by Ann Gimpel
He gathered Moira, Ketha, and Viktor close. “Ready? I’ll open my magic to you, so you can watch how I do this. Consider it a continuation of this morning’s lessons.”
Summoning a modest spell, he visualized the spot where he wanted to bring them out and launched the casting. As he’d hoped, the beach was protected, compared with Arkady’s open deck, where the ship was anchored in the Bering Sea. Once all twenty-nine of them were present, he motioned them into a cave. It felt almost balmy out of the wind.
“We have very little time and much to accomplish,” he began, selecting his words carefully. “Whatever structure we decide on may well get blown out of the water once Eiocha or Oberon and Titania show up. If they do materialize, we will have to at least try to blend in with their lead.”
“Why?” Juan asked.
“Seems they could blend with us just as easily,” Karin muttered.
“No, they can’t,” Leif said. “They’re used to being obeyed without question. You weren’t there when the faeries began cooing over Eiocha. She was thrilled and delighted to offer her aid.” He sucked in a breath. “I understand this grates on your twenty-first-century sensibilities, but flattery is the ticket to working with the gods.”
Amid grumbles, Leif kept talking. “If no one has any objections, I’ll orchestrate this practice session and our initial appearance at the fissure. My pod is used to working together, and we have a communication system in place. How do the rest of you feel about teaming up with a sea Shifter and fighting in pairs?”
“Can we do trios?” Viktor asked. “That would allow Ketha and me to join with a sea Shifter. I’ll fight better if my mate is where we can lay eyes on each other.”
“Works for me,” Leif said. “I’ll see everyone outside in five minutes. We’ll square off against one another. Whoever you group up with is who you’ll be fighting with at the fissure, so pick carefully.”
“Can I fight alongside you?” Moira had scooched close.
“I’d be honored.” He headed outside with her striding next to him. He’d been hoping to find a way to keep an eye on her, but it cut both ways. Better to be worried with her right next to him, though, than trying to catch sight of her if she was in another group.
The day wore on. The sun was hidden behind thick cloud cover, but it had moved well past its zenith. He and Moira had fought against Viktor, Ketha, and a whale, and then switched to Juan, Aura, and Lewis as opponents. They were improving at coordinating their offensive maneuvers while keeping a solid defensive ward in place.
During a breathing spell between drills, he said, “Our warding is critical. Even if it means we miss a shot or two.”
Moira rolled her shoulders back. “I figure they’ll bait us, try to turn us against each other because that’s how evil operates.”
“Good point, and one we didn’t cover.” Leif took advantage of the lull in the action to raise his voice and yell, “Prioritize your wards. No matter what. You may not get to take a shot, but maintaining our safety is paramount.”
“How’s everyone’s magic holding up?” Viktor shouted. “Because mine is fading.”
Leif trotted over to him. “Open your psychic view and latch onto the power in the Earth beneath you. We can use it, the other side can’t, which gives us an advantage.”
“Land Shifters, over here.” Ketha cupped her hands around her mouth.
Viktor was concentrating hard, his forehead a roadmap of wrinkles, when he broke into a broad grin. His eyes snapped open. “Christ! It’s like hitting the mother lode.”
Leif slugged him in the shoulder. “You still need to guide your power, not squander it, but there’s more right beneath your feet now that the ley lines are close-to-fully charged again.” He turned his attention to the others. “Next skirmish, practice running wide open. Pull power into you and give the enemy everything you’ve got.”
“We’ll become conduits,” Karin said.
“Exactly. This is a technique we’ll use when we get into the thick of things and have to maximize our effectiveness.”
“It would help if we had some idea how many we’ll face,” Moira muttered.
“Doesn’t matter,” Leif said. “Our strategy is to shut the gateway. Once it’s been annihilated, we’ll deal with whatever’s still on our side.”
“I thought you wanted to make certain Poseidon and Amphitrite were trapped on the wrong side of the gate,” Moira said.
“I would love it if things happened that way, but I’m not going to stand on ceremony waiting for them to show up.”
So long as everyone was still milling around, pulling power from the ley lines, he went on, “Our battle plan is to hit the gateway hard and heavy. The minute we have boots on the ground, we will pull as much destructive magic as we need to obliterate it.”
“Demons will be trying to swarm through,” a whale said.
“We’ll have to ignore them,” Lewis added. “Unless they’re right in our way, and then we blow them to smithereens, hastening their journey back to Hell.”
“This is why maintaining our warding, no matter what, is so critical,” Leif said. “They will be doing their damnedest to kill us, but we have to get that gateway closed.”
“Makes sense,” Moira said. “It will limit how many of the enemy we have to deal with. Only the evil on this side of the gate, not the infinite number of wicked spirits who live in Hell.”
Leif clapped his hands together. “Back at it, folks.”
This time, he left Moira to extract power from the ley lines and get used to how it felt running through her body. He worked his way from group to group, fine-tuning their efforts. By the time he’d looked in on everybody, light was fading from the day. It was time to return to the ship.
He was worried Eiocha wasn’t back yet. Meant the fix she’d been convinced would be easy hadn’t been all that straightforward. He made his way to Viktor and drew him aside. “What would you think about finding a spot to drop anchor after we’re back aboard?”
“We can do that. There are ports the length of Kamchatka. Why?”
“I want to give Eiocha and the faeries the time they need to construct a bombproof tunnel. Also, we made good progress today. At least one more skills-training day would add to everyone’s confidence.”
“I agree,” Viktor said. “In truth, I’m surprised we’ve done as well as we have today, and that trick of yours to augment my magic when it gets low was little shy of inspired. In terms of possible ports, Ivashka or Ossora could work to drop anchor. They’re past the midway point of Kamchatka, heading north.”
“Excellent.” Leif scanned the groups, which were winding down. “I’m going to call it. We’ll employ the same groupings we used to get here to teleport back to the ship.”
His throat was raw from inhaling the cold, damp air and all the talking he’d done, so Leif switched to his mind voice. “Back in your transport groups, everyone. We’ll teleport back to Arkady. Take showers. Warm up, and we’ll meet in the dining room in an hour.”
He walked to where he’d left Moira, but she wasn’t there. Ketha tapped him on the shoulder. “If you’re looking for Moira, she and Tessa teleported back to the ship. She asked me to let you know and said she’d see you at dinner.”
Anxiety soured his stomach. He could see her getting frisky with her brand-new magic, but now wasn’t the time for showing off. They were too near the fissure to let their guards down for as little as a minute.
He tried to tell himself it would probably be fine and shepherded Viktor and Ketha back to the ship. They’d barely rolled out onto the ice-coated deck when he bolted to his feet and scooted inside. His first instinct was to hustle to Moira’s cabin and assure himself she’d arrived safely, but he sent seeking magic in an arc instead. It was faster and would cover all the possibilities, like the bar and the bridge, in case her cabin wasn’t her first stop.
His sweep didn’t locate her, so he switched to looking for Tessa. He didn’t expect to find her, and he didn�
��t. He’d just reversed direction to head back out onto the pitching, heaving deck when Moira’s distinctive energy pinged back at him. She was outside.
Why the hell had it taken her so long to get back here? It wasn’t as if you could take wrong turns teleporting.
He shouldered the door open and almost ran into a distraught Moira with Juan on one side of her and Aura on the other. “Slow down, sweetie,” Aura was saying.
“You don’t get it.” Moira turned anguished eyes on the mountain cat Shifter, “I lost Tessa. One minute we were together, and the next she wasn’t there. I returned to the beach where we practiced, thinking something had gone wrong with her casting. I was certain I’d find her there, but I didn’t.”
She inhaled shakily, and her eyes sheened with tears. “Where the hell is she?”
Wind howled and screeched, wrenching the door against its stops. Leif yanked all of them inside and pushed it shut. He wanted to tell Moira she’d been a fool, but it was a waste of words. She already blamed herself. Nothing to be gained by pounding her into the ground.
“She could be anywhere,” Leif said, holding onto a neutral tone and not asking why the hell Moira had broken the protocol he’d established to keep all of them safe.
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you need us?” Juan asked.
Leif shook his head. “No. Get warmed up.” Hooking an arm around Moira, he half-dragged her one flight down and into the nearest cabin so they’d have a spot to sit.
She slumped onto one of the two beds. “I was stupid. How could I have misjudged so horribly? I got back here fine. Twice. Why didn’t she?”
“She doesn’t have your magical ability,” Leif said, “but beyond that, evil marked her. They had the feel of her energy, which made it easy for them to snag her. When we teleport, it’s not anything like selecting a road. It might be closer to routes airplanes pick, but not even much like that, either. You leave the realm of physics and enter a buffer zone, for want of a better term. It’s not a borderworld, but nor do the rules that govern Earth apply. This is why you must have an endpoint to visualize. If you lack that, you can get lost in the buffer zone and never find your way out.”
Moira had drawn her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “It’s useful to know how things work, but will the knowledge help us get her back?”
Leif didn’t want to tell her Tessa could be anywhere by now, depending on why her teleport spell had been interrupted. An idea percolated. It was a long shot, but he needed to check in with the faeries, anyway.
“It’s possible Eiocha can track her through the ley lines.” He leveled his gaze her way. “Remain silent. You didn’t make any friends today when you challenged the horse goddess.”
She mimed dragging two fingers across her mouth and hunched into a dejected heap at the edge of her bunk.
“How are things going?” Leif extended his telepathy to the faery who’d reached him earlier.
“How would you expect?” Eiocha replied. “We just finished. This structure will last the ages.”
“I’d expect nothing less from your outstanding magical ability.” Leif laid it on thick and watched spots of color spread across Moira’s cheeks. Good. She was embarrassed, but it meant she was developing an understanding of the value of ass kissing.
“I’ll be on my way back soon.”
“It will be a pleasure to see you. We will be dropping anchor to allow us another practice day.”
An approving whinny rippled through the telepathic channels.
“While you’re on your way back here, we seem to have lost one of our number. Her name is Tessa, and she’s a mountain cat Shifter.”
The whinny turned into equine laughter. “Aha! I wondered if you had dual motives in play. As it happens, I felt a significant disturbance in my lines. I shall investigate, but I bet I find your missing Shifter. She will come with me, correct? No hysterics? No lack of respect like that one this morning?”
“I’m certain she’ll be so grateful, she’ll worship you forever,” Leif replied.
The connection blanked out, and Leif turned his attention to Moira. Tears rolled down her face. “If anyone can find Tessa, it’s Eiocha,” he said in an effort to comfort her.
“I hope so. I have to mend my ways. If it was me lost in the ether, Eiocha wouldn’t lift a hoof to help me, and I don’t blame her. Once she’s back, I’ll apologize. Sincerely and profusely. My vulture is giving me hell, along with a bunch of tripe about how I have to stand proud, but this is one place it’s wrong. If it abandons me over this, I’ll find a way to keep going.”
Leif moved across the cabin until he sat next to her, taken aback. “Surely your bondmate wouldn’t do something like that.” He tried to wrap an arm around Moira to console her, but she squirmed out from under it.
“You must have things you need to do. Things way more important than coddling me.” She swiped at her wet cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I’ll be fine. I’m strong.”
“Are you certain you wish to be alone?”
She nodded, sadness and guilt streaming from her in waves. “Quite certain. You should be with the others processing our practice session.”
“What will you do?” He draped a light truth spell between them, hopefully light enough she wouldn’t notice it. He was worried she’d go off half-cocked in search of Tessa, and he couldn’t allow her to do that.
“Go to my cabin. Get cleaned up then join everyone in the dining room. I’m not used to playing nice with others, but I’ll figure it out damned fast.” She got to her feet, swaying with the motion of the boat. “And I’ll be praying to the goddess for Tessa’s safe return.” A muffled sob followed her words. Before he could make another attempt to soothe her, she fled out the cabin door.
He released his spell. At least she’d told him the truth.
Leif struggled upright, fighting the canting deck, and stopped by the clothes locker. Two of the whales were there. “Do you want to go hunt for Tessa?” one asked, looking worried.
“I reached Eiocha. She’ll use the ley lines to locate her. Or she’ll try.”
“Brilliant!” One of the whales clapped him on the back.
“That’s one word for it. Desperate is another.” Leif squared his tired shoulders. “I considered going after her, but it wasn’t wise. We’re too close to the gateway, and our enemy was hoping we’d split forces. It’s why they grabbed Tessa.”
“Which is why you’re the alpha,” a whale said. “See you in the dining room.”
Leif left his parka in the locker and trudged toward his cabin. The expression on Moira’s face, haunted and desolate, wouldn’t leave him alone. He reached for his dolphin, relieved to find his bondmate close. “Can you talk sense into that vulture of hers?”
“I’m trying, but it’s very stubborn.”
“Will it break the bond with Moira?” Leif held his breath and walked into his cabin.
“Maybe not. It seems to love her, but it’s hard to tell. Let me do what I can.”
“Thank you.”
Leif pushed everything aside but the upcoming battle and stood under the shower with the water turned as hot as he could stand it. Before he was done, the rumble of the anchor chain reached his sensitive hearing. They’d made port, wherever it might be.
18
Broken Bonds?
Moira raced headlong down Deck Two’s corridor, taking a back staircase that came out close to her cabin. She ducked inside without seeing anyone while her vulture shrieked threats in the background. Too tightly strung to sit, she paced from one side of the small space to the other and back again.
She wanted to launch herself into the ether to look for Tessa but recognized it as foolhardy. Leif had outlined why she needed a destination, and the only place she knew to try was back on the beach where they’d trained. She’d already gone there and found it empty.
No point in wasting magic to go back. Tessa wouldn’t be there this time, either.
Her
palms itched with wanting to draw magic and teleport out of her claustrophobic cabin. She clasped them behind her back to lessen the temptation. Her jaws ached from grinding her teeth, and she opened and closed them to reduce the tension drumming through her.
She couldn’t do a damned thing to address Tessa’s disappearance—or her own guilt that she’d urged the mountain cat shifter to join her foolhardy plan. Delight had shone in Tessa’s dark eyes as she’d agreed to what surely felt like an adventure—but something easy and safe.
“Nothing is safe,” Moira muttered. “And I’m the worst kind of fool.” She raised her mind voice in Gaelic, invoking every goddess she could think of to guide Eiocha’s hand and bring Tessa back safely.
“Not your fault,” her bondmate cawed. “The other one, she made her own decisions, and—”
“Shut up!” Moira screeched. “Just shut up. Of course this was my fault. It was my idea, and it turned to shit.”
“It isn’t the way vultures operate,” her bird informed her in a patronizing tone that grated on her nerves.
“Oh really?” she retorted acidly. “Then what is?”
“Every bird takes responsibility for itself.”
“Are you trying to help? Or do you just need to be right?” Weariness washed over her in waves, and she sank onto one of the bunks, steadying herself with a hand. The boat’s motion had improved, which probably meant they’d sailed into a sheltered area where they’d anchor for the night.
“I am always right.”
Moira sucked air to the bottom of her lungs, blew it out, and did it again. Here it was. The confrontation she’d seen coming with her bird for years. She’d sidestepped it many times, smoothing the rough waters between them, but she couldn’t do that anymore.
“What happened to the last Shifters you bonded with?”
