by Martha Carr
She snatched the brown glass jar of salve out of Corian’s hand and stormed across the warehouse toward the front door. I need to get out of here.
“Cheyenne.” L’zar chuckled again, but she didn’t turn around. “Stop.”
“Eat shit.”
A loud crack filled the far end of the warehouse, and a blur of gray and white raced past her with another crack. L’zar dropped out of enhanced speed in front of her, blowing her hair away from her face with the shockwave. He’d stopped laughing but grinned down at her instead, his golden eyes roaming over her face. His hand reached toward her cheek as if he were about to tuck her hair behind her ear. “You’re not leaving.”
“Watch me.” Cheyenne slapped his hand away and stepped around him.
“That wasn’t a request.”
“I don’t take orders from anyone, especially you.” Just as she reached the door, a bolt of dark light caught her in the shoulder and spun her sideways. Cheyenne snarled and whirled to face him.
L’zar’s smile had vanished, and he dipped his head in warning. “We’re not finished.”
“Oh, yeah, we are.” She dropped her hoodie when she saw him slip into drow speed and met him there a second before his hand came down on her shoulder. Slapping it aside, she leaned away from him and hissed, “Don’t touch me.”
“I won’t let you leave.”
“You don’t get to choose!”
L’zar reached for her, trying to pull her away from the door. Cheyenne ducked aside and threw a right hook at his face. His long, slender gray fingers clenched around her wrist to stop her and squeezed as he leered at her. “Until you place your marandúr on the Rahalma, I’m still the one calling the shots, Aranél.”
Her golden eyes widened at the last word she didn’t understand and the growing pressure around her wrist. Purple and black flames blazed behind them. “Don’t touch me!”
Black fire burst to life across her skin. She ripped her wrist out of L’zar’s grasp and sent her fist into his gut instead. The flames consumed him and sent him flying across the warehouse, jolting them both out of enhanced speed.
Persh’al ducked and leaped aside. Corian watched L’zar sail toward the back wall, then the black-fire-engulfed drow stopped in midair and hovered. Cheyenne’s flames whipped around him, casting dark shadows in the dimly lit room. Another chuckle rose from his throat. The black fire receded to reveal an unharmed L’zar Verdys floating slowly back to the floor.
Persh’al slowly rose from his crouch. Lumil and Byrd pressed themselves against the far wall and stared at the drow halfling in utter shock.
As L’zar’s feet touched the ground, he took a deep breath through his nose, let it out again, and grinned. “That was exquisite, Cheyenne.”
She stared at him, glancing quickly at Corian before returning her glare to her father. “You’re insane.”
“Probably.” A dark light flashed behind his glowing golden eyes. “And you’re much more than I ever expected.”
Cheyenne snorted and shook her head. “Looks like you need to raise your expectations.”
She turned back toward the door.
“I wasn’t laughing at you,” he called after her.
The door handle sparked and sent a blaze of orange magic up her arm when she touched it. Hissing, Cheyenne jerked her hand back, shook it out, and gritted her teeth. “Let me out.”
“You can leave when we’ve finished our conversation. I’m sorry for what you’ve had to experience in the last hour, Cheyenne, and I would very much like to discuss that piece of technology you brought with you from the other side.”
“You can have it.” She chucked the silver coil across the room, and L’zar caught it deftly.
Without looking at it, he handed it to Persh’al and waited.
The blue troll turned the coil over in his hands. “Unbelievable.”
“Quite.” L’zar clasped his hands behind his back and grinned at Cheyenne.
Corian frowned at the drow and took off toward the front door, skirting around Persh’al’s tables. He stopped in front of Cheyenne and lowered his voice. “You okay?”
“Not while I’m trapped in here with that asshole.”
He glanced over his shoulder, then leaned toward her, staring past her at the blank wall. “We need to know what happened to you between the portals. How you managed to make the crossing with that activator intact. This is huge for all of us, Cheyenne. Whatever’s happening between you and L’zar—”
“There’s nothing between us,” she hissed.
“All right. But hear me out, okay? I’m sure what you saw in Ambar’ogúl was more than enough to show you what we’re facing here. What everyone’s facing here. We still need your help, and you need to put aside your anger so we can accomplish what we need to do.”
Cheyenne turned her head to glare at him, and the nightstalker finally met her gaze. “He didn’t lift a finger to help me, so why the hell would he keep fighting to protect everyone else on this side?”
Corian raised his eyebrows. “If he didn’t care, Cheyenne, he would have let you leave.”
She took a deep breath and stared him down. Yeah, I’ve heard that before, only Mom’s reasoning was a hell of a lot more convincing. “I’m not sticking around to play games with him.”
The nightstalker dipped his head in acknowledgment with a small, thin smile. “After that little display, I don’t think he’s interested in playing that kind of game with you, either.”
Cheyenne looked across the warehouse at L’zar, who stood stock-still with his hands still clasped behind his back. His eyes were closed now, and a small frown creased his brow. “Did I hurt him?”
“Enough to make him want to hide it, yeah.”
“Good.” She shrugged her backpack off and dropped it by the front door, then snatched up her hoodie and tugged it on. “Let’s go hear the mad drow’s theory. Then I wanna go home.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
L’zar had taken two folding metal chairs from Persh’al’s tables and now sat in one of them. He gestured for Cheyenne to sit in the other, but she stopped six feet in front of him and folded her arms. A small smile creased his mouth, and he dipped his head. “As a general rule, Cheyenne, halflings don’t cross to Ambar’ogúl, and if they do, they don’t last long enough to even try to make a return trip. But you did.”
“We covered that part.” She glanced at the metal cuff around her wrist and slipped it off before shoving it into the front pocket of her hoodie.
“Yes. What we didn’t cover is what happens when a halfling makes that crossing a second time to return to this world.” He slowly looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Because as far as I know, it hasn’t been done.”
With a quick glance at the activator coil Persh’al was turning over and over in his hands, Cheyenne frowned. “So, you’re saying I could bring a piece of seriously advanced O’gúl tech through the portal with me because I’m a halfling?”
“That’s what I suspect, yes.”
“It could be a fluke, too,” Corian added.
“She used it.” L’zar folded his arms in the chair and studied his daughter. “With perfect accuracy, I’m assuming.”
“Yeah.” Rhynehart was pretty accurately knocked on his ass, that’s for sure.
He let out another low chuckle, then stopped, raising a hand for her to wait. “I find the irony amusing, nothing more.”
“What irony?”
“That taratas Lex and his peons figured out how to mesh old-world machines with human tech, and now we’ve gone one step farther, just by stumbling around in the dark.” L’zar’s dark, crazed smile bloomed on his face. “You, Cheyenne, are the mesh.”
“You lost me on that last part.”
Corian stroked his chin and cleared his throat. “Two worlds, kid.”
“And I’m part of both. I know.” The halfling took a deep breath and let her drow magic fade to return her to her black-haired, pale-skinned human form. “Just so w
e’re clear, I’m not turning into a mule for ferrying advanced tech over here from the other side.”
“Well, we still have to prove the theory.” L’zar shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
Maybe I really did hurt him. Cheyenne studied her father, waiting for him to continue that thought.
“If we can replicate it, we’ll have our answer.”
“I’m not making that trip again just so you can prove yourself right.”
“No.” He looked at her and narrowed his eyes above a thin smile. “The next time you make the crossing, I’ll make it with you. There’s plenty we can do here until then to help us learn more about this discovery.”
“Like using this baby to find the rest of Lex’s damn machines.” Persh’al waved the activator around before sticking it behind his ear.
Cheyenne turned to Corian. “I thought you guys had already rounded everything up?”
The nightstalker shrugged. “Byrd and Lumil did find his base of operations, more or less.”
Lumil snorted. “That lizard’s got some nasty-ass habits, that’s for sure.”
Corian ignored her. “But I’m not convinced they found everything. Especially after your apartment was attacked last night.”
“Great. So we have more fun bug machines to look forward to.”
“What the hell?” Persh’al slapped the side of his head and scowled at the floor. “Come on!”
Everyone else stared at him until he finally ripped the silver coil off the back of his ear and stormed toward Cheyenne. “Try it again.”
“What?”
“Just put the damn thing on and tell me what happens, kid.”
She took the activator from him and stuck it tentatively behind her own ear. It gave her a little pinch and a buzz, but that was it. “Nothing’s happening.”
“Well, you certainly don’t look like a drow who just crossed over,” L’zar muttered.
“Huh.” Cheyenne pulled up her drow magic and made the transformation again. The instant her skin settled into its purple-gray tone, a burst of magic flared behind her eyes. The wards around the warehouse lit up in brilliant, shimmering lines, and she blinked quickly against the glare in her vision. A single thought toned down the brilliance. “Yeah, that did it.”
“Are you kidding me?” Persh’al snarled.
Corian chuckled. Lumil stepped toward the blue troll and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You drew the short stick on this one, bud.”
Persh’al shrugged away from her and shook his head. “I could rig us all up for life with that thing, and the kid’s the only one who gets to use it.”
“I don’t mind helping you out.”
He glanced at Cheyenne and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, figures.” Then he stomped across the warehouse and slumped into his office chair, scooting toward his monitor to start working on much less advanced technology he could use.
Byrd snorted. “Who’d have thought, right? L’zar’s halfling kid is the only magical Earthside who gets the best of both worlds—magic and serious new tech. Shit, that might just make you the most powerful being on this side of the Border.”
Lumil punched him in the arm and shook her head.
“What? It’s true.”
L’zar waved the goblins aside with a small laugh of his own. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not ready to hand over the reins just yet.” Byrd laughed nervously, and L’zar looked to meet Cheyenne’s gaze, his smile a lot more concerned now. “So don’t get any ideas.”
That’s what he thinks he is, huh? The most powerful being in this world. Not after I lit him on fire and threw him across the room.
“You can take it off now, kid,” Corian said.
Cheyenne spun and eyed Persh’al’s complicated setup. The activator lit up in her vision with the scrolling lines of data she could now read, even without looking at any of his monitors. “I was serious about helping. Honestly, with this thing, I’d love to get my hands on what Persh’al’s got goin’ on in that system.”
“Don’t even think about it,” the troll shouted at her. “My rig, my rules.”
Lumil burst out laughing.
“Give him some time,” Corian added. “He’ll get over his resentment, and then I’m sure he’d appreciate whatever help you could give him.”
“Which he’ll accept either way.” L’zar said it loud enough for Persh’al to hear, and the implication was perfectly clear.
Cheyenne turned back to her father, who’d closed his eyes again with a distracted smile. Meaning, Persh’al won’t keep me away from his system if L’zar orders him to let me have a go. Why do these guys put up with his shit?
“But not tonight.” L’zar’s golden eyes glowed when he opened them again and settled his gaze on the halfling.
“Is there anything else you can tell us about your trip that Persh’al can’t?” Corian asked.
“Not really.”
“All right, then we’ll let him go over everything on his own. You need to get some rest.”
Cheyenne snorted. “You have no idea.”
“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to move forward.” L’zar nodded at Corian, and the nightstalker took a few steps back before summoning another portal.
“Take that damn thing off, kid,” Persh’al called from behind his center monitor. “Keep it around for emergencies, but don’t go around Virginia, trying to see everything at once with your fancy new gear. You’d light up magical frequencies like a detonated bomb, you hear me?”
“Yeah, I got it.” She plucked the activator from behind her ear and grimaced at the sparking tingle she felt in her teeth as it disconnected. Then she shoved the silver coil into her pocket and turned toward Corian’s open portal.
Byrd approached her with her backpack dangling from his fingers and nodded. “Glad you made it back in one piece, halfling. You had us wondering for a minute.”
“I’m not going down that easy. Thanks.” She took the pack from him and nodded.
Corian gestured toward his portal, and she shot L’zar another fleeting look before joining the nightstalker at the shimmering oval of dark light.
“He’s fine,” Corian muttered. “You did well, kid. Don’t let the other bullshit cover that up, huh?”
“Yeah, okay.” What do I say to that? Cheyenne nodded, stepped through the portal, and stood in the center of her living room. The portal closed behind her.
Ember was asleep on the couch, lying under one of her throw blankets with a hand draped over the side so her fingers almost brushed the area rug.
At least she’s safe and has no idea what just happened. And I need a shower.
Once Cheyenne had washed the day in Ambar’ogúl off her body and temporarily out of her mind, she threw on an oversized Van Halen t-shirt and a pair of loose gray pajama bottoms and sat on the purple velvet comforter on her bed. She glanced at the throw pillows and snorted at the black one throwing her a white middle finger in the soft light of her chandelier-shaped lamp. “I need rest, huh? That’s not happening right now.”
She stood and scooped up her bloodied, torn pants to dig the silver coil out of the front pocket. Turning it over in her hands, she paced across her room. My whole apartment’s covered in wards. If nobody’s getting in, magical frequencies sure as shit aren’t getting out.
With a quick nod, she slipped into her drow form and stuck the activator behind her ear under her slightly damp hair. The pinch and tingling buzz burst through her, and her eyelids fluttered as the device synced with her magic and her brain. Then she gazed around her room and chuckled. “Holy shit. The wards in here make the warehouse look like a joke.”
Thick, shimmering lines of orange and red outlined the edges of her room. Cheyenne stepped quietly into the living room, gazing at the north-facing wall of windows and the blinking magic illuminated in her vision. The O’gúleesh hornet’s web dangling from the edge of the mini-loft pulsed with red and black light like a beacon.
A command for taking down the
wards lit up in her vision, and she choked back a laugh. That’s the only recommendation this thing has, huh? Nope.
She moved slowly through the rest of the apartment, catching thin, spaced-out lines of tech data from the TV hidden in the long black table by the door and in the clock over the kitchen stove. Then she glanced at Ember’s room, where green light pulsed through the crack beneath the door. Cheyenne peered at the couch to make sure Ember was still asleep, then headed to her friend’s bedroom.
Time to check out what I can do with this thing Earthside.
The green light blazed in her vision when she opened Ember’s bedroom door, but it quickly dimmed. The shattered fragments of the destroyed beetle-machines were still strewn all over the room, untouched from the night before. Every shard and metal speck glowed green.
The least I can do is clean this place up a little.
The minute she thought it, the commands flashed in her vision one right after the other, giving her access to spells she would have spent a lot of time trying to learn and probably failing to cast. Cheyenne grinned. “If I played videogames, I’d say this is as close as it gets to VR but better.”
She waved a hand toward the activator’s first suggested command, and the pile of crushed war-machine at her feet lifted from the ground, swirled into a pillar of tiny pieces, and hovered there, waiting. “Oh, yeah.”
The trashcan beside Ember’s bed shot toward her after another wave of her hand, and she directed the spinning column of O’gúl metal parts into it. The pieces pinged against the metal can, and Cheyenne grimaced at the sound. Easy and quiet. Just let it happen.
She pointed at the scattered shards on the bed, and they raced across the room at her activator-synced command before dropping lightly into the trash.
It took her fifteen minutes to magically shove all the broken bits into the trash and thoroughly scour Ember’s bedroom for any remaining green glows. When she was satisfied with the cleanup, she set the trashcan against the wall beside the door and pointed at the bed. The unmade sheets and rumpled comforter jerked into place, followed by the huge pillows and the second gray throw blanket folding itself at the foot.
