Faris’s lips twisted downward. “Thomas will kill you. He was one of the last necromancers held prisoner by the former Emperor and Empress.” He tucked his hands behind his back, clasping and unclasping them several times. His nerves showed.
I let out a groan. That couldn’t be good. “Let me guess, more than anyone else, he has a major hate on for vampires?”
Megan let out a squeak. “Vampires? Really, will I get to meet one?”
Holy shit she was green. Faris though, seemed more than a little amused. “I like this one, Rylee. She has spunk. Reminds me a bit of Pamela. Perhaps you would like to leave her here with me to train?”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I said nothing else, not really wanting to encourage him. Trusting Faris was like trusting a boomerang; it came and went but it was never right where you thought it would be.
“Really, honestly. There aren’t vampires out there, are there?” Good grief, she sounded like a love struck teenager. Probably thought they sparkled in the sunlight instead of burning like a gasoline-soaked torch.
“My sister is a vampire. You might meet her,” I said, keeping my eyes on Faris. His lips twitched. For now, Megan didn’t have to know. Even though Frank shuffled his feet and his face went bright red with keeping a secret from his pretty young friend, he said nothing. Good boy.
Faris cleared his throat. “I believe it will be best if I open the doorway directly into the house Thomas lives in. That way the zombies he has roaming will not have as much of a chance to tackle you.”
I licked my lips. “You can’t kill him, Faris. We need him and so do Frank and Megan.”
He put a hand to his chest and his eyes widened in mock innocence, the ass. “Why would you say that? You assume I would just attack someone?”
“Because I know you,” I snapped. “I know if you have history with Thomas you want to see him face to face for some stupid fucking reason that will, in the end, ruin everything.”
Faris’s grin slipped. “He and I have unfinished business.”
“I don’t fucking well care. You can deal with him after he has helped us and after he has trained these two to their fullest potential. And not one second sooner. Got it?” By that point I was right in his face, physically crowding him. Of course, he didn’t back down, that wasn’t his style.
“You do nothing the easy way, do you?” Faris stared down at me.
“I do things the only way I know how.” I took a step back. “Open the veil, let’s get this over with.”
Frank and Megan crowded up behind me, and Alex sat quietly at my side. Faris flicked his hand and the veil opened, giving us a perfect view of the inside of Thomas’s house, a glaring Thomas and Liam staring past me at Faris. Grabbing a kid in each hand, I shoved them through ahead of me.
“There you go, Thomas. Two young necromancers who want to learn the ropes, you just have to teach them.” Frank and Megan stumbled forward, and Frank flicked a glare back at me. At least he had a little spine. Alex bounced through next to me and I turned around, expecting to see the veil had closed.
Nope, no such luck.
Faris strolled through, sweet as you please, a smile on his lips that was big enough his fangs showed clearly. “Hello, Thomas.”
Thomas launched from his chair, his eyes darting one way and then the other. The zombies outside let out an instant, communal roar that shook the house.
“Faris, get the hell out of here!” I tried to grab him, tackle him, stop him from whatever it was he was planning. He avoided me with ease as the first window shattered and the ground shook.
“He has a zombie giant, you moron!” It took everything I had to keep my body between Faris and Thomas. This couldn’t be happening.
“Frank,” Liam yelled, “can you stop the zombies?”
“I’ll try.”
Megan was much more confident. “Hell to the yeah, I can kick those rotters to the curb.”
I don’t know what she and Frank did, but the zombies did seem to slow, or at least, they calmed down.
Faris on the other hand was still staring at Thomas, while I did my best to keep him from getting any closer. “Faris, we need Thomas. You can’t kill him.”
“I never said I was going to kill him, Rylee. I just want to talk to him.”
Thomas let out a scream that was pure fear, the echo of it flowing through the house.
“I don’t think he wants anything to do with you.” I finally got my hands on Faris’s arms. But it was weird; it was like I wasn’t really there in a sense, like in that moment nothing existed for the vampire except Thomas. His eyes were focused only on the necromancer. After more than a few tense breaths, Faris slumped and he shook his head.
“All right, old man. I will go.” He backed away, twisted the veil and stepped through into a room I knew was his special dark place. Somewhere no one could find him, a cement room buried in the ground.
With Faris gone, the air around us shifted and mellowed. Thomas let out a long, low groan and slid to the floor, his back against the wall. “Why, why did you bring him here?”
“I didn’t. I told him he couldn’t come but as soon as he knew it was you … .” I didn’t know what to say. How the hell did I make this right so Thomas wouldn’t toss us out on our asses without helping Milly and Pamela?
Thomas rubbed a hand over his face. “I should have known he would find me. I have hidden from him for years.”
At some point Liam had moved to my side, and his presence calmed me.
“Where is Erik?”
“Gone back to Ophelia and Blaz. He can’t go with me through the veil anyway.” Hell, just the thought of going into demon territory on my own made my heart rate spike. Not that I wouldn’t do it, I just wasn’t real happy about doing it on my own.
“Thomas, how soon can you open the veil?”
He blinked up at me several times, as if he’d forgotten I was there. I crouched beside him so I could look him right in the face. “Thomas. You need to open the veil into the deep level so I can get my friends. Do you understand?”
As if he were coming back to himself he nodded, slowly at first, and then faster. “Yes, yes, I will do that.”
Frank and Megan stood to one side, staring down at their new mentor. Megan gave a small cough. “Excuse me, this is our mentor? This old dude is going to teach us how to be powerhouse necromancers?” The disbelief in her voice was heavy and again I didn’t really know what to say. I mean, Thomas looked like shit; I wouldn’t want him to be my mentor either.
“Yes. He is. But right now he’s going to do a job for me.” I grabbed his forearm and hauled him to his feet. “Aren’t you, Thomas?”
“You will need a timer so you know when I will open the veil again and you can be there. Waiting. I will only hold it open a brief time, no longer than a minute, or we could end up fighting off demons and evil spirits of all sorts.”
With great effort he seemed to be putting himself back together, though every few breaths he took his whole body shuddered lightly. I hoped that Frank and Megan hadn’t noticed, though I was sure Liam had.
“Rylee.” Liam said my name and the way he breathed it out tugged at my heart. He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what he meant. He was afraid for me to do this. Shit, I was afraid. But Giselle had always said bravery wasn’t being unafraid, it was doing what had to be done even if you were terrified. Not really comforting in that moment, true as it may have been.
I touched my fingertips to his, just the tips. Anything more and I wasn’t sure I would let go. “I’ll be fine. As soon as I find Pamela and Milly I’ll have lots of firepower at my back.”
His jaw ticked and tightened and there was a faint glimmer in his eyes I couldn’t look at. Nope, not doing this, not here.
Thomas pulled himself up to his full height, his vertebrae cracking and popping. He reached into his vest and produced out a thin, gold metal bracelet. Megan made a face and Frank carefully put himself a step in front of her.
I was already shaking my head. “That won’t work if it’s magic; I’m an Immune.”
“Then you will have no way to know if your time is up, if you should even bother to fight your way back to the pick up point.” He didn’t seem concerned in the least. I was betting the asshole zombie king knew I was an Immune. For some reason he didn’t want to open the veil. Or maybe he just didn’t like me. That was a distinct possibility too. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d pissed off someone to the point they were difficult just because they could be.
Teeth gritted, I tried to come up with a reason why he was being a douche, why he was trying to wriggle out of what he promised.
“There is a simple solution,” Liam said, and I turned to face him, “let her take Alex. He can wear the bracelet and tell her when it gets hot.”
Thomas rolled his head side to side. “I said only one could go through the veil. Send Alex then.”
“We can’t send him!” I snapped. “And you damn well know that.” Time to play the hard ass. “Frank, Megan, time to go. There is another necromancer we can go to.” I pointed at the front door and they dutifully went.
“You cannot take them. My zombies will stop you.” Thomas was all calm and cool.
Megan put her hands on her hips and squared off. “You think you’re the only one who can take care of zombies?” She flicked her hand outward and, though I saw nothing, Thomas gasped and clutched at his heart.
“How … how did you do that?”
I leaned toward the closest window and peered out. Every single zombie had dropped to the ground. Except for the giant who was leaning … toward the house.
“Shit, everybody out the back.” I grabbed Megan as I ran past her and then Alex bolted ahead of me, barreling out the back door. I didn’t dare glance behind, just kept running even once we were outside. The giant was huge and when he hit it was going to be a big fucking mess. Each step I took I expected to get crushed, the immanent arrival of the giant’s body on us with no way to avoid it. The thought only pushed me harder and I yanked Megan hard, forcing her to keep up.
Behind us there was an explosion of wood, metal and glass as the giant’s body hit Thomas’s house. The ground at our heels erupted, the force of the impact dropping us to the unsteady earth, the rippling earthquake forcing us to stop running. I rolled onto my back to see the giant’s head just a few feet away.
For a moment, there was nothing except the two of us breathing heavy and staring at the rotted head that had nearly taken us both out. The giant’s eyes were liquid and oozed out of their sockets, and his blackened tongue was caught between broken and sheared teeth cutting it in half leaving it hanging by a shear thread of muscle.
Gross.
“Sorry, I didn’t think that would happen,” Megan whispered. Her face was as pale as fresh fallen snow. I doubted mine was any better.
“What did you do?” I pushed to my feet and then offered her a hand. She took it and the tremors in her body rippled up through mine. She didn’t let go.
“I cut his ties to the zombies so they would go back to sleep. But I didn’t know there was a giant.” Her breathing came in rapid gusts and I knew she was about to pass out.
“Sit down. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She plunked on the cold, damp grass but didn’t let go of my hand.
Liam, Alex, and Frank came running from around the giant. Liam’s eyes were frantic until he saw us and his body visibly relaxed. Alex jogged and danced, occasionally shooting out a paw to punch at the body of the rotting giant. “Stings like a butterfly,” he chirped happily.
Liam pulled me into his arms, though I didn’t let go of Megan. “Why didn’t you dodge to the side?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d fall that far.”
Liam’s jaw dropped and at my feet, Megan laughed. “Me neither.”
Her face and cheeks had pinked and I pulled her to her feet a second time. “Okay, enough out of you. Looks like you’ll fit in fine with the rest of us.” I glanced at the massive body. The house was completely destroyed, as in gone. Looking like there had never been anything except a mostly rotted giant laying there.
Problem number one. “Did Thomas make it out?” I Tracked him and felt a thread taking me around the side of the giant. I followed it, and everyone else followed me. Megan clung to my hand and I let her. There was not any immediate fighting I could foresee and we didn’t need her doing anything else without explicit instructions.
Thomas stood to one side of the giant, his hands in his hair, his mouth moving as he talked to himself. I interrupted him. “Thomas. Are you going to send me and Alex through the veil now?”
His head snapped up as the giant’s body bucked. Ah shit, not again. I backed away, letting go of Megan. “Get ready to run, people.”
The giant bucked twice, and then began to sink, dissolving into the ground. The earth seemed to reach up and drag the giant down, swells of dirt and grass tugging at the body until it melted back to where it had come from. The house that was under it was gone too now. So except for a few shards of wood and glass, there was nothing left of what had just happened.
“That wasn’t one of us. What is that?” Megan whispered. The ground gave one last heave, a bubble of air that sounded distinctly like laughter curled up out of the earth and around us, the air crackled and danced.
Thomas backed away and said only one word.
“Elementals.”
Chapter 18
MEGAN PIPED UP before I could. “Elementals? What are those? Like wind and fire and stuff?”
“I will not speak of the elementals our world holds. That is not the way we do things. Do not ask me again. None of you.” He took a deep breath and again shook his head. “Rylee, I will send you and your Alex into the deep veil. You have three hours. No more, no less.”
Shit, I wanted to know about the elementals too. Something about what he said stirred a memory for me. A salvage I’d gone on years ago. I shook it off. Another time I’d ask Thomas.
Even though I was probably poking a bear, I couldn’t help it; I had to know. “Why did you change your mind? Why are you helping me now?”
His eyes flicked to Liam and then he said very softly, “Perhaps even an old man wants to believe the darkness can be beaten back. Even if just for a moment.”
Wow. That was not what I expected. Thomas barked out a laugh. “Then again, I also believe I would like you out of my life as soon as possible and this will be the only way. Chaos and danger, you Trackers are always the same. I’d forgotten that.” He flicked his hand, tossing the bracelet to Alex, as if his earlier words were nothing.
Alex grabbed it mid air and the bracelet locked around his right front ankle. He gave it a shake, the gold catching the light. “Pretty.”
“Three hours. That should be plenty.” I stepped beside Alex and didn’t look at anyone else. This was not goodbye, I would see them soon enough.
Frank and Megan wished me luck. I nodded at them, but said nothing. Liam didn’t say anything either. This was just another moment in our lives together, yet always pulled apart.
“Megan and Frank, come here to my side. This is your first lesson.” The two young necromancers went to him and he put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I will draw strength from you, and you will help me open the veil. It is the only way. It will also show you how to open the veil, both to the deep level and to any other place you should need to travel.”
They let out dual gasps as his fingers tightened on their shoulders.
In front of me, the veil opened, slowly, like it was being pushed through thick, black mud.
Yet it wasn’t blackness that awaited on the other side, but a strange flickering twilight that gave me an instant headache.
“Bad light,” Alex grumbled, blinking, his eyes watering. Mine were doing the same.
“Three hours, then be back at this point,” Thomas said.
There was nothing for it but to go and go fast. I stepped through, Alex at my side.
The deep level of the veil was odd. Really odd. Like everything had been drawn by a sketch artist, yet never fully finished. Gray and black, shades of white and off white. No color I could see. Hell, in a way, Alex and I fit in not too badly, if it hadn’t been for my auburn hair and his golden eyes.
I took in where we were. An archway made of what looked like black steel, woven with bones, brittle and nearly grey with age. Each bone had symbols etched into them, so that not a piece went without a marking. Although I didn’t recognize all the symbols, a few looked similar to those on the doorway in the castle. Which meant this doorway would either keep the demons out, or keep them in.
None of that mattered at the moment; we had to get Pamela and Milly.
I Tracked them and almost gasped. While I clearly felt them and knew what direction they were in, they were not close. Easily a thousand miles away. Easy.
Shit, shit, shit. Even if we had a car, there was no way we could do this in three hours! Panic nearly set in but I bit it back. We would find a way. We had to.
“Come on, Alex, we have to go.” I started to run, as fast as I could, my heart pounding with fear for my friends. What I hadn’t expected was the way the landscape shifted and turned under my feet. The ground blurred and I stumbled to a stop, Alex ramming into me and taking us both to the ground.
“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t see you, ground is funny.” He rolled up to his feet and brushed himself off. I looked around, behind us in particular. I couldn’t see the archway. How was that possible?
“The deep levels of the veil can do strange things, Rylee. You can travel hundreds of miles within minutes, if you so choose.”
I spun, my jaw dropping. Giselle stood in front of me, a sword in one hand, and a thick, short spear in the other. She was younger than I’d ever seen her, her hair without a single grey in it, her face without a single line.
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