What do I do, Nanshe? Just tell me what to do.
“I can't tell you. The rules.”
Those fucking rules were going to kill them.
“I think we only have one option,” Lennox offered. “You should let the Chaos in. Maybe if you communicate with it and share your emotions, your feelings, you might be able to affect it like you did when you were enraged and vice versa.”
“I'm not going to give Chaos free rein over my fucking mind again. The last time I did that, I was lost.”
“But now you're not alone. You're not going through this by yourself. Kalinda may be the strongest mage in Encantado—hell, maybe even the world—but I am not too far from her. If I am here to assist and ground you, and now she is by your side, the one who has control over Chaos, we may be able to filter through and get to the bottom of this. Obviously, Nanshe knows what the King of History means, but it's important because she cannot explain it to you. All magic has rules, and mages are used to dealing with those rules more than other paranormal creatures.”
“You're talking about gambling with my life.”
“No, what I'm asking you to do is trust us. Magic is our life. If this is important, and it's something we need to face with the threat directed at Encantado, then as one of its residents and one of its protectors, you should be doing everything that you can.”
“Fuck you, Lennox. You go into it.”
Teague stepped forward. “We can argue about this later. For now, let's just get Asherah. If we get everyone together and Carlo is back in Encantado where he feels safer, we can have this discussion. For now, drop it.”
The demand in Teague's voice grated on Carlo’s nerves, but he could not deny the Fae had a good idea. “Fine. We table this conversation until we're back in Encantado. Nanshe, you said you had some sort of idea of where Asherah might be. Where is that?”
“I don't have an idea. I know exactly where she is. That buzzing you all must have heard earlier was a message to me from one of the other Norns.”
“Skuld?”
“No, the best one of us all. The Present.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You made it; this is good. Wasn’t sure how that was going to go. But hey, you did it.”
Carlo lifted one brow. The woman standing in the middle of a mishmash of furniture put her hands on her hips.
Smiling, she swung ruby-red hair—or maybe he should call it blood hair because it was wet and looked sort of like running blood with gold highlights—over her shoulder. As tall as Nanshe, but more waif-like with slender hips, this woman had gold horns around her ears. She wore … what the fuck was that? White MC Hammer pants, black genie shoes, and a vibrant green tank top that looked like it was made of … grass?
Nanshe slipped forward and pulled Ms. I Don’t Know Fashion into her arms. “Hey, Verdandi. How’s it hanging?”
“Hey buuuudy.”
Carlo blinked. When did Pauly Shore make it to the In Between? “Nanshe, why are you talking like that?”
“Sorry, but it’s the best way I can connect with her. Get to her level, so to speak.” She turned to Verdandi. “This is Carlo,” Nanshe introduced.
“Wassssssuuuuuuup, Chaos!”
Carlo cringed. He’d hated that fad. “Hello, Verdandi.”
“With the white hair is Lennox, the Unseelie with the green flecks–”
“Oh, look at the bird!”
Carlo tried as best he could to understand what the hell this woman was talking about. He looked to Lennox for help, but the mage only shook his head. Kallan and Teague weren’t doing any better.
“Focus, Verdandi.”
“Yes, yes. I see the hot one there, the one who loved the Ales but couldn’t keep her. It’s fine, son, she was never meant to be yours. The one who is will blow you away.”
Lennox jerked. “You know who she is? Tell me, please.”
Verdandi blinked. “Who are you?”
Carlo groaned. “We have a Dory.”
“Hey, Mr. Grumpy Gills–”
“Verdandi,” Nanshe interrupted. “Please. In this present, at this moment.”
“Why? I see them all and they all see me. The one with green in his eyes is Kallan, the one whose family called the river home and he can control the ‘river’ of magic. He’s a Duke or something, you know? Really removed from the Unseelie throne, of course, but you can’t take away good breeding.”
Kallan was going to have to close his mouth with his hand if his jaw hung any farther down. “How could you even know that?”
“Because I’m awesome, duh. And you, pretty purple eyes. It was a good thing they took the sword from you and gave it to Eiravel. Don’t be too upset. Your voice will change the world. Or was that Michael Jackson who was supposed to? Eh, whatever,” she added with a shrug. “I do know you were never meant to hold a sword. Singing is much better. Makes your head go bibbidy bob– Oops, can’t say that. Copyright.”
Carlo gaped at Verdandi. Michael Jackson? Copyright? This woman is certifiable.
Teague, unlike Kallan, didn’t say anything at her revelation. Instead, he went pale and stepped backward.
“Verdandi!”
“Okay, okay, Urd. Spoilsport. I like the name change. I think I’ll use it. Nanshe. Welcome to Nanshe Tower, everyone.”
Nanshe shook her head, tossing an apologetic smile to them. “Your tower is Changeling, Norn of What Is.”
Carlo swallowed. This was the Norn of the Present? This flighty, flaky, dressed-like-a-teen-from-the-90s, um, Norn? He’d expected someone much different after meeting Nanshe and Skuld. He supposed it sort of made more sense of the stuff around her. It was like she’d stuffed her place with everything that may have been a fad at one time. She was not locked into the elegant past like Nanshe, or the vicious, dangerous future like Skuld.
“I changed that name to Wild Thing, like, forever ago.”
Carlo laughed, getting the movie reference. “Angel movie?”
Verdandi smiled brightly. “That’s why you’re my brother.”
“As in, your friend?”
The Norn frowned. “No, I would have said that word. I meant brother.”
Nanshe stepped in front of Carlo. “We need Asherah. Why did you bring her here?”
“Asherah?”
“The Seelie Princess?”
“Oh, her. I forgot about taking her. Now, why did I?”
This was insane. This Norn was crazy. He shook off whatever she meant by calling him “brother” because she was obviously out of her head.
With infinite patience, Nanshe took Verdandi’s arm and walked her over to a golden chaise and sat them down. She flicked Verdandi’s horn. “Listen and recall.”
Verdandi sighed. “Thank you, Nanshe. I forget to block the present. It’s always changing, and it’s … distracting.”
Nanshe looked to the men. “We all hear our time frames through our horns, but Verdandi has it the hardest. The present keeps moving constantly, changing like a thought.”
“It’s like ADD, ADHD, and then add some super high-power sugar—the fructose type.”
Yeah, Carlo understood all of that, barely. “Okay. So you have to remind yourself not to always listen to the pull of the present. I understand that.”
“But sometimes you have to put your behind in your past. Wait. That isn’t right. Uh, you have to put your past in your behind. Dammit, what did that warthog say?”
“I think you’re looking for what the meerkat said. You’ve got to put your past behind you.”
“Yes!” Verdandi shot to her feet. “That’s exactly it, Chaos—er, Carlo. That’s why I took Asherah. It’s all about behinds and pasts, you understand.”
No, he didn’t. But the mention of Asherah made Kallan and Teague shake out of their confused stupors and pay attention.
“Where is Asherah?”
Carlo couldn’t fault Kallan for jumping in immediately. Teague was at his back, protectively. The two of them were pretty similar to how Cynes and
Eiravel moved without their twin relationship.
“You reached the line of ‘I’ve already answered that question.’ Leave a message after the beep … beeeeeeeeep.”
Nanshe grimaced, and Carlo curled his fingers to keep from strangling the Present Norn. “You said you took her, not where she was.”
“Where who was?”
Carlo counted to ten. “Asherah, the Fae Princess.”
“Oh yes, the one who would have been a Fury, but then it disappeared. She likes to sleep, a lot. What sort of sleepy girl can use her magic? Like, I’d be blasting away at the Hollows closing in.”
“Hollows?” Kallan’s bellow shook items in the room.
“Hollows are–”
“We know what they are, Verdandi. Why are they closing in on Asherah?”
“They aren’t. Well, they were, but she’s safe now. Sleeping in the bed. My bed. Oh! My sheets are like, 3,000 thread count. Want to touch them?”
“Yes, that would be lovely,” Carlo answered before anyone else could say anything.
“Awesome. There’s this hot chick sleeping there right now, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”
There was no way they’d get any answers out of her, so they’d have to just get to Asherah and see what she knew.
If anything.
The present was by far the worst …
Verdandi's room was much like the rest of her home, a mishmash of random items from all different timelines. She had a large California king bed raised high off the ground. It looked like she was confused about what she liked more because the bed was tethered to the ceiling and hovered like a hammock, but there were platform stairs below it, so it also rested on the ground. Carlo shook his head, not truly understanding what that was about but deciding he wasn't even going to attempt to ask the Present Norn.
The rest of the room was covered in posters and artwork from different eras. Even what looked like a replica of the Mona Lisa sat right next to a tour poster from BTS. He shook his head, freaking out that he even recognized the group. It might be because one of the members was a paranormal, but he wasn't going to share which one.
One by one, the group rushed up the platform stairs to find Asherah resting in the center of the bed in the status Kallan and Teague had described earlier. The two Fae ran to her side and stood sentinel at the edge of the bed. Ash had surrounded herself with what looked like a bubble of water that protected her from anyone on the outside, and her dress of seafoam and Caribbean-blue fluttered in the contained waves.
“Well, at least she is safe,” Kallan whispered, bowing his head. “She did what Heath thought she would do and put herself in the protective sphere. We can be happy for that and know she's okay.”
“Yeah,” Teague added, “but now we're going to have to figure out how to get her out of it. The only one who could do that before was Heath. He somehow connected to her when she was sleeping.” He looked over at Carlo. “She sort of astral projects to him, and they can communicate; no one else can see her, but he can. Right now, there’s no way we could have him tell her we're here and to wake up.”
“Well, that's where I come in,” Verdandi said, coming deeper into the room. “All it takes is a little bit of trouble, your finger spinning around three times, and then jumping up on one leg. Then you gotta bounce on your butt. Oh wait, I think that's actually the friend dance, maybe. Or did that go with the campfire song, or maybe it was something about knowing how to blow the perfect bubble. Whatever. Yeah, we see she's in a bubble. Let's pop her out of it.”
Carlo groaned, once again relegating to have to deal with Verdandi's expertise, and not knowing how to keep up. Once more, Nanshe leaned over and plucked the horn wrapped around Verdandi's left ear, and she shivered before her face settled into more serious lines.
“Thank you again, sister. I'm back. The way to get her out of status is very simple. She needs to know we're here. Good thing you have me. I can sort of be in more than one place at a time. Give me just a moment, Nanshe, if you could help me out.”
“Of course, I'm right here.” Nanshe stepped behind Verdandi and placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders as Verdandi closed her eyes and bowed her head. Carlo was sure they were getting ready to see her to use some of her power much like Nanshe had used hers to protect him and his people. Verdandi’s came across much more subtly. At first, it didn't seem like she was doing much at all until Carlo noticed a slight vibration to her body. Slowly, the vibration got stronger and stronger until he could barely make out the shape of her body, and then a sort of afterimage stepped out and away from her body. Then, another afterimage stepped out, and each one stepped forward, closer and closer to where Asherah rested on the bed.
By the time she reached Asherah’s side, there were at least ten copies of Verdandi. And the original was the only one vibrating. Suddenly, all the Verdandis moved in different directions, except for the one that stayed at Asherah’s side. One Verdandi started cleaning up the room. Another darted out the window, and a third started singing the song from that movie with the fish that forgot everything.
Each of them almost made him go crazy with trying to keep an eye on all their actions, but he forced himself to focus on the one closest to Asherah.
“Holy fuck,” Teague whispered in awe.
“What the hell is she doing?”
“Based on my understanding of magic, and the fact she's the Present, I'm thinking she is actually appearing in all the different parallels at once, trying to find the answer.”
“The answer to what?” Carlo was confused.
“Depending on which parallel she's in, or if she can reach a timeline or universe where Asherah is awake, talking to that side of her may wake her up.”
Carlo watched Lennox with new respect. Obviously, he was well-studied. “And how, exactly, do you know that?”
Lennox shrugged. “When you piss off the Ales and she doesn't know what to do with you, she sends you into the archives to study any kind of magic and what's going on. To be honest, all the Trinity Council mages are historians of magic now. We already were, but now we are hyperaware of the different ways magic interacts. Kalinda wants to find all the ways she can protect the people of Encantado. Knowing all the ins and outs of magic can then extend to how she could use her magic, along with Silva. It gives her a good chance at being a better leader, but since it was a long shot, she hasn't really told everyone what she is doing.”
Carlo nodded, understanding the need for secrecy. For now, he could simply appreciate that. One of the newest members of the Lombardi Pack had been working tirelessly to protect the city without telling anyone. He could greatly respect that in a woman.
Much like he could say his own mate was doing.
Even the thought made him catch himself. He wished he wasn't so afraid of the Chaos, wished he didn't have so many issues with what she represented. Nanshe, in so many ways, was the perfect woman for him. From her looks to her power to the softness in her, and even how she cared for Verdandi. Others would have been rightfully annoyed to even be around the Present Norn for a few minutes.
He could almost see she would have treated him the same when he had lost his mind. If he didn't have such abject terror of the Chaos, he could have been mated with her already. He shook his head, clearing those thoughts. There was no use in thinking about that right now.
Whatever Verdandi was doing had worked because the bubble of water popped suddenly, and Asherah sat up straight on the bed.
“Heath,” she whispered.
Kallan moved closer. “He's not here, but he is somewhere safe. We came to get you.”
Asherah cried out, falling into his arms and hugging him tightly. “I’m so happy you're here.”
“Of course, we would come. He would have been here himself, but he was detained by everyone else.”
Asherah rolled her eyes. “I'm sure he's going to be vicious because of that.”
“Well, it had to do more with his death causing others to die. He had to s
tay protected because of that. None of us thought about what he would have to sacrifice when he came back to Encantado. This was the first instance we came up against it.”
Asherah nodded. “Well, it's something we'll all have to deal with, but at least he has men like you two and Cynes and Eiravel to be there when he cannot be.”
Kallan and Teague nodded.
“Well, now that we can get out of here, it's only going to take one more portal to get us directly to Encantado. The quicker we relay what we know, the better.” Kallan shrugged. “We also need to see if there have been any more attacks.”
“Oh, attack. Serious like a heart attack. I had one of those one time; hurts like a bitch.”
Carlo silently counted to ten before turning to Verdandi. “I'm happy you survived your heart attack.”
She laughed. “Thanks. Oh yes, I thought I'd pass on this information. Thing 3016 found out something.”
“Thing 3016?” Carlo furrowed his brow. “What the hell?”
“Yes. You know, those multiple versions of me. Anyway, 3016 found out the Chaos is going to be really important. I don't know why it was talking about Chaos but apparently, you need to stop being a dumbass and use it.”
“What?”
“I don't know,” she added with a shrug. “I'm just saying she said the Chaos would be really important. And if you didn't use it, people are gonna die. Like … dead dead. Not like come back in The Walking Dead, but really be dead. Like, heart not beating and brain activity completely seized. You don't want to die like that; it sucks. I've felt it a couple of times. Oh, look at the bird.”
Yeah, Carlo really needed to get out of here. Now, if possible.
“Nanshe, open the portal. I don't doubt what she's saying about the Chaos is true. It's about time we get back to the rest of them and fill them in on what's going on.”
Lennox cleared his throat. “And also have you try to accept the Chaos.”
Carlo gritted his teeth. “I didn't need you to remind me of that.”
“No, I'm sure you didn't, but it bears saying.”
Mated to the Chaos (Portal City Protectors Book 5) Page 11
