lot of trouble to avoid the sun.

  “Okay, we'll find a cellphone or a cab.”

  “Come on,” she said, “I saw a store back near the bank.”

  “You said they were onto you.”

  “We’ll stay out of sight.”

  They hurried down the trail leading out of the park and skirted along the perimeter between the park and the street, staying out of sight of the bank.

  “There it is,” Gloria said, pointing at the back of a building that said Mirage Mobile in pink letters.

  They skirted around the front and slipped inside. There were all kinds of blinking screens in the store, and a young man in a blue shirt greeted them with a friendly smile.

  “We need two cellphones,” Gloria said. “And a bag.”

  “I’d be happy to assist you.”

  They went through the process of setting up their phones. Sid found it disconcerting to hold a working one after so many years of seeing them dead and covered in dust. On the way out of the store, Gloria spotted a group of police cars rolling down the street. The vehicles stopped in front of the bank.

  She turned back to the store clerk. “I’m sorry, but do you have a bathroom?”

  “Um, it isn’t for customers, but I can let you use it.” He showed them a b
athroom near a rear exit.

  “I’ll be done in a minute, dear,” she said to Sid as the clerk moved back into the front of the store. As soon as the clerk had disappeared, she hurried to the rear exit and outside with Sid following her. “We need to be careful.”

  “How did you know you’d find a back way out?” he asked.

  “My parents owned a chain of magic shops in the Midwestern witch cities. They all had back exits near the bathrooms.”

  “We should go back to the park to call for a cab,” he said, cocking his head toward the park.

  “Good idea.”

  They hurried to the park and found a bench to sit on. A moment later, Gloria was calling for a cab. It would arrive in fifteen minutes.

  They sat in the shade, waiting. Sid inspected his phone, scrolling over the screen with his finger and playing with what the clerk had called apps. It was all so strange. It made him more aware than ever of what life had been like before the cataclysm.

  A cab turned the corner and moved toward them, while a single police car entered the park. Sid’s heart stopped for a minute. The cab pulled up in front of them, and they slipped inside.

  “We need to get to the bus station,” he said.

  “Right away.”

  The cab driver hurried toward the bus station, going along the same route they’d taken when they arrived in town. Sid looked out the back window and found that a police car was following them. He nudged Gloria and cocked his chin toward the back window.

  She looked back to him, anxiety etched in her face. “What should we do?”

  “Play it cool. We’re almost there.”

  The cab driver pulled up in front of the bus station, and the police car drove past. Sid and Gloria let out a collective sigh of relief. She paid the driver, and they stepped out into the fading afternoon sunlight and made their way into the station. At the ticket counter, they bought two express tickets to the coast. The next bus was leaving in over an hour, so they would have to wait.

  “There isn’t anything sooner.” The woman at the ticket counter chewed a wad of something pink, gave them an irritated look, and blew a bubble from her mouth. Sid watched in astonishment as the bubble popped with a loud crack and she sucked the remnants back into her mouth. “Next,” she said, looking around them.