Slip Song (Devany Miller Series)

by Jen Ponce

  But they would come back to take more humans, of that I was certain. They wanted power and using humans to fuel their magic gave them what they wanted. I didn’t quite understand all the politics of Midia but knew a couple of people who did. Of course, the last time I was talked into helping out, those people ended up hurt. They might not even want to talk to me.

  I waved at the cop as I drove by, my tires slipping on the packed snow turned ice. The drive home didn’t take long and when we pulled into the driveway, I saw my cousin Ann’s car sitting at the curb.

  How had she known?

  “Don’t be stupid, Dev,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “Is that Ann’s car?” Liam sat up, slipping his seat belt off. “Why’s she here?”

  “She said a couple weeks ago she was going to drop by for a visit. I guess today’s the day.” I pulled the car into the garage and we piled out as the door rumbled down. When I got to the front door, she was on the stoop, her red, orange, and blue bags gathered around her like brightly colored birds.

  Her smile faded when she saw me. “What happened?”

  I started to tell her then clutched my hand over my mouth. She didn’t ask anything else, just enveloped me in a hug that smelled like patchouli and sage. I heard a door slam behind me so I pulled away and grabbed one of her bags. “Come on, I’ll tell you in the kitchen.”

  We left her bags in the hall and I put on some water for tea. I still had mint and green from the last time she visited, so I got the bags out and put two in each cup. As we waited for the water to boil, I told her about Tom, stopping whenever tears threatened to choke me, and to pour the steaming water into our cups.

  Two mugs full later, we sat in silence, watching the snow fall outside. Two yards to the left sat Tom’s mower. He’d moved into an apartment after I’d caught him cheating so he didn’t have a use for it. It had been the object of one of our many arguments. He thought I should have to buy it from him if I wanted to keep it. I told him to drive it up his ass.

  My sore eyes managed to produce more tears. Ann’s hand slipped over mine, cupped around my mug. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t beat yourself up over his death. I truly believe he is beyond pain, beyond recrimination and whatever it was you two fought about he’s forgiven.”

  I shook my head. There wasn’t anyway he could ever forgive me for eating his soul―or whatever it was I had done to him. Had I stopped him from moving on to a better place? Is that what Ravana did with the souls she’d forced me to give her?

  “Devany?”

  “Just wait.” Damned if I wasn’t going to have to go to the Slip after all, though I’d been avoiding even thinking about the place. If not the Slip, then I would need to talk to Tytan, something, or rather someone, else I’d been avoiding, though for many other reasons than fear. “I’m glad you’re here. Will you be able to watch the kids for me? Later, I mean?”

  Ann nodded, her eyes wide.

  “What?”

  “Your aura is ablaze.”

  I looked down at my shirt as if I would see myself shining. Nothing. A year ago I would have teased her or scoffed. Now, damn it, I knew there were things beyond belief: magic, demons, oogy monsters living in the swamp of another world. Still, I couldn’t draw anymore people into the danger-zone surrounding me.

  There wasn’t a damn thing I could think of to say, so I shrugged.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here for you and for the kids.” She was fingering the crystal around her neck, something she’d worn since I could remember, given to her by a medicine man in Arizona when she was a toddler.

  “Thank you. That means a lot to me.” There would be a lot to do. I had no idea when the police would release Tom’s body but I would have to plan the funeral. He did have a will, thank heavens, and unless he’d moved it, it was still in the safe deposit box at the bank with mine and our life insurance policies.

  I dropped my head into my hands. I’d have to call his parents. Hell, I’d need to call my dad, though how I’d get a hold of him up in the mountains I didn’t know. He’d lived out in a cabin tucked away in the Rockies since Mom died. My brother and I were used to his hermit-like ways and neither of us were surprised when he packed up and moved after I’d gotten married and Travis graduated from high school.

  Kind of sucked now. It would be nice to have him wrap his arms around me and tell me everything was going to be all right in that rumbling voice of his like he had after Mom’s stroke. “Would you go check on the kids? I need to make some calls.”

  After she left the room, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and stared at the contact list. So many people needed to know about Tom but I wasn’t sure how I would be able to relay the information over and over. I considered asking Ann to do it but dismissed the idea. How would I like it if some stranger told me my son was dead?

  My head swam for a minute at that really bad choice of words and I had to hang onto the counter until the dizziness passed. With fumbling fingers, I dialed, a knot of acid burning in my stomach as I waited through the rings.

  Telling his parents was hard. Thankfully, they said they would let his brothers and sister know. The next call I made was to Danni. I knew she wouldn’t ask a lot of questions, nor would she expect details. Her small voice made my hunched shoulders ease. “I’m sorry, Devany. I’ll let everyone at work know.”

  “Thanks.” I snuffled, ripping off a paper towel because it was handy. After I blew my nose, I grasped for another subject. “How are you doing?”

  Her soft sigh made me smile. “Good. Zech and I have talked about moving in together.”

  “Wow, Danni. That’s exciting.” I wondered where Arsinua was and how she was dealing with the loss of Zech’s heart to a human woman. She’d gone to care for him when he’d been so badly burnt. I didn’t know where she was now, only that Zech had found his way back to Danni. He wouldn’t talk to me. He was still angry.

  I didn’t blame him. There was a lot to be angry with me about.

  “Take care, Devany. If you need me.” She didn’t have to finish the words. I knew and felt the same way.

  “Thank you.”

  “Devany?”

  I dropped the soggy paper towel in the trash can and went to the sink. “Yeah?”

  “Does Tom’s death have anything to do with … all that other stuff?”

  I gripped the phone, my other hand halfway to the faucet. I dropped it to the aluminum basin with a thud. “Yes.” I heard her whispering, to Zech, probably.

  “What can we do to help?”

  “Nothing.” Her hurt silence made me soften my voice. “I don’t want to give them an excuse to come after you too. If there’s anything you can do, I’ll tell you. I promise. But I’m keeping you out of it unless I’m desperate.”

  “I’m not a fragile flower, though some people think so. I earned my scars and I am tougher than you think I am.”

  Outside, fat flakes of snow continued to pile up. I leaned over the sink and looked. Tom’s mower had a thick dusting of white over it. I needed to move it into the shed before the snow ruined it. Maybe put the blade on to do the snow so Liam and Bethy wouldn’t have to shovel on Monday to get to the bus stop.

  “Tom wasn’t a fragile flower, Danni, and they grabbed him and killed him in front of my kids. Do you really think they’d think twice about killing you? Please, believe me. If I need you I will call. Okay?”

  “Okay. Zech says he could go to the Council for you.”

  “No. Not yet, anyway. Let me talk to Marantha and Arsinua, if I can find her. Then I’ll have him go if I need him to. Please.”

  The phone call didn’t end well. She thought I was protecting her because of her past. She only knew the tiniest bit of what had gone on before I’d roped her into helping me the last time. She didn’t understand the dangers.

  I sat my phone on the counter and splashed my face with cold water from the tap. Then I leaned in further and took huge gulps of the icy liquid strai
ght from the faucet until my stomach was heavy and cold. I leaned against the sink and tried to plan what I needed to do next.

  I knew I needed to get a handle on the magic. That meant finding someone willing to teach me the basics. Marantha was a little snappish but then again, so was Arsinua. I could ask Tytan but he would probably expect some sort of payment in return.

  Nex? Would the fleshcrawler be able to teach me? He was from Midia, after all, and had the whole creepy-psychic thing going for him. Strange. I almost missed him. Of all that I’d left behind or ignored in the Slip, he was the one I looked on with the most fondness.

  That was saying something, considering he consisted of a floating head and trailing intestines.

  “Plan, Devany.”

  Go to swamp. Hunt. Kill. Mate.

  I rolled my eyes. “Not going to happen. Though if you want me to find a way to get you out of my head, then I’d be more than happy to help.”

  Again with the strange, chittery laughter. She was becoming more human-like the longer she stayed inside me. She liked it in there, unfortunately, and I hadn’t yet found anything she wanted bad enough to coax her out.

  At least with Ann here, I could make some night trips to the Slip and Midia. It would wear me out, but ever since the explosion that had left the heart, the witch, and the spider inside me, I hadn’t needed much sleep. I didn’t like leaving the kids, though, Ann here or not. The Theleoni―they of the black robes―had proven themselves more than willing to travel into my world to kill those I loved. They’d taken my kids once before and there was no way in hell I’d ever let that happen again.

  So, for now, I’d only go to the Slip, though I dreaded it, because at least visiting there meant no time passed at all here. I could go, spend hours or days there and have only a blink of time pass here. I just didn’t want to go alone. Which meant I was back to Tytan. Oh, how he would love to know all roads led to him.

  “Damn.”

  I went upstairs to find my grieving children. To hold them and make promises I wasn’t sure I could keep.

  -THREE-

  The police followed up later that afternoon. More questions than I could ever hope to answer. Had I heard a helicopter? A loud rushing noise? Anything to explain why they just disappeared? They wanted to talk to the kids again, too. I agreed. Maybe hearing it from the kids would convince them of the truth.

  I asked if they’d checked Tom’s apartment. Asked where they grabbed him. They didn’t know. Or at least they weren’t telling me. I wondered if they would be trying to figure out if I’d paid the Theleoni to kill him.

  Bethy and Liam were both asleep early. Ann took the guest room, the smell of rich incense drifting out into the hall. I checked on the kids four times before shutting myself in my bedroom. I could have curled up in bed and cried, but I refused to indulge myself. Guilt still beat at me. It wasn’t my fault I’d wandered into Midia, or ended up with a witch, a spider assassin, and a magical object inside me. But I had made the choice to step into the middle of Yarnell’s group and start the fight that would end with Yarnell and several other people in his group dead.

  To try and get the noise of recriminations out of my head, I turned on the TV, dialing down the volume so I wouldn’t wake anyone. I flipped to the news in time to see a reporter talking about the vicious murder that left one man dead in Langham Park. Strange to see such a horrifying moment distilled into a few dry words. My thumb hovered over the channel button then dropped when I saw the parade of pictures across the screen.

  “In other news, four more people have been reported missing in our area. Two in Council Bluffs, one in Papillion, and one in Blair. Police aren’t speculating that the disappearances are connected, but there has been a rash of missing person reports in the past two months. The total so far? Fourteen people missing.”

  I muted the TV and stared at the faces flashing by. Young, old. Some runaways―or so their parents or guardians reported―some homeless. They were at it again. The Theleoni. The ones who had murdered Tom. They grabbed humans and dragged them into Midia where all the dormant magic inside them would explode into life, killing the person and fueling the Theleoni’s magical works. They’d taken my kids and had I not found them in time, both Bethy and Liam would be dead.

  I surged to my feet and shut my eyes, opening up my awareness to see the strands of light running from me to my spawn. There was only one I was interested in: I concentrated on his dimples, one part of him I actually liked, and his line brightened. One glance at the door, then I tugged, focusing on him.

  In an instant, I stumbled over a shoe and landed face first on a warm, naked body. “Shit! Sorry. Sorry.” I pushed myself up, trying not to touch anything that might get me into trouble but Tytan was quicker than I and hauled me onto his bed―onto him―faster than I could move away.

  “It’s about damn time you got here. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.” His hands were roaming where they shouldn’t. With a jerk, I rolled away, tumbling off his bed and scrambling to my feet.

  He laughed as I tugged my shirt back down to my waist. “I didn’t come here to be molested.”

  He purred, a low, sensual sound that made my knees weak. “Too bad. I’m very good at molesting.”

  “The Theleoni murdered my husband. In front of my kids. They’re still taking humans. More and more every day. I need to figure out how to use this damn heart all over again.”

  His face changed as he listened. The anger there made me feel good. At least he had some empathy, even though I knew better than to trust him when my back was turned. “What do you mean, you need to learn how to use the heart?”

  “Apparently Arsinua was doing a hell of a lot more than I thought, because I can barely make a frigging hook, let a lone use magic to protect myself. I need help.”

  “You need to go to the Slip and take up your mantle of leadership.”

  “I don’t want to be a damned Originator. I just want to kick some ass.”

  He sat up, the red satin sheet slipping far enough down to interest the baser part of me. My eyes dipped before I could tell myself not to look. He caught me, though all he did was smile. “You need to return to my world. There are things you have to do. Maintain the Slip, for one. Keep your spawn in line, for the other. You do realize there’s an all out hunt for Skriven souls, don’t you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t give a shit.” My eyes dropped again. This time my gaze snagged on the scars from Ravana’s torture. He hadn’t fared well. And he’d been protecting me. Why?

  His voice brought my attention back. “You should. They find their souls and kill them, they can ascend. If they ascend, they can challenge you. And if you aren’t able to figure out your magic, well.”

  My head fell back and I stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t have just one problem. Oh no. They had to pile up like cars in a freeway wreck. “How am I supposed to keep them from finding the souls? I don’t know any of this stuff.”

  “That’s why you need to go to the Slip.”

  Shit.

  “Can someone there help me figure out how to use this Heart inside me?”

  “You don’t want to tell any Skriven about it. Your best bet would be to round up the little witch who made it and force her to teach you.”

  I gritted my teeth. “You just said I needed to go to the Slip. I can’t do that and hunt for Arsinua.”

  “Slip first. I can help you find Arsinua if you take me back.”

  Something about the way he was leaning forward, a little too eager considering the casual way he said it, made me purse my lips. “What’s in it for me?”

  A brief flash of anger, gone. He smiled, a slow, lazy tip of his lips made my skin hum. “You need someone on your side. Someone who can guide you, show you the way things work in the Slip. Let me go back, give me a place at your right hand, and I’ll make certain no one dare touch you.”

  “What’s in it for you?”

  “I can go home. No more living on you
r miserable excuse for a planet. I’ll have access to the Source—through you, of course.”

  “I don’t want you bringing me souls.” Should I ask about Tom’s soul? The way my body sucked the shimmer gold into me?

  Not yet.

  “As my lady wishes.”

  He agreed so easily, I knew I’d just lost an important bargaining chip. “You have to do one service for me every time you want to use the Source. That’s the deal.”

  Tytan frowned. “One service for each time? That will get tedious. I hope you have a lot of work for me to do.”

  There was always shoveling snow, buddy. “You’ll help me keep them from finding their souls?”

  He nodded.

  “What about Cyres?” His face remained neutral, no expression I could see, and yet I still sensed the tension in him at the mention of his soul’s name.

  “I think she’s hurt. Or somewhere dangerous. I feel her pain. Not constantly, but enough so I can’t sleep most nights. If you hadn’t come to me within the next few weeks, I planned to find you and do whatever it took to convince you to help me find her. Even if that means you hide her away from me.” His dark eyes pinned me with their intensity. “So please, Devany. Mistress Originator. I ask that you bring me back to the Slip and help me save my soul.”

  I shoved my hands deep in my pockets, wishing I could look away but not able to. “Don’t make it sound so … important.”

  It made him laugh, broke the tension and allowed me to look away. “It is important.”

  “I know. Fuck. Why is it all so damn important? Why didn’t it all just end when she died?” Satin slicked against satin. I heard the shimmer of it and backed tight against the wall before he could grab me. I held out my hand. “Stop. Don’t even think about it.”

  “Getting dressed? You want me to stay naked then?” Turning toward me, he spread his arms and grinned.

  I lifted my hand, blocking the best, er, worst of him. “You were going to grab me.”