Wish Bound (A Grimm Agency Novel Book 3)

by J. C. Nelson

  “Marissa, don’t kid yourself.” The Adversary crossed his arms and shook his head. “That was no accident. There were murderers in that vault a thousand times more deadly; hell, Rip Van Winkle’s soul was in a Mason jar two shelves down.”

  I nearly died at the hands of Rip Van Winkle, Kingdom’s own boogeyman. “Who was it that broke in? And who else did they take?” I couldn’t have moved from Grimm’s seat if I had to, wrapped in a spell of fear as I waited for an answer I dreaded.

  “You should probably have that discussion with your Fairy Godfather.” He rubbed his hands together, extinguishing the flames. “I’ll see myself out, assuming that receptionist of yours doesn’t shoot me again. If she ever wants a night job, send her over. She’ll fit right in below.” Nick put his clipboard under his arm and marched out, leaving scorch marks on the carpet with each step.

  I can’t tell you how many minutes passed until my skin tingled from Grimm’s presence in the mirror at my back. I didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Prince Mihail and his crazy mother were some of the few people who truly deserved their spot in Inferno. The thought of them out and about, watching, waiting—that I couldn’t stand.

  “Marissa, I listened in on your conversation. You have a special rapport with the Adversary, and I felt it wiser to allow you to deal with him.”

  “Is he telling the truth?”

  “Yes, my dear. I’m afraid he is. I know in the past you’ve been reluctant to use deadly force, but in this case, I want you to shoot first, reload, and shoot again. Leave the question asking to me.” The concern in Grimm’s voice only amplified my fear. The Fairy Godfather feared nothing.

  “We have to take care of Ari. Prince Mihail might come for her.” Mihail had meant to marry Ari. Then murder her.

  “His mother won’t waste time on Ari or anyone else. I would comfort you, but fear will keep you alert. Alive. I confess I’m considering having Jess released from the hospital to accompany Arianna. Anywhere you go in this realm, Liam must remain with you at all times.”

  The thought of half-djinn Jess roaming the streets of my city worried me almost as much as the Adversary’s threats. Once one of Grimm’s agents, Jess was violent death given flesh when her bipolar medication wasn’t working, or when she wouldn’t take it, which was most of the time. “We can’t do that. Too many innocent people might get hurt. What if, for once, you actually did some form of magic? Can’t you influence fate to keep her safe?” Grimm had a way of influencing events that worked best when the person being influenced didn’t know what was happening. He could bring two people together in a crowd of thousands—or, hopefully, keep them apart.

  Grimm ignored my dig at his stinginess, his eyes unfocused. “I could, Marissa, but I can’t do so for two people at once. That means, my dear, that I can’t provide the same protection for you if I’m doing so for Arianna.”

  “Then there’s no decision. You keep both Mihails away from Ari. If the Mihails want revenge, they can take it up with me.”

  “Marissa—” Grimm stopped for a moment, his forehead wrinkled and lips pursed. “You shouldn’t endanger yourself so lightly.”

  “Better me than anyone else.”

  Grimm just shook his head and faded from the mirror, leaving me alone. Which meant I could spare a moment to worry for myself.

  • • •

  AN URGENT KNOCK on Grimm’s door roused me from my worry. Grimm himself disappeared half an hour before, saying he needed to spend quality time divining the future. There’d be a food bank receiving donations of hasenpfeffer for days.

  “Little pig, little pig, let me come in.” I recognized Mikey’s voice through the oak door.

  “Oh, all right.” I rose and unlocked the door, looking up to meet his eyes. “What?”

  Mikey grabbed my arm, a move which would have earned him a silver bullet two years earlier, and dragged me along. “Emergency in the kitchen. You’re in charge.” He let go and sprinted off, rounding the corner like he’d just spotted a whitetail deer, or a cheerleader.

  I followed him to the kitchen, throwing open the door and marching in, ready to lay down the law.

  Darkness engulfed me, absolute darkness, as the door swung shut behind me, and the sounds of shallow breathing made my heart race.

  “Surprise!” a hail of voices shouted, and the lights flickered on. A shiver ran from my feet to my ears. In the center of the table sat a cake with “Happy Barmitzvah, Joshua” written in pink gel frosting.

  “I got it on clearance at the bakery.” Mikey reached out and lit a candle on the cake, oblivious to the terror in my eyes.

  The kitchen door opened, and Liam shouted, “What idiot brought a cake? Grimm, we need you.” He banged on the wall so hard, it shook the door.

  The patter of light feet meant everyone was leaving. I clenched my teeth and tried to look away. “It’s going to be okay, M.” Ari stepped forward. “Everyone out of the building. Move, people.” She barked orders while I struggled to contain a wave of nausea that made the world spin.

  Grimm flashed into the microwave door, glanced around the room, and glowered at Mikey. “What exactly do you think you are doing?”

  “Stairs.” Ari cupped her hands and shouted. “Only use the stairs. Remember what happened to the elevators last time?”

  “Marissa, take a deep breath. Close your eyes.” Grimm’s voice calmed me, though the panic still swirled in my stomach like a gallon of cheap rum.

  Liam snuffed out the candle and threw his jacket over the cake. “It’s fine, M. Nothing to see here. We’re all going to just go for a walk down the stairs, out onto the street, and take the day off.”

  That’s when the sprinklers went off.

  Then every light in the building went out at once.

  Then a bubbling noise like some monster from the depths gurgled up from the sewers, and a stench like rotten sheep entrails stung my nose. From the floors above and below, cries of terror and disgust echoed from vents.

  “Deep breaths. Eyes closed.” Liam put a rough hand on my face and pulled me toward him. “Mikey didn’t know.”

  Mikey didn’t know. Didn’t know that I avoided every birthday, anniversary, wedding, or funeral for exactly the same reason. They all ended in disaster. If we were unlucky, it required the hazmat squad. If we were lucky, there’d only be a couple feet of raw sewage spilling into the building.

  “Grimm, you’ve got to help me with this.” I pushed away from Liam as the emergency lighting came on, flooding the Agency with a dull red glow.

  “Marissa, everyone has situations in which things do not go well. Little things, where the universe reminds them they have better ways to spend their fleeting days.” Grimm spoke like a schoolteacher.

  “Do you remember what happened when Ari baked me cupcakes for my birthday?”

  Ari tromped back into the room, wearing yellow muck boots and carrying a matching parasol. “Asps. There were no asp eggs in the batter, Grimm. None. Would you like to guess how many cupcakes had asps in them when Marissa cut into them? What does that tell you?”

  “It tells me cupcakes are bad for your figure. Now, if you don’t mind—” Grimm cut off, his eyes losing focus, then snapping wide open. “Ladies, I need you to check on that realm seal immediately. There isn’t a moment to waste.”

  I followed Ari to the back of the Agency, where Grimm kept portal runes ground into the concrete, having long ago given up any pretense of getting his security deposit returned. This birthday was turning out as bad as the rest.

  “Proceed directly along the path to the Seal, contact me when you arrive. Do not waste time shooting goblins.” Grimm stood in the full-length mirror, waiting. He looked to Liam. “Sir, I need your assistance as soon as the ladies have departed. We have a minor invasion to deal with.”

  “You got it.” Liam rubbed his hands through his hair, wringing it out.

&nb
sp; The portal lit up like a rainbow and solidified, revealing a land that looked like a barren fall landscape.

  Grimm waved his hand like a host. “This is your stop. Please keep your hands and feet inside the portal, or a team of surgeons will be required to reattach them. I will reopen the gate once we have inspected the realm seal and understand what is wrong.”

  Ari stepped through, appearing on the trail visible through the portal. The portal rippled and shook, like it was made of cold, clear water.

  “That normal?” I studied Grimm’s face.

  “Not exactly. Hurry, Marissa. There’s a tremor in the fabric of magic itself coming, which might strand Ari.” Grimm concentrated, his eyebrows arched.

  I dashed forward, ducking down, and stepped across. As I did, the building shook again, and it felt like my insides twisted like a pretzel. Then a grip like iron seized my hand. Ari screamed. Liam cursed, and I disappeared into darkness.

  Two

  I OPENED MY eyes to absolute pitch black. Nothingness, no sound or smell. Only the iron grip on my arm kept me from fleeing into the void.

  “Happy birthday, Marissa. You’re one day closer to dying.” The voice came straight into my head, a voice like dried leaves and cracked bones rattling in the October wind.

  “Death. That’s you, right?” A few years earlier, Death, a harbinger of the apocalypse, spent quite a bit of time hanging around my apartment. “I didn’t see it coming.”

  “You aren’t dead yet. I came to give you a present. You know, I never did get you a proper present for almost ending the world.”

  I looked around, but couldn’t see. Movement, eyes open or closed, nothing mattered.

  In the inky black, a match struck and flared with the stench of sulfur. Before me, a single candle glowed to life, planted on a cupcake. I stared across it into a skull, its empty eye sockets leering back at me.

  His grip held me fast, stifling my involuntary attempt to flee. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to change skins. I’m very busy, and I have the feeling I’m headed into a holiday season of sorts.” Death placed the cupcake in my hands. Then with a bony claw, he reached toward my left eye.

  Scream? Hell yes, I did.

  His claw tips met a gnat’s width above my eye, and a sound, a feeling of tearing, ripped through me. With a puff of air like the gust of a coffin lid closing, he blew out the candle, and darkness wrapped itself about me once more.

  “I’m sorry, Marissa. You need to be able to see to understand.” His voice began to fade out.

  The darkness seeped into me, freezing me to my core. “What did you do?”

  “I’ve made a hole in the veil for you. So you won’t be fooled.”

  A pinprick of light in the darkness caught my eye, the only light in the world. Rushing toward me, growing larger by the second, moving like a train. At the last moment, I saw forest, leaves, and then I went flying into the light.

  “M?” Ari’s voice, soft and sweet, distant. I tried to open my eyes, but after the darkness of the void, even the gray light of the Forest seemed to stab me.

  “Ari.” My own voice came from a distance.

  Something clicked, and Ari spoke, “She just arrived. The portal opened on its own and threw her out face-first.”

  With my hands over my eyes, I sat up. “I’m fine.”

  “My dear, you were gone for nearly half an hour. I feared we lost you.” Grimm’s voice trembled.

  “Death spoke to me.” I opened my eyes, squinting. “Said I needed to see through the veil.”

  “What?” Grimm practically roared. “That’s completely illegal according to the celestial laws, and not good for your health. Cosmic radiation, and so on.”

  Ari jerked her hand back, almost dropping the compact.

  “He said it would help me understand. Why? And what?” I stood and dusted rotten leaves out of my shirt. The remains of a smashed cupcake said I’d landed on my birthday present.

  “Arianna, please find the realm seal and return quickly. I need to examine Marissa.” Grimm faded out.

  Ari took my hand and stared at me. At one time, her dead eyes made my skin crawl, but these days, I just saw my best friend. She was using her spirit sight, for sure, looking down through my skin to see if there was damage inside.

  “Well?” I arched one eyebrow.

  “You look like you always do. Come on, let’s get this over with.” She started down the path, and I followed her.

  The Forest Realm certainly wouldn’t win any tourism destination awards if I were handing them out. It’s not just the fact that every goblin, ever, made their homes there. The thing that really killed it for me was the endless array of brown, gray, and black. Not a green leaf or yellow flower for as far as the eye could see.

  Combine that with the perpetual October-evening twilight, and I needed a beach vacation just to recover. Still, any realm visit was one worth remembering, if only so I could remember I didn’t want to come here again. As Ari followed the path through blistered trees, I stopped her. “I never get to travel to other realms. Take a picture?” I handed her my phone.

  Ari shook her head. “You have to come with me to Fae next time I tend my Seal.”

  A seal, in this case, was neither a small, furry aquatic mammal nor an imposing navy warrior. Seals, magical entities that served as barriers between realms, resembled living thunderstorms. Attempting to club one might get you electrocuted.

  “Grimm says no. Actually, he doesn’t say no. He just always has some emergency for me to handle. ‘Marissa, I need you to find this missing child,’ or ‘Marissa, you have to prevent them from poisoning the city’s water supply.’ It’s always something.” I made a mental note that next time, I was going, no matter what. “This dump’s the first place he’s let me go on my own.” I gave her a fake smile for the camera.

  “Say cheddar.” Ari waited. And waited.

  I glared at her. “That’s not funny.” She knew darn well why. In the office fridge lurked a wheel of cheddar, which arrived of its own accord the day Grimm threw me a “welcome to the Agency” party. The number of interns who attempted to remove it matched exactly the number of interns who died horrible, bloody deaths within hours of touching it.

  “Fine. Say ‘Grimm’s a bastard.’” Ari snapped the picture before I could open my mouth and handed me the phone. “You know what I’m noticing about this place?” She twirled around, taking in the breathtakingly dull landscape.

  “Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing of interest.”

  “No goblins. Shouldn’t we have met at least one?” Ari peered into the forest.

  She had a point. Goblins served as the cheapest, dumbest enforcers anyone with a little Glitter and an axe or ten to grind could afford. Now that I’d seen where they came from, I understood why they left. Goblins also tended to be as territorial as trailer park residents, so the fact that we’d made it twenty steps without having to give one lead poisoning didn’t bode well. “Come on. Let’s go for a jog, get this over with, and go someplace with sun, or at least fluorescent lights.” I took off at a trot, with Ari close behind.

  The path opened up to a vast meadow. Not the sort of meadow where forest animals frolicked in the sun. The sort of meadow where sick and dying animals would stagger, wounded and rabid, while making noises reminiscent of a band of drunken bagpipe players before dying. Like the rest of the Forest, it seemed frozen in a late autumn, dead grass, dead trees. The mounds of dead goblins, that was new.

  Ari caught up with me, both of us reaching for our handguns at the same time. Goblins lay piled like cordwood, their black blood coagulating in pools like an oil slick.

  Ari poked one with the barrel of her Desert Eagle. “What do you think happened?”

  “No idea.” With each step, I watched, waited for something to attack. I think I preferred the endless dead trees to the maze of goblin
bodies. The closer we got toward the center, the worse the carnage. Bodies gave way to shredded mounds of barely recognizable flesh.

  A glint of black caught my eye, and I approached, digging into the mound. “Take a look at—” A flash of pain shot up my arm, and I yanked back my hand. From my palm, a gush of blood welled up.

  Ari grabbed my hand and chanted, turning the air cold as magic swept into her. I expected the wound to close. Instead, a filthy Ace bandage materialized, cobwebs and dust covering the outside.

  “Seriously? Can’t you do healing yet?” I poked at a spider, turning it into a splat.

  Ari wound the bandage around my hand. “You have no idea how much power that takes when I have to do it on my own.” Then she turned, and without a word, fire burst from her palm, incinerating the corpse on which I’d cut myself.

  Roast goblin smelled a lot like roast goat. In spite of the pain in my hand, my mouth watered, imagining black beans, corn tortillas, and some fresh salsa.

  “Oh no.” Ari stopped the flamethrower act, looking back to me, rubbing her fingers together. “We need to get you out of here.”

  Where a mass of goblin flesh once stood, ashes drifted. Entwined in the bones of the goblin, a tangled mass of thorns twisted, still burning. My stomach twisted itself into a Gordian knot while my brain packed its bags and began considering the contortions necessary to escape via my left ear.

  I’d read about deaths like that. Deaths that hadn’t happened for more than four hundred years. Such bodies were the standard, the hallmark of the Black Queen. I reflexively covered my wrist, where the handmaiden’s mark peeked out from beneath the bandage.

  Grimm thought she’d take several hundred years to return.

  The bodies said otherwise.

  I looked around and didn’t see Ari. While I’d stood, lost in my thoughts, she’d kept going. Quelling the fear that danced up and down my spine, I ran through the maze until I reached the center.