Minutes to Midnight

by Phaedra Weldon

  I heard a noise like the snap of a branch. The door I needed was several feet away, but between it and me appeared a familiar form.

  Brendi.

  She was dressed in a shift of light linen. The wind moved the material against her and it defined her body. Brendi was part of Alfheim now, as far as I knew. Her hair was reddish blonde and moved about her shoulders in the breeze.

  "Lower your sword, Uncle Dags. I'm not your enemy."

  But I couldn't do it. I couldn't make it vanish. Something inside of me, something in the book, saw Brendi as a threat. "I need to get to Hob, Brendi."

  "It's been a long time since you were here. After I saved you. You would leave me without a wave goodbye?"

  There was something not right about her. Something…off-kilter. I'll admit I didn't know her well. I remembered a little girl of fourteen who loved her phone and boys. This young woman was a stranger. "I…I'm grateful you saved me, and Sam and your dad. And I'm glad to see you're all right, Brendi. But I don't know how long I've been here, and I don't know if you know or not, but a Djin overshadowed your dad—"

  "I know." She vanished and reappeared in front of me. I took a step back and my wings beat to steady me. "There's nothing you can do now. Except stay here."

  "I can't do that."

  "Your world will be a safer place with you out of it, Darren."

  I swallowed. I didn't know what to do! This was Mike's daughter…every muscle and nerve in me said KILL. But my heart said WAIT. LISTEN. "I don't understand…."

  "Pay attention to what you did to Charybdis. What hell you've brought to Alfheim. To the world. To my father."

  "Your…" I swallowed. "Brendi, I didn't make Ripp'n Jack take your father."

  "But you gave him the idea. You taught him how to use words to his advantage. Everything you touch will rot and whither and die. I've seen it, Darren. If this world had a queen, Charybdis would be such a creature. Maab finally saw you for what you are, as did I. When I took her head, I tried to stop you from returning to the Material World. I thought if you tasted strong, powerful Faerie blood, the magic would keep you here with me."

  I took a step back. "Wait you…you forced that shit into my mouth because you thought it would stop me from leaving?"

  "Yes. I had to give you a weakness. I had to give you something I could control."

  Sweat trickled down the side of my face and I moved the back of my free hand over my forehead. "You were the one that hired the Djin to take me. You told Klinsky about the Faerie blood because you wanted him to cage me."

  "Listen to me, Darren. Understand why this has to be." She held her hands out to her sides. "When you escaped Maab's enemies, you left the gate open. Hob wasn't able to stop them. Luckily more than ninety percent of them were destroyed the moment they touched your world. But in the midst of those Peripheral beings wanting the Dark Mother's head, the one creature that should never have left these walls slipped through, and survived. Charybdis. During her time in your world she found the perfect vessel with which to free her mother."

  "You mean Rhonda. She possessed a witch. But Rhonda doesn't have any power. I know who took it from her."

  "So does Charybdis. How long do you think it'll take her to piece together the witch's shattered memories of you, and her, and the Wraith? She only guessed at the power hidden in the Grimoire inside of you. Now you've shown her its power. If you escape into the Material World, she'll follow you.

  "And she will kill everyone you hold dear to get the witch's powers and claim that book. I hired the Djin to bring you to me. Then I realized what Carybdis intended to do with her Lamias's mutilated food. I realized a portal that big, built in the form of a Banishing Pentagram, would allow more of her kind, including her brother, to escape. Chimera is already in the Material World, Dags. They want to free their mother. I used Jack to derail her plans."

  "You used me as an incentive for him to do what you said."

  "Yes. You have a lot of enemies, Guardian. He took you as I instructed him, after Ripp'n Jack's first attempt failed. But then you escaped and my pact with Klinsky was dissolved. The Djin wanted another try, because he could never be free as long as a hire was never finished. So he waited for the opportunity to take you, after he took my father and the Revenant." She made a deep sigh. "I did everything because you have to remain out of the Material World, Dags. Your presence means the end of everything."

  I swallowed, the sword still held between us. My shoulders felt stiff and sore, holding up those wings. "How…how do you know this?"

  "Because I'm a child of the God Mother. I was a seer." She reached out and held her hand just in front of me. "I gave a young man the secret to binding you—and that secret will spread by word of mouth. Your weaknesses will be known, Darren. I had to level the playing field. I had to give them a fighting chance in case I couldn't hold you."

  "Your dad is possessed by a Djin…I have to get it out of him."

  "That's not possible. My father chose the life he has. He will have to bear the consequences."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You…would just let that thing use your own flesh and blood?"

  "I would do what it takes to save the world, Dags. If you stay here…Charybdis could choose to remain here as well and leave the Material World untouched." She took a step toward me. "We all have our weaknesses. And Charybdis realizes her host's weakness is you. Stay here, Darren. Stay with me and rebuild Alfheim."

  I honestly didn't believe my staying there was going to calm Charybdis down. Maybe the Rhonda part of her would like that—but Charybdis herself struck me as a loose cannon. Bug nuts crazy. "And if I don't stay?"

  Brendi's expression changed. It was a subtle shift in her face, much like what a Revenant goes through when their First Borns step forward for control. It was both beautiful and horrific. "I will call a Wild Hunt, Uncle Dags, and drag you back here in iron. I will close every Cairn Maab made to hold you." Her expression softened, but that scary hard-ass look was what stayed with me. "What's most important is keeping your power and hers, contained. You've hurt her for now, and she'll need time to heal. But when Charybdis finds her way back to your world, she will win."

  "What is she?" I searched Brendi's face. "She's not like any other First Born…."

  Brendi's expression grew sadder. She lowered her hand. "Because she's not. If that were a true title, then Charybdis and her ilk would indeed be the first of the Dark Children." She stepped back. "Make your decision, Darren. If you stay here with me, I can keep you safe and hidden away from her. She can't come into my kingdom. But if you leave—many will die."

  "I can't stay," I heard myself blurt out. "Brendi, I have to help Mike. I have to make sure Stella is okay because I just don't believe Ripp'n Jack. And if Stella or your dad are hurt from this in any way," I gestured at her with the sword. "I will hold you personally responsible. You made a deal with the devil, Brendi. Not me. You brought that thing into our lives. You've already caused more deaths than I ever have."

  "But you will cause millions more."

  I suddenly thought of her. Saw her face. Brendi's warning about the witch's memories involving the Wraith didn't go ignored.

  "You still love Zoë."

  "I don't remember her. I just have what others tell me happened."

  "You lied to protect her."

  "I lied because I knew she was in danger."

  Brendi stared at me. "You have the answer…the key to your memories. But you didn't use it."

  "No. And don't ask why. I can't say."

  She searched my face. "You were told to make the wish yourself. Do you remember that?"

  "Yes."

  "But you didn't."

  "I didn't have the chance. Mike made it for me. I just…" The muscles in my shoulders, forearms, wrists, and hand were on fire and shaking. What ever energy I'd gotten from that spell was fading. "And I'm not sure I wouldn't have asked for the same thing."

  "You wouldn't have. Your wish could have saved us
all."

  I took a step back from her, the sword still ready. "Are you going to stop me, Brendi?"

  She slowly shook her head. "No. Right now you're too strong. You possess not only your power, but that of Carybdis and the Grimoire. My Champion has fled with my father's body. But I will mourn you, Uncle Dags. Do not seek refuge here." A wind whipped at her hair and she turned into a collection of dandelion seeds. I watched them dance on the wind and disappear.

  The sword vanished.

  I turned in the direction of the door in the broken wall and stepped through. The barren, dry desert appeared. This time I felt heat on my face, and my wings folded and disappeared as I took another step and quacked like a duck, the key to the Ley Line connecting the city with the Cairn.

  Miles were crossed in the blink of an eye, and then I stood outside of Hob's broken gate. Thick, lush plants, trees, and flowers spilled through the iron fence and flooded out of the door hanging at an angle from a single hinge. High grass and a patch of purple flowers mingled with the edge of the desert as I bent low and walked between the broken gate.

  It looked the same as before: the low ceiling of the cave; the plethora of flowers, some moving, some still. I saw the spiderwyk nests Hob had made for us when we were injured, discarded to the side of the water. I looked around at the wild.

  You are alive.

  It was the most excited I'd heard Hob.

  I turned in time to see him materialize out of the water. Urisks were hard to look at for a lot of people. The discomfort came from their lack of features. This one resembled a black, faceless mannequin, the kind you see in department store windows. He walked to me. I held out my arms. He hesitated before he held his out as well. We hugged and I felt him there. Cold, slick, but alive.

  "It's good to see you, Hob."

  He pulled back and I stared into the smooth, featureless face. I had feared the queen had you.

  "You mean Charybdis?"

  Yes. I take it you have seen her.

  "Yeah…she's now in possession of an old girlfriend of mine. One of those little inconveniences of my forgotten year."

  You do not sound happy.

  "I'm not." I turned and ran a hand over my face, then through my hair. When I looked down at myself, I saw my pale chest, the bullet scar, and my favorite pair of jeans, ripped and beaten beyond repair. I watched a small patch of white flowers lean toward my bare feet and caress my toes. It tickled. "I'm sorry I haven't been back to talk, Hob. That was rude of me."

  Finding a door in has become difficult. But because of the hole Maab's enemies tore in the Cairn, I have found small ways to sieve into the waterways of your world. I can't manifest very well there, but I can float to the surface and overhear the voices of conversation and not feel so alone.

  I looked at him. "She got through here that day, didn't she?"

  Yes. I sensed when she went by. You didn't shut the door.

  "The door came out in a pipe that dumped us in the Savannah River. Mike had to go back and figure out a way to go in and seal it." I looked at the water. "I'm assuming that way out is now closed."

  Yes. But the original way out is permanent because Maab made it. And because I wove feathers from your wings into the rebuild, you can also open and close it if you wish.

  "Wait…" I glared at him. "You mean I have a permanent way in and out of the Peripheral?"

  You have a way in and out of Alfheim. The Peripheral is this World, Alfheim is just a part of it. Think of it as a fiefdom inside a larger kingdom. Charybdis owns the other territories, though the new Faerie Queen of the dark is quite formidable. And Titania still rules the Snow.

  "You mean Mike's daughter, Brendi, is now the Obsidian Queen." I don't think I'd really realized Brendi had taken over Maab's position until that moment.

  Yes. I think you have to know that if you return here, I will have to either kill you, or detain you.

  I sighed and turned to the darker part of the farthest wall. If I remembered correctly, the wall was false and would take me back to the corridor of the Cairn. "She told me if I left, I was forbidden to return."

  Then stay, Guardian. Do your good here. Keep me company.

  His voice held so much anguish in it. He had to be the loneliest creature I knew. "Would you really kill me, Hob?"

  Puck flew in at that moment. "Hob cannot kill! Hob cannot kill!"

  Quiet, you damned idiot!

  The raven landed on a gnarled branch by the gate and watch us. "Puck gave me your message," I said. "The one you sent to come see you. It gave me hope."

  As it was meant to. Hob moved past me to the darkest part of the wall and waved his hand. The wall vanished and he stepped through. I stepped through with him. The walls of the tunnel shifted and wrapped itself from the dark, web-infested lair of the spiderwyk into what I first remembered the place looking like: an abandoned mine tunnel.

  Hob held out his hand.

  I put mine in his. "Is the spiderwyk still roaming the tunnels?"

  No, she's in your world now. Those few Peripheral creatures who survived the transition into the Material now roam there, Guardian. Find them, banish them, and I will put them back where they belong.

  "And if I need a place to hide?"

  He didn't say anything as he turned and melted into the tunnel wall.

  REVELATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

  Thomas Rhymer met me at the round grate, the entrance to the Cairn. It appeared and disappeared in the brick of the retaining wall facing River Street. He wore his white top hat, sans the red scarf, his white suit, and white boots. His horse and buggy waited patiently to the left. "Good to see you again, Mr. McConnell."

  "Hey, Thomas." We shook hands. "How long?"

  "It's May now. Ending of the day. What's the last day you remember?"

  "April…tenth I think."

  "Today is Cinco de Mayo. Several bars are open late and I have money to make!" He climbed back in his buggy. "Give you a ride to your house?"

  "Is it the same? Have things changed?" I climbed in the back.

  He coaxed the hoarse forward and we made our ascent up the ramp of cobblestone back to Bay Street above. "The more things change…the more they stay the same. Prepare yourself."

  His words scared me.

  I got a few odd looks from some of the people along the sidewalks. Me, single guy with no shirt, covered in blood, on a buggy ride. Yep. There's a winner.

  I also noticed I wasn't sick or shivering. In fact, I felt fine, except for the ache in my thigh where the sword went through. When I looked at it I panicked. It was bleeding again and left a few spatters on the floor of Thomas's buggy.

  We stopped in Madison Square and I jumped out. "Hold on and I'll see if Mike's got money—"

  "Save it, Guardian. And walk softly." Thomas coaxed his horse again and I watched the two of them move around the Square back to Bay.

  I faced the townhouse door, counted to ten, a spell on the tip of my tongue—just in case what answered wasn't human.

  I was ready for anything—

  —except for a very excited Stella opening the door and launching herself at me. We fell back on the front porch and I grabbed the railing so we didn't tumble down the steps. "You're alive!"

  She was kissing me. I mean, smacking me with her lips all over. I was ecstatic to see her alive and well. She wore an apron over jeans and a T-shirt. Her deep red hair was pulled into a ponytail. She looked beautiful. "Hey…come on and let me breathe. I'm alive. And I'm fine." Don't think about what you did to Rhonda! "So…what's been happening since—"

  The door opened wider and Raven came through. She yanked Stella off me, shoved her into the townhouse, then grabbed me by my hair and yanked me inside, too. Before the door closed, the Revenant grabbed me by the shoulders and sank her teeth into my neck.

  "Raven! Stop it!" That was Stella's voice. She was here as well. I could hear as well as feel her smacking Raven with her hand as my eyes slipped closed. "You're going to kill him."

  I fig
ured I knew what Raven was doing—or, rather, why. Best way to identify someone was to taste their blood. I was pretty sure this new form of ID would catch on soon.

  When she was done, she let go and I staggered backward into Stella's arms. I pushed against the closed door and waited for the dizzy that sudden blood loss gave me. "Wow…nice to see you too, Raven."

  It is very nice to see you are alive, Guardian.

  "Hey, Nyx. So, what was with the violent greeting?"

  Raven pointed at Stella. "Go make that thing you've been talking about."

  "What thing?" Stella frowned.

  "For him. You kept wanting to make it for him. I bought everything you need. Go cook."

  Stella's face brightened, and she kissed my cheek and bounced off. I couldn't remember ever seeing Stella Rosenberg, mild-mannered real estate tycoon, act like that before. I pointed after her. "What is wrong—"

  But Raven waved at me to be quiet and then gestured for me to follow her. We walked past the kitchen, out the back sliding doors, and into the garden. Everything looked the same—no. Actually, everything looked unkempt. Dandelions peeked through the bark mulch around the stones. The fountain was green with algae, and weeds choked the flowers.

  I picked a dandelion and blew off the seeds. It reminded me of Brendi. "Mike's gone, isn't he?"

  "Once we stomped back through that Cairn and landed on River Street, he wanted to see where he lived." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So we walked back here. Then that Angelic bitch friend of yours showed up, started picking a fight with him. He ripped her apart and buried her back here."