by Linsey Hall
Disappointment filled my chest too. Nix was right. It would have been the safest, easiest way to fix this.
“But he did say that we could turn back time a couple minutes. There shouldn’t be as much risk there, since it’s such a short amount of time. You’re only turning back time at the portal, and those demons will only just have gotten onto Earth. They won’t have had enough time to get out and change history.”
“Every little bit helps, right?” I looked around the table. “We might as well do that.”
“Agreed,” Roarke said. “No large scale turning back time, but if Aethelred says that a few minutes is okay, we’ll do that.”
“Perfect,” Vera said. “You’ll close the portal. We’ll save our village.”
I smiled, trying to keep the worry off of my face.
After we’d cleaned up our dishes, I went with Nix and Cass for the first round of baths in the hot springs. The night air was freezing when we stepped outside, hurting my lungs as I drew it in.
But the sky was spectacular. Brilliant sweeps of green and yellow stretched across the sky, dancing and swirling. They cast a low glow on the silver birch trees in the forest. The rest of the night was black.
“The northern lights,” Cass murmured.
“Amazing.” I’d never seen them before. This had to be a good luck sign.
Pond Flower lay in the snow, gazing up at the lights. She looked so happy.
I grinned at her, then followed Cass and Nix along the path to the hot springs. The snow was tamped down, making it easier to walk.
The spring was only about five yards from the back of the house. The clear water gleamed green and yellow, reflecting the northern lights. Rocks surrounded it, a natural fissure in the ground. There was a wooden box near the side of the pool. I brushed the snow off, then put my towel on the top.
I looked at the snow, then my deirfiúr. “We’re going to have to make this quick.”
“No kidding,” Cass said.
As fast as I could, I stripped out of my clothes and climbed into the water. My feet were icy from standing in the snow for even a second, so the water burned hot and fierce. But as I sank into the depths, my muscles relaxed and my skin adjusted.
“That’s amazing,” I sighed.
“No kidding.” Nix sat on the rock next to me.
“It’s like a natural hot tub,” Cass said. “Except a bit more precarious.”
She was right. We had to perch on rocks that were basically like benches, but not quite. However, the silver birch trees and northern lights more than made up for the lack of comfortable seating. I’d take this any day. It was even nicer than Roarke’s fancy grotto bathroom.
I shifted around, finally finding a comfortable spot and leaning my head back against the rock to watch the northern lights.
“Why do you think we were chosen to be the three sides of the Triumvirate?” I asked.
Cass blew out a breath. “Whew. No idea.”
“I think it’s because we’re worthy,” Nix said.
“Cass is,” I said. “She’s already finished her part.”
“Not really,” Cass said. “I finished my part, but my job isn’t done yet. We’re each part of the whole. Without one of us, the whole thing fails. So my job isn’t over until yours is. I couldn’t have defeated the Monster without you. So now it’s my turn to help.”
She had a good point. Without her, I wouldn’t have made it through many of these challenges. Same with Nix.
“I think that’s why,” Nix said. “We’re powerful and fated to have some seriously strong magic, but it’s also that we’re a team. Like you said about our time with the Monster joining us together. We’re an unbreakable bond. And when it comes to fighting big battles, we’re three for the price of one. We each have our big job to do, but we have the others to help us.”
I grinned, looking down from the brilliant night sky and meeting the gazes of my deirfiúr. “I like that.”
“Me too,” Cass said. “We’re a team.”
“Always have been,” I said.
“Always will be,” Nix added.
We cleared out of the hot spring not much later. The guys still hadn’t had a chance to get cleaned up, and I was suddenly so sleepy I couldn’t keep my eyes open. A combo of exertion, fear, stew, vodka, and a long soak in a hot tub had made me feel like a noodle.
We all bedded down on the couches and in spare bedrooms. They were rustic and small, but the beds were warm and the walls kept out the wind, so it was perfect for me. I took a smallish double bed and passed out.
Sometime later, Roarke joined me, but I was too tired to do much more than snuggle into him like a heat-seeking missile that moved super slowly.
Reality shifted from dark slumber to dreams. The blackness of my eyelids gave way to an image of my mother, sitting by the fire. She was rocking in a chair, reading a book. Just seeing her made me happy, as if I knew she’d give me a hug.
Closer inspection revealed that she was semitransparent. Ghostly. Nearby, a small portal glimmered. It looked like a portal to the Underworld—like the kind outside of Roarke’s house in Magic’s Bend.
So this wasn’t the past. Which made sense, since my mother from the past would never hug me. Nor would she sit in a rocking chair by the fire. But perhaps it could be the future?
Now that my mother had realized how the dark magic of the Underworld had affected her, might she want an actual relationship with me? She’d shaken off the yoke of evil and was trying to convince my father that they’d made a mistake in helping the demons. If I was strong enough and smart enough to fix the problems facing me, perhaps I could use my portal skill to visit with my parents.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, after a quick but hearty breakfast, we geared up and went outside to greet our rides. The sky was just starting to turn gray as the sun approached the horizon. The air was bitter cold, nipping at my exposed cheeks.
Vera had been up early, feeding the massive huskies, and they were now bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to start the day.
All sixteen of them milled around the yard, excited to run. Pond Flower milled with them, seeming delighted to be hanging out with other dogs. Because she’d kept me company for the last couple days, she hadn’t been back to see her hellhound buddies.
Vera clapped her hands and shouted something in a foreign language. The huskies perked up, then ran to their sleds and got in formation. Four to each sled, which seemed like a small number, but they were truly massive dogs.
Vera hooked them up, then gestured us toward the sleds. “Two per sled. No need to steer, the dogs know what they are doing.”
Wanting a cue for how to board the sled, I watched Vera and Zoya climb onto theirs. They both sat down, one in front of the other. There were no handles on the back like I’d seen on other dogsleds in photos, so Vera was serious when she said no one had to stand in the back and steer.
Following the Ice Faes’ lead, I got on a sled with Roarke, sitting right in front of him. There was a heavy blanket, so I pulled it up on top of me, snuggling deep. Aidan and Cass boarded another sled, and Nix got on her own. Pond Flower jumped on behind her, barking happily. Apparently she was a diva, wanting to be pulled by her doggie brethren.
“Har!” Vera shouted, and the dogs took off. They were so fast that I slammed back against Roarke.
“Wow!” I grinned.
The dogs raced through the trees, nearly silent except for the thud of their paws and the swoosh of the sled through snow. They knew just where they were going and were fast as a bat out of hell.
The huskies pulled us through the forest and across the tundra, but the fun really started when we began to ascend the first snow-covered volcano. Though it was dormant—for now—I swore I could feel the heat beneath the snow.
The dogs barely slowed their pace as they pulled us up the steep side. We climbed higher and higher, then crested the top and began our descent. Going downhill, the huskies sprinted even faster
. Wind bit into my cheeks and made my eyes water.
“I should have kept the snowmobile helmet!” I shouted back to Roarke.
“No kidding!” He wrapped his arms tight around me.
When we reached the valley between two volcanos, the dogs slowed. Their heads turned left and right, searching. Their noses twitched as they sniffed the air. The fur on their backs stood up. Pond Flower gave a gruff bark.
“Trouble,” I muttered, searching the snowy valley.
To our left, dark shapes moved against the ground.
“Har!” Vera shouted, and the dogs picked up the pace.
I squinted toward the dark shapes, realizing that they were bears. Grizzly bears climbing out of their caves and thundering right toward us. There were twenty at least, and as they neared, I realized that they were massive. Even bigger than the crabs. And worse, they didn’t feel like dark magic. They just felt like giant bears.
Who wanted to eat us.
But even though they planned to turn us into breakfast, I really didn’t want to kill them.
“Har!” I cried at the dogs, figuring it meant faster. I’d rather outrun the bears than hurt them.
But they were fast. Soon, I could see their black eyes and yellowed fangs. Their huge paws pounded in the snow, kicking it up.
“Do we fight?” Aidan yelled.
“Not unless we have to! Wait for my signal.” Vera cried. “Har!”
The dogs ran as fast as they could, but it wasn’t fast enough. The grizzlies thundered in front of us, trying to cut us off. With a burst of magic that smelled like clean dog fur, the huskies put on a burst of speed and swerved around the bears, slipping past them.
The beast nearest me swiped out a paw, going for my middle. I dodged away, leaning out over the other side of the sled. The bear’s claws missed me by an inch. I almost fell out, but Roarke dragged me back on.
I spun around to see if we’d made it past the bears completely. None of our sleds had been stopped and my friends were all safe, but the grizzlies had spun on a dime and raced after us.
They were fast—unnaturally so, just like the dogs. Unfortunately, our huskies were tired. The bears were gaining. Their fangs flashed, and their eyes gleamed.
“We’re not going to make it!” My mind raced. I needed something not deadly.
Desperately, I called on my ice magic, letting the cold flow through me. I hurled my power at the bears, forming a wall of ice between us or them. Through the semiopaque surface, I saw them scramble in the snow, pulling to a halt before they slammed into the ice wall. They studied it for a moment, then roared their displeasure as they turned and raced around the side of it to continue the hunt.
But the delay had given our dogs enough of a head start. Though the bears tried to catch us, they couldn’t make up the distance.
“Well done!” cried Vera.
I grinned, thankful to have gotten away without hurting them. I was glad that Vera didn’t want to kill them either. She was a good egg.
The hours passed as the dogs carried us up and over mountain after mountain. Finally, we ascended the tallest mountain yet and stopped at the top, our sleds lined in a row. Deep in the valley below, ice glittered like massive crystals.
“That is the entrance to our village,” Vera said.
“I don’t see any houses,” I said. “Just the ice.”
“They’re underneath. The ice protects us.” Vera turned back to her dogs. “Har!”
The dogs burst into a run. We sailed down the mountain, ever closer to the glittering ice. As we pulled to a stop, I studied the ice formations in front of us. They were massive, geometric spears and pillars that jutted out of the earth in all directions. There were millions forming a maze-like forest that prickled with protective magic. It looked like an enormous thicket made of ice.
Vera climbed out of the sled and turned to face us. “We will part soon. I will take the dogs and return them. Zoya will stay with you. She cannot see the council before this is over.”
Or they’d kill her for leaving. Wasn’t that what she’d said? Did she hope that by helping to close the portal and thereby saving the village, that they would forgive her? It was a good plan. I just hoped we’d manage to help her see it through.
We climbed out of the sleds. I patted each dogs’ head, thanking them for pulling us.
“You will need magic to protect you,” Vera said. She approached me and raised a hand. It glowed with blue light like Zoya’s had when she’d revealed the drop floor trap in the snow yesterday.
Vera held her hand in front of my face, then slowly lowered it down my body, hovering a few inches from my skin. Everywhere her hand passed, my skin chilled.
“Whoa,” Cass whispered.
“What?” I asked.
“You look awesome,” she said.
“Seconded.” Nix grinned. “I want the same makeover.”
Vera smiled. She was apparently done with me, because she turned and gave Nix the same treatment. I no longer felt cold, but I didn’t feel normal either.
As Vera ran her hand down Nix’s body, Nix began to turn sparkly and semitransparent. She looked like glittering ice. Even her dark hair turned white and translucent.
“That’s freaking amazing,” I murmured.
“I’m turning you into one of us,” Vera said. “Temporarily, of course. Otherwise, the ice would recognize you as an outsider and keep you from entering. Until the council approves of you, you can’t cross the barrier without being killed.”
“Killed?” Roarke asked.
“Yes.” Vera finished with Nix, then turned toward the ice spears that created the strange forest in front of us. She drew a dagger and nodded toward the daggers strapped to Cass’s thighs. “Hold one of your daggers with your bare hand, then throw it between the ice towers.”
Cass tugged off a glove and did as she requested, removing one of her sheathed obsidian daggers and throwing it expertly at the ice forest. As the blade passed between two of the ice spears, they snapped together like the jaws of a snake, trapping the dagger within.
“It would crush your flesh,” Vera said. “You’d become human soup beneath the ice.”
“Ew.” I made a face.
“Makes my point though, doesn’t it?” Vera asked.
“Sure does.” I admired my clear, sparkling arm. “I like the look anyway.”
Vera transformed all of us, even Zoya and Pond Flower, then turned to face us. “Zoya will lead you to an overlook where you can see the portal. As soon as you have closed it and no more demons are coming through, we will help you fight the demons who are still in the city. We must kill them all and free my people.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” Vera’s gaze turned grave. “But you must succeed.”
No kidding.
She turned and started toward the ice. As she neared the first row of spears, her opaque human body shifted into her Ice Fae form. She glittered as clear and bright as the rest of us, passing through the ice with no problem. The dogs shifted as well. It was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen as they trotted through the deadly pillars of ice.
My heart thundered as I followed Vera and Zoya between the first pillars of ice. But when they didn’t snap closed and crush me, I relaxed slightly.
After that, I just admired the view as we passed between and under the jagged piece of ice. They twinkled clear and white as the sun sparkled through them.
Zoya gestured to us. “Come.”
We veered off, following her away from Vera and the dogs. She led us toward a small overlook. The jagged crystalline spears formed a bit of a barricade for us. In our glittery, transparent forms, we blended very well. It was a good hideout even though we were very close to the village. We were right over the buildings’ roofs, so close that I could call out and they would hear me.
The village was lovely, with buildings made of pale gray stone and streets paved in a similar material. The people within glittered icy clear
like we did, their pale hair flowing on a light breeze. It was magical, in the truest sense of the word. I was used to the fantastic, but this was something special.
The portal at the right side of town ruined the whole thing, though. We were right above it and slightly in front. The thing was gaping and black, emitting an evil that made me shiver. A steady stream of demons flowed through, though I couldn’t see any of the shadows anywhere. The demons were all shapes and sizes, every species. There was no similarity except that they all wanted to come to Earth and wreak havoc of the most horrible, violent variety.
“I guess I’ll get to it,” I whispered. “Everyone be ready to fight. The demons will know something is wrong as soon as the portal closes.”
Everyone nodded, taking up battle stations. Down below, Ice Fae went about their business and the town looked normal. Well, as normal as a town could look when it was under demon occupation. I was ready to kick these jerks out of here.
I debated shifting into my Phantom form. It would protect me if battle broke out while I was working on the portal, but it was too dangerous. I would glow blue and bright, a beacon that gave away my location. It was better to stay camouflaged, even if it left me vulnerable.
I reached for my gift over time, letting it flow through me with a shiver. I directed it toward the portal, trying to keep it focused and narrow. It was imperative that I only turn back time right at the portal—not in the village itself. I didn’t want to screw up anyone’s life, after all.
I tried to envision the portal closing in the past, but it was difficult. Instead, I imagined the demons walking backward into the portal, as if they were being shown in rewind. It should happen in real life, too, I thought.
Unfortunately, turning back time like this felt nearly impossible. I couldn’t get a grip on the magic. Though the theory was similar, it felt entirely different to imagining a long-dead temple and rebuilding it.
Sweat trickled down my temple as I pushed my magic harder, trying to force my vision into reality.
But it didn’t work. I spent at least ten excruciating minutes trying to turn back time a couple minutes, but it was just too weird. Too wrong. Maybe the magic of the portal was preventing it? Or maybe I just wasn’t strong enough to manage it.
