by Jen Ponce
My body went hot then cold. She knew. Of course she knew. And my kids were there. Why had I taken them to my house? God I was so stupid sometimes. Trying to keep the panic out of my voice, I said, “Better to keep them where I can get to them than locked up somewhere inconvenient and with a key that’s easy to lose.”
She didn’t respond. I imagined her sneering, then pictured the doubt that crept up on her that sent her looking for the disc Vasili had stolen. “You won’t find it,” I said after sufficient time had passed without a reply. “And no, it’s not at my house.”
Her voice carried to me, cool but not quite as confident as before. “You don’t have a clue where the vault is. Having the key won’t gain you anything.”
“All I need to do is offer one of your Skriven incentive to work against you.” I looked at the guards, both glaring down at me with glowing eyes. “Would either of you like to help me end her reign of terror? No? I’m guessing you both bear scars she’s given you, am I right?”
They didn’t answer and I shrugged. “That’s all right. I’ve heard stories about how you treat your spawn. There will be one who will help me.”
More silence. It dragged on and on until I wondered if she’d just left me to stand here and rot.
If I really was in the Slip rather than another dimension, I’d be able to hook back to Ty’s house and formulate another plan. Now that I’d visited Amara’s hideout, I should be able to hook back without a problem―strange wild magics messing with that ability notwithstanding. I realized, with a start, that I should have left Jasper and Cyres with Kroshtuka. The Wilds would have been the biggest deterrent to Skriven popping in that I could have found. Oh well, I could move them if I managed to get out of here in one piece and if Amara hadn’t already sent Skriven to my home.
My kids were in danger, again because of me. I cursed myself but tried to keep my impatience and the panic under control.
A thud from behind the guards. A groan.
“Are you sure you want him back? He’s rather a bore.”
I pushed at the guards and when they wouldn’t give I thumbed the switch on my control stick deep within my mind and lined up my shot. “Get out of my way.”
They didn’t. I warned them, right? I pressed my thumb on the button and a flare of energy whomped from my body, sending them staggering. It wasn’t a spectacular show of awesomeness but I was able to get past them to Ty.
Then I wished I hadn’t because that twisted broken thing on the floor couldn’t be Tytan. Before she could say or do anything, before she could more than smirk, I made a hook and dropped us both out of her sight and to my basement.
I didn’t consider the ramifications of having Tytan and Cyres in a room together. I guess in my mind he was too badly hurt to do anything but lie there in agony.
“Can you help him?” My voice went a little shrill. Okay, a lot shrill.
Jasper dropped to his knees beside him and laid his hands on Tytan. He didn’t move. I knelt beside him. “He can’t die.”
“He’s Skriven and immortal.”
“Right. Right, he’s immortal.” I paused, watching. “Why isn’t he moving?”
“Why don’t you go upstairs and get a drink of water?”
“I don’t want water. I want to know why he isn’t moving? Maybe Cyres could help. It would be okay for her to be here with him, right?”
He looked at me, puzzled. “Cyres is not here.”
“What? She left?” I pushed to my feet. “Oh my god. How long ago?”
“She was never here. I told you, she is in Midia with the Theleoni.”
Had he gone off his nut over the death of Tam? I seriously didn’t have time for that. “Jasper, I brought you both here seconds ago.”
He leaned close to Tytan and blew on him. I didn’t see why that would help then remembered this was magic. Duh. I went to my Magic Eye and saw the golden blooms of magic scattering across Tytan’s ruined face. The glittering magic settled on his skin and was absorbed.
“I’m going to go check on the kids.”
“Good idea.” His look of concern confused me. It was obvious he thought I was wrong about Cyres but damn it, I’d just dropped them both off.
I ran upstairs, taking them two at a time then skidded to a stop when I saw that sunlight was streaming in. What the hell? Time wasn’t supposed to pass while I was in the Slip. The TV was on and I found Liam in the living room with Arsinua. “Hey Mom.”
Arsinua looked up at me and frowned. “Are you okay?”
“No. Wasn’t it just night time?”
She shook her head. “No. Why?”
I frowned. Crossed to the window and looked out. The street was quiet but for a few kids making snowballs across the street. It must have snowed again. “Arsinua, where’s Travis?”
“Travis?”
“My brother?” You know, the guy you were in bed with seconds ago.
“I thought he was flying in tonight. Are you sure you’re all right?”
I walked stiff legged to the kitchen where Tom had hung an atomic clock. “Keeps accurate time within milliseconds.” He’d winked at me, then kissed away my annoyance at the hundred dollar price tag. I stared up at it now in disbelief. According to the clock, which was never wrong, it was the day before Tom’s funeral.
How the hell had I gone back in time?
-TWENTY-TWO-
“Where’s Ann? Is she out for a walk?”
Arsinua shrugged. “I suppose so. Why?”
Oh god. I thought back to the Rend and Vasili’s explanation. Vasili who was now back on Earth learning to live without his magic. The Rend was a hole in space and time. Did that mean it had sent me back? Why hadn’t Vasili gone back when I’d yanked him to me?
“I think I have a problem.” I took her hand and pulled her to the basement. What had I been doing the day before the funeral? Jasper, Ann, and I had meditated. Afterward Ann went for a walk and scared me when she was gone to long. Right? She’d given me the necklace. I lifted my hand to my neck. It was gone. Crap.
Arsinua gasped when she saw Tytan. Considering Jasper already had worked wonders said something for what Amara had done to him. I wanted to help Jasper but first I had to figure out what I was going to do. “Do you know anything about time travel?”
She took her eyes off Tytan only long enough to give me a look of disbelief. “Right.”
I walked to Tytan’s other side and sat beside him. I accessed the heart with ease then put my hand gently on Ty’s shoulder. He gasped and though I was sorry I’d hurt him, relief flooded me that he’d made noise. I opened up the valves until the needles floated close to the red zone. Combined with Jasper’s touch, Ty started to regain some semblance of his normal self.
“I just came from the Slip, from a place called the Rend.” I looked at them both but neither had any sign of recognizing the place. “I went there to take Tytan from a particularly nasty woman named Amara. I’d just come from here, where you and my brother were in bed together.”
Arsinua’s cheeks flushed. “I’m sure you’re just—”
“And you.” I looked at Jasper. “I brought you and Cyres here after rescuing you both. A man tried to kill you and a duallie woman saved your life. She died in your arms.” My voice was getting louder, as if shouting at them would somehow make them believe what I was saying.
“Devany, I have not left this house since I arrived on your doorstep.”
“I don’t even know your brother.”
I dropped my gaze to Tytan, willing him to heal faster. He could at least confirm my story about the Rend and he might even know about the time difference. I didn’t know how long she’d tortured him though, or if he’d even been aware of where she’d taken him. Fuck. “This is ridiculous. I know all this happened. I lived through it. Barely.”
Tytan coughed. This time when I looked at him, he gazed back. A huge weight fell off my shoulders. “Oh thank god.”
He didn’t smile, didn’t do anything but look back at m
e.
“I’m so sorry.” I laid my hand on his cheek, pouring the power of the heart into him.
His mouth moved but no sound came out.
“Arsinua? Could you get him something to drink?”
She complied, bringing back a glass of water from the kitchen. I held Ty’s head while he drank then lowered his head back to the floor. “You want a pillow?”
He shook his head. Cleared his throat. Said, “I don’t rate a kiss this time?” His voice rasped, its usual smoky, sensual rumble gone.
“You must be feeling better if you’re asking for kisses.” I planted one on his forehead then sat back. “Do you remember what happened?”
He shook his head again. “I made it to Casttown but never got to the murk pool. Skriven waiting for me and the wild magic fucked up my power.”
I wondered how Amara had known Tytan was headed for Casttown, then decided I didn’t care. She was going to die whether I did it myself or helped one of her spawn to do it for me. I had the key. Or did I? Shit. Shit, shit, shit. And then, “Wait. If I did go back in time, that means I can make the bargain with Queen Anyang the right way this time. And I’ll know not to get off the wagon.” My words trailed off. If I didn’t get off the wagon, I wouldn’t meet Kroshtuka, at least not in the way I’d met him last time. If I stayed on the wagon, we would get to Galleia safely and I could collect Cyres and get the hell out of there.
Or would I?
A pounding started behind my eyeballs and I sighed. There was a reason I didn’t like movies or books with time travel. Made my head ache. And now I was living it.
“You aren’t making any sense,” Arsinua said.
“I know.” To Tytan, I said, “You remember us going to the swamp, right?”
“Of course.”
“The day of the funeral.”
He nodded. It made me feel better since Arsinua was looking like she might call the paddy wagon to come collect me. His dimple appeared. “You renewed the pact with the queen and fucked it up as usual. Your words.”
I smiled back. He almost looked like his normal self.
It felt good to laugh. “Yes I did. Because no one ever tells me anything. They just blame me afterward.” I gave Tytan a look. “Sound familiar?”
He chuckled then winced. “Too soon.”
“So you’re saying you came back through time? That’s not possible.” Arsinua paced beside us, her fingers working as if she were talking to herself in sign language and in a way, maybe she was. She did a lot of her spell-work with her hands and she might have been running through drills or hell, maybe she was gearing up to smack me with a stunner. Who knew?
“I think I’m missing part of this conversation,” Tytan rasped.
“It’s the day before the funeral.”
He considered that. “The last thing I remember before she grabbed me was going to my manse to grab some tools I might need. Ellison was there waiting.”
I thought back to my conversation with the Skriven. When I’d told him about Tytan being tortured by Amara he’d seemed genuinely upset. “Why was he there?”
“He wanted to know what I thought of you.”
“He beat you up.”
“He jumped me. Never would have gotten his hands on me otherwise.”
“I don’t like him.”
Tytan snorted. “I don’t think he cares. Then again, he said you gave him leave to be on Midia and cause havoc within the Theleoni.”
Arsinua made a protesting noise.
“What?”
She gestured―rather rudely―toward Tytan. “You’ve got to stop giving them permission to walk in our worlds. They are dangerous.”
“I told him not to kill anyone. And honestly, Arsinua, you’ve got to get over your fear of Skriven.”
Tytan bared his teeth at her and I rolled my eyes. “Knock it off.”
“They aren’t naughty children to be scolded. They kill people and take their souls.”
“Yeah, well, it’s only because their bosses insist on it. As far as I can tell, the Originators think they are doing the world a favor by collecting souls but they’re too lazy to do it themselves so they send their spawn to do the dirty work.”
“And souls taken by murder or in fear are more sought after than souls from the dying.”
I didn’t know that but it made sense. Absorbing Tom’s soul had been heartbreaking and uplifting all at the same time. “So basically, they are looking for a high.”
“Something like that.”
I rubbed my chest, wondering again if I were harming Tom’s soul by keeping it within me. “See, Arsinua? I can ask them to collect the souls of the dying and forbid them from killing people for them. Or tricking people out of them. They have to comply or they don’t get access to the Source.”
“How do you know they are complying?”
Good question. Too good. I had no idea.
“We are bound to our creators and cannot deliberately disobey them.”
“She’s not your creator.”
Tytan sighed. “The day I bought you was the day I learned what obnoxious truly meant.”
Arsinua glared at him.
“She took Ravana’s place and therefore she is my creator now. Or boss, if the other term bothers you so much. It is part of our creation, this built-in inability to go against the Originator’s will.”
I had no idea. This put a whole new spin on our relationship, too. I mean, I knew he was his boss but I had no idea he had to do what I said no matter what. The whole thing felt wrong and I didn’t like having that much control over another person. Hell, even my kids had leeway on what they did or did not have to do. They certainly didn’t have to mindlessly obey.
“See? It’s fine. Ellison is doing his best to drive the Theleoni crazy. Which is good, because if they’re crazy then they can’t steal humans and—Shit! Arsinua, there’s a cure for the hook sickness.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “Next you’ll tell me that I’m the supreme ruler of all Midia.”
I blinked. “Uh. No. Listen, there are berries in the Wilds. The Wydlings use them to help humans who wander into Midia through the hooks there. Zed knew about them too, this old man from the Carnicus that guided us through the Wilds.”
“That’s ridiculous. An old legend. Wild magic and the things that grow in the Anwar can’t be trusted.”
“Arsinua. You made the heart because you wanted to stop the Theleoni. You made a deal with a demon and got yourself thrown in jail and now you’re dismissing the domar berries out of hand because you’re prejudiced against the Wilds?”
“It’s ridiculous,” she said again, though less stridently. “Wild magic can’t be trusted.”
“It’s the same magic you have, just less organized. Come on. What do you have to lose?”
“They could be poisonous. Or they could react differently each time.”
“That’s what trials and experiments are for. That’s what talking to the locals about the berries will tell you. You can’t tell me this would be harder or scarier than dealing with a Skriven.”
I wanted to shake sense into her. She was always so cautious and sometimes caution would leave you in a rut. “Maybe I’ll tell Zech. He would believe me.” I totally had no idea if he would believe me but figured if that didn’t spur her courage, nothing would.
“Fine. Maybe I’ll call and talk to him.”
“Okay.” I tried to gauge her expression as she thought about talking with him. They’d been an item once, before Arsinua had gone against tradition and Midian witch laws to make a deal with a Skriven to make the heart.
Maybe with both of them working on it, something would get done. People would figure out that hook sickness wasn’t fatal and treat the humans that wandered or were dragged through hooks. “It would put the Theleoni out of business if it’s true.”
Tytan reached over and touched my knee as I was about to say something else. “Let her think it through,” he whispered.
Throug
h all this, Jasper had been quietly working on Tytan. He leaned back, looking as worn out as if he’d just gotten done with a marathon. “I believe that is as far as the magic will take you.”
“Thank you. You’re not too bad for a pansy-assed Wing.”
I refrained—just—from thumping him on the head. “Tytan. Really?”
He shrugged, winced, and then struggled to sit upright. He was too weak to sit on his own, so I helped him over to the couch and he eased himself onto it.
“Now that you know what will happen in the next few days, how can you work to improve the outcomes?” Ty asked, once his breath came back to him.
“I don’t know. I mean, you were grabbed tomorrow, so if we get you somewhere she can’t grab you, does that mean you don’t get hurt? But you are hurt so would you miraculously heal? Oh geez. I hate this shit.” I joined Arsinua in pacing, giving her a faint smile as we passed each other.
“Let’s not worry about that. What do you know about the pact in the swamp? That’s the most pressing problem, correct?”
“I guess.” I let out a huff of breath. “She said that putting up the barrier just advertised they were there, that Ravana had worked a Fade spell to keep the swamp obscured in people’s minds.” I thought I might be able to figure out how to work a spell like that but what if I fucked it up again? Would I get another do over? Somehow I didn’t think I would. I hoped not, anyway. I hated the movie Groundhog Day. The whole idea of being stuck going back in time over and over until I got things right made me want to throw up. Yeah, I made mistakes but damn it, that was life. I didn’t want to compound my troubles by going back and fucking things up more than once.
“A Fade spell is complicated,” Arsinua said. “But not impossible. Now that I know what you need, I might be able to help you compose one. It would take longer than a day to learn it.”
“I might have found a way around the whole, ‘burning pathways in my brain,’ thing,” I told her.
She looked surprised then worried. What the hell, she was always worried. “I’ll work on getting the essence of it ready for you then. You’re leaving after the funeral?”
