Slip Song (Devany Miller Series)

by Jen Ponce

  Little did we know.

  My breath caught in my throat and I bit my lip hard to keep the pain from overwhelming me. “Thank you.”

  “We’re still looking for the people who did this, Mrs. Miller.” The police woman, the one who had been so kind that day, said a few more things I couldn’t quite remember and we hung up.

  I called the funeral home next even though the police said they would arrange the pick up. I wanted to know how soon we could have the funeral. I glanced at the calendar with tired eyes as the man on the other end mulled over the dates. We finally settled on Wednesday, only two days away. Tom’s siblings would have time to get here. His mom and dad were already playing host to his brother. Ann was here. My brother said he’d try to make it and I figured I’d get a text from him sometime in the middle of the night asking me to pick him up from the airport.

  Everyone but my dad but I’d left a message for him at the little general store he shopped at. The clerk told me they’d hardly had any snowfall this year: a mere three feet. “He ought to be down here Monday. Likes to come down and talk about that book he’s writing.”

  I blinked. My dad was writing a book? Since when? I thanked the clerk without asking about Dad’s writing. I’d ask Dad when he finally called.

  With the pastries ready to heat up, I rummaged through the fridge for food. I’d finally figured out using the heart made me ravenous. The past few weeks it had lain dormant inside me, I hadn’t felt the need to overindulge but now that I was back in the hook-forming business, my metabolism kicked into high gear.

  I realized as I ate I hadn’t done anything about the missing people. About the Theleoni. Yeah, I’d found Arsinua, but there was no telling how long it would take to sober her up. I didn’t think it would take much to convince her to help me. Stopping the Theleoni had been the reason she’d gotten mixed up with the Skriven in the beginning and the reason why there was now a magical heart sitting in my guts. Or chest. Or wherever, however it was inside me.

  I bent to pick up a bit of meat that had fallen off my spoon. When I did something shifted within me, moving under my skin and making my head spin so hard I toppled over, whacking my elbow on the corner of the island. I rolled onto my back, swearing in a whisper as I clutched my arm. “What the hell?” My whole body felt odd, as if someone had taken my skin off, stretched it, shrunk it, then put it back on me again. I rubbed at my cheeks, both my palms and the skin on my face tingly and numb.

  A soft voice echoed through my mind. “Tom?”

  There wasn’t an answer. The tingles faded. Then it was just me laying on the kitchen floor staring up at the popcorn ceiling. Was Tom trying to communicate with me? Some side effect of being an Originator?

  Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. I pushed myself off the floor, easing myself to my feet, being careful until I knew the weirdness wouldn’t come back. It didn’t. For now.

  Would it return? Was it Tom? Amara told me his soul would eventually force its way out of me. I laid a hand on my chest and took a deep breath. Not now, Tom. Stay put. I’ll figure out the best thing. I promise.

  I just hoped to hell I could keep that promise.

  -NINE-

  “Why did you bring me here?” Arsinua said, glaring at me over her coffee. We were sitting around the table, Arsinua, Jasper, and I after abbreviated introductions had been made and the kids were doing their own things in their rooms. Ann was in the living room in a circle, meditating. I could hear her soft singing as we talked. “They will be certain I’m associating with Skriven.”

  “Technically you are.” I’d filled her in on my excursion to the Slip, not that she seemed interested. “I need your help learning how to use the magic. With you gone I really suck. I couldn’t do anything to save Tom.” A strange pulling sensation rose in me again. I wondered if it was Tytan calling or Tom trying to wrest his way free. Whatever it was, it helped take my mind off the choking grief that still threatened to overwhelm me every time I thought about his murder.

  “I’m sorry.” She rubbed her face, looking weary and much older than I’d ever seen her. “I could teach you but it could take years for you to become adept.”

  “I don’t have years. The Theleoni are stealing people. A lot of people. I have to make a bargain with the fleshcrawler queen too. Not sure if I’ll need magic but if I do, I won’t be able to just bully my way through. I need a shortcut. Something to help me get better sooner rather than later.”

  She was shaking her head before I’d even finished. “It’s complicated.”

  “I can make a hook. If I concentrate. And I’m better at it in the Slip. Could we go there for you to teach me?”

  A shudder. She’d overcome her fears of the Slip once to help me kill Ravana so I didn’t give up all hope that I couldn’t convince her to do it again. “You can make a hook because the heart is a hook and it burned the right pathways into your brain. Everything thing else takes set-up. I’m fast because I’ve practiced thousands of times over the years and have created my own shorthand.”

  “It wasn’t all you. I blasted that Adamante asshole who was torturing Zech.”

  “And you almost killed yourself in the bargain. I still don’t know how you did that, beyond tapping the heart and letting it fuel itself on your life energy.”

  I shoved back from the table before I started banging my fists on it. Separating myself from her seemed a better option, so I rounded the island and put my mug in the sink. “How about one or two moves? One offensive and one defensive?”

  “It’s not a matter of teaching one skill. You wouldn’t just up and learn to play two songs on a musical instrument, at least not easily or well. You’d start by learning scales and simple songs, building up your muscle memory and your knowledge of the structure and sense of the music before you moved on to complicated songs. Magic is the same way. You need to learn the basics.”

  “Then teach me the damned basics,” I said, the words forced through my gritted teeth. Arsinua’s glare made me realize I’d raised my voice.

  Jasper rose from the table in one fluid movement. Light flashed in his hand and when he opened his fingers, a shining flower glimmered in his palm. “Perhaps between the two of us, we can teach you a concerto.”

  Arsinua stared. “How are you able to create magic here without a lodestone?”

  He nodded toward me. “Mistress … Devany allows me the use of her power.”

  Her lips parted.

  “I don’t allow. I just let.” Realizing that meant the same thing, I waved my hand. “Never mind.” To Jasper, I asked, “Can you help teach me any faster?”

  “No. But your education will be more complete with two teachers instead of one.” His grey eyes glinted in the light streaming in from the window over the sink. It just wasn’t right for a guy to be so pretty. I looked away before I started to drool.

  “Fine. I guess it’s better than knowing nothing at all. But realize folks, once Tom’s funeral is over, I’m going to have to go meet with the fleshcrawler queen to keep myself alive long enough to stop the Theleoni once and for all.” I avoided thinking about what that might entail. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but if it would stop more kidnappings, more murders, would I do it anyway?

  Arsinua looked tired even after her snore-fest in my basement. “It won’t be easy. I suppose the basics are better than nothing. And if you need me, I’ll accompany you to the swamp.”

  “As will I.”

  How awesome. Except I didn’t want anyone dying on my behalf. “I don’t know if the queen will allow it. But thank you.” I moved away from Jasper before I found myself edging closer to him. He radiated light and I wanted to fall into his arms and bask in the glow.

  As soon as I sat back down, Arsinua began her lecture. “All things began in the Source and all things return there. In Midia, magic is generated by the flow of the Source from its beginning, through the Midian reality and back to the Source. We work the magic by directing the flow of Source for our purposes.”
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  “I thought the Source was a Skriven thing.”

  She shook her head. “They think of it as a commodity to be used and bartered with. On Midia, it’s as important as air and not something to be bought and sold.”

  “The Theleoni don’t think so. Otherwise, why would they be trying so hard to get more power?”

  “They don’t like the regulations.”

  “Regulations on breathing?”

  She huffed, running her fingers through her curly hair, tugging at the tangles. “I’m not explaining this well.” She spent a few moments working on her hair, then nodded as if she’d sorted out her thoughts. “You can’t gather air and use it as a weapon. Magic can be gathered. Stored. So we regulate it. Some are allowed to gather it in larger amounts than others. Marantha, for instance, has a special license to gather power objects because she sells them to your people and the magic drains away in your world. If she started keeping the jewelry to use for her own purposes, then the Council would step in.”

  I glanced at the clock. This was going to take forever. “Can we skip this part, get to the spell making?”

  Her lips thinned. “You have to learn this. There’s no other way, no skipping around.”

  “I don’t have time.”

  Looking like she might be contemplating my murder, she flopped back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. “You broke me out of prison for me to teach you and now you’re whining about how I’m doing it.”

  I looked at Jasper, who had his eyes on the doorway to the living room. He said, “I believe your cousin has the right of it. We should join her, if she allows it.”

  “Join her magic circle?” Seriously? I knew Ann had a few successes in her dabblings and psychic predictions but most, if not all of them, could be explained by coincidence or science.

  “Meditation. It trains your mind to listen to the stillness. In that stillness lies the magic.”

  I was proud I refrained from rolling my eyes. I hated to meditate. It made me antsy and itchy and aware of all the other things I could be doing. Still. It sounded better than listening to Arsinua. “Okay, let’s.” I followed him out to the living room where he requested permission to enter Ann’s circle. Once Jasper and I were both sitting cross-legged with Ann, the circle felt too small. His knee pressed tight against mine and there was an instant tingle from my body in response. I was worse than a teenager.

  “Shut your eyes and breathe out. Concentrate on relaxing.” Ann’s soft voice shivered over my skin. Patchouli wafted as she waved her arms. I shut my eyes, willing only to play along, knowing I wouldn’t be able to find stillness in my mind.

  As soon as my eyes shut, I heard a low humming to my right. Jasper’s voice vibrated the air. The sound of it made my shoulders drop and a soft sigh escaped from my lips. In and out. Out and in. “I can’t stop thinking,” I said, pissed. My shoulder blade itched like the devil and I knew I would soon need to pee.

  “It’s okay to think. Acknowledge the thought and then let it be.” Ann again.

  I muttered to myself but kept my eyes shut. Jasper’s knee still pressed firm against me and as I fought the urge to move away, I realized I was thinking again. I pushed the thoughts off to the side. Waited. Realized I had opened my Magic Eye and could see the strands of my spawn curling away from me. Tytan’s glowed a vibrant orange. A pure golden light sat off to my right. Jasper? There wasn’t a strand connecting him and I. I wondered what that meant, if anything? I looked for Ann but didn’t see her. Also strange. I would have to ask ... another thought. I pushed it away and continued to breathe.

  “Mom?”

  I opened my eyes, blinking. Bethy was frowning from the doorway. I smiled at her, my eyes flicking to the clock as I said, “Hey kid.” My mind then registered the time. Two? What the hell?

  “You guys have been in here for hours. Are you on drugs?”

  Hours? No fricking way. “No. Just meditating.” How could it be hours? I tried to stand but my legs were numb and I fell into Ann, almost knocking her into the coffee table she’d pushed aside to have room for her circle. “Ow. Geez.”

  “You’re a gimp,” Liam teased with some of his old orneriness.

  “Watch it buddy. Someday I’ll get the circulation going and then you’re in trouble.” I pushed myself off Ann. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” She looked a bit stunned too. Had Jasper helped things along somehow?

  “We missed lunch.” My stomach growled as if to say, ‘No duh.”

  Out in the kitchen, Arsinua was cleaning up the table, stacking the dirty plates on the counter and wiping up the crumbs. “There’s some casserole left warming in the oven.” She was humming to herself, a strange, melodic sound that lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. It sounded like the song I heard in the Slip.

  “Thanks for feeding Liam and Bethy.”

  She nodded but didn’t stop the humming. I wanted to ask her about the music but decided I’d wait until she’d gotten over being annoyed with me and me with her. Besides, I wasn’t sure if her continued humming meant she was still mad at me or not so I continued upstairs to use the bathroom, something urgent now that I realized it’d been this morning when I’d first felt the urge.

  After drying my hands I studied my face in the mirror, trying to see into my brain through my eyes for the magic in there. After I’d been graced―or infected―with Arsinua, Neutria, and the heart, I would often stare into the mirror to see if those invaders were changing me.

  I wasn’t the same woman who’d gone into the hook for the first time but neither did I see a stunning difference in my appearance. No pale-white streak in my hair, glowing eyes, or a sudden change to my bone structure. Or horns, though horns might have been fun.

  Sighing, I dried my hands and turned. Tytan appeared in front of me, popping in as usual while I was distracted. I didn’t even jump at the sight of him. It took a lot to freak me out anymore and a Skriven in my bathroom didn’t even get my heart racing.

  “There’s something different about you.”

  I laughed and when his eyes narrowed I giggled some more. He was smart enough not to ask why, I think, because he knew it would just set me off again. Instead he waited, a small smile playing on his lips looked too knife-like to be a happy smile. “Why are you in my bathroom? Again?”

  “You have a soul downstairs.”

  “Okay.” I tried to step around him but he slid in front of the door.

  “Arsinua. And a Skriven soul.” His voice was soft and well-modulated. The sound of someone trying very hard not to yell.

  “Yes.”

  “And you didn’t tell me.”

  “No.”

  The simple answer caught him off guard though he covered it smoothly. “Then I guess my assignment is done, Mistress.”

  I gazed up at the ceiling, realizing it was stained with brown splotches. Which kid stained the ceiling? And how? “Don’t call me mistress.” He didn’t say anything and I sighed. “You told me to be cautious. I’m being cautious.”

  “As you wish.”

  Annoyed, I paced to the door to leave, then realized if he followed, he would be in my bedroom. I didn’t want to be in my bedroom with him. Damn it.

  “Devany, I can’t protect you if you aren’t honest with me.”

  Why did he feel the need to protect me? Was it because I was the one who could lead him to Cyres? What would he do when that happened? Kill her, kill me, and ascend? “Why should I be honest with you, Ty? By your own explanations you are my enemy. Would I really be smart to tell you everything?”

  Another flitting expression, one I either was misinterpreting or didn’t understand. Hurt? Nah. Not Ty. “Think of it this way, Devany.” My name on his lips makes me shiver. “I can only ascend if I kill my own soul. I don’t want anyone else to get to you first, now do I?”

  The words scared me, reminding me he was a Skriven, essentially a demon. “I guess not. But you and Jasper’s Skriven are friends, aren’t you?”

&nb
sp; “At one time. Ravana made sure that connection didn’t last. If I helped him find his soul, he would ascend if he killed you. Then you would be dead and I would serve him. Trust me when I say, I do not want to serve Ellison.”

  “I guess not.” It hurt to hear him talking about my death in such calm tones but I guessed I asked for that. I hadn’t exactly been nice to him. Arsinua’s constant warnings about trusting Tytan or any Skriven sounded in my head. I shut her out and focused on Ty. Shit. I was going to tell him, wasn’t I? “Okay. Remember when I told you the queen could help me learn how to use the heart?”

  He nodded.

  “I lied.”

  “No kidding.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? Why are you getting all hurt and whiny if you already knew?”

  “I knew you were lying. I didn’t know what you were lying about.”

  “Fine. The queen and Ravana made a pact. The queen would keep the souls hidden if Ravana kept the Source in the swamp hidden.”

  He didn’t look surprised, just contemplative. The tension also left his shoulders. I wondered at that. Had he really been hurt? Surely not. “So you need to renew the pact. And that’s why your spawn are starting to feel their souls. Ravana’s death voided the agreement.”

  “Pretty much. So there you have it.”

  His eyes met mine. “Thank you.”

  I looked away. Too intense. “Now. What can you do to help guard Jasper and my family? Here, I mean.”

  He shifted. The movement drew my eyes like moths to fire and my eyes dipped down over his chest before I could stop myself. The thin green t-shirt defined his muscled body in a way that revved my stupid hormones. First Jasper, now Ty, all in the span of one day. Geesh. “Give me leave to stay here. With my powers.”