by Jamie Magee
“I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple,” River said after she said a string of curse words under her breath. “This Aden dude is in dark dimension according to this, one that was thinned by this war, a swift wind would cause the Veil to pierce it at this point.
“Right, but Camlin’s dead would barely make a dent in any dimension, and he has more shadowed souls than any other Lord or soul taker,” Ash argued.
“And Umbra?”
“Dude? Are you being serious right now?” Soren asked River. “I even know that answer. My grandmother uses his name as a curse word. You’d need a massive dimension if that Lord was even going to be looked at the wrong way.”
This. Sucked.
“I have to tell Indie to shut down any plans to destroy any Lord.”
All eyes were on River. The look was ‘she’s still breathing?’
“She’s not that bad,” River said as she stood up to find her heels.
“Then why is she hosting a party, giving some rocker dude a platform, to free another Lord?” Soren’s voice bellowed after River. “Clearly she’s planning to add to the excitement and kill Umbra tonight. She’s cool with that other dimension being taken over?”
River stopped short and looked over her shoulder at him. It was starting to click. Just a regular party, huh, Mason.
“Those clocks downstairs have salt around them, candles, anything and everything, like someone is expecting them to pop,” Soren said with a heavy gravity in his stare.
River didn’t have time to be mad.
“Come on,” River said. “We have a spell to cast, right after I tell Mason Wade I was not born yesterday!”
Soren let out a groan and a frustrated breath, then shook his head as he could only wonder when his cousin was going not be on River’s short list.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Love,” Phoenix said. When Indie didn’t acknowledge his voice because it would have interrupted her strategic pace across her office, he manifested in front of her.
“We have to make a choice, now.”
Right, like it was no big deal. Like souls would not be at some risk and like Skylynn might not be destined for a lonely life.
They had taken River’s warning to heart. Went over everything they knew a thousand times. Indie’s dinner with The Reaper, his obvious nod in Cashton’s direction, was all too clear in her mind.
A Lord had to be defeated. If the Lord or Lords were not, Indie’s time to rise would be pushed to an unforeseen point in the future. That meant if any one of her boys, say if Phoenix or Guardian fell, she could not help them. They were only the tip of the iceberg, inconsequential. That hidden library told Indie as much. There were so many people encased in this revolution of balance, and if any one of them fell, she was the only one who could bring them back to their fate.
Indie had summoned Skylynn all night. She even sent Phoenix to look for her. Nothing, silence. Which pointed to Umbra. Everything pointed to taking down that Lord.
Indie was worried about her manor too, the one present, and the one in the Veil as well. Because she feared setting free some ‘bad mama jama,’ as River called it.
Phoenix protected the downstairs. He told Indie that was in the works anyway because only a fool would think there were not some bad souls in the bunch, especially since Camlin was down there only days ago. Phoenix just doubled up what he was planning on doing.
Indie glanced across the room. Mason was sitting on the edge of her desk, dressed to kill in a nineteen twenties tux, staring down Cashton as if he were trying to force himself to remember him, or maybe he was just trying to figure out if Cashton and Indie were in a pacing match, because an hour or so ago, Cashton went on edge, big time. Like a lion in a cage.
Gavin told Indie before, with or without the research Cashton felt right. His placid look told Indie that hadn’t changed.
A few minutes ago, the roaring twenties themed music halted for ‘a change of pace,’ as the party coordinator called it, and Draven’s band took the stage. Draven’s music was vibrating through the dome room and the entire manor, the energy level soaring. Draven’s hypnotic voice drifted out, and the electrifying music took over.
“I have to help him,” Cashton said to them. Indie nodded for him to go, not promising anything.
Moment’s ticked by. Indie kept her pace, feeling without a doubt it was Umbra, but there was this block in her head, one that kept screaming River at her, one that made her think of Guardian for some reason. Indie told herself the paradox was because she felt like she owed River for being a cause of pain in her past, and Guardian, he was a risk, someone who might get hurt if Indie didn’t rise, because God knew that boy had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. His loss would kill Phoenix, and in turn, Indie.
“Umbra,” Indie breathed.
Phoenix let out a sigh as if he’d been defusing a bomb. One wave of his hand setup whatever he needed for his spell, however, he planned on channeling the energy Draven and the guests, both living and dead, were generating.
Right as Phoenix motioned for all of them to move into place, a boy moved through the wall, then unlocked the doors to the office, which in turn slammed open. Standing there was River, and two girls that might as well be her twins, along with that hot little number that broke in, who reminded Indie oh so much of her wild summer boy, Mason.
River was ravishing, that dress was to die for. Mason was on his feet and in an instant he was tense as hell, they all felt his emotions seize.
“Listen up fire people,” River said into the room as the boy with her slammed the office door and then locked it. “First and foremost in any and every event there is a cause and effect, and it loops, which means you are dealing with more than one cause at a time as well as an effect.”
“We are prepared for the effect,” Phoenix said to her.
River marched right up to him, “Do the dimensions Esterious or Chara ring a bell, fire boy?” she said in a mocking tone.
They rang a bell to Indie. Chara was Guardian’s world; Esterious was the dark dimension that all the old Escort Kings seemed to manifest too.
Indie was starting to trust her instinct. It made sense that River and Guardian’s names were popping up in her head before.
“Right, I’m sure you know them,” River said. “Because this war landed in Esterious more than a few times, your last bout thinned the atmosphere, good money says you can already see the moon of the Veil from that world. Bringing down any Lord,” she nodded to the vibrating wall, “Would flood the dimension to the point where life would be in the minority. And that sucks for more reasons than I can spell out.”
Phoenix went to speak. River raised her hand to stop him. “I’m not done. Camlin is being taken out tonight by a faction of Escorts that has targeted him for their own justifiable reasons. If you are keeping up with me, and your math and geography are balancing out, then you know that Chara will be invaded, too.”
“Bloody hell,” Phoenix breathed, he never looked panicked, but he came close to looking that way now.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I have a cousin that needs to be unchained. I have work to do.”
“Yes you do,” a deep voice said right as a powerful energy slammed into the room.
“Dagen,” River breathed.
Everybody was up in arms at that point.
Dagen quickly vanished with River in hand.
“I have to warn Guardian,” Phoenix said, as the manor started to vibrate, and he vanished from Indie’s sight.
Mason was being held back by Gavin. Indie was sure Gavin would have failed if that boy with those girls wasn’t helping him. Indie didn’t know what he was, but he was moving entirely too fast, and he knew how to handle Mason.
“You do your job cuz, and we are going to do ours, you can fight about this when it’s over.”
“I’ll be damned!” Mason raged.
That boy took him by the lapels. “If your Queen doesn’t rise and we fail, we fail for good,
no coming back around bro. Do. Your. Job. Fight it out later.”
Those girls and the boy vanished right as Phoenix appeared. He was clutching his gut, but he still managed to hold Mason in place. “Have you seen Draven?” he asked Indie.
She pointed to the music coming from the wall. “Is he not on stage?”
“That’s just his mirror. He puts his body in motion then does his thing. I sense him, though, like right here.”
Holy hell, there was not a doubt in Indie’s mind that Draven would be the King of Shock one day. The fact that he had a projection of himself raising that energy level and the real him was somewhere else was blowing her freaking mind.
Phoenix jerked Mason’s arm. “Stay put. If you love that girl do not move,” then Phoenix vanished again.
Indie felt him just above her, which was the roof. What the hell was going on?
***
River jerked her arm way from Dagen as soon as the wind stopped. She was on the snow-filled manor grounds, but she was too mad to be cold. “Thanks man, that is going to be awesome to explain away.”
Dagen laughed under his breath as he reached for her hand to take whatever blood he needed. “Ah, if anything it will get him pumped up enough to do his spell.”
“We have an overflow of dead issue if you haven’t noticed,” River spat out.
Dagen glanced to the field as if he were watching a fight he was impressed with. “Yeah, who invited the rocker to the party?”
“How many rock stars are you counting?”
“One, but his soul moves fast,” Dagen said as he nodded to the roof where River saw Phoenix talking to some boy only for them to vanish then. River shook her head to clear it. “I’m serious. The Falcon’s are targeting Umbra.”
“So says the echo.”
“You heard the dead say this was going to happened and didn’t think to tell me?”
“I tried to give you a ring all night, that do not disturb sign was up.”
“It wouldn’t have stopped those stubborn fire people, that much I know,” River said, still furious that no matter what she said Indie and the others had their own plan.
“I wasn’t calling you for that,” Dagen leaned down to catch her frantic stare. “I was trying to tell you I couldn’t break your girl out, yet. But I gave her some energy to hold her over. She’ll be good soon. And I was right.”
“Skylynn? What are you talking about?”
He turned River to face the far brick wall, all around the edges there were shadows in what looked like chains. “Camlin thought it would be fun to display all his trophies. He was trying to figure out who had turned on him and who we were after. The dumbass. She’s not there anymore. Fixed.”
River couldn’t help it. She threw her arms around his shoulders. He laughed as he squeezed her. “However, I have no idea where she flew off too.”
River let go of him so she could stomp her foot like a petulant child. “Can people not just chill out for a second before they go all flighty with their half truths or answers, as it were!”
Dagen held a smirk in as he reached inside his jacket pocket, pulled out a pentagram necklace and long lock of lavender blonde hair. “I got this from her last night. You have collar on her if you want it.”
Freaking perfect. All River needed was Skylynn’s essence for her spell. With that she could summon her from wherever she had fled to, good money said she was standing over her dead lover’s body, hoping some inhabited healer could save him.
Right about then River’s peeps showed up. Dagen’s eyes locked with Raven’s. He made it a point not to show himself around her, the resemblance and his entire persona was too close to Rydell’s. Raven’s bottom lip was trembling like she wanted to know why he was there, but at the same time she didn’t.
Dagen’s faction of Escorts or rather a good hundred of them made a circle around River and the others, fire symbols appeared in the snow.
River and the others stood back as Dagen’s crowd said whatever words they had to summon and then chain Camlin so he could be destroyed. The energy level in all Escorts was elevated because that was all they consumed. Knowing it took that many of them to call forth Camlin stood as a testimony as to how powerful the Lord was.
In River’s mind, she kept getting flashes of not only every time Camlin faced off with her in that other reality but also every nightmare he’d invaded in this life. She was too stubborn to ever really fear him, but at the very least he made her skin crawl. She felt like she had been waiting for this night, that this was a catalyst, this was the sweet vengeance she had waited so long for. All the missing pieces were clicking into place in her mind.
River and the others waited, holding their breath. They could not do anything to help Skylynn until Camlin was down for the count. Time was their enemy tonight. There was no room for mistakes.
Finally, Camlin appeared in the trap. He leered at each and every one of the Escorts that had bound him like they were beneath him, then his gaze found River and apparently he’d thought it would be cool to give her hell one last time. “You have trespassed. Taken what was not yours to know, therefore you have failed before you began.”
Those words were the high points from the standoff River and he had on the other side. The point where he told her she was a sinner for loving Mason, that she birthed trepidation by recording the path of souls. Therefore, he owned her. He was full of it, and River had his number, she was the one that spelled those books in the library, the one that made the text only reveal where intentions were set. She was smarter than he gave her credit for.
“Trespassed. Sure did, managed to get a green card, though. Unfortunately, you’re being deported tonight.”
“It’s too late,” Camlin seethed at her with those evil eyes of his. “He died.”
He was talking about Aden. Camlin’s last trick on the other side was claiming Skylynn as a showed soul, then pushing her through The Fall, stealing her from Aden’s arms. But River spoke words over both Aden and Skylynn. She had faith in love then for she felt it. She knew if she managed to get those two in the same spot, love would save them both.
“I’m cool with dead people,” River smirked, then tilted her head. “Did you really think I didn’t see that coming? Did you really think I had no idea what your plots were?” He sneered. River stepped forward knowing he was bound, her finger was still bleeding from the cut, River touched his brow, let the blood zigzag down his face. “Here’s the punch line, this Allurest has a lover, always has, torn by fate and reclaimed. My blood is bringing your death. My foresight is paving the path for a new dawn, a balance.”
River stepped back. “Game over.”
That was Dagen and his crew’s cue. Their energy dwindled Camlin down to nothing. The bastard didn’t even bother to scream.
The manor was vibrating at that point, so fast it looked like a haze. The ground was shaking and all those souls on the wall, the shadows, broke their chains. Dagen pulled River to him and hugged her as tight as he could, kissed her wound, and then vanished, clearly aimed to track down the shadowed soul he’d freed for their help.
River turned to see the girls and Soren around their own little symbol. Ash and Soren had set up all the components. River kneeled down. She didn’t even have to look at the words Ash had recorded. She remembered the spell, every word. She spoke over Aden and Skylynn, saying the words low and clear, keeping their image in her mind. The others repeated them.
Then all at once there was silence. Stillness. It was as if they were the only ones on the planet, the music from the manor sounded like it was coming out of an old speaker, haunting the silence.
The stillness let River hold the thought of the spell longer than she needed.
A moment later Skylynn appeared before them. Tears were spilling from her eyes.
River met her stare. “He will remember, on sight, the moment he hears your voice. Claim what is yours.”
Skylynn pulled River up in a hug, reached for all of them to hold he
r.
River didn’t see her father, or Aunt Saige, or her mother, but she felt them watching, she felt her entire family rejoicing. The daughter was home, the child that was stolen had been returned. And she was coming back stronger than ever.
Skylynn vanished from their sight.
Right, then the manor erupted, meaning the souls spilling out of its roof made it look like a volcano. That must mean Umbra had fallen. River had a sudden sense of panic when she realized that Mason was the cause of the explosion. Soren gripped her arm. “You’d feel it if he was hurt.”
That was when an explosion of light burst across the sky, painting the darkness in an array of colors.
“Is that the Veil or real life?” River asked taking in the edgy beauty of it all.
“Veil,” Raven said as she breathed in.
“Are you all right?”
“I really feel him,” she said almost to herself as she looked back at the manor.
Good. That meant Dagen won the last leg of his fight.
In that breath, everything zapped back to reality. The music from the manor was not blaring or making some eerie noise. There was no weird color in the sky or chained souls. It was cold. All at once River realized she was in heels in the snow.
She wasn’t the only one. Everyone seemed to turn blue from the cold all at once.
“Inside,” Soren ordered.
No argument from River. She may have still felt Mason in her soul, knew he was fine, but she wanted to lay eyes on him.
Inside the doors they stopped to pull themselves together, half the people at the party were alive, no sense in looking like they were the people who broke off to find an empty room.
“Lead the way,” Soren said to River. Clearly he thought she had a clue as to how to navigate this manor.
They mingled through a few rooms then made their way to the dome room. She had to figure out how to get down to the library. She knew Ash and the others could pop down there, and if she didn’t find Mason soon that was going to be River’s next plan.
The live music had ended and the period music was blaring through the sound system again.
