by Jen McConnel
“What’s happening?” Marcus yelled, following me.
The tunnel grew unbearably hot, and I ran faster. “We have to get out of here!”
Jets of steam pressed through the rock around me, and with sick certainty, I suddenly knew where we were. I skidded to a halt and Marcus crashed into me.
“What the hell is going on?”
I looked at him, petrified. “I think we’re inside a volcano.”
Steam shot past me, punctuating my words.
“What?” Marcus stared at me in disbelief.
“‘When Loki shakes, the earth quakes!’” I quoted something I’d read on the Internet. “We’re so screwed.”
The tunnel filled with a roaring sound. “We have to do something!” Marcus was yelling, but I could barely hear him over the sounds of the mountain.
“What?”
“Magic!” He extended his hand to me.
I shook my head, frustrated. “It won’t work!”
“Different Underworld, different rules. We have to try.”
The heat was overwhelming. At any moment, the mountain would erupt. “Okay!” I took his hand and felt Red magic coursing into me. Sparks covered our arms, and my skin glowed.
“Now!” he screamed, raising my arm into the air. With a blast, we released magic into the ceiling above us. The rock crumbled, blown away, and in the hole above us I thought I could see daylight. The cavern around us was still rumbling dangerously, and I turned to Marcus.
“Boost me up.”
He slipped his hands under my raised foot, and I practically flew into the air. I grabbed at the rock and scrabbled toward the opening. Marcus pulled himself up after me, grunting with effort.
Below us, the mountain groaned and rumbled. With a burst of adrenaline, I heaved myself up and landed face down on a sheet of ice. Marcus panted beside me.
“Come on!” I staggered to my feet and attempted to run down the slope of the mountain. Marcus crawled behind me, but an explosion jolted him to his feet. I turned to look back and I froze.
The mountain was erupting behind us. Flames shot up through the ice, spewing rock and molten lava at least a hundred feet into the air. I watched the destructive force of the volcano, feeling Red magic tingle in my fingertips. I wasn’t aware of the sparks covering my skin, but my hands started to lift of their own volition. Magic surged through me as I raised my arms toward the mountain. I could taste the chaos; it was within my reach!
Marcus grabbed my arm and pulled hard. “We have to move!” he shouted, dragging me with him down the face of the mountain. I dropped my hands, instantly losing the connection to Red magic, and ran. I didn’t know what I’d almost done, and I didn’t want to stick around and find out. Panting, I followed him as we slipped and slid down the icy mountain.
Smoke filled the air, and flaky pieces of ash rained down on us. Even as we skidded on the ice, the air around us felt thick and warm. It was like a sauna. I didn’t look back again at the geyser of flames, but I knew the mountain was still spewing lava. When we reached the bottom of the cliff, I crumpled to the ground in a dead faint. The last thing I saw as I fell over was a sharp black rock rushing up to meet me.
Fuzzy memories of Annwn, Hel, and Loki began to dance through my mind, and I turned to the side, retching. When my stomach was empty, I wiped my mouth and looked around.
Marcus was sitting beside me, his head in his hands. He didn’t look up, even when I nudged him with my toe. Shapes swam in front of me, and I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, it was almost too dark to see.
“What happened?”
Marcus glanced up, and I was startled to see that his eyes were swollen. It looked as if he’d been crying.
I drew a deep breath and looked around. In the inky darkness, I could barely make out the towering shapes of trees. Confused, I turned my head. There was no sign of the mountain.
“Marcus,” I fought to keep the panic out of my voice, “where are we?”
He shrugged. “I had to do something. We were drawing a crowd at the volcano.”
I looked at him, frightened. “Where did you take us?”
He looked up at the trees again. “The Black Forest.”
“What?” I sprang to my feet. Well, I tried to: I almost toppled over, but I managed to stand there, swaying, glaring down at Marcus.
He rose swiftly, his dark eyes piercing. “That volcano wasn’t natural. It wasn’t safe. And when you passed out, I didn’t know what to do.”
“And the first thing you thought of was taking us to rural Germany?” I clenched my fists, fighting back another wave of nausea. A thought occurred to me, and I stopped shouting. “How did you even get us here?”
He glared at me, his lips pressed into a thin line. “Magic. How else would I have done it?” he snarled.
Confused, I wavered on my feet. “Even some of the gods I’ve met can’t transport a human through time and space like that.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “What spell did you use?” Clearly, Marcus was way more powerful than I’d realized. I wondered if freeing him from the cavern had been such a good idea.
His eyes hardened. “Now is not the time for a lesson.” He strode through the trees.
“Are you really that powerful?” I rushed to keep up, trying hard not to focus on the way the ground still seemed to be swirling.
“No!” He whirled around so fast, I almost bumped into him. “If I were powerful at all,” he rasped, “none of this would have happened. Izzy wouldn’t be gone, and I wouldn’t be stuck traipsing around the woods with a Witch like you!” His face was red, and a vein in his forehead pulsed.
“It’s not my fault Izzy disappeared.” I glanced around the trees nervously. Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I caught a flicker of wings, and I looked around. I spotted an owl and froze.
Marcus didn’t see the bird behind him. “I think it is! If you hadn’t come around, talking about fighting Hecate—”
I pushed him to the ground with a thud just as a tangle of feathers passed overhead. The owl squawked indignantly and flexed its claws, preparing to dive again. “Don’t draw her attention!” I stood slowly, never breaking eye contact with the bird. It was like watching Hecate: the same predatory, yellow eyes. The bird froze, watching me as I whispered a spell to bind it in place. The eyes followed me with malice as the body hung awkwardly, poised for flight but not moving.
I kept my gaze on the bird. “We have to get away from that thing. It’s one of her spies, and I can’t do much more than bind it.”
Marcus touched my shoulder. “How long will the spell hold?”
“As long as I don’t break eye contact with it.” I stepped backward cautiously.
Suddenly, Marcus was in front of me. “You can’t walk backward in this forest,” he said as he lifted me easily over his shoulder.
Electricity surged through my stomach where I was thrown over his shoulder, but I was getting used to the strange sensation whenever I touched him. Still, I didn’t want to be airborne. I fought him for a moment, but he had a point. This way, I could look at the bird and continue to travel away from it. “Fine. Just be fast.”
The minute the words left my mouth, he began to run. Branches whipped my eyes, but I glared at the bird without blinking. My eyes started to water, and just when I was sure I wouldn’t be able to maintain the spell much longer, there was a blinding flash, and then blackness descended around us.
At first I thought I’d passed out again, but I could hear Marcus panting beneath me. I blinked once before I realized that my eyes were open. The forest was enveloped in blackness darker than night.
“What was that?” I called over my shoulder.
“Stop squirming!” Marcus tightened his grip on my torso, and I drew in my breath quickly.
I kicked my legs, and he grunted, but he kept running and he maintained his grip on me.
“I can’t see the owl. You have to put me down!”
Unceremoniously, he
dropped me like a sack of potting soil. I landed on my ankle, wrenching it painfully.
“You said to put you down, m’lady.” Marcus smirked as I rubbed my foot.
I ignored him, looking around. My eyes hadn’t grown any more accustomed to the blackness: I might as well have been asleep for all I could see. I could barely see Marcus; he cast an eerie red glow in the gloom.
“Do you know where we are?” He looked around, sniffing the air like a dog. Finally, he nodded.
“I know my territory. Don’t you know yours, Witch?”
I shook my head. “Why is it so dark?” When he didn’t answer, I pressed on. “I don’t know if I would recognize any of my territory in this darkness, but we aren’t in my land, we’re in yours. So you better figure something out.”
He moved so quickly I didn’t realize it until he was right in front of me. If I’d leaned forward just a fraction of an inch, my nose would have brushed his throat. I swallowed nervously and looked up at him.
“I could just kill you and be done with all this.” His voice was low, and I forced myself not to shrink from his threat.
“What would that solve?”
He laughed coldly. “Your corpse might buy me my sister.”
I swallowed. “I want to help you find her.”
“But this might be easier.”
I drew Red magic into my body and pushed him forward. He flung across the clearing and smacked into a tree, his red glow barely visible in the gloom. Before I could bind him with a spell, I found myself suddenly whisked into the air.
I dangled there like the Hanged Man in Rochelle’s old tarot deck, suspended above the earth in terror. When I thrashed and tried to draw on my magic, I dropped dangerously toward the ground. Forcing myself to breathe, I grew still.
Marcus walked under me and looked up into my face. “You can’t fight me, Darlena. Give up. It’ll be easier.”
With a flick of his wrist, my invisible bonds snapped and I plunged toward him. My scream stuck in my throat and turned into a sob when I stopped moving, my face inches from the rough ground.
“Stop! Please. What do you want me to do?” I gasped, hating myself for begging but too afraid to do anything else.
I fell the last few inches to the ground and sprawled on my back. Gradually, the forest around me lightened until I could once again see the tops of the trees.
“Save my sister.”
I scrambled to my feet. “I’m trying! I don’t know where to look.”
He considered me for a moment. “You aren’t really trying.”
We glared at each other, unmoving.
Finally, I opened my hands, palm up, and reached toward him.
“Couldn’t we help each other?”
Marcus considered. “I don’t know how much you can help me. You’ve proved you’re no match for my magic.”
“Without me, you’d still be tied up on a boulder!”
He shrugged, but I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, and I pressed my advantage. “We can do this together. You heard Loki: he’ll give us both what we want.”
Marcus closed his eyes. “All right,” he spoke quietly. “I will help you until I have what I want.” He opened his eyes and glared at me. “Only until I have my sister back.”
“Swear it.” He might try to kill me as soon as we found Izzy, but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe Izzy could talk him out of it. I wasn’t sure what I’d done that had pissed him off so much, but Marcus wasn’t someone I wanted as an enemy. I didn’t want to be his friend, either, but I didn’t know what else to do.
Without hesitation, he started speaking calmly, weaving a binding spell. He reached out and clasped my hands, and the spell snaked around our wrists like smoke. Red sparks surged up my arm, and his hand let off a red glow. When Marcus had stopped, I finished the spell, adding to our agreement that he would help me bind Hecate, regardless of the wishes of his patron. He raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded, and the spell sank into our hands with a sigh. For a minute, my hand felt like dead weight, and then a crackle of energy rippled through me.
I started to let go, but Marcus tightened his grip and leaned forward. He brushed my left cheek with his lips, then my right. Shivers raced down my spine at his touch, and I started to pull away.
“This is how I was taught to seal binding spells.” His voice was close to my ear, and it tickled.
Hesitantly, I kissed each of his cheeks, and we squeezed our hands tighter. I didn’t meet his eyes, trying to hide my confusion over my reaction to being so close to him.
“So mote it be.” We spoke the final words in unison, and our hands glowed bright red for an instant before they looked normal again. I flexed my fingers, feeling the spell tingle as it settled into my being. Like it or not, I now owed Marcus loyalty, and he owed me the same. Glancing at the hard-faced Witch beside me, I remembered that Justin and Mom had both warned me about making bargains. I looked away, not ready to think about either of them right now, especially Justin. For some reason, he was the furthest thing from my mind.
I looked around at the looming trees and shuddered. “Tell me why you whisked us here, of all places?”
He started to speak, and then paused. His brow furrowed as he thought about my question. “I’m not sure, actually. All I could think of was getting away from the eruption, and as far from Hel as we could possibly get.”
Goosebumps prickled my skin, and I rubbed my arms quickly. “But wasn’t Germany one of the places invaded by the Vikings?” If it was, Hel could still reach us. And so could Loki.
“I didn’t think of that. I told you, I didn’t pick the place. I just willed us somewhere as far away from immediate harm as I could.”
“Fair enough.” I paused, looking at the pine needles that covered the ground in irregular patterns. I wondered if I could get him to teach me that traveling spell. Maybe he’d be more willing to now that we were partners. “Thank you for taking me with you.”
He snorted. “You’re dangerous, Darlena. I’d rather have you where I can watch you. Besides,” he added, “I think you know where Izzy is.”
“I told you, I have no idea. I followed something that looked like her into Annwn, but then she was gone.”
He frowned. “That sounds like a Seeming.”
I nodded. “But I haven’t seen her—er, it—since.”
“We will find her.” His voice was firm, and I didn’t argue.
Instead, I looked around the forest. Even though it was hard to tell, the woods seemed to be getting darker as we spoke. “Shouldn’t we find a place to sleep? We can discuss this more once we’re settled.”
He nodded. “If we’re going to sleep, we’ll need shelter.
Before I could ask what he had in mind, Marcus turned away from me and raised his arms. Blistering heat sprang up behind me, and I spun around. The trees surrounding us were engulfed in flames. Before I could act, Marcus lowered his arms and the flames licked down, turning into embers. In an instant, they were extinguished.
“What did you do?” Aghast, I stared at the charred trees.
“What needed to be done. I can’t make something out of nothing. This will shelter us.”
I gestured at the burned patch of forest. “How?”
He smiled sharply. “Easy. Watch and learn, Witch.”
With a few deft flicks of his hands, Marcus tipped the charred trees to the ground. Too quickly for me to follow his motions, he wove a complicated spell, and the next thing I knew, a small lean-to stood before me, made out of blackened wood.
“Couldn’t you have just chopped the trees down? Why did you have to use fire?” I was upset thinking about how casually he had almost destroyed this old forest. My parents would have been mortified by such careless Witchcraft.
“Fire is the most powerful tool for any Red Witch, something you’d know if you didn’t insist on denying who you are.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he plowed on. “Besides, I did the forest a favor. The new growth that springs up a
fter any forest fire is healthier than those old trees have been in a long time. Fire is a way to cleanse and bring renewal.”
I thought about that, and I nodded grudgingly. “I still don’t think you needed to be so extreme.”
He laughed and headed toward the structure. “I provided shelter. Shall you provide the food, partner?”
Sitting cross-legged on the cold ground, I dug in my bag, which had mercifully made the journey from Scotland with me. I probably had a few granola bars left. My fingers brushed against something cold and sharp, and pain shot through my hand. I yelped in surprise, jerking my arm back.
“What is it?” Marcus was on his feet instantly, his hands clenched in a defensive pose.
Cautiously, I pulled a shard of mirrored glass out of my bag and held it up.
He looked at my stricken expression, puzzled. “So what? You don’t really believe that old tale that a broken mirror brings bad luck?”
I shook my head. “No. But that was a mirror from a goddess. Breaking it can’t be a good sign.”
Marcus reached out, and I placed the fragment of Aphrodite’s mirror in his hands. He turned it over slowly, examining it from every angle. “Who gave this to you?”
“Aphrodite. When I first chose her as my patron.”
His eyes stayed on the glass. “And when you changed your mind?”
“She said I could keep it. I’ve never really used it. I’m sure it’s magic, but there wasn’t time to find out what it does.”
“And now it’s broken.” His voice was quiet.
I nodded. “I wonder what it means.”
“One thing is pretty clear,” he said, looking at me with a stern expression, “you can’t waste the gifts of the gods again. You should never carry a magical tool without understanding how to use it.”
I thought of the crystal Hades had given me, and my mother’s athame. I must have glanced at the bag, because Marcus reached for it.
“What else do you have in here?”
I tugged the bag reflexively, jerking it out of his grip. His eyes turned hard.
“I want to make sure you don’t blow me up without intending to.”
