Daric laughed. It was a deep, rich laugh that made her grin in return.
“We’ll save the smackdown for later.”
“Jerk.” She took out the coin and showed it to him. Daric reached out to take it. His body radiated heat in a way that made her want to snuggle. Damn the man, how was she supposed to concentrate with him doing that?
“Braille?” He examined both sides of the coin before handing it back to her. She might be imagining things but she could swear his fingers lingered on hers.
“No idea why. Nobody could tell me.” With the coin folded into her fist, she let her senses drift out along the signal Sucole had left on it. She’d jumped from Hawaii to Philadelphia, and Sucole remained the same distance away as she’d been on the island.
“Have you ever been to Europe?”
Daric’s eyes held confusion and amusement. “I have family in Ireland I visit from time to time, but if you’d like to meet my mother she’s in Boston. Why?”
“Sucole isn’t anywhere near us, and she wasn’t near Hawaii either. We need to start further away. If you know a place?”
“One portal coming right up.”
The portal he created shimmered in the living room. Tarian could see a lot of trees in it. Daric gestured toward it. “After you.”
Tarian stepped through and out into the most lush rolling hillside she’d ever seen. The islands around Hawaii were mystic and beautiful, but they also had their desolate, barren sides. On most of the islands, including hers, one side got all the rain and active plant life, the other side held scruff weeds and dirt. She avoided those parts.
There was certainly nothing desolate as far as she could see here.
“Get anything?”
“You have family here? It’s gorgeous.” Her heart felt full as she looked at the landscape. A tree nearby, limbs so heavy with leaves it threatened to fall over, leaned into a babbling stream. The air smelled rich with grass, and earth, and a bit of manure. Somewhere in the distance a cow called out for food. They stood at the edge of a meadow so full of flowers it made her eyes hurt. It was breathtaking. It felt strangely like home, even though she’d never been. She could see a house nestled among trees in the distance. Peace permeated everything. She could die happy, right here.
“I have family scattered all over, but my grandparents live just over there.” He pointed to the house. “I’m sure they’d love to meet you, but now’s not the time. We go now, we’ll be there for weeks.”
“Right.” Tarian gripped the coin and searched. Sucole remained the same distance away. How was that even possible? “I think we over-jumped. She’s still the same distance away.”
“Not very precise.”
“I told you, I’m a compass, not a map.”
“Let’s try somewhere in the middle.” Daric opened another portal and gestured for her to step through.
She emerged onto a beach and glanced around. They stood on an isolated stretch of beach, bordered by palm trees and low brush. The ocean smelled different here, somehow, though the calm in and out motion of the waves was the same as home. One thing, though was very different.
“I need to get out more. Pink sand?”
“Bermuda. Great place for a vacation.” Daric took her hand and wrapped his around it.
Deep inside, something tingled and lurched. It wasn’t the tracer. Her neck remained still. She stared at her hand encased in his. Warmth spread from his touch up her arm and into her chest. Her body reacted to him without her mind even being engaged. It wasn’t like with Alex. Alex was comfortable, friendly, safe. Daric was new, exciting, dangerous, raw heat, and something else she couldn’t define.
He looked into her eyes. His breath joined the warm breeze across her cheeks. She could smell the traces of coffee, and the spice she’d come to associate with him. Her lips parted, ready for the kiss she was sure was coming. She leaned toward him.
“Try to track her again.” His whisper caressed her ears and cheek.
It took her a moment to process what he’d said. Her body was so ready for a kiss. She quashed the flare of disappointment. Now was definitely not the time, even if the place was definitely very right.
She tried to pull her hand away but he held tight.
“I want to see if I can follow along, or maybe amp up the signal. If you don’t mind.” Daric’s lips twisted in a half smile.
She nodded. It was a good idea. It would be better if her body weren’t betraying her with all kinds of signals she didn’t need right now.
Damn the man, why wasn’t he affected the same way she was? He might as well be holding hands with his sister, if his expression was any indication.
She licked her lips, then closed her eyes. It enhanced the warmth of his hands on hers. The feel of skin to skin. The thought of her flesh touching his. Focus. She needed to focus.
“Relax.” His whisper sent a thrill of anticipation down her spine.
He squeezed her hand, and then sent a surge of power into her. She took it and blended it with her own, as she would with Calliope, only a little surprised that he could do it too.
The knot in her neck turned into a jumping bean of frenzy, and her shoulder muscles tensed.
She swallowed, and did her best to ignore the churning in her stomach. Her senses drifted out along Sucole’s signal once more, buoyed by the influx of power from Daric. Once again, she remained the same distance away.
Frustration built up inside her and made her head hurt. Or maybe it was the demon deposit in her neck doing that, or the muscles along her back as they cramped. She tore her hand away from Daric and backed away to sever the link-up. He shook his head.
“I have no idea how you do what you do. I got nothing.”
“That makes two of us.”
“You didn't get her?”
She sat down on the beach. “No.”
“The demon?” Daric sat next to her.
“I don’t think so.”
She picked up a rock and threw it, missing the water by at least three feet.
How was it possible? Usually she could triangulate fairly quickly to narrow in on her subject. The way this was going, she was aiming blind. She’d clutched the coin so tight it cut into her palm.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
See what? What was she supposed to see? She knew who she wanted to see. But obviously Sucole did not wish to be seen. She rubbed the coin, willing the braille to make some sort of sense. The raised dots pushed against her fingers. A blind person would understand, but for her they might as well be pebbles on the beach, for all the meaning it held for her.
She watched the ocean, wishing the waves would send her an answer. They rushed in and out, oblivious. “I don’t suppose you read braille?”
“No. I’m sure we can look it up.”
“No time.” She’d left the house thinking she had the answer to all her problems when really all she had was another problem.
Daric nudged her with his shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
“It’s as hard to figure out as this beach. Why the hell is the sand pink?”
“No idea.”
“Why is there braille on this coin? I don’t get it.”
“Maybe she only wants blind people to visit.”
“Blind people.” Tarian repeated the words. There was something to that. It had to be important. Why else would it be on the coin? Why would she even give the coin to someone as an emergency way to find her, if it couldn’t be used somehow? Who, exactly, did Sucole expect to come looking for her?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
“Maybe I should pretend to be blind.” Tarian held the coin tightly in her hand, and closed her eyes. Once again she rubbed the raised dots with her thumb, and tried to understand what they meant without actually being able to read them. She slowed her breath to match the rush of ocean waves and emptied her mind, allowing a calm to permeate her senses. Birds in the background sang a lullaby that
lulled and soothed. The warm salt breeze played with her hair.
Keeping her eyes tightly closed, she focused on trying to see Sucole, rather than track her. It was hard, not knowing what the woman looked like, but she allowed an image to form in her mind anyway. A dumpy, graying older woman, with milky blue eyes covered in cataracts and long claw-like fingers. She wore an old-fashioned flower patterned dress with a filthy apron over it. Her fingers were caked in what looked like fungus or something equally foul. She seemed familiar. It was the image she’d seen when she talked with the archivists.
She repeated the name Sucole over and over in her mind as she pictured every detail of the woman she wanted to meet and set her senses adrift on the air. She added in the phrase on the coin for good measure, and continued rubbing the braille with her thumb.
Nothing happened.
After a while she stopped, feeling ridiculous.
“This isn’t working. You’re right. Maybe we should find a real blind person.” Tarian opened her eyes, and was startled to see her surroundings had completely changed. The pink sand was gone. The birds were gone. Daric was gone.
She was alone.
Chapter 25
Tarian sat on a patch of soggy ground about 10 feet around, bathed in gloomy twilight. Ancient trees loomed over head. Moss dripped. Small bugs floated through the air, and slimy water lay in somber stillness all around her island, disturbed only by some sort of insect which skated along the surface. The stench of mold, mildew, and saturated earth permeated her nose and made her sneeze, and her butt was already wet from the soggy grass.
Where the hell was she? Where was Daric? A rush of fear pushed her heart up into her throat as she stood and spun around, expecting to see Daric just behind her. She jumped when she saw the woman she had pictured so clearly in her mind. Sucole Poole herself, she assumed.
She stared, at a loss for something to say now that she’d found the woman. The old woman’s eyes were glazed over, making them look like whitish blue marbles.
“Sucole Poole?” The woman didn’t answer. She didn’t move either.
“Ms. Poole?” The old hag didn’t nod or even blink. Tarian looked closer at her. Something else was missing. Sucole Poole wasn’t breathing, either. Moving forward, Tarian reached out to touch her on the shoulder and felt her hand pass right through. Either a ghost stood in front of her, or this was an image or reflection. Not real.
“Sucole, I need your help.”
For reply, several frogs started a chorus and a mosquito bit her on the neck. She looked down at the coin. It lay there, lifeless. It didn’t offer advice or anything else useful, like an explanation on exactly how she’d arrived in this place and how she could leave, or how she could speak to the image of a blind woman.
“Can you see?” A geriatric woman’s voice sounded all around her. Startled, Tarian looked around. Nothing moved except the wildlife.
“Can I see what?”
“Can you see?”
“I can see a swamp and an image of an old woman.”
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
Frustrated, Tarian stared around her. The water, the little patch of dirt she stood on, the frogs, the bugs, it all seemed normal if you were expecting to be in a swamp. What else was she supposed to see?
She’d arrived her by closing her eyes. Maybe she had to go in blind. Maybe that was how Sucole was able to stay hidden for so long.
She closed her eyes, and inched forward with the coin in the palm of one hand and the other outstretched.
“Sucole, Advisor Jonus sent me to you. He said to show you this.” She held her hand out for the air to inspect. Her eyes registered a change in brightness, but she kept them tightly shut. It wasn’t easy, when every instinct in her body screamed at her to see what was going on.
Warmth on her skin told her the sun had come out. A bird twittered nearby. There hadn’t been any birds in the swamp. Then she felt the coin snatched from her hand.
Pulling her hand away, she started to open her eyes but found that she couldn’t. Frantic, she tried to pry them open.
“Do you see?” The old woman’s voice was close to her ear.
“No. I can’t see anything.” Panic started to creep in.
A wrinkled hand pulled her own hands down from her face. Suddenly, even with her eyes shut, she could see. She stood in a beautiful garden. The dirt patch now floated in the middle of a pond, rather than a swamp. Trees and flowers turned toward the sun and birds happily tweeted. Beside her, a beautiful young woman with long flowing blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes held her hand.
“Sucole?”
“Do you see?” The woman’s voice was a whisper that blended with the chirping birds.
“I see a woman and a beautiful garden. What else am I supposed to see?”
“You do not see.” Sucole shook her head, dropped her hand, and turned away.
“Wait!” Tarian followed after her. “Please, I need your help. I need to know about the Book of Daemon. I need to know how to stop this demon from draining my power.”
Sucole stopped, but did not turn around.
“You look. You do not see. You ask wrong questions. Twenty-four years. You are still a child.” The voice never rose above a whisper.
Irritated, Tarian struggled to open her eyes. She pried them apart, then wished she hadn’t. Everything was pitch black. She blinked, and realized with that the only time she could see anything at all was when her eyes were closed. It made no sense, but then neither did Sucole.
“What the hell is this? What have you done?”
“You look. You do not see.” Sucole started to walk away again.
Keeping her eyes firmly shut, Tarian followed her. Sucole kept walking, winding her way through flowering bushes.
“What question should I ask?”
Sucole stopped and turned back toward her, a slight smile on her face. “Better.”
Tarian thought for a moment. What question did Sucole want to hear? She really needed to know how to stop this demon. But more than that, a part of her suspected there was more to this puzzle than just a demon’s quest to turn her into a puppet. People usually had reasons for their actions, justifications, excuses. This demon shouldn’t be any different. Maybe the real issue here wasn’t what the demon was doing, but why.
“Why is this demon taking my power?”
Sucole smiled, then beckoned for her to follow.
As Sucole walked away, Tarian hesitated. She couldn’t feel the tracer here, but she couldn’t feel her own magic either. Not that she’d tried, but it was something that circulated constantly inside her and at the moment it was gone. Or subdued. She didn’t like the feeling. And it didn't seem like a bright idea to follow a complete stranger, blind, into someplace she didn't know. She felt like a tasty fly buzzing straight into a spider’s web.
"If you would see, you must follow.” Sucole continued to move away. She didn’t so much walk as float, with her long blonde hair billowing behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Tarian followed.
She walked with her eyes closed, even though every impulse told her to open them. Every time she did, a black void greeted her. She stumbled, and tried her best to keep her eyes closed. With them shut, she could see Sucole on the path in front of her. It was like a giant spotlight lit the inside of her eyelids.
The path led into heavy undergrowth. The bushes gave way to tall trees, which seemed to get progressively bigger the further they went. Sunlight filtered through their giant leaves, creating patterns on the path. The earthy smell which permeated the air reminded her of a place she used to visit often as a child. She called it her fairy garden. Odd, to remember that now. She hadn’t visited the fairy garden in years.
Sucole stopped in front of the biggest tree Tarian had ever seen. The trunk was larger around than a lot of apartments she'd seen in Philly. A car could pass through one and not touch the edges. After pausing a moment, Sucole stepped forward and faded into th
e tree.
“To see, you must follow,” Sucole whispered.
Exactly how was she supposed to follow that disappearing act? Tarian stepped over to the tree and pushed against the rough bark on the trunk. It was solid. She felt along the bark for any clasp or hinge or hint of a knob. Nothing.
"I don't know how to merge with a tree.” Silence met her complaint.
“I don’t get it. Why are you making this so complicated?”
“Don’t look. See.” The woman’s words drifted on the air.
How was she supposed to see, if she didn’t look?
Maybe that was the point. Maybe Sucole didn’t want someone coming into her home with any advantage. Maybe she wanted any visitor to come in blind. A safety measure, most likely, for a woman who could do no magic.
And a leap of faith, for Tarian. She had to trust that she wouldn’t run into anything, trust that Sucole wouldn’t attack her immediately, and trust that this decision wouldn’t lead her somewhere she couldn’t recover from.
It seemed a lot to ask. But, really, what choice did she have?
Tarian opened her eyes, and faced the black nothingness. Holding her breath, she put her hands out in front of her and took a giant step forward. Then another. Four steps later she still hadn't hit the trunk of the tree. She closed her eyes again and discovered she’d passed through the trunk and now stood in the middle of a good sized round room.
Sucole, looking like the young beautiful blonde of the vision above ground, sat in a chair on the far side, teacup in hand. A cheery fire burned in a pit in the middle of the floor. It smelled like incense, although there wasn’t a lot of smoke in evidence. Everything around her, shelves in the wall, a table, the chair Sucole sat in, looked as if it had grown there. Even the fire pit looked like a rock bowl that had simply formed there over centuries. The only thing she didn’t see was a door.
Tarian blinked, and her sight righted itself. She almost cried with relief and rubbed her eyes just to be sure they still functioned like they should.
Sucole rocked, teacup in hand. Tarian looked for another chair but saw nothing, so she sat on the floor by the fire pit. She felt like a child waiting for a ghost story.
Demons & Djinn: Nine Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Novels Featuring Demons, Djinn, and other Bad Boys of the Underworld Page 129
