Celestial Tears

by Holly Evans

  “This is why I don’t have pets,” he said.

  “This had better be something nice,” Erin muttered.

  Once again, we stepped into the dense jungle. Wispy wove his way between the broad trunks of the tall trees and showed no regard for the short spiky bushes we had to walk through to follow him. The deep purple bushes with their pale silver thorns were bizarrely soft when I pushed through one. I had braced myself for the pain of the long thorns tearing through my legs, but instead it was almost like downy feathers. I glanced at Logan and Erin, waiting for them to tell me they were highly poisonous or some such.

  Ethan reached down and ran thumb over one of the small delicate leaves of the bush. He frowned.

  “It’s absorbing the magic in the area,” he said.

  Logan wrinkled his nose. “That explains my nausea, then.”

  Wispy had returned and began hissing at us to hurry up.

  “Behave yourself, else you’re going without rations,” I told him.

  He huffed and remained in one spot while we made our way through the twisting nest of vines that kept trying to bind our arms. They paid the wisp no interest, but we had to keep unwinding them from our limbs before we could progress. Our knives did nothing to them. They slipped off the shiny surface.

  Finally, we emerged into a space where we could walk at a reasonable pace. I kept an eye out for further predators, be they plant or animal. A peculiar animal with a small round body and elongated limbs with spindly long fingers followed us. It moved along the branches just above our heads with an odd bouncing gait. Occasionally it looked at us with saucer-like amber eyes, but it made no sound or attempt to reach us.

  “It’s an Ocki; some say that it steals the essence of those who wrong it,” Ethan said.

  “How would you go about wronging it?” I asked.

  Ethan shrugged. “No one specified.”

  “Oh, fantastic, so we could lose our very essence if we step on its favourite vine by accident,” I said.

  Logan laughed and kissed my cheek, which lightened my mood. The jungle was growing oppressive, and I was in no mood for Wispy’s antics. There was a good chance that he’d found a particularly tasty plant he wanted me to harvest for him so he could eat more later.

  The air grew heavier and more difficult to breathe right before the rain hit. It sounded like a train as it thundered through the thick canopy before great big droplets hit the floor around us like projectiles. Mud splashed against our legs and water streamed over us. Wispy did a little dance before he continued on. I admit I was glad of the coolness of the rain, but I’d still have much rather been on our way to the town and home.

  Finally, we emerged into a small clearing, and Wispy made a triumphant chirping sound. Before us stood the remains of what I assumed was a temple. It’s heavy, dark grey blocks were weathered, and thick woody vines crawled over them, but the broad shape of the thing was still present. The dirt around the entrance remained barren and bare. It was quickly becoming thick mud.

  We headed into the cool darkness, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the break it provided. The interior of the temple was spacious, with large low-ceilinged rooms in simple squares. It had a faint buzz of magic. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what type of magic it was, but it made me smile.

  “There’s something very magical in here,” Ethan said, a furrow between his brows.

  I grinned at him. “Lead the way.”

  “Don’t get in too much trouble, Kit,” Logan said with a smile.

  I followed Ethan through the gap in the wall into the darkness. Wispy gave us a small amount of light, just enough to stop me from breaking an ankle in the large crack in the dirt floor. We squeezed between two solid walls and emerged in a square room with moss-covered walls. Ethan went straight for the wall to our right, whereas I paused and looked at the markings on the wall. They seemed to be telling a story.

  I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to decipher the language. When it finally hit me, the story was a slightly odd one.

  In the beginning, there was a dagger used for magic. I peered closer and rubbed some of the dirt off the wall. The dagger was used for rituals to the gods. An elf and a shifter shared the dagger. For the first half of the lunar cycle, the elf kept the dagger safe, and for the latter half of the lunar cycle the shifter did. They lived a long time in harmony and balance. Then, one night, what looked to be a small cat stole the dagger and hid it away. The elf and the shifter searched high and low, but could not find either the thief or the dagger, and so they were banished by the gods.

  Ethan made a victorious sound, and I turned to see him holding a pink dagger. Its hilt was a pale rose pink, the blade a bold golden pink. In his other hand, he held what appeared to be a furry pink sheath made from some animal’s hide. He grinned at me before he held it out for me to inspect. The dagger had a soft hum of magic. I’d expected to see some blood magic threads along the blade, but it was entirely clean. I tilted my head and tried to pick out exactly what form of magic had been woven into it, given it was strong enough to call to Ethan.

  The magic within the blade was a complicated knot-work of golds, roses, and garnet red, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what they were.

  “Kit? You ok in there?” Logan shouted.

  “We’re good, coming back now!” I shouted back.

  I handed Ethan back the dagger. It was, after all, his find. He placed it in the furry sheath and tucked it under his belt. It looked entirely absurd on him, but he smiled and gestured for me to lead the way back out. Wispy acted as our light once more, and we emerged back into the main area, where Logan and Erin were waiting for us. I told them about the story on the wall, and Ethan showed them the dagger. None of us had any idea about the magic within it, but we decided it was far too valuable to leave behind.

  “We need to head back before it gets dark and we lose more travel time,” Logan said.

  “Wispy, take us back to the car, no detours,” I commanded.

  The wisp let out a deep hum of complaint before he dutifully headed back out into the forest and led us back to the vehicle. Ethan handed me the dagger once we were seated once more.

  “Keep it,” he said.

  “No, I think the pink’s more your colour,” I said with a grin.

  He laughed and put the dagger away once more.

  “I’ll give it back to you next time we meet, then,” he said.

  “Let’s hope a cat doesn’t come and steal it from us,” I said.

  We stopped on a straight stretch of track that looked much like the miles of jungle both behind and in front. My sense of wonder had well and truly fled. Wispy seemed to be sleeping on Erin's shoulder, and I envied him that. We continued on, with Logan driving for the next stretch.

  The contented quiet stretched into an unpleasant silence that was occasionally punctuated by a concerning creak of metal or deep growling sound from somewhere around the engine region. I didn't know what we'd do if the damn thing broke down. It was a very long walk out of the jungle. We couldn't call in an airship, as the canopy was too dense to get a signal on our phones or to land an airship. That vehicle was our only escape.

  Once darkness descended, we stopped for the night and made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the open-roofed vehicle. I wriggled and shifted my weight on the back seat with Logan, trying to find a position that didn't result in something sharp digging into me. I gave up and closed my eyes while wishing for sleep.

  A harsh whispering sound brought me back from a light doze to full consciousness. I opened my eyes to see a dark-furred being with a long narrow body and terrifying long-fingered hands with little round globes on the end. The thing was reaching for Wispy, who seemed entirely oblivious. Instinctively, I smacked the being around its round head to get it away from my wisp. He'd been through enough. I wasn't going to allow whatever the fuck that was steal him away into the night.

  The being skittered away along the top of the door nearest my feet and looked at me with sauc
er-like eyes. It blinked its double eyelids and watched me before a similar-looking being reached out to Wispy from the other side of the vehicle.

  "You are not stealing my wisp, now piss off!" I shouted as I swatted the other furry beast.

  That woke up everyone else, including Wispy.

  “What the fuck?” Logan asked incredulously.

  “Why?” Erin asked.

  “They’re drawn to Wispy’s magic,” Ethan said.

  “I will not be held responsible for my actions if they get ‘hold of Wispy,” I said.

  We were surrounded. Saucer-like eyes peered at us from the darkness. The dim light from the stars above and Wispy himself made them glitter like small galaxies. I didn't know what they were, but they took it in turns to reach out and try to wrap those awful long fingers around Wispy. We kept hitting them and trying to drive them off without killing them, but they never went away for long. They didn't try and defend themselves, either.

  “Why won’t they just fuck off?” Logan growled.

  Finally, we grew tired of the game and drew our blades. I slit the first one from sternum to pelvis, and quickly regretted it when its innards spilled down the outside of the door. The stench enveloped me, and I was aware of the fact we'd have to live with that smell until we got to the city.

  “Oh gods, that’s awful. I think I’ll walk back to the city,” Erin said with a look of horror.

  “I was debating whether I could face that walk, myself,” Ethan said.

  On the upside, the little beasts vanished into the depths of the jungle and left poor Wispy alone.

  41

  Somehow, we made it to a city that we thought was Sandakan. The vehicle promptly gave up the moment we reached the outskirts, leaving us to walk deeper into the city and look for food and somewhere to call Fein. Thankfully, the city was relatively small, a compact collection of sturdy buildings. We collapsed into seats outside of an oceanside cafe and ordered everything on the menu. Once I'd drunk what seemed like a few gallons of water and fed Wispy, I was ready to call Fein.

  To my relief, he arranged an airship to come and collect us from where we sat. I ate whatever people put in front of me and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air coming off the ocean and the way it caressed my skin. That hour passed in a haze of exhaustion and various forms of pain. We guarded our backpacks with the ferocity of shifter mothers guarding their cubs.

  The air elementals were smartly dressed and guided us onto their very nice-looking airship. They had the good sense not to offer to take our backpacks for us. I turned when I noticed that Ethan was no longer walking with us.

  "This is where we part ways," he said with a smile.

  I jogged back down the ramp and hugged him.

  "Thanks for everything, you're welcome to join our adventures any time," I said.

  "I'll keep that in mind, thank you," he said before he brushed his lips over my cheek. "Logan did well in choosing you," he whispered before he turned and walked away.

  I couldn't help but smile and feel a little giddy.

  "What did he say?" Logan asked when I returned to the ship.

  "He said you made the right choice in choosing me.”

  Erin laughed at that and followed a pretty, dark-haired woman into our luxurious cabin.

  "He's right," Logan said before he kissed me tenderly.

  How I wished we had the privacy to explore the feelings and emotions in that moment… the way my heart skipped a bit as I embraced the fact that I really did love him. I didn't want to know what my life would be like without him.

  We curled up on the wide and wonderfully soft seats with Logan on one side and Erin on the other. I kissed her temple and stroked her hair as we settled in to watch whatever movie was on the television before us. I have no idea what the movie was about. I fell asleep before the opening scene had concluded properly.

  I woke up to a polite coughing from one of the air elementals. I opened my eyes to look at him blearily. His eyes hid the smirk I had no doubt would have been on his pretty mouth had he had worse manners. We were escorted off the ship to a black car that I assumed, hoped, was Fein's. Wispy took himself back to his cage and went back to sleep. It was alright for some.

  "Do you think they'll take us back to the flat so we can look a bit more presentable?" I asked Erin.

  She laughed. "Fein doesn't strike me as the patient type."

  "I'm not sure he'll allow us into his nice pristine office in this state," I said as I looked at my dust- and dirt-coated clothes.

  It was hard to tell what was dried blood and what was red mud. My face felt as though it were equally as coated, and my hair was a mass of knots rather than nice curls. It was going to take me an hour and a good number of lotions and potions to feel clean and presentable again.

  Logan, of course, still looked fantastic. The dust and dirt only highlighted his good looks and fantastic body. Erin hadn't fared much worse. The grime had dulled the brilliant colours of her hair somewhat, but the rest of it gave her an edge that I enjoyed a little too much.

  The car deposited us outside of Fein's house, and Isla was waiting for us. She looked down her delicate nose at us. I grinned at her. She stepped back with a look of horrified disgust when we got close. Apparently snow elves weren't keen on dirt, who knew?

  "Have you missed us?" I asked her in a singsong voice.

  She muttered something.

  "Sorry, I missed that," Erin said sweetly.

  I was clearly a bad influence on her.

  "I said you are filthy and shouldn't be allowed near this house let alone within its walls," Isla said icily.

  "That was Fein's decision," Logan replied equally as icily.

  The elf stiffened, but said nothing more.

  She pushed the door open to Fein's office and walked away, leaving us to it. Fein was sitting behind his desk with Tyn leaning against said desk next to him. The elf was giving his Cait Sidhe a gentle loving look and stroked his fingertips over Tyn's hand in slow, gentle circles. I didn't think I'd seen Tyn that relaxed before. It was a shame to shatter the moment.

  I knocked on the open door. Fein's attention snapped to me and he smiled.

  "Miss Felis, you look a state. I assume there weren't any further difficulties?"

  "None," I said as I pulled my breaker gloves on in preparation to handle the tears.

  "Tell me, Mr. Sionnach, what did you experience when you touched the tear?" Fein asked.

  I froze. How did he know that? Had the elves told him? Did the elves all communicate?

  Logan lifted his chin and ground his teeth.

  "I felt my mind become sharper, which was the worst possible thing to have happen, given the situation. I was acutely aware of every small sensation of my body as it slipped into decline and my magic fled. Every small change in my muscles was agonising. I understood exactly what happened, and the way in which my body was rotting around me while my mind gradually became sharper, even more aware. My nerves were on fire, every tiny change in the air current felt like a hurricane pressing against my overly sensitive skin. It is not something I would recommend," Logan said stiffly.

  Fein nodded and thanked him. Tyn frowned and walked around the desk. He looked Logan up and down before he placed his hand on Logan's cheek. Fein watched the pair intently as Tyn looked deep into Logan's eyes, small furrows between his brows as he focused.

  "Your shifter blood means I can balance you," Tyn explained when he stepped back.

  Logan looked brighter, stronger. He smiled at the Cait Sidhe.

  "Thank you."

  Tyn returned to Fein, who relaxed when he did so. I placed the three tears on Fein's desk in their breaker bags, not wanting to risk exposing them more than necessary.

  "What are you going to do with them?" Erin demanded.

  42

  Fein leaned back in his chair and looked calmly at Erin. Tyn gave his usual long feline blink and gave away nothing. Erin crossed her arms and stared him down with all of the fierceness she co
uld muster. Finally, Fein smiled and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk.

  "What research have you done into me?" he asked calmly.

  Erin gave a small sniff.

  "There isn't much available on you," she said.

  Fein's smile quirked upwards with amusement.

  "I will hand these items to the god I work with."

  Erin raised an eyebrow.

  "You work with a god?" I asked.

  That was unheard of. The priests and such could at least supposedly communicate with them, but to work with a god was surely an exaggeration of his place in the deal.

  "That is what I said," Fein said.

  "And how does that work?" Logan asked.

  "I work with the god of balance to maintain the balance throughout Europe. There are others like me positioned around the world. It isn't always pleasant work, but it is entirely necessary. I was chosen when I was young. My clan had never accepted me entirely; they said that my energy felt wrong, somehow, and I was too predatory," he said.

  Erin smiled and relaxed.

  "And did this god choose us, too?" Logan asked.

  "Does it matter?" Fein asked as he tilted his head.

  Logan rolled his jaw before he said, "No, I suppose it doesn't."

  "Go home. Relax. Have a shower. I expect you back in work in seven days."

  And we were dismissed, as easily as that.

  I couldn’t help but feel a little trapped by how much influence the gods had had on my recent experiences. The idea that I was working for them didn’t sit well with me. Of course, I knew that they screwed around with our lives to some extent, but there was a lot of argument about how far they went. Some people said they had far too much to do, that they weren’t interested in the boring minutia of us lowly mortals. Others went to the other extreme and said that were nothing more than their playthings, that we were pushed around a game board that only they saw. I’d intentionally avoided the discussion and the topic. I enjoyed the idea of my freedom. The last thing I wanted was to have that shattered. I didn’t know if my psyche could handle it.