I stared at him, a bazillion questions suddenly filling my mind. Matthias waved a hand at me, and mimed covering his ears. I blushed. He could read my thoughts, so he must have suddenly felt inundated with all of them at once. I took a firm grip of my thoughts, no less troubled, but more in control. He let out a breath of relief, and then waited.
“I… need to make good on a bargain.”
“Smart.”
“And I need your help to do so.”
He waited. I made no effort to hide my thoughts, but he refused to let that suffice. He wanted me to say it out loud. I let out a breath.
“I need my cane. To be honest, I’m surprised the effects haven’t hit me harder, or sooner than now. I made an oath, and I have yet to fulfill that bargain. I am suffering for it.”
Matthias nodded, scratching his beard contemplatively. “The Americas are still a capitalistic place, no?”
I began to agree, then thought about recent events. I finally shrugged. “More or less.”
Matthias chuckled. “It has always been so. You need something from me. And I refuse to lend favors. They have only repaid me with pain in the past. You know my price. Tell me if it is acceptable.”
I forcefully relaxed my shoulders, considering. This wasn’t a new thought, but hearing it out loud, realizing that it was no longer just a fear of mine – but an actual potential reality – helped me rationalize the consequences more objectively.
“You want your freedom,” I said. He nodded slowly. “I don’t know if that’s possible.” Matthias’ eyes tightened, but I held up a hand. “Read my thoughts. I’m not saying I don’t want to.” He arched a brow at me. “Okay, fine. Filthy cheater. Of course I’m scared of the outcome, but that doesn’t mean I’m trying to spite you. I don’t know how to get you out of here.”
Matthias watched me for a time, face thoughtful. Then a stunned smile slowly spread across his face, revealing an opening of white teeth buried under the mass of beard. It was a decidedly scary look. “Well, well, well. One would almost think this to be design, but I long ago gave up believing in Serendipity…” He must have noticed the look on my face, so leaned forward companionably. “Think on it. We will meet again soon. After your trip. In the meantime, we will both prepare to fulfill our parts of the bargain.” He spat on his hand and extended it my way.
A small, but very loud part of me began to shout. He was asking me to make a pact with him in order to fulfill another pact. But I didn’t have a choice. Quite literally. “I’m not promising I will do it. I’m promising that I’m agreeable to the terms we discussed. Your freedom for the return of my cane. I won’t be held accountable if I’m unable to find a way to make this happen, you understand?”
He blinked. “Oh, that is very clever of you. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, but if it had, I definitely would have used it against you. No offense,” he added behind another grin. “Good move, boy. Our pact could have quite literally implied that. Fine, we will speak it. I, Matthias Temple, the Mad Hatter, titles ad nauseum, do agree that I desire to give you your cane and her trapped Beast in exchange for my freedom and release into your world. Given this option becomes available and possible for us to achieve, but not holding the other party responsible if a way cannot be found.”
I nodded. “I, Nate Temple, do agree that I desire to free you from this prison of a world in exchange for reclaiming ownership of my cane and the Beast within – as it was when you took possession of it. I will try to find a way for this to be achieved, but cannot promise I will succeed. If a way is possible, I will make it so, as long as the power required causes no direct harm to the life of any loved ones.” I didn’t specify loved ones to whom. You never knew when loopholes would work in your favor. Of course, as I thought this, I had my mental barriers up all the way so that he couldn’t read me. It was taxing, but I had gotten good at it after spending so much time around the Mad Hatter.
So, if he agreed, I could factually argue that any person at risk was someone’s loved one, because I hadn’t limited my oath to my loved ones.
Too clever by far, he caught it anyway. “Nice touch at the end. I believe you have an out, now.” I smiled guiltily. “Now, it’s time for you to prepare, and to find our solution to this puzzle. I believe the color white is no longer in season for me. Ever.”
I smiled at that. “Understandable. Just don’t go black.”
He winked. “You understand that not going black is what got me here?”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying it. Jumping to the opposite end of the spectrum will be no less pleasant than your current situation. Just a different prison.”
He watched me for a moment. Then simply said. “Take your… coin with you.”
Then he was gone. I let out a breath, thinking back on the peacocks and what their color might imply. Because nothing had color in this place. Other than myself sometimes appearing in grays. But I had never seen anything from this place in any color but white. I pondered Matthias’ odd reaction to our agreement, and how we would successfully complete it. He had sounded as if he knew something, speaking about design and serendipity.
I sighed, shaking my head, feeling my lack of sleep creeping up on me. I focused back on my body at Chateau Falco, connecting my soul to the anchor of my physical body. Astral Projection was cool, but it was exhausting, and my body was already wrung dry.
As my soul collided with my physical body, the pain I had been ignoring hit me like a blow, and I found myself gasping as I lay on the cool stone. My nose was bleeding – well, it was crusted over with dried blood, as were my ears.
Christ. I could have died sitting there. I hadn’t realized how much pain I was in from trying to break into the Armory. I closed my eyes and let out a breath.
“Foolish bastard,” I groaned, trying to convince myself to stand.
“Aye,” a voice repeated beside me.
I flinched, scooting back on instinct. Mallory stared at me from across the hallway, also seated on the ground. He was in human form, but his eyes glinted at a small glowing orb in his palm. “You… how long have you been here?” I rasped, surprised I hadn’t noticed the light immediately.
He shrugged. “Twenty minutes. As soon as I sensed the surge of power down here. I couldn’t do anything for your injuries while you were gallivanting about. But now I can.” He waited for me to nod, and then scrambled closer, a wary grimace on his face as I felt a cool wave of magic pour through me, delving deep into my body to assess for damage. He grunted. “Foolish, foolish, foolish…” he mumbled, and a complicated web of glowing light began to form between his fingers, as if he was making the world’s most complex design of Cat’s Cradle with his fingers. Hundreds of strands, a geometric beauty.
My mind began to grow fuzzy. “Thanks for inviting me, bonehead…” I mumbled, feeling very sleepy.
“Shit,” he cursed, hands moving twice as fast, blurring.
“This isn’t my fight. I’m just going to hang out down here while you guys take care of it… Unicorns… Callie…” I trailed off, suddenly laying on a blanket of storm clouds that rumbled beneath me. Chariots of fire raced past me, horses screaming, lightning cracking, and thunder grumbling like an oncoming freight train.
“Fucking Temples. Pig-headed Masters of the universe. Think they’re goddamned Time Lords or something. That will have to do,” he snarled, and slammed his web over my face like he was trying to suffocate me with a swath of saran wrap. I just watched him, wondering why the chariots weren’t running him over, and how the hell a horned goat had gotten up in the clouds with me. His web of light struck my nose, and then wrapped around my entire head, and a dozen spikes of ice shattered my mind.
I screamed, unable to breathe.
The last thing I saw was Mallory staring at me with tears running down his cheeks. The tears were bloody, and he was cackling.
Chapter 12
I opened my eyes to find a beautiful, cherub face above me. Angry, crystal blue eyes with faint purple
flecks studied me. Her long, wavy white hair brushed my cheeks, and a pleasant lavender scent washed over me. Despite her hair color, the woman was younger than me. I tried to smile, but her face hardened into fury.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she snapped.
I tried to speak, but my throat felt raw. I cleared it and tried again. “Hey, Callie. You here for brunch? I’m starving. Been waiting for you forever,” I rasped.
Her eyes tightened as if reading a hidden meaning in my words, but I was still fuzzy from sleep, and didn’t have the energy to dissect my comment. Women were strange. No use trying to learn their language. She sniffed before walking away. Mallory replaced her, taking his turn to study me. He no longer looked like a demon, as he had when I last saw him in the dark hallway, but I was pretty sure that was just a hallucination along with the other stuff. “No ill effects, thankfully,” he finally said after the familiar tingle of his healing magic washed over me.
“I’m fine,” I pressed, feeling my strength and wits slowly returning. “Thanks, Mallory. Food will probably help a lot. I just overtaxed my magic, and then stupidly decided to Astral Project before taking care of my body.”
Mallory blinked. “You almost burned away your soul.”
Callie gasped. “Astral Proj— Wait, you can destroy your soul?” she hissed, incredulous.
Mallory nodded very seriously. “If one has just the right amount of stupidity and recklessness. Darwinism usually sorts those ones out early, though,” he added with a straight face.
I swallowed, but the sensation sent me into a coughing fit. “Water,” I gasped.
Callie handed me a glass, looking concerned.
Mallory placed a hand on her shoulder, patted lightly, and then withdrew it, long enough to impart shared concern, but brief enough to not make her feel uncomfortable. Mallory was pretty intuitive. “He’s fine, child,” he told her. “Although it might have served him well if there had been consequences,” he added as an afterthought.
Callie nodded her agreement, arms folded over her chest, concealing the words on her black t-shirt. She wore matching tight black jeans and biker boots, which only emphasized her bright hair and sapphire-blue eyes.
Callie was a wizard from Kansas City. She trained with the Shepherds – an arm of the Vatican that was shrouded in mystery and secrecy, almost as if they didn’t really exist, because I had asked my hacker friend Othello to do some digging, and she had come up with zilch – to hunt down monsters. There were twelve of these wizard Shepherds, and they typically roamed the earth like gypsies, never staying in one place too long before moving onto the next country and the next urgent call from one of their churches.
Except, while in Kansas City, one Shepherd named Roland had met Callie at a very young age, saving her from some monsters in a dark alley. Discovering she was also a wizard, he had decided to stick around and train her.
She wasn’t a very churchy kind of gal, but had still agreed to his tutelage, which involved learning how to use her magic…
And an insanely rigorous curriculum of hand-to-hand combat.
She was a badass of the highest order, even if she was still coming to grips with her magic, and her place in the world. Because she had made one thing very clear. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a Shepherd.
I had met her a few months ago on a case involving the Spear of Longinus – the spear that had stabbed Jesus Christ on the Cross – when Roland had been injured. Some demons, werebears, vampires, and werewolves had tried to take her out, and Callie had learned some things about herself – about her parentage – that had shaken her to the core. And sent her enemies scurrying.
But we didn’t talk about that.
Still, it seemed like we both knew how to draw power from the same boss – the Big G. Because her magic was also tainted white on occasion, like mine. We might have let our hormones get in the way of our professionalism – not that anything had really happened – but something had happened.
We didn’t talk about that, either.
And we were both okay with that. For now. I had invited her here to meet my friends. Because Callie was one of the coolest women I had ever met. And that was good enough for me.
For now. But we both liked to tease each other. Flirting for flirting’s sake. I think.
I rolled my legs out from under the sheets and realized I was naked. Callie arched a daring eyebrow at me. I stared down at my feet for a few breaths, and then said, “You’re welcome,” as I plopped myself out of bed and walked over to the dresser, flashing my ass to her and Mallory.
I heard Mallory chuckle, but Callie was very silent. I smiled to myself.
I found a pair of light, comfortable jeans, tried to put them on, and almost fell on my ass. I quickly lashed out with my hand, snatching onto the dresser. With the added support of the antique furniture, the notorious, deadly, all-powerful wizard succeeded in dressing himself.
I finally turned back to the two of them. “Let’s go eat.” I stumbled out of the room ahead of them, ignoring Callie’s grumbling protests. I casually grabbed a hold of the bannister, and made my way to the stairs, nodding at a few patrolling griffin statues that walked this level, tails lashing back and forth as they sniffed the air, keeping us safe. I heard Callie laughing lightly behind me and glanced over my shoulder to find her crouched down, nuzzling cheeks with one. I smiled, and then turned back to the sudden obstacle currently trying to thwart the infamous Master Temple from saving the world. Stairs.
I stared at them with a very doubtful expression that was cleverly masked as brave stoicism.
“How dare they,” Callie murmured in my ear. I grunted agreement, but was caught off guard when she suddenly grasped my elbow and began carefully guiding me down the death trap.
I relaxed, and found myself smiling. We reached the base of the stairs, and I paused, staring up at a painted portrait of my parents with a nostalgic smile. Callie followed my gaze.
“Your dad had good genes,” she admitted. I shot her a look to find her grinning at me, obviously teasing me to get a reaction. I sighed, guiding her around a corner to a new hallway.
And I suddenly stopped, staring in surprise.
A small golf cart stood before me. Gunnar was behind the wheel, smirking at us. He waved at Callie. “Good to see you again.”
“Likewise,” she smiled.
“You did it,” I whispered in awe.
He nodded. “Get in, Tiny Tim.”
I grinned as I climbed inside, relieved I wouldn’t have to walk the rest of the way, even if it wasn’t that far. And let’s face it, driving a golf cart inside a house was pretty cool. Callie hopped on the back with an excited giggle, but Mallory appeared at the bottom of the stairs behind us, shook his head, and then walked past us. Gunnar stepped on the pedal and we soon passed him.
“Did Dean see you sneak it in?” I asked.
“Nope,” Gunnar beamed as Callie clapped her hands delightedly behind us.
Even though golf carts weren’t that fast, it felt dangerously so since we were inside a house and driving past cabinets of priceless artifacts and knickknacks. I could just imagine Dean’s apoplexy when he saw.
Gunnar eased on the brakes as we reached the dining room. The last time I had used the table had been for Thanksgiving over a year ago. I led the three of us into the room to find the rest of my friends seated. Ashley patted the chair beside her, and Gunnar obediently joined her. Callie remained standing beside me, smiling politely. They returned the favor, but my attention was suddenly drawn to the back wall, where Dean was glaring at me, lips pressed tightly together. “Laziness breeds weakness. Or so I’ve been told,” he offered in a flat tone.
I shook my head. “It’s not laziness. It’s a sport utility vehicle. Maybe we can start a Polo club,” I added, pleased to see his horrified reaction. “And it’s a good practice vehicle for everyone to learn on before they try the ATVs outside. Everyone needs to know how to drive them, in case we need to transport injured peo
ple around the property. Especially the kids.”
Dean stared back. Those at the table watched in silence. “You are going to let the children drive… inside the house?” he looked as if I had told him I wanted to try sacrificing puppies.
“Well…” I began, thinking about all the priceless items decorating the hallways.
“They will learn how to drive the ATVs outside. Where they belong.” It wasn’t clear whether he meant that the kids or the vehicles belonged outside. Callie folded her arms, grinning.
“Um, what about Polo?” I reminded him.
Instead of answering, he stormed through the swinging doors into the kitchen to get our food.
Mallory entered the room behind me, shaking his head before taking a seat at the large, black chair on one end of the table. Callie followed, aiming for the empty chair nearest him. I cleared my throat before she took her seat. “Everyone, meet Callie Penrose. Callie, meet everyone.” Before they could speak up and startle the living hell out of her, I indicated the animals – Hugin, Munin, and Sir Muffle Paws. “Stray pets,” I told her, pointing them each out by name as I gave them warning looks. Sir Muffle Paws lounged on top of a china cabinet, watching lazily. The Ravens perched beside each other on another cabinet, blinking as they shifted from foot to foot, watching. I was grateful that Eae the Angel wasn’t there. What with Callie’s… abilities, I wanted to postpone that meeting as long as possible.
Gunnar dipped his head at Callie, drawing her attention, but Othello’s overly dramatic nod of approval – thankfully out of Callie’s view – distracted me. “We briefly met in Kansas City a few months ago,” Gunnar reminded her, “when Nate stuck his nose into your demon business.” Ashley smiled warmly as well.
Wild Side: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (The Temple Chronicles) Page 7
