by D. N. Hoxa
“They’re alive. They just need blood.”
“I know” he said reluctantly. “We’re going to come back here after all of this is over,”
“All right then. Let’s get going.”
As Kyahen chose a wall to open a portal in, Big Mike and Naomi came running. They looked worse than the rest, but what mattered was that they were still standing. I gave them the option to stay, rest for a bit, then go back to the battle outside, but they refused. Instead, they reminded me that they would stick by me until the very end. Pretty emotional, but crying was out of the question.
With my whole body shaking, I entered the portal Kyahen created without another thought. My people were still out there, fighting, and the sooner I killed Samayan, the sooner they would all be free. Kyahen was right, I hadn’t failed—or he was full of shit, but I chose to believe it because I still needed to stand. I still needed to fight. But even if everything went wrong, Samayan would no longer have a huge army. He’d be vulnerable, and if I couldn’t take him out, he’d be weak enough for whoever came next to do it.
Passing through the portal didn’t take nearly as much from me as it did the first time. When I landed on the other side, right inside Kyle’s office, I didn’t even feel nauseous. Kyle looked up from his screen, and when he saw me come out of the wall, he jumped so fast that he fell from his chair. Not a good indicator of how I looked. Good thing I didn’t have a mirror.
“Fucking hell, how are you standing?” said Kyle as he tried to get back on his chair and failed twice.
“I’m stronger than I look,” I tried to joke, but it didn’t come off right. Soon, the others started to arrive. “Tell me what you got.”
Kyle was happy to return to his screens. Portals and people walking out of walls did not sit well with him apparently.
“Just a second,” he mumbled and typed something on his keyboard. On the third screen, Arsenal’s wrinkled face appeared the next second. I pushed Kyle’s chair away and leaned over the table.
“Where is he?” It was the most important question I’d ever asked. The only one that would ever mean anything.
“About damn time!” Arsenal’s eyes were filled with sparks of excitement. “I’ve got him, Raven. I finally got him.”
“And we’re all going to applaud you when this is over. Right now, we need to know where he is.” I was glad for the old man. He looked happy. But time would come to honor those who made all of this possible.
“Louisiana,” Arsenal breathed. “That monster has been on Earth all along, right under our noses.”
Shocked, I shook my head. “It can’t be. He wouldn’t risk it.”
“I thought so, too, but I’m right. My spells are right. He’s here, in Louisiana. I swear it on my life.” Doubt was still present in my mind, but I trusted Arsenal.
“Where in Louisiana exactly?”
Arsenal looked away from the camera. “I can’t give you the exact location.”
“What?” A fucking country? How was I going to find him before midnight?
“All I know is that he’s near the Gulf of Mexico. Once you get there, it should be easy enough to find him with your abilities. That place must be entirely covered in magic. I’ve never come across protection so strong.”
“Goddamn it,” I hissed and held myself from punching a hole in Kyle’s screen. This wasn’t good. We didn’t have the time to go around in circles in Louisiana until we found Samayan.
Unless…“Kai.”
“What?” Arsenal said.
“Thank you, Arsenal. I’ll give you a call when I get back.”
Before he could say anything else, I stepped away from the camera and got my phone out. Kai picked up the next second.
“I’m coming to you,” I said as a new wave of energy crashed onto me, the kind that can only be produced when you think you’re royally screwed, but it turns out not to be completely true.
“About damn time,” Kai shouted. “You should listen to me more often.”
“I need you to bring down the shields of the Castle.” I wasn’t sure how she was going to do that. Lyndor was protected by the best. But…
“Already have around it. I tried the inside, but it can’t be done.” Oh.
“Wait for me by the entrance,” I said and waved Kyahen over. His wings were gone now, but his sword was still in his hand.
“Already on my way.” The line went dead.
“Take us to the Castle. You should be able to connect your portal right in front of the entrance gates,” I said to Kyahen. “Draw out your swords, guys. We’re about to face some Royal Guards.” Ten, at least. The Castle would always be protected, no matter what went on outside it.
The portal, complete with the blue circle that seemed to be the only thing in the darkness within, appeared in front of us the next second. Kyle kept looking like he didn’t want to believe his eyes as everyone slipped through it. First Naomi and Mike, then the rest.
“Call me,” I said to him, but he was too shocked to nod. He just watched me take a deep breath and disappear from the Base again.
***
The Castle of Lyndor stood proudly in front of me. Happy to report that I hadn’t missed it. At all. I had my sword and my katana out, and I waited right in front of the gates. The cold air brought shivers down my spine. The top of the mountain was full of life, the trees green, the birds chirping, the smell heavenly—a stark contrast to Necterram.
When the gate opened and Kai showed herself, we almost jumped her. She pushed the gate open all the way, and I was certain the rest of the Royals would be there.
But there weren’t any.
“What happened to the guards?” It made no sense for the Castle to be unprotected.
“Did you want to reminisce? You’ll find their heads in the toilets,” said Kai, a huge grin on her face as her green eyes shone, the same color as the leaves on the trees down the mountain.
“Poor guys.” I made for the door after a nod at the guys, and we all put our weapons away. “Anybody else here?”
“A few professors, tied in their rooms. Didn’t see the point in killing them.” She shrugged.
“Look at you, all merciful and shit.”
“I do what I can,” Kai said. “So what happened in Necterram? You look worse than you did in here back in the days.”
Just like that, the thoughts flooded me. I had to take a moment before answering. The weight on my shoulders grew heavier and heavier. All those people…goosebumps covered my arms as I thought of everyone I’d left behind. I never imagined the day would come when I’d run away from a battle. But there was nothing I could do about it now, so I reminded myself of Kyahen’s words, and I took a deep breath.
“War. We caught Samayan’s army. I don’t know how many, but they just kept on coming. No Samayan, though.”
“I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so,” Kai said. Real generous of her. “So who’s winning?”
“You’re a leopard. Your kind has always had a nose for these things,” Kyahen spoke from behind us as we made our way up the stone stairs.
“I wouldn’t know what my kind had a nose for, but thanks,” Kai said. “I take it you’re doing well, since you’re here.”
“I’m not exactly sure,” I said reluctantly. “We left before we could see…”
“You did well. Killing Samayan will stop each one of his followers,” Kai said. “Assuming you do kill him.”
We were in front of what used to be McGraw’s office, and Kai walked right in like it was her own room. Without a word, we followed. I’d never seen McGraw use a portal before. I didn’t even know one existed in Lyndor before Kai told me. And she seemed to be sure, because she went straight for the fireplace as if she’d done this a thousand times before. She squatted down and searched for something we couldn’t see. A second later, it sounded like something clicked into place. Kai jumped to her feet and fell back a couple of steps.
The fireplace began to change. It became darker
and darker until it completely disappeared. The line of energy that circled the darkness, containing it, was this time bright red. My guess was that it was a sort of mounted-in portal, not one created on the spot.
“Where to?” asked Kai.
“Louisiana.”
“Are you for real?”
“Yep. He’s in Louisiana, but we don’t know where. Hopefully, this portal will take us close so that we’ll be able to find him fast.” It wasn’t the best solution, but it was the best we had. Much better than no idea at all.
“It could be days before we find him,” Kai said.
“Then we’ll look for days,” Kyahen jumped in again. Kai was the first person he actually acknowledged in front of me. With the rest, he simply pretended like they didn’t exist. “Time is running out.”
I agreed.
“See you on the other side,” I mumbled, and with a deep breath, I jumped into the darkness, with the name Louisiana in my mind.
Fire. That was the only thing I thought about as the darkness enveloped me—Louisiana forgotten. Fire spread through my skin, faster than was possible, and it burned me until I cried out in pain. My mind screamed at me to get out of there, and I would have, but I didn’t know how. Opening my eyes to see what burned me was a bad idea. Whatever fire this was, it didn’t manifest in flames. It was invisible, and by the time the portal spit me to the other side, I fell face first on a hard surface, struggling to breathe.
Drawing in a breath through my nostrils, I was sure I’d smell burned flesh. I didn’t. The pain began to fade, too slowly, and I finally managed to open my eyes.
The sun had already set. I was lying on cold asphalt. Ahead, there was a red brick wall. Holding my breath, I pushed my body up on all fours. It felt like I’d been beaten—which I had—for days. My muscles screamed when I stood up. A look at my body and I saw that I’d never actually burned. I’d just felt like I’d burned. Jack came out of the portal, which wasn’t rooted anywhere like a normal portal would be. Instead, the red circle surrounding the darkness floated on air, two feet above the ground.
Jack fell on his back and refused to move for a few seconds. While I waited for the rest, I took a look around. We were in a yard of some sort, wire fences all around us. To my right, the gate leading from the yard was chained, but easily climbable, and behind it, all I could see was a wide street.
The rest of the group fell through eventually, most on their faces, some on their backs, except of course for Kyahen. He landed on his feet like a true gentleman. He was also the only one not cursing or crying out in pain. When all of this was over, this portal would make my long list of things I wanted to understand better.
We made our way to the gate in the fence and climbed over it. We were in a quiet neighborhood somewhere, small, pretty houses on both sides of the road. Nothing looked out of place, not even the weird-looking streetlamps on the sidewalk.
“Great,” Kai muttered.
“We’re never going to find him here,” Frosty said, completely frustrated.
“We are.” We knew where we were. The portal would have brought us close enough, even though we had no specific address in mind. I trusted Arsenal. I trusted we were on the right track because I couldn’t afford to think otherwise.
Slowly, I released my senses and let them wash over the entire neighborhood.
“How come your kings and queens never raised a finger to help us out here?” Kai said to Kyahen while I tried to focus on any type of supernatural energy around us. So far, no luck.
“My queen did. It’s why I’m here,” Kyahen said, a smile on his face for whatever reason.
“Yeah, but the actual reigning queen. Or king,” said Kai with a roll of her green eyes.
“Because Samayan is their ally. They have left this world in his hands completely.” And that did not seem to faze Kyahen, or it didn’t look like it. Otherwise, why would he have been there? If he hadn’t wanted to come, I was pretty sure Tytania wouldn’t have been able to make him.
“Why aren’t I surprised,” Kai said under her breath, but we all heard her.
“I think we need to go west,” I said, pointing down the road. “It’s not exactly magic I’m sensing, but it’s something. Something that I can’t feel anywhere else.”
“Well, we’re fucked,” Jack said, and without another look my way, he began to walk.
“Pretty much,” Kai said. She followed, as did the rest of the group.
Maybe they were right. Maybe we were fucked. But at least we were trying. That was what I told myself until we came across the prettiest and smallest house in the neighborhood.
25
——————————
The house looked so perfectly innocent. White-framed windowpanes, flowers in every corner, freshly mowed grass and the cutest figures of garden gnomes and flamingos sprawled all over the yard. It was the kind of house everybody wanted to live in, no matter what they said.
“What?” Frosty asked when he realized I’d stopped in front of the wooden door. The mailbox said Jefferson. The number on the door was 23. The details were so incredible, I could hardly believe it.
“This is it,” I said. “The thing that I can sense.”
“This?” Kai didn’t even try to hide her suspicion.
“Yep.” It was what had brought me west. I was right—it wasn’t magic that was coming off it. It was something else, something I’d never felt before. Something complicated that almost spoke to me, lured me, but also warned me that I’d dropped dead if I tried to connect to it.
“Raven, what is it?” Kyahen asked. He at least sounded concerned while the rest of the group just shook their heads.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never felt anything like this before. It’s so…mild, the sense I’m getting. But it’s also extremely powerful. I can’t understand how it’s both hiding it and showing it to me at the same time.”
“Multiple spells,” Kai said. “I read somewhere that spells, combined and in perfect order, are able to shield themselves from everyone and everything.”
“But I can feel them and it doesn’t feel like magic.”
“The spells are normal-freak proof. You’re not a normal freak,” she said. “I don’t think these were designed with your senses in mind.”
“That makes perfect sense,” Kyahen said, and again, I almost asked him what the hell the deal was. Why was he talking to Kai? He refused to talk to anyone else, ever.
“You can’t really think that this is Samayan’s hideout, can you?” Jack asked. “It’s a goddamn house, for fuck’s sake!”
“Where else could it be? Like I said, I feel it and it’s strange as fuck. Nobody does strange shit like Samayan.” Not very convincing, but I wasn’t convinced myself. I mean, the house looked so, so peaceful. So ordinary.
“This isn’t what Samayan’s place really looks like, you fool,” Kai said, making Kyahen smile even wider.
“What the hell do you know?” Jack hissed and took a menacing step forward.
“Hey, stop it. We need to figure out how to get past the wards protecting this place.”
“You’re going to die as soon as you touch them,” Kyahen said calmly, clearly telling me that he wasn’t about to follow.
“Well, then, how the hell are we going to find out if Samayan’s really there?” Naomi cautiously leaned closer to the mailbox, inspecting it. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, none of us is a warlock. Or witch,” Frosty said. “Way to come unprepared.”
“If the rest of you would shut the hell up, we could figure this out faster.” Bickering wasn’t going to get us anywhere.
The first—and only—thing that came to my mind was to do to the door what I’d done to the one in Necterram. Destroy it, and the ground beneath it, and hope that the spells didn’t kill me. It was worth a shot, so I asked the group to step back and reached my hands out toward the house.
Nothing.
“What the fuck?�
�� The words slipped my mouth before I could control them.
I took a deep breath and tried again.
Same. A big, fat nothing was right where I could see the ground. It was right there! How could I not feel it? I felt the rest of it. All of it. And it all seemed to end right where the door began.
“What now?” someone asked, but I didn’t bother to reply. I was shocked. Never before had I not felt an element. Even when I didn’t know what I was, I always felt them around me, buzzing with life. And now, I’d come across a place that was empty to me. And I just couldn’t grasp it.
“We need a witch,” Kai said. “Or you can do it, if fairies can break spells.”
“We cannot,” Kyahen said.
“I have a witch we work with. She’s pretty strong,” said Frosty.
“Pretty strong isn’t going to do us any good,” Jack said. “We need the strongest one there is.”
“Amber Hawk?” Naomi said.
“No, but Karina could do it. She’s the strongest one on record,” Jack said, and he was right. Karina was a Council member, queen of Amber Hawk’s coven. Amber had promised me command over her coven, but she’d never promised me Karina’s cooperation. In fact, I was pretty sure Karina only today found out Amber had betrayed her. As did Samayan.
“That’s it? There’s no one else?” Mike said. He sounded a little panicked. When a big guy like him got scared, you couldn’t help but begin to lose hope. And trying and trying to connect to the ground right in front of me and failing miserably each time didn’t help my confidence.
“No, there has to be someone…” Jack was saying, when all of a sudden, the energy in the air changed.
Like before, it didn’t feel like magic. It felt more like the elements did, and this time, when I tried to connect to the Earth, I felt it. It was there.
“Holy shit,” I hissed as the realization kicked in.
“What? What’s up?”
“The wards are gone. He’s letting us in.”
Silence. That was something nobody wanted to hear. Samayan knew we were there. Could he see us? A look around confirmed that there was no living soul around us. Was the whole damn neighborhood an illusion of his?
