“Of course it will,” Maddox chuckled. “All evil rituals are held in the dark of night.”
“And we know it will be in Seattle,” Boral adds, explaining, “All the Dark Fae have left town. Kaesar told me they’re laying low until the new moon when they’ll come back.”
Once again, I swivel to Carrick. “You weren’t able to take any of them out?”
He shakes his head grimly. “Like Boral said, everyone has left. I suppose blowing up her house put a little fear into them.”
“It was still the right thing to do,” Rainey says primly. “You saved human lives, Carrick.”
He nods in agreement. “It’s all about the choices we make with what’s presented to us at the time.”
“Like trading me for the Blood Stone,” I murmur, leaning over and briefly resting my head on his shoulder. A thank you, of sorts. “Although, you know keeping the Blood Stone would have been a sound choice.”
“No, it wouldn’t have,” Carrick rebukes, and I lift my head. “Putting aside the fact that I wanted you alive and well for my own selfish reasons, Onyx has said you’re going to have to be the one to battle Kymaris. I don’t think it was meant to be down in a dank dungeon. It’s going to be a final showdown at the ritual, I believe.”
It’s all conjecture at this point, but I have to agree with Carrick about the way things have been transpiring. Kymaris and her minions have gone into hiding. We can use the time trying to find them or trying to figure out where the ritual will be and making our stand there.
“Game isn’t over until the final buzzer sounds,” Maddox points out.
“That’s right,” Zaid says confidently. “We have nineteen days until the new moon. Anything can happen.”
“One thing must happen,” I say, setting my sandwich down as I slowly scan around the island so I can meet every eye. “We have to go rescue Zora. Now.”
No one says a word.
They all have varying opinions, and they stay silent because we’ve hashed them all out already.
Carrick, the one who has been the most skeptical of my sister, breaks the silence. “Agreed. That has to be our priority.”
Rainey looks appalled, but everyone else is immediately accepting as evidenced by their nods and determined expressions. She sees it, too, so she says nothing.
“Everyone should be relatively safe here,” Carrick continues. “Without the Blood Stone in residence, there’s no reason for Kymaris to assault us here. She’s made enough references to settling the score with Finley on the ritual battlefield, so to speak, that I think it’s safe here.”
“Plus, she’s in hiding,” Myles points out. “Along with all her minions.”
“I’ll reach out to Kaesar,” Boral says from the end of the counter where he’d parked his stool beside Maddox. “The worst that will happen is he won’t answer my calls.”
Being able to get inside information now is a long shot. Boral was invaluable through his connection to Kaesar, but I suspect everyone in Kymaris’ camp is keeping their heads down and circling the wagons tight.
But that doesn’t mean Boral’s useless.
I lean in his direction, having to look past Rainey and Myles to do so. “You’re our expert on the Underworld. You’ll have to be the one who guides us.”
Boral nods. “As I told you when we were in Micah’s realm, I’ll be glad to help.”
For the first time since I can remember, Zaid doesn’t scoff at something his father says. He’s normally extremely dubious of Boral’s intentions, and he never minds being vocal about it. Instead, he just studies his father with an almost detached curiosity, as if he might believe that some good can come from the Dark Fae.
“Should we go in through Micah’s realm?” Carrick’s lower hand comes to my back, perhaps as a quiet means of support that he doesn’t mind me taking the lead on the planning, or, more likely, because he just wants to touch me. Regardless, I like it.
Boral considers my question. “What you have to know about the Underworld is it is so vast that you could travel through it for a hundred years and not see it all. The Underworld is even more vast than the Earth realm.”
I blink in surprise, thinking of the time I projected into Zora through a dream. It seemed like a massively big city inside an even larger underground cave, but I hadn’t considered there was more.
“The Crimson River leads to The Pit, which is close to Kymaris’ castle. It would be easy to get there, but then how would you even find your sister?”
My heart sinks as I realize our first obstacle is a doozy. “When I projected into her during the dream, the city she was in was near The Pit. I could see the glow of it from there.”
Boral’s smile is grim. “That’s the city of Otaxis. One of the largest. Making it there isn’t the problem. Searching through the thousands of Dark Fae to find your sister will be, though.”
Growling in frustration, I lean away from the counter and cross my arms over my chest. I stare blankly at the rest of my sandwich before turning to Carrick. “I can contact her again. Tell her we’re coming.”
“And put her on notice, so she has monsters waiting for you when you arrive?” Rainey says mildly. She’s clearly still against this plan.
“I’m going to be a human walking in the Underworld,” I say as I glance her way. “It’s going to be dangerous no matter what.”
“You’ll have two demi-gods at your side,” Maddox points out. “Our combined magic alone should give us somewhat of a safe passage.”
It’s something I haven’t been all that worried about.
My safety in the Underworld, that is.
I’ve been so focused on getting Zora out that I had not stopped to consider how I’d do it without getting killed. I am quite literally stepping into Hell, and I will be walking among the most evil of creatures.
“I still think our best bet is to go in through Micah’s realm to follow the Crimson River in,” Boral says, taking over the conversation again. “It will take us the back way into Otaxis.”
The next hour is spent making our plans. We bring up hypotheticals and plan for contingencies. We argue about who will go, but it’s ultimately decided that Boral, Maddox, Carrick, and I will make the journey.
Titus and Zaid will stay behind with Rainey and Myles for their protection, on the off-chance Kymaris would dare to try something.
Ultimately, we decide I shouldn’t try to contact Zora until we make it through the veil and enter the Underworld. On the off chance she’s adamantly opposed to us coming and has the means and ability to stop us, it’s better if our arrival is a surprise.
Hopefully, it’s a good one.
“When do we go in?” Boral asks as we start to wrap things up. I had managed to eat the rest of my sandwich and chips as we talked.
“Tomorrow,” I say.
At the same time, Carrick says, “In a few days.”
We stare at each other, and Carrick gives me that over-protective look. “You were just kidnapped, held in a dungeon, and could have died. Maybe you need a few days.”
“I’m fine,” I assure him with a smile. I even lean in and punctuate it with a kiss. “I promise.”
Carrick’s eyes hold mine, and I can tell when he accepts my determination. He smiles and murmurs, “Tomorrow then.”
“Perfect,” I exclaim.
The meeting starts to break up. Maddox, Titus, and Myles head off to the mancave to play video games while Rainey hangs in the kitchen with Zaid, who cracked open a bottle of red wine. They pour glasses for Carrick and me, but I hop off my stool to walk Boral to the elevators. He’s the only one not staying here, nor was he invited to.
“Thank you for taking me to the Underworld,” I say as we walk that way.
Boral shrugs. “You know my motives aren’t all that noble, right?”
I laugh, playfully bumping my shoulder against his. “You’ve always been clear that you are doing this to get back in Zaid’s good graces. I still thank you anyway.”
&nb
sp; “Well,” he says, shooing me a side-eyed smirk. “I have come to like you of late.”
“It’s mutual,” I assure him. “Just as long as you don’t do any evil stuff around me.”
Boral chuckles, and the elevator doors whoosh open.
“See you tomorrow,” I say as he steps in.
I start to turn away, but he calls my name. “Finley.”
Boral has his hand on the door, holding it open. “Do you want to know why I like you?”
I blink at Boral in surprise, but my curiosity only allows me to agree that I would like that very much indeed. I take a few steps back toward him.
“Throughout all of this,” he says in a low tone. “You’ve never shown a fear of dying. Just a dedicated purpose to your mission. It’s impressive not just for a human, but also for one as young as you.”
I can’t help but chuckle as I lean in a little closer. “I’m going to let you in on a secret that’s not a secret. But everyone knows except you.”
“What’s that?”
“Even if I die tomorrow, at the ritual, or the day after, I’ll come back.”
“Come again?” Boral asks with a frown.
I explain Rune’s curse and my history with Carrick.
“Ah,” Boral says with an understanding nod. “Now I get the deep connection you two seem to have.”
“And why I can’t fear death,” I tell him solemnly. “I will always come back to Carrick.”
Boral absorbs that before stepping back and removing his hand from the door. As they start to close, he says, “That makes you a very lucky woman.”
I smile to myself because I’m lucky indeed. Over time, as I’ve come to understand and accept the curse Carrick and I are under, it has helped me to know I’ve died countless times, and I’ve always been resilient in coming back. That my happiness isn’t over when the body belonging to Finley Porter takes its last breath.
It’s why I can afford to march into the Underworld for my sister tomorrow and not have a single fear holding me back.
CHAPTER 6
Finley
It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for since I found out my sister was trapped in the Underworld over a month and a half ago. While many important things had to be dealt with and other more prioritized leads followed, it is now finally time to get Zora out of there.
It’s the first time since my journey started into this strange new world I’ve fallen into that I feel a level of deep confidence in my choices and actions. I can’t explain it other than it’s an identical twin thing, but I know she’s supposed to be with me. We have not only blood and DNA connecting us, but we also have something magical and mystical reinforcing those bonds.
No clue how it will play out, but I feel in my heart that Zora is going to be important in the final battle, if nothing more than to be a source of sisterly strength to me when my time for sacrifice comes.
We’re assembled down in the library, going over the logistics one more time. Boral had managed to draw a fairly decent map of Micah’s realm, showing how the Crimson River, following its weird reverse flow, leads to the Underworld. He has points of interest marked that we are to stay away from—like The Pit and Kymaris’ castle—including a crude rendering of how Otaxis is laid out, although, admittedly, it might have changed over the few thousand years since Boral has been gone.
Heading into Micah’s realm means we’re dressed for cold weather, but it’s done in layers. I remember the Underworld being distinctly warm, and we’re prepared to shed clothing once we get there.
Past that, we’re packing light—essentially weapons, the relic we found in Hungary, which is queued to get us back to Micah’s realm since we don’t have Lucien, and our determination. If things go to hell in a handbasket, we’re prepared to rip the veil wherever we are and jump back into the Earth realm. Carrick spent a lot of time lecturing me on this last night as we laid naked in each other’s arms, sweat from a vigorous second round of sex still cooling on our skin.
“Finley,” he had said in a serious, no-nonsense voice. “If we get into a dangerous situation that puts you at risk, and I tell you to get back to the Earth realm, you go without question, okay?”
I love Carrick with my whole heart and soul. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.
Except… abide by this command.
I had made up my mind. I was not leaving without Zora. If it meant my demise happened there, then so be it.
The most I would promise is that I would consider his advice, to which he heaved a sigh of frustration while pulling me into his arms to hold me.
“Everybody ready?” I ask the group, but my gaze moves to Rainey and Myles. Their arms are linked, and Rainey chews on her fingernail with worry.
I walk to her, put my hands on her shoulders, and lean in to lock my eyes with hers. “I promise you that I will be fine. I’ll stay safe. And I promise you that when we come back from the Underworld, we’re going to work on the finishing touches of your wedding.”
Rainey scoffs at my suggestion, the worry in her expression not alleviated. “We don’t have time for weddings. It’s the end of days.”
“It’s not the end of days until the new moon,” I correct as I pull her in for a hug. She struggles against me, her lingering anger that I’m doing this evident, before capitulating. Putting my mouth near her ear, I whisper, “You are going to marry Myles the weekend after this, and nothing is going to stop that. It’s the one thing I have pushing me forward and making sure I’m extra careful so we can have just one day of love, peace, and happiness. Okay?”
When she nods against my shoulder, I pull back and give her a brilliant smile. “Good.”
Turning to Myles, I hug him as well. Far more stoic in his worries, he merely says, “Love you, Finley. Come back safe.”
“Always,” I reply.
I don’t bother with hugs for Zaid and Titus, but they give me reassuring smiles. While they care for me—I’d even dare say love me—they are hardened to the ways of evil and know what must be done.
Carrick steps away from the table to make room for Maddox, Boral, and me to join him. He holds the brass relic we picked up in Hungary, sets it to Micah’s realm with some beautifully ancient words, and then rips the seam open right in front of the shelves that hold Carrick’s diaries, which start in the 18th century.
My first glimpse of the realm we were just in a mere nine days ago immediately causes my blood to chill, and it has nothing to do with the cold wind I can feel whipping through the seam.
It’s where we lost Lucien, and it’s that emptiness that makes it feel so frigid.
We step through, one by one—Carrick, Maddox, Boral, and then me. When we’re through, I glance back to see Rainey crying as the seam closes up.
I pull my hood up over my head, which is already covered with a ski cap. The cold-weather gear is sufficient in keeping me warm. We move left around a large boulder to come out onto the shores of the dead ocean. The Crimson River seems almost blinding against the darkness of the mountains, skies, and the black sand on the beach. Its flow of lava meanders lazily away from the Underworld, traveling against gravity up one of the mountains.
Perhaps the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.
The roughly half-mile walk to the river is done in silence, but there’s not much to say. We hashed and re-hashed our plans. For example, we weren’t entirely sure there aren’t other creatures in Micah’s realm. While he had destroyed every living creature except for Charmeine, who he’d imprisoned in the gemstone, it doesn’t mean he didn’t create more to keep him company over the thousands of years he was here.
As such, we’re on alert as we walk along, and the lack of conversation helps us not catch the attention of any such beings that might be here, hungering for a tasty meal.
When we reach the river, the heat from the tortured, soul-infested lava keeps us from the very edge. We turn left and follow its bank toward the horizon. We walk for what seems like hours, but I know it’s not.
It’s only my zeal to see my sister that has me impatient to make it to the Underworld.
When Carrick comes to a halt, we all do the same, moving from our single-file line to stand by his side. Up ahead, the river stops. Like it’s just sliced clean off this world against the backdrop of the eternal night sky. Normally, there’s no distinctive point of delineation between two realms separated by a veil, but in this instance, it’s very obvious there’s a separation. I wonder if it’s because Micah created this realm and then called forth the river into it.
“That’s the veil,” Boral says. “We’re here.”
“Fascinating,” I murmur as I start to walk closer, wondering if I can touch it. I can’t see it, as it looks like nothing but three-dimensional space that extends outward to a never-ending horizon where the ocean once was. I know if I continue forward, I’ll merely walk past the end of the river and could probably continue for eternity.
I’m stopped, though, when Carrick grabs the back of my jacket and turns me to face him. He shakes his head with an admonishing look. “Let’s not be wandering off, okay?”
Grinning sheepishly, I nod.
“This is where we’ll need a bridge to cross,” Boral announces, pointing toward the end of the river.
Boral had reiterated to us yesterday that the river drops down into The Pit, where tortured souls are thrown.
He also said that to the left of the river and the large hole that it flows into is where Kymaris experiments on her demon creations, and we most certainly do not want to come out there.
We need to cross the river and enter through the veil on the opposite side, which is a far less dangerous path into Otaxis.
“I’ve got this,” Maddox says, slapping his palms together and rubbing them.
“Let Finley,” Carrick replies in a low voice, his eyes locking on mine. “She needs to practice.”
I smile at his confidence in me. Moving as close to the edge of the river as I can get without getting singed, I stare into the molten liquid that is almost hypnotizingly beautiful. Swirls of red, gold, and orange move in thick currents past us ever so slowly. I turn to look back from where we came, seeing the mountain in the distance that the river ultimately climbs and disappears into. I wonder where it goes from there.
The Rise of Fortune and Fury Page 5
