by Avery Flynn
Heat raced to her cheeks, while anger and humiliation mixed together in the pit of her stomach. Her body flirted with the need to puke. Admitting to what had happened–even to her mentor–seemed like an exercise in self-abuse, but if she couldn’t tell Antoine, she couldn’t tell anyone. And she needed to let her frustration out so it wouldn’t interfere with the job ahead.
“Jax used a love spell to make me fall in love with him.”
Antoine lifted his shoulders in the Gallic way the French Canadians had about them. “Oh, is that all.”
“Is that all?” Fire and brimstone whooshed out along with the words.
“Those spells are really a bit of snake oil, even the witches agree. They’re like a mood ring. You had one of those as a child, didn’t you?”
She shook her head.
“Strange, I thought every young girl had one. Anyway, they are cheap, little rings with stones that change color, supposedly based on your mood. It’s a fabulous con, of course. The stone is actually a hollow glass shell filled with thermotropic liquid crystals that twist in response to changes in temperature. The eye reads these different configurations as colors. A blue color, for instance, meant the wearer was feeling high passion. Really what was going on was the crystals were twisting in response to the wearer’s increasing body temperature, not because of her mood.”
In full-on professorial mode now, Antoine paced through the thick grass. “Love is not something the witches can create. Trust me, I put serious effort into researching this. Love is a magic unto itself and beyond our measly interferences. All a love spell can do is show you what you’re already feeling–much like a mood ring when it turns blue.”
He clasped his hands in front of his round belly and stared at her expectantly with his keen blue eyes.
Realization hit her like a sucker punch. “So it was real.”
“Of course it was real. It still is. That boy loves you like the Yeti loves snow. And you feel the same. You can’t hide your feelings from me. I’ve seen the way you watch him when you think no one is looking.” He patted her shoulder. “If I’ve learned anything in my life it’s that it’s too damn short to deny yourself the things that make you happy and that you have to take what you want. No one is going to hand it to you. In fact, if you’re not careful, they’ll yank it away before you even realize what’s happening.”
All the fury wheezed out of her body, leaving her as deflated as a flat tire. Jax had fucked up and he’d have some mighty groveling to do to make up for it, but he hadn’t turned her into some kind of emotional zombie there to do his bidding. Their time together, their love, had been real.
“Do you love him?”
She didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”
“Good. That is exactly what I needed to hear.” Antoine gave her a light push toward the beanstalk. “Then start climbing. He’s got a half hour head start on us.”
Lucky she loved Jax, because otherwise she’d wring his neck when she caught up to him. “What was he thinking, going up alone?”
“You’ll have to ask him when we get there.”
They climbed through mist and fog so thick in places, Veronica could barely see the bright green vines she used to pull herself higher. By the time they’d reached the top, the precipitation had soaked her hair, the short strands at her nape stuck to her skin.
Jax waited for them a few yards away surrounded by the cloud trees. “Go back down,” he whispered.
“Jax–”
He silenced her with a raised hand. “Please, go. Chop the beanstalk down when you get to the bottom.” In a heartbeat he was next to her, his lips on hers delivering passion, hunger and a hint of regret. “I’ll always love you. Now go.”
He shoved her away, toward the beanstalk poking out of the cloud then spun around, his attention focused on the castle. Tension hardened every muscle in his back and down his arms. A Bowie knife hung loose and ready in his fist. He bounced on the balls of his feet as if an attacker were about to come flying at him.
Veronica couldn’t see the danger. A breathy giggle came, from no more than fifteen feet away. Then another, this time deeper. A third giggle sounded from the other direction farther off.
Fear curdled her breakfast, but not enough to dampen her instincts. She withdrew her blade with her right hand and snagged a throwing star with her left. Scanning the perimeter for any movement, she stood in a protective stance ready to guard Antoine, who hadn’t moved away from the beanstalk.
“Oh, my dear, you don’t need to worry about my safety.” He pulled out a small object the size of a hardback book wrapped in a black cloth. In one smooth motion, Antoine drew the cloth away, revealing a small, golden harp.
Relief swept through her, easing the anxiety from her limbs. “That’s brilliant. You’re going to calm them with the music.” But where had the instrument come from? “Wait, when did you get the harp?”
The cheery face framed by a wild mane of white hair hardened. “The harp doesn’t calm them. It’s their dinner bell.”
“What?” she and Jax exclaimed at the same time.
“They’re really quite fast on dreary days like these.” Antoine plucked the strings, awakening the harp.
The song it played started out as a few random notes then quickly grew to a crescendo of chords and melodies loud enough to wake the dead. Or in this case, the undead. “I suggest you two start running. Now.”
Giggling erupted all around them and the cloud shook beneath Veronica’s feet.
Jax grabbed her hand, and they sprinted toward the beanstalk and escape. Zombies appeared from behind every white puffy tree and bush, their deranged giggles closing in on them.
A gray hand, the skin peeling away from a finger bone, curled around Veronica’s hair and yanked her back. Only Jax’s tight grip kept her on her feet.
“Let go of her.” Jax let loose with a roundhouse kick and sent the zombie flying through the air.
The zombie sprang to its feet with the skill and grace of a ninja at the top of his game and lumbered toward her, licking his chops.
Before she had a chance to deflect the attack, Jax slingshotted her the last two feet to the beanstalk. A transparent dome fell down, trapping her within its magical force field walls.
The zombie roared its disapproval, spit spraying from its toothless mouth.
By now a small pack of zombies surrounded Jax. He swung his knife, slashing off their rotting flesh. His frantic movements did little except annoy the zombies, who kept coming, surrounding him. They tore at his clothes and slashed his arms.
Veronica flung a handful of throwing stars at the dome, embedding them in its thick protective barrier. They had no effect on the magic force field. She beat against the thick walls, frantic to reach him before it was too late.
A pack of ten zombies encircled Jax, their giggles making the clear, plexiglass force field walls vibrate. The dome magnified the high-pitched cackling to a near deafening-level. Involuntarily, she clapped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees, unable to move under the weight of the insidious cacophony.
Jax pulled another knife from the sheath on his back. The wicked blade, adorned with ancient Celtic swirls, gleamed even in the gathering gloom. Swinging it like an ancient Scottish claymore, he sliced off the heads of three zombies in one fluid movement. Their bodies crumpled to the cloud ground, disappearing in the white fluff.
Taking advantage of the zombies’ momentary shock, Jax pivoted and took off in the cloud trees, bolting away from the beanstalk and safety. Just as she was sure he had planned, the zombies trotted after him, the rotting flesh on their shoulders shaking with mirth.
Panic squeezed her lungs tight and blood rushed in her ears as she searched for any sign of movement. Any hint Jax was still out there fighting. She peered frantically from one clump of white to another without ever sighting his warm brown skin or black hair. The world threatened to fall in on her. He couldn’t die. Dammit, she wouldn’t let him.
&nbs
p; Fire burned in her belly as she turned to her former mentor, raising her sword to the perfect angle to decapitate him. “Remove the dome, Antoine. I have to help him.”
Quick as a rabbit, he skittered out of reach.
He slipped a hand inside his jacket and withdrew a long-barreled silver gun and fired.
The bullet burrowed through the arm holding her sword.
“Don’t worry, they won’t eat him, at least not right away.” Antoine skirted around the beanstalk until it stood between them. “First, they’ll tie him up in the kitchen until the moon rises. Then, they’ll gobble him up and clean between their rotting teeth with his bones. You were right on that point.”
Pain blossomed outward from her arm. The fast-flowing stream of blood soaked her shirt and turned the white cloud below her scarlet. “Oh my God, this isn’t the first time you’ve done this.”
“Of course not. How do you think I financed my expeditions? You know firsthand how financially risky owning a treasure hunting business can be. Luckily for me, I found Sir Cravish’s journal and learned of the riches hidden away among the clouds. Every time I come up here, the couple with me has to pay the toll. The zombies don’t live off air. They require brains seeped in oxytocin at levels only experienced by those who are in love. I supply them with sustenance and they return the favor with gold.”
A neon blue laser light blinked on Antoine’s watch. It hadn’t done that before. He must be controlling the force field with the watch. If she could just get him to get within reach of her good arm, she could swipe the band off his wrist, disable the dome and go after Jax.
Antoine couldn’t resist telling a story, she just had to get him talking and then she’d have him. “How could you?”
“I have to admit, with the others it was easy. The hard part was finding two people who truly loved each other. But when I found out the bank was foreclosing on my shop because the Ponzi scheme left me unable to pay the mortgage, I knew I had nothing left to lose. I’ve spent sixty-eight years on this earth and I deserve to spend my golden years reclining on a beautiful, sunny beach. So, I didn’t have time to search for a couple in love. I had no choice, really, but to convince you and Jax to come.”
He strolled nearer, preening as he closed the distance between them.
Keep coming, old man. She just needed him a little closer. “And the story of one last adventure for a dying man?”
“Oh it’s definitely my last grand exploration in the cloud country, but I have many years–if not decades–ahead of me to enjoy the fruits. I’ve spent my life groveling for the mystical scraps, ignored by the academic journals and the large treasure hunting companies. I deserve this.”
“You bastard.”
Just outside her reach, he stopped and narrowed those icy blue eyes at her. “Come back to me when the world has taken away your love and your livelihood and then see if you can label me as the bastard.”
Veronica gathered the last bits of her strength and leaped at him.
Antoine sidestepped her attack and fired the gun at point blank range.
The impact sent her flying backward, and oblivion blackened her vision.
Chapter 11
A wet splash hit Veronica right between the eyes. Gasping for breath, she whipped up into a sitting position, agony exploding in her chest. Her hand went to the pain’s epicenter in front of her heart. She pulled her scarab beetle from the pocket. It clasped a small lead ball that hadn’t been there before in its golden arms.
Another huge drop of rain hit her shoulder, and she realized the force field dome had disappeared and so had Antoine. The beanstalk’s tip shook. Crawling closer to investigate, she spotted him making his way slowly down the vines. The temptation to grab the stalk with both hands and shake until he went flying into oblivion hit her like a Mack truck, but she had more important things to do.
After giving the lucky bug a quick peck, she slid it back home. Her breastbone throbbed, but she was breathing. Now to find Jax and make sure he stayed alive too.
She grabbed a pinch of pixie dust from a pocket on her tool belt and sprinkled it on the hole in her upper arm. It burned like a bitch and smelled like she’d just fallen into a vat of sulphur, but it did the job. By the time she’d risen to her feet and plucked her sword off the ground, the wound had vanished. Only the dime-sized hole in her jumpsuit remained as a reminder of Antoine’s betrayal.
A zombie giggle blasted through the silence, and she charged toward the sound. If there were zombies, she’d bet her last Pegasus feather there’d be Jax. Bounding through the cloud trees, she dodged mammoth raindrops and ducked below low-lying branches.
She found him on the other side of a particularly massive cloud tree. Relief rushed through her like a tornado in Kansas, sweeping away the fear and panic.
Then she noticed the blood. Not a lot, but a steady flow from his left arm, which dangled at an awkward angle at his side.
His back was to her as he faced off against the hungry mob getting ready to rush him.
The zombies lifted their faces to the dripping sky, noses twitching in response to the metallic scent of fresh blood. There had to be fifty of them, all starving for their long-denied meal, judging by the way their fat tongues rolled from their open mouths.
A short one in front giggled, the sound transforming into a low, ugly cackle.
Terror jabbed her heart, spreading in waves across her skin and immobilizing her.
The skies really opened up then. As the rain pelted the zombies, their limbs expanded. Their torsos elongated and widened with breathtaking speed. The short one now stood sixteen feet tall. His glassy eyes locked on Jax, and the zombie smiled, revealing pointed teeth as sharp as talons–perfect to sheer flesh from bone and crack skulls open with one bite.
The horror snapped Veronica out of her daze, and she dashed the last ten yards to Jax. She’d die beside him before she’d leave him to face down a hungry mob of giant-sized zombies.
They stood back to back, knives and swords drawn. Her breath came in short bursts as her heaving lungs tried to replenish the oxygen she’d lost on the sprint here.
“What are you doing?” He hissed over his shoulder.
“Saving your ass.”
“Get down that beanstalk, I don’t need your help.”
She scoped out the gathering horde encircling them. “Sure you don’t.”
“You’re a real pain in my butt.”
“Yeah, I love you too.” She swiped one of the three throwing stars she had left out of her tool belt. “Now, let’s do this.”
She flung one of the razor-sharp weapon at a zombie leading the charge on her side. It whizzed through the air, connecting near his jugular. The metal ripped through the sinew and bone in his neck. His head bobbled for a second then rolled down his body, landing with a thump on the cloud ground.
The carnage transfixed the zombies as they stared down at their fallen brother. Then, a roar went up in the back and the entire legion barreled toward them.
Everything from that point on became a blur of metal clanging against bone and the pin-point teeth gnashing together.
Veronica sank her sword through the eye of one zombie as it bent to take a bite from her shoulder. As she exhaled, she pulled the blade free, swung it around and connected with the midsection of another. Putrid organs and intestines spilled out of the gash. She was holding her own against the massive beasts, but for every one she dispatched, another two joined the throng.
“We have to start moving toward the beanstalk!” she hollered.
“You lead, I’ll follow.”
“On my count.” She fired off another throwing star, and three of the five blades embedded themselves in a zombie’s forehead.
“One.” Hot, decaying breath exploded against her neck, and she gripped the sword with both hands and aimed for the target next to her.
“Two.” The blade slide home between the zombie’s ribs. She followed the move with a side kick to the corpse’s crotch.
She sped around trees, taking advantage of her and Jax’s smaller size to make last-second course corrections. It befuddled the giant zombies, who in some cases plowed right into the trunks of the trees she and Jax dove behind.
“I can see it.” Jax grabbed her hand and they ran toward the beanstalk’s green tip sticking a foot up out of the white ground.
The zombies thundered behind them, cutting the distance with their long, firm strides.
A couple more steps and they’d be there.
Her muscles ached from exertion, her chest throbbed from Antoine’s gunshot and Jax’s injured arm was bleeding like a son of a bitch, but that little bit of green freedom was within their grasp. Digging deep, she let loose with one more blast of energy and sprinted forward.
She shimmied down first, barely grasping the tough vines, instead choosing speed over safety.
Jax dropped through the cloud, holding on with only one hand because of his bum arm. His boot slipped off the wet beanstalk and his feet went flying into the blue abyss.
Veronica’s heart almost jumped out of her chest after him. “Jax!” On autopilot, she shot out a hand, grabbed the back of his t-shirt and hauled him back.
He secured his boots on the thickest vines. “Thanks.”
Before she could respond, a zombie’s ravenous face poked through the cloud above them. A long, wet line of saliva hung from his bottom lip, and he snapped his pointed teeth.
Not waiting around to see if the zombie wanted to chat or eat, she and Jax high-tailed it down. They’d made it another few feet, when the beanstalk started to sway violently.
“What the hell is going on?” Jax hollered.
Holding onto the beanstalk with all her might, Veronica turned her gaze to the ground. Her former mentor stood at the beanstalk’s base, hacksaw in hand, viciously sawing away at the beanstalk. “Antoine is cutting it down.”
