“It’s been twenty years since…” I let the rest of the sentence fade as reality sunk in.
Except for the day Arún died—and that trip had been as a favor to Woe and Jason, it had been over twenty years since I had been out of the Cavern. It was hard to believe, and a part of me wanted to contemplate how I’d let so much time pass.
What had I been doing for twenty years? Chess… And what else? Sitting in a chair waiting for death? What a lousy excuse of a man I’d become.
I glanced at Mara. However she had accomplished it, perhaps I owed her a debt of gratitude. She might not be worth trusting, but she’d given me a reason to do something.
Jason glared at me and cleared his throat. Back to it.
I went on, “I visited the New Haven Fair in 1939. Were those your ships? They were marvelous.”
Trylon’s mouth spread to reveal a double row of pointed incisors, sharpened to ivory spires. The effect was an improvement but not exactly a friendly one. Even better, he tucked the energy pistol back beneath his loincloth, and allowed Jason back to his feet.
“Indeed. Not many are old enough to remember that Fair,” Trylon said.
Mara squinted up at them. “Where are you from?” Her eyes widened when she realized she’d asked the question out loud. “I never thought to ask before,” she stammered.
Trylon shook his head. “We don’t come from a specific place. Not in the way you mean, Miss Mara. We’re reality jumpers. We move from alternate ‘verse to alternate ‘verse until we find one we like.” For long moments, he studied our misfit trio.
“Will you be responsible for him?” Trylon waved toward Jason and pinned me with a direct gaze, as though trying to impress upon me the somber weight of the task into my brain.
“I will be the responsible party.” We may yet make it in.
I tossed a sidelong glance toward Jason, and he muttered something about “his screaming knees” under his breath.
“Guess that really does make me the boss.” If he didn’t like my humor back in the office, he probably wouldn’t like it now.
He squared his shoulders. “Don’t bet on it.”
“What about the bounty?” I asked.
Trylon considered Jason. “It won’t be a problem in there. Jaru Jumpers don’t make a habit of making their bounties public throughout the worlds and realms. We know about it, but no other being will.”
I clicked my tongue. “You’re the only two?”
“We are, Mr. Lev,” Persiphere said. “Please step forward to complete your paperwork.”
At least it was a small measure of reassurance. I wouldn’t partake in making another scene. Since Mara’s arrival, he’d been intolerable. I wasn’t stupid, and he could trust me a little. I had to see what Mara had. I’d have strolled into the depths of hell for a piece of my son’s life or a clue to where he was.
Everything settled, the hyena brothers took down our names and physical descriptions for their forms. Since I couldn’t read their hieroglyphs, I didn’t ask to review their notes. Besides, I probably wouldn’t want to read what they’d marked down about Jason.
They conducted an admission interview, including questions about the reasons for our visit and the baggage we carried. At last, they opened a drawer and dropped badges around our necks. For everyone else, varying black marks had been scratched onto white paper and slipped into plastic sleeves—a bit like old press passes. Mine was similar, but the paper was bright red.
“There,” said Perisphere. He tapped my tag. “This marks you as the responsible party. Everyone in there will know.” He jerked his snout toward Jason.
“Watch him. If he gets into trouble, they won’t go easy on visitors.” Trylon stood nearby with his arms crossed like a petulant child.
“Understood,” I said. Without thinking, I reached for Mara’s hand, wanting to feel her beside me again.
What had I done? She hadn’t earned that sort of trust.
I kept my arm extended, a smile plastered on my lips as a tremble washed over me. My emotions warred, and my thoughts reeled in confusion. Surely Mara wouldn’t reciprocate. It was too soon.
To my surprise, Mara came to me without hesitation and placed her hand in mine. When I brushed my thumb across the back of her hand, my knees threatened to buckle. Besides the occasional, platonic hug from Woe, I had not had skin-on-skin contact with anyone in…
I don’t know how long.
Too long, and I reacted like a starved man as desires flooded my thoughts. She might be a threat. No, she had to be dangerous. But even thinking those words to myself made my skin tingle. She appealed to me in ways that I had forgotten existed.
I tried to concentrate on Anne, but I couldn’t recall her face.
My throat dried, and I stumbled. I struggled to maintain composure. I couldn’t recall my wife’s face. Only Mara’s.
Too fast. Much too fast. My heart ripped in two, but I plastered a smile on my mouth.
“Go ahead,” Perisphere said, waving us past their small table.
As we moved through the gateway, we broke through the surface tension of the adjacent reality, and it felt like slipping into a lake, but without the liquid. The border moved over us, and then we were in, and the sensations disappeared.
Perisphere closed the door behind us. “Enjoy your stay on Unseen Street,” he said.
Mara tucked herself against me, burrowing against my woolen top coat.
Fighting the urge to twist away from her, I placed my arm around her. I couldn’t put my finger on the purpose of Mara’s masquerade, but I needed the information she had, and I had to see the toy. No reason to muddy the transaction with prematurely hurt feelings.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trembling. “It’s always a bit odd to me. The change from one realm to another. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not a problem,” I said, letting her snuggle against me.
At that moment, I didn’t know Mara’s intentions. A part of me didn’t care. I was thirsty for something more than friendship, and Mara was the first woman to know me by name since Anne. That alone made her dangerous.
Jason glared at us. “Lev,” he said. The single syllable came out slightly strangled.
I shrugged. Surely, he didn’t believe Mara had pulled the wool over my eyes. “Ready to continue?”
“Let’s get it over with.” Jason sulked beside us.
“It’s not far from here,” she said. Her cheer sounded forced.
At that, we moved from the darkness of the dimly lit subway station into a brightly lit world. As our eyes adjusted to the change, Jason said something under his breath, and I shook my head at him, blinking slowly.
“We need Mara’s piece of the puzzle, Jason, and I’m determined to get it. I don’t care how you feel about it.” I gave Mara an encouraging smile. Surely that would earn me trust points with her.
I didn’t usually speak to Jason that way. His eyes widened, but I didn’t press my point further. I only needed enough to make Mara believe I had bought her story—hook, line, and sinker.
She beamed back at me, slipped out from under my arm, and moved to the front of our little trio. With Mara in the lead, we hurried ahead.
At the end of the street, the wind howled around the corner, gusting into my coat, sending a chill through to my bones. It was at odds with the sunshine-drenched skies.
We took the next right onto an empty lane.
Her presence was too convenient. By her account, she’d shown up at the behest of a shifter that had tried to kill Woe but had killed Woe’s husband instead. We couldn’t yet know the truth. We needed to meet with the shifter to verify Mara’s story. Until then, she was more than a risk.
The streets were mostly empty, and our footsteps echoed off the buildings.
Considering Mara, I found myself appreciating the soft curves of her body, hurrying ahead of us. The sway of her hips stirred fantasies that I hadn’t entertained in quite some time.
Even so, the first moment I stared into her eyes, so
mething about her called to the protector in me. I wasn’t sure what had pushed her so far from safety that she had become a shrinking violet. She was a damsel that needed saving, and I wanted to be the white whale to do it. And the urge surprised me.
“Did you see that?” Jason interrupted my reverie.
I shook my head. “What was it?”
Jason’s mouth pinched. “Tell you later.”
“Good or bad?”
“Definitely not good.”
Mara dropped back to stroll next to me. “It’s around the next corner, past the geyser-fountain.”
“Understood,” I said, not in the mood to talk more.
Whales were creatures of habit. The shifter side of me hadn’t changed that. When I had an impulse, I followed it, they came so rarely. There had only been one other who had inspired me to live a life as a man, loving and protecting his woman. I could feel the same stirrings in depths I hadn’t explored since I’d lost Anne by losing myself to the waves. I wouldn’t turn away from the squall that might come. It might turn me to a cad, but I was determined to enjoy Mara’s company as long as I could.
I haven’t had a reckless impulse in decades. A smirk settled on my lips. Well, besides my cigars. Mara shimmied closer, and I leaned closer to her, a rumble of satisfaction shaking my belly. If I could get her to believe I trusted her, perhaps she would let something slip.
As we walked, I admired her profile, the arch of her eyebrow, the curve of her full mouth, and the way her tongue teased her bottom lip when she was nervous.
Her irises had turned more gray than blue, and I was trapped in the shimmer of emotions that had no words.
She noticed my scrutiny and gave sheepish grin, turning her face toward me. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” I barked, struggling to reconcile my concern about her intentions with my overwhelming desire to protect her from the evil in the world.
She leaned away from me.
“It’s nothing,” I repeated, more softly the second time.
Things were moving too fast. Much too fast.
Yet I needed her to trust me. I had to balance on the edge between friendliness and wariness. Lying wasn’t a skill I honed. Even to Anne, I just never spoke of my life before her, my existence beneath the waves.
She relaxed into me once more, her body even more distracting than before. I made a mental note to ask Jason if he smelled any magic on her. Perhaps that would lead to what we needed to know about Mara.
Though, if I were honest with myself, I found I rather liked the idea of a woman at my side and a new impulse or two…
If only Mara wasn’t the lying siren, leading us to our doom.
11
Into the Trap
Mara
Jason fumed. Anger rolled off him in waves.
As we went on, he slowed his pace until he walked half a block behind us. His scrutiny sent prickles of unease up and down my spine, a million little needles became a million little voices reminding me that I chose to be a liar.
Clouds drifted over, and a handful of otherworldly creatures strolled on the street.
Lev remained beside me. His gaze strayed to me over and over, but his expression gave nothing away.
“What is it?” I asked, finally, nerves making my voice shake.
Lev didn’t answer but retrieved a cigar from an interior pocket of his jacket. He tucked it into the corner of his mouth, lit it, then turned back to nod at Jason.
Casting repetitive glances from Jason to Lev, I frowned. “What’s going on?”
Lev took a deep puff and then released the smoke.
“The space that silence makes can sometimes reveal a person’s intent.” His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “What’s yours, Mara?”
“I want to help you find your family.” The words tumbled out in one stream.
“I don’t believe you are who you say you are.”
The words brought me up short, and I whirled to glare at Jason behind us. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Oh, nothing so simple,” Lev rumbled. “We’ll stay the course and follow the current through to the end.” He flicked ashes from his cigar.
Jason started toward us, but Lev shook his head and raised a hand. Jason crossed his arms but remained in place.
Lev tucked the cigar between his index finger and middle finger on his right hand and used it to point at me. “Jason doesn’t think I’ve figured it out.”
My knees almost buckled. Bluff. Bluff. Bluff. “Figured out what?”
“That you’re not what you seem.”
I put my hands on my hips, hoping he couldn’t see my trembling. The anklet didn’t buzz. Maybe it didn’t have a microphone on it. Or maybe the buildings on the street interfered. I wouldn’t move an inch.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Then what am I?”
He took another puff on his cigar, sending a sweet-scented cloud swirling around us. “Oh, I don’t know the answer to that yet. But you’re definitely a somebody up to something.” He paused. “Mara probably isn’t even your real name.”
I blanched. Spots danced in my vision. I took a step to the side, trying to put space between us, to catch my balance. He knew. He didn’t know anything specific, but he knew I lied. I had to complete my task. I had to. My anklet hadn’t shocked me, so the boss couldn’t know that they knew. Or she didn’t care.
I bit my bottom lip. That left getting them to the apartment. That’s all I had to do. The rest didn’t matter. I couldn’t let it.
“You okay over there?” Jason yelled. The sound caught the attention of a half-turned werewolf, and he nodded at Jason. Jason nodded back.
I considered the odd exchange. Weres stuck to their own kind.
“Fine,” Lev called back and started forward again.
I followed. Lev had control of the situation. I didn’t think they could murder me in Unseen Street. Not after the fiasco at the entrance, but it wouldn’t stop them from taking me back to New Haven. I didn’t know what they could do to me.
I turned back to Lev. “What do we do now?”
“We keep going.”
“We keep going?” I echoed. “Why would you do that?”
“To see where we end up. To see if you actually have a clue about my family. It would be the first I’ve had in over one hundred fifty years.”
One hundred fifty years. I couldn’t imagine living without knowledge of my family for that long. It broke my heart. No wonder Lev meant to follow it to the end. Tears clouded my vision. If there were any other way out of the mess, I’d take it.
For a moment, three sets of footsteps were the only sound on the street.
“You must love your family very much,” I said.
“I love them more than anything in any realm, and I would do anything for them.” He cleared his throat and toss the cigar away. “But you needed to know that I am aware of your dishonesty.” He gestured down the street. “So whatever you have planned won’t be a surprise.”
I swallowed, sorting through something to say. Anything.
I laid my hand on his forearm and pulled him to a stop.
Lev’s gaze narrowed and anger flashed in his eyes.
“Mara is my real name, Lev,” I said. “I didn’t lie about that.”
“Mara is a lovely name.” He took a deep breath, and a hardness around his eyes softened.
I lowered my hand.
He leaned closer.
I didn’t move away.
“It’s as though Anne stares at me through your eyes,” he whispered.
“Lev, I can’t…”
His expression hardened once more, and his voice turned gruff. “Let’s get this over with.”
12
A Child Shall Lead Her
Woe
New Haven City
The neighborhood surrounding the church was mostly deserted at night. A rat screeched in the alleyway to my right, and the sound echoed in the empty streets.
Expensive hookers and dealers kept thei
r distance from Jason. I adjusted my belt, glad I had restocked the pockets and pouches last week. Storming out on Vic hadn’t left me much time for that. I had smoke bombs, sedative darts, night-vision goggles, and a variety of other items that she’d made for me. And I still carried Jason’s flashlight.
Street lamps lit the night, brightening thoroughfares, but leaving the shadows to collect in corners and alleys like water running off after a rain.
Something clattered, in the general direction of where the rat noise had come from. The flashlight slipped from my utility belt, and the beam illuminated the alley, glad the churning in my stomach hadn’t returned.
If the mix were the same, it would take almost twenty-four hours for the fizz-tonic to wear off. I would be able to hunt all night. A cat meowed and darted out from beneath a dumpster before disappearing in the shadows once again. Seeing nothing else out of the ordinary, I switched the light off and dropped the light back into place.
I had been pacing the streets around the church for hours. After Vic’s words, I was taking it easy, but I couldn’t stay inside the church either. My footsteps ate away the pavement as I crisscrossed the borough. Maybe I could find something good to take my mind off my turmoil.
Ziva. I had to meet her mother.
Ziva’s smiling face bloomed in my thoughts. The kid had a grin that rivaled the sun. I hadn’t seen her for a few days, and I was supposed to be her mentor. Yet, she always managed to cheer me up.
Innocence was worth protecting, and good still graced the earth.
Ziva had kept me anchored in that truth.
Once to the door of the rundown apartment, I introduced myself to her mother and asked to be Ziva’s mentor.
Through the links in the chain lock, Ziva’s mother looked me over.
“Did the school send you?” her mother asked, her face pressed between the door jam and the door.
“Yes,” I said. It had been the first lie to part my lips as a mortal. It slipped out so easily that I almost believed it myself. “We’d like Ziva to participate in a mentorship program.”
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