Tethers

by Sara Reinke

  Jared smiled. “The people are not afraid. The people are happy, safe in the freedom and security provided by Homeland. Only a subversive would think otherwise. Really, Higgs, if it were not for the trauma of your recent injury which is clearly clouding your reasoning, I would have to conclude that you were posing these questions to test my reactions.”

  Higgs opened his mouth to speak and then thought better of it.

  Homeland spoke. “You are confused, Security Officer Higgs, and that is only to be expected after the trauma of your injury. Please return to your quarters. There will be some clearance tests before you can resume your duties.”

  Higgs rose slowly from his chair. “Thank you, ma’am. I think you’ll find that I won’t let you down.”

  As Higgs and Simms hurried away from Jared’s office, and back through the security center, Simms was incredulous.

  “You are so lucky, Higgs. You came this close to being terminated.” He held up his thumb and index finger a fraction apart. “Subversive questions like that are going to get you into a lot of trouble.”

  “What the hell was subversive about them?”

  “You heard Jared, only a subversive would think like that.”

  Suddenly, Simms put a hand on Higgs’s shoulder and stopped him. He leaned close and whispered, “You’re not really a subversive, are you, Higgs?”

  Higgs started to laugh but stopped short when he saw the look of deadly earnest in Simms’ eyes.

  “No. No, of course I’m not.”

  How much would you give to live your fantasy?

  Think fast—your Wishstone is waiting.

  With Nine You Get Vanyr

  © 2006 Teri Smith and Jean Marie Ward

  Available now at Samhain Publishing

  At Atlanta’s Dragon-Con, nine fan girls make a wish on the mysterious ancient artifact known as the Wishstone and find themselves transported to the world that inspired their favorite TV series. Only the show couldn’t begin to prepare them for the real thing.

  Domain is a world without change, frozen in a time of magic and superstition, where the immortal sons of the goddess Reyah fight a never-ending war—mostly with themselves. Reyah doesn’t seem to care. The way she sees it, her boys will be boys. They’ll settle down once they meet the right girls.

  But Earth girls aren’t that easy. They’ve got serious issues with this gig. They like their computers, cell phones, double-ply toilet paper.

  And they don’t believe in fate.

  Welcome to Domain.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for With Nine You Get Vanyr.

  For a minute, Thea was sure Reyah was going to turn her and Liz into flying monkeys. But at the last possible minute Reyah retreated into sugar-coated Glinda mode.

  “I’m sorry. It was a rough day for us all, wasn’t it? And I did wake you a little sooner than I should. Transmogrification can be ever so unsettling. But I can’t help you settle into your new home unless I know the details of the wish you made.”

  Thea’s chin nearly hit the table.

  “New home?” Liz sounded as dumbfounded as Thea felt. “Are you saying this is a permanent arrangement?”

  Several gasps from the other end of the table spared Reyah the need to answer. How convenient, Thea thought.

  Thea heard two soft, ominous clicks. A chair thudded the carpet. The new, lethally armed Sarah backed away from the table.

  “Who the hell are you people?” Sarah’s voice growled from the pouty lips of her cyber-character’s face. In each hand Sarah held a compact crossbow, primed and ready to fire. “Don’t anybody move.”

  “Oh my God! It worked!” Pandora shrieked. “We’re in Domain, Sarah. You’ve got the coat and the crossbows and everything like you wrote it!”

  Pandora jumped up from the table to do a happy dance. Blonde hair, beads and blue chiffon flailed in every direction. Her chair crashed into the wall of the alcove. Sarah aimed both crossbows at her. Liz’s face twisted as if in pain. Brigid punched Sarah’s left elbow.

  Sarah yelped and fired high. One dart buried itself in the paneling over Pandora’s shoulder. The other shot between Kait and Free, straight into the blue curtain of energy. The arrow vaporized with a sizzle and puff of smoke. Liz buried her face in her hands.

  “Sarah, are you out of your mind?” Marisol grabbed the spent weapons from Sarah’s hands. “Those things are dangerous. People could get hurt.”

  “People like you,” Anna said. “This is a palace, not a pigsty. Look what you did! That is hand-carved walnut, and you splintered the top half of the panel. How are you going to pay for that?”

  “Damn it, Anna. You knew my ex was sending me death threats. What did you expect me to do?”

  “Yeah, we look like a bunch of hitmen—as if.” Kait rolled her eyes. She caught a glimpse of her new face and sleek, muscled arms. Thea wondered what Kait thought about what she saw. Charming as her new face was, Thea didn’t see much of the old Kait in it.

  Kait puckered her lips in an air kiss and pulled her long, strawberry blonde braid a few times. “Cool, the Wishstone slapped some glam on me. Hey, where’s my sword?” Kait patted down her leathers. She pushed Anna’s skirts aside to check around her chair. Kait’s eyes widened. She stroked the hilt of her broadsword. “Sweet!”

  Free bent over the table, almost nose to nose with her reflection. One of Free’s small, girlish hands traced the image while the other stroked a delicately pointed ear. She whispered, “This is how I’m supposed to look. Now Stefan will love me. He has to.”

  “Hell, you’re supposed to be the ‘Mistress of Sorcery and Spells’. You fix the damn panel,” Sarah said. “How hard can it be?”

  “Not hard at all, if I say the ra-aht spell,” Anna said, her Georgia drawl growing broader by the word. “But the only rhyme I can think of for ‘repair’ involves tyin’ you to a chair.”

  “Ooh, kinky,” Brigid said.

  “Ladies,” Reyah began.

  Pandora stopped flapping her arms and spinning long enough to spit out a mouthful of hair. “Arrrggghhhh! Where did all this hair come from?”

  Pandora grabbed the skirt of her filmy dress and yanked it up to face level. More beads rained over the floor. “What happened to my overalls? What happened to my Nikes? Where’s my backpack? Oh no! I’m...I’m...” She dropped the skirt and lifted two handfuls of platinum blonde hair to the ceiling and wailed, “I’m blonde!”

  Sarah slicked a strand of hair off her forehead. “And I’ve got black hair. So?”

  Pandora put her hands to her face. “My glasses! How will I see without my glasses? I’m blind!”

  “This,” Reyah said, “is not what I wanted.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Liz said in a soft voice. The face Liz lifted toward Reyah was whiter than her dress, and her eyes glowed the unnatural blue of the magical veil. Some inner sense Thea never realized she possessed vibrated with an awareness of pain. She reached for her friend. Liz grabbed Reyah’s wrist.

  Time stopped when the three women touched.