by MJ Fletcher
“Well, that puts you in the minority.”
He wiped at what seemed like crimson tears from the edges of his eyes. “A place I am rather used to being.” He waved around as if to explain.
“What are you?”
“I am one of the In Betweeners.”
I’d heard the term before, when I was in school, but only in hushed tones and used as a scary story to keep students in line. “I thought that was a myth?”
“Most people also think of the Boneyard as a myth, and yet here you stand.” He pointed at the ground.
“What exactly is an In Betweener?”
“I am stuck between dimensions, forever lost with no way out. I don’t age or change or die. I am stranded with only the occasional Gremlin to keep me company.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Trust me, it could be worse.”
“I don’t see how.”
“There are many things you’ve yet to see, Chloe Masters.”
“You know me?”
“Even in the In Between, we are able to gleam through into dimensions. Your name has been whispered for some time now, though I never thought I would get a chance to meet you.”
“How is it that you are here?”
“There are weak points where I am able to cross over in this form. The Boneyard is one such place. There are others, but not many.”
“But why here, why now?”
“The Boneyard has a special pull for all Skeleton Key Guild members stuck In Between. We watch over the place and whenever someone applies to the Guild, we materialize to show them what has come before them.”
“Then guide on.”
“You know the history of the Societies and the First Kind?”
“Yes, the true First Kind was our forebearers before they went completely nuts and tried to take over the dimensions. The Old Kind, what we call ourselves, are the ones who turned against them. We tricked them and locked them away in the Accadia Dimension where they’re still stranded and timelocked.” I recited how I understood the situation and Hawk nodded along as I spoke.
“Very good, you know more than most. Many Old Kind think of that as mere Legend, but it is our history.” Hawk began walking along the stone pathway.
I followed alongside him. As he spoke wisps of crimson energy would glide off him and form images of what he was describing.
“The battle between the Old and First Kind shattered many dimensions.”
The crimson construct that floated beside him showed images of a massive battle with people pouring out of thousands of portals and attacking one another. I recognized some of the people as DS, Guilders, or Engineers. But others were holding objects I couldn’t identify. I squinted trying to get a better look, wondering if I had missed something.
“The three lost Societies,” Hawk said, “were lost during the final battle.”
“I’d forgotten about the Lost Societies.”
“Most people have, which is why they are called lost. Now here is the interesting part and something that might interest you particularly.” He nodded in my direction and the image shifted and showed a portal that was tremendous in size and scope. A bridge ran through it holding open two dimensions. Near the edge of the bridge was a group of people each holding up a different device, many of which I recognized as the Artifacts I’d found over the years. A brutal battle was waging across the bridge. At the edge of the Bridge stood two men holding weapons of some kind and holding back the battle. Behind them further up the Bridge were numerous Old Kind. Each held an Artifact that appeared they were using to stabilize the Bridge. I was drawn to two people standing on the sides of the Bridge in front of the portal. Each held a device, one a Doorknob, the other a Skeleton Key.
“What is that?” I pointed to them.
“Those are the Artifacts of the Doorknob Society and The Skeleton Key Guild, the very Artifacts that opened, and then locked the portal to Accadia.”
My heart slammed against my chest realizing that those were the Artifacts Tower’s followers would be searching for if he was going to try and open Accadia and free the First Kind. “Do you know where the Guild Artifact is?” My voice trembled. I was so close to finding a way to finally end Tower’s threat and return some sanity and safety to my friends and family.
“No, I don’t, but I have an idea where you can start looking.”
I turned and caught him smiling. I didn’t know Hawk, and it wasn’t in my nature to trust. “Why are you helping me? I’m not even an official Guild member.”
“I’m very old by your standards, Chloe. I’ve watched the world pass me by for generations and now for the first time in a very long time I can help. I knew you would be a Guilder the moment you stepped on the stairs, your power flows all around us. I haven’t been able to be this corporeal in decades. Most times I look like a mere phantom, with you I almost forget that I am stuck In Between.”
I wanted to believe him, but I had a feeling he might be hiding something. “That’s it?” I raised an eyebrow, not buying it.
He raised his hand and his smile spread. “There is one thing.”
“I figured that, what?”
“You have access to many of those Artifacts.” He pointed to the image of the final battle.
“Yes, and I won’t be sharing them with anyone.” I shook my head not willing to make any deals.
“You misunderstand, I don’t want one. I want you to use one on me.”
“What?”
“You possess the Looking Glass of the HVO. If you were to use it on me, I could take form in the Glass whenever I wanted.” He leaned forward and if he had physical form, I think he would have grabbed my hands. Instead they just hovered near mine.
“You want to literally be the man in the mirror?”
“It would be better than being stuck In Between forever.”
“If I do this, you’ll help me?”
“I will do everything I can to help you find the Artifacts and defeat the First Kind. All I ask is that you help me escape this torture that is my existence.” The earnestness in his voice was real as was the hollowness in his eyes.
I lifted my hand and blue energy flowed around it as I accessed my personal dimension. I reached into the tiny portal I had created and pulled out my Polymorph case. I unsnapped the bindings and opened it, grasping hold of the Looking Glass. I hadn’t had the heart to use it. The last time I did I had seen my ancestor Bodie Masters die.
“Agreed.” I nodded as I lifted the Looking Glass out and began turning the dials on the handle. “But if you try to trick or work against me, Hawk, being stuck In Between will be the least of your worries.”
“Understood,” he said.
I pointed the Looking Glass at him and pressed the button on the base. Light flashed and in an instant Hawk disappeared, his crimson light snuffed out. The only light left was the glow of the Looking Glass. I turned it over and saw Hawk staring back at me with a smile.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I can now access the Looking Glass from the In Between. Continue along this route and it will bring you to the meeting room. That is where you will be made to display your abilities.”
“Our deal?”
Hawk moved his hands and a series of glyphs floated around the mirror beside his image. “The directions to where we need to go to start looking for the Artifact.”
“Good, then let’s finish this and get a move on.” I clicked the button on the Looking Glass and placed it back in my case returning it to my personal dimension.
I walked down the rest of the pathway using Gran’s Skeleton Key to once again light my way. Standing at the end of the path was Nightshade and DeAndre.
“Like the walk through history?” DeAndre asked.
“It was enlightening. Does everyone see the same thing?”
“No, those from the In Between tend to focus on something specific to the applicant,” he said and ushered me into a room.
Nightshade smiled a
t me, and I felt his hand brush mine as he walked past and winked at me. Leave it to him to break the tension and leave me thinking about getting him alone.
“It’s odd,” I said forcing myself to focus on my task and not on Nightshade. “I didn’t think this is what it would be like to join the Guild.”
Nightshade smiled at me. “If the Guild had gotten to you first, I think you might have joined us instead.”
The memory of him always being around and dropping hints about my powers made me chuckle. If I only knew then, what I knew now. At least he had had a clue that he was a Polymorph, I had no idea about myself.
He might have been right. If I had taken a course with the Guild, I very well could have joined them. Though at the time, it would have killed me not to join the Doorknob Society since every Masters in history has been DS. What I hadn’t known was that my mother’s family, the Grimms, was all Guilders.
Perhaps this was the place I was meant to be... a girl stuck between two worlds.
Gran entered the small room and crossed over to me, giving me a quick hug. I patted her on the back and took a deep breath. I needed to finish this quickly and get her back to resolve this Uncle Thomas issue. Then I could continue to search for the Artifact and Erin.
“You okay?” I asked.
“No, Chloe, I’m not.”
“I know this is a lot, Gran.”
“It could be a blessing or a curse. But you’ve been through more difficult and dangerous situations than this in your young life. I had thought that the only thing left for me to worry about was my grandkids; you, Jess, and now young Erin when we find her.”
I’d wanted to talk with Gran about Erin, about how nervous I was to find her and how she might react when she discovered that I was her sister. I still wasn’t even sure if she would think I was saving her or kidnapping her. Gran was right. Our family had been through more than most and it wasn’t over yet.
“Maybe it’ll be a good thing,” I said.
“How did he seem?”
“I’m not really sure. I’m half hopeful it is him, and then again that it isn’t. We need you to positively identify him.”
“Do you think he is my son?” Gran turned wide and hopeful eyes on me.
“At first I didn’t think so, but after speaking to him,” —I shrugged—“I think he just might be my uncle.”
“I trust your instincts, they’re good and I look forward to meeting with him.” Gran reached out, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. “What about all this?” She waved at our surroundings.
I knew what she was getting at. She wanted to make sure I was okay with becoming a member of the Skeleton Key Guild.
“For so long I didn’t want anything to do with the Guild,” I said and cast an eye around for Nightshade. He stood beside DeAndre talking silently, but his eyes remained on me. He watched my every move and I realized now that he always had, even when I was being a total crazy jackass, he always had my back. “But that was then and this is now.”
Gran pulled me into a hug, wrapping her arms around me and holding me tight. She rested her cheek against mine and whispered in my ear, “Hold onto him as long as you can, no matter what happens.”
I nodded, but my blood ran cold. Ever since Storm Reach, when I had finally gotten Nightshade back, I had worried it would be short-lived. I’d seen enough of what battling the First Kind could do to family and life. I had lost both my parents and had seen my ancestor sacrifice himself. The odds were not in our favor. I just hoped I was wrong.
“Everyone take a seat.” DeAndre’s deep voice resonated around the room and each of us slipped into a chair around the oak table that dominated the area. He nodded in Gran’s direction and she pointed to the Skeleton Key I held in my hand. “Each of us here has witnessed your skill and prowess, Chloe, at one time or another. Now we have a simple test for you. Place the Key on the table and activate a portal with it and show us you are worthy of the Guild.”
I placed the Key on the table and took a deep breath.
The room grew silent as each of them activated their own abilities. They flowed around me like a stream meandering through the woods. I took another deep breath and concentrated on the Key on the table.
My mind drifted back to when I had first learned about the Old Kind and my own abilities, to when I wasn’t sure if I would become a member of the Doorknob Society or another Society entirely. I’d felt the pull of Skeleton Keys before, when I had worked at the Arrowhead stocking shelves and when I had fought a Gremlin in the Paladin Academy. I had helped cousin Jess use her own Skeleton Key to defeat it. The power was familiar.
More memories popped into my head and I remembered when I was young, Mom, Dad, and I a happy family, before the First Kind took control of her. She would come home, and I would smell the power flowing off her. It was like a warm blanket that wrapped around me and comforted. I’d forgotten about it until just now. The Skeleton Key Guild wasn’t something to be feared, it was part of my family... it was part of me.
Energy surrounded me and I lifted my hand and turned it over amazed by the crimson glow that encircled it. I pointed toward the Skeleton Key on the table, and it floated into the air and shot into my hand. I twisted my wrist and directly in front of me a Keyhole formed. I slid the Key inside of it and felt the pull of portal energy. I turned it once again and felt the click of a door opening as a crimson portal sprang into being right on the table.
“Who are you?” Nightshade asked with a lopsided grin.
“I’m Chloe Masters of the Skeleton Key Guild.”
Chapter Ten
Status: Family reunion.
“You think this is a good idea?” Gavin was leaning against the wall, his eyes shifting from Gran to DeAndre. He was still weary of having other people around, even at the Reliquary. He was used to a solitary existence. I think the only one he would like to have around for good was Henna.
“We need to know what he knows, and if he is my uncle, then he deserves to see his mother.” I checked my phone again for a message from Jess. I’d sent her numerous texts as soon as we got back, but I still hadn’t heard from her. It was killing me that I hadn’t gotten to talk to her about her father. She needed to know everything and if she didn’t get to me soon, I was going to have to go find her.
Gran stepped away from DeAndre and joined us just outside the door to where Thomas was being kept.
“I’m ready.” She nodded and took my hand.
I pushed the door open and we stepped inside.
Thomas was sitting on the bed his head bowed. He glanced up and for the first time since meeting him, I saw a smile cross his lips. He ran across the room, throwing his arms around Gran, lifting her off the ground and spinning around with her.
“Thomas!” She choked as she yelled out his name.
“Mom,” he said softly as he brought them to a stop and rested his head against hers. His arms remained firm around her, as if refusing to let her go.
Tears rolled down both their faces, and I wiped away my own as well. I was happy, for once something good, rather than tragic, might just work out for my family. I hoped, damn how hard I hoped, that luck would finally be with us.
Thomas eventually let go of Gran, and they sat side by side on the bed. She took his hands in hers and kept a tight hold.
I hated to break the silence, but we were on the clock. “I take it he’s my uncle?”
“Yes.” Gran gave his chin a squeeze and smiled. “He is your Uncle.”
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.
He faced me, his smile gone and his eyes hollow and hard.
“Like I told you, your kind attacked us and killed Melissa, my wife.”
“Thomas, Chloe’s your niece. She isn’t a kind, she is family.” Gran’s voice was loving yet stern.
“Of course.” He shook his head and the anger seemed to fade. “When the Guild team came to rescue me, they were overwhelmed. If it wasn’t for Nightshade, I’d have died.”
&nb
sp; “Nightshade?” I asked.
“Gabriel Nightshade. We went to the Paladin Academy together. He and his team were able to hold off the Polymorphs long enough for us to escape. He was brilliant; he fought like a man possessed. He was severely wounded and I helped carry him back through the portal. I had been injured as well, and when I awoke it was to find that the Council had decreed me too dangerous to be left out in the open.”
“I don’t understand. Why were you considered dangerous?” It didn’t make sense. How could a man whose family was attacked, his wife killed, be deemed dangerous?
“She doesn’t know?” Thomas asked of Gran.
Gran’s voice was barely a whisper. “A lot happened after you died that you don’t know about.”
“Talia,” —he lowered his head— “they went after her when they couldn’t get to me.”
“You know about your sister?” Gran asked surprised.
“She came to me in Storm Reach,” he said.
I nearly jumped forward anxious to know what had happened. “What did she say?”
“She was being controlled that much was obvious. At first she tried to get me to join with her and the First Kind. But as her visits increased, I noticed a change in her. She was becoming more like the sister I remembered. Eventually, she confided in me and told me that she had been captured by them and forced to work with them for years. She was trying to break the control with the help of an Artifact. But she was scared of the man in charge and worried for her family’s safety. She wanted to make sure her daughters were protected.
“She also thought she could save me.” He smiled sadly and shook his head. “That was my little sister, always trying to look out for me and everyone else, but herself. The constant isolation had me thinking myself crazy, and I wondered if I had imagined Talia’s visits, but now being here,” — he shook his head again—“I realize she was real and everything she told me was true.” He lowered his head again.
I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. I’d lost so much, but he... he had been robbed of his entire life. Yet another thing the First Kind would have to answer for.
“Do you know where my sister is?” I had to know. I knew I should be asking if my mom told him anything that could help defeat the First Kind. But all I cared about at this moment was my sister.
