Slip Song (Devany Miller Series)

by Jen Ponce

  “If I drop my protection, will he hurt me now?”

  “Yes.”

  Seriously. Okay. I eased off the floor, needing to put a few hundred miles between me and it. Pardus didn’t stop licking but his green eyes rolled over to stare. Outside there was a boom and the wagon jounced. I toppled into Cyres’ cage, my arm going through the bars and my armpit banging into them. “Ow.”

  She took my hand and stroked her cold fingers along my palm. “You are shiny.”

  “Yes. I needed light.” And you didn’t answer me when I called your name the first few times. “Where do they keep the key?”

  “They don’t lock it anymore.”

  Sure enough, when I walked around the cage the door just swung open. The implication of abuse stunned me so badly I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t come out accusatory. And there was no way in hell I was blaming her for staying. I knew victims of abuse had many different reasons for staying even when they had the opportunity to leave. Still, my heart ached for her when I held out my hand and she cringed away from it.

  “I can’t go.”

  “Sure you can. You came with me last time.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ear as she studied her artwork on the floor. “Yes, but that was then and this is now.”

  “What’s different from last time?” She’d drawn Jasper’s face in the grains of rice. I have no idea how she’d gotten it so damn realistic considering the medium. Then I knew the answer. “Jasper is safe.”

  “Is he?”

  The question and the accusation behind it left me nervous. Was he safe? He was here, somewhere, a sword on his back. Surely he was safe. He had to be safe. “Yes. Come one, we’ll go find him together and you can see for yourself.”

  She nibbled at her lip. “This is a trick. Last time someone came in to take me to him, I left and then my masters beat me.”

  “You remember me from before,” I said, desperation coloring my words.

  “But that was before and this is now,” she repeated.

  “Cyres, I promise you I won’t hurt you. Not ever.” My hand was still in the air between us.

  She touched the tip of Jasper’s nose with her finger, then bashed the rice away before plunging her hands into her hair. “I promise I won’t hurt you. Not ever,” she repeated, in an eerie mimicry of my voice. Her fingers pulled at her hair so hard I cringed, waiting for the ripping noise. It didn’t get that far. She eased her grip. Nodded, swiped at the grain again. “Okay.” She put her hand in mine.

  I formed the hook to get her out of the hellhole when another explosion knocked us all off our feet. The wagon tipped hard to the right, hesitated for the longest moment then crashed over on its side, tossing us into the top of the cage like so much trash. Pardus made a high, surprised noise halfway between a yelp and a growl then he too, tumbled ass over end to the wall that was now the floor.

  Dirt and filth cascaded over us. I coughed and sputtered, spitting the foulness from my mouth. Cyres’ eyes were closed. She didn’t look good. I touched her, gave her a little shake, but she didn’t move. “Shit.” My head came up when I heard a familiar chorus. The sound of Ellison and Jasper, together.

  Then the bottom of the wagon exploded outward and Amara screamed my name.

  -THIRTY-ONE-

  When I looked up, horror flooded me. Amara stood at the far end of what looked like a blast circle. In the middle, Jasper stood with his sword drawn facing Ellison. Oh shit. I pushed myself up out of the rubble, Cyres still collapsed at my feet with her pet Pardus standing over her. The outer limit of the circle blazed and on the other side stood spectators wreathed in shadows.

  “Soon the balance of the Slip will be restored. No more human to upset things and give spawn grandiose ideas.”

  I wanted to descend from the overturned wagon with confidence and dignity. Instead, the toe of my boot caught and I would have fallen on my face in the dirt but for catching a floor strut at the last second. I saved myself but damned if I didn’t get a splinter in my palm on top of all the other cuts and bruises I’d accumulated. Once on the dirt I eyed Ellison and Jasper, wondering if I could blast Ellison fast enough to save Jasper’s life.

  “My soul,” Ellison said, looking like he’d just finished a marathon. His awestruck gaze drank in Jasper.

  Jasper’s expression was damn near identical. I’d never realized how much they looked alike until this moment. Jasper was a kinder version of the Skriven, more delicate. Neither of them were aware of anything but each other. Two lovers, reunited after centuries of separation. Only they weren’t lovers, they were two parts of a whole.

  And Amara expected Ellison to kill that part of himself to ascend.

  I walked between them. Held my hands out to them. “You can’t do this.” In the middle of their harmony, I was almost deafened.

  “Get out of the way, Devany. He will make his move soon enough,” Jasper said. He stepped to the side using careful, methodical movements.

  “I’m not letting this happen.”

  Ellison barked a harsh laugh. “You don’t want to give up your power.”

  “No, I’d gladly give that up. Trust me, you want to change places? Let’s talk, But this? This will end who you are, Ellison.”

  “I am nothing. A spawn. A slave.” His eyes were wild, his grin hideous. “Without him, no one can ever force me into servitude again.” He faked left then lunged. Jasper nicked him with the sword and Ellison sprung away, twirling back to strike again. He almost knocked the sword out of his soul’s hand but Jasper too was nimble and danced out of reach.

  “Have I done any servitude forcing?” I ducked out of the way as they engaged each other. No matter how fast Jasper swung the sword, Ellison was able to dart out of reach. And whenever Ellison lunged, Jasper knew which way to step to avoid his grasp.

  “‘Annoy the Theleoni,’” he said in a hectoring voice. “‘Free the slaves.’ Sound familiar?”

  Okay, he had a point. But considering he’d been a giant pain in my ass, I didn’t think he had a good point. “Such a terrible burden, annoying and freeing.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like to not have control over your life. To have no say in what happens to your body.” He got a jab in to Jasper’s ribs. His soul gasped and whirled away before Ellison could touch him again.

  “Well, I haven’t been in control for a while but you’re right, I don’t know. You don’t know how it will be with me as your Originator either.” I wished now I’d done more to figure out my job duties so that perhaps I could have stopped this fight long before it started. But I’d had no idea what the dynamics between the Skriven, the Originators, and the souls were like. Live and learn. Though, this looked more like a live, learn, then die situation.

  “Kill him already,” Amara taunted. “Or are you as useless as Ravana always said you were?” Amara’s throaty voice grated on my nerves. Her I could kill. She’d already caused enough problems without instigating a death match.

  The blow took Jasper by surprise. Me too. I hadn’t been watching Ellison and the wily Skriven had slid under Jasper’s sword and punched him in the balls. His soul doubled over and Ellison wrenched the sword away. I screamed, “No,” like that would help, then hooked to Jasper and brought down a protection bubble as the sword arced over Ellison’s head. It hit the magic. Power and steel screeched when they met, making my teeth ache.

  “You can’t interfere,” Amara said, growling the words through her teeth.

  “There are no rules. So suck it, asshole.”

  She screamed, sounding like one of those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park. She rushed at Ellison, who turned and got Jasper’s sword up in time to slice Amara’s arms off at the elbows. The look on her face was truly priceless. She vanished in a gout of bloody grey soot, her fallen arms still twitching on the ground.

  Ellison stood panting, his face pale.

  “You have to stop this, Ellison. Please. We can figure things out. I’m committed to making th
ings better for you. You just have to give me a chance.”

  “Give you a chance?” He laughed. “By all means. How much time do you need to realize that you can gain more power through our pain?”

  “Uh. No time because you just told me. Duh. And why would I want more power? I already have more than I know what to do with.” If I had more power I’d probably blow my brains out or short circuit my synapses. Or something that would leave black smoke pouring out my ears. Would Tytan be able to talk sense into him? I called for him, tugging at the bond between us as Ellison began a pounding assault on the barrier. Each time he whacked it with the sword I felt the thrum of contact through my body. Each time the sword made contact, the barrier weakened. I could sense the tiny hair-line cracks that were spreading throughout the structure. “Put up a bubble. Now!”

  Jasper got his up as mine shattered in a bajillion pieces. I yanked hard on the bond and felt, rather than saw, Tytan come through. Then Ellison was sailing through the air, plowing a furrow in the dirt with his body. Tytan looked at Jasper and I in the circle then at Ellison. “What did I miss?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” I gestured between Ellison and Jasper. “Can you tell him, please, that I’m not an asshole?”

  “You aren’t an asshole?”

  I put a hand on my hip. “Seriously?”

  “She’s not an asshole,” he said to Ellison. “Seriously.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and counted to twenty.

  Jasper put a hand on my shoulder. “Devany.”

  “What now?”

  He turned me until I was looking at the wrecked wagon and the wisp of a woman standing amidst the rubble.

  Tytan was staring too, shock on his face. A discordant melody jangled in my ears, nothing like the one between Jasper and Ellison. He took a step toward her and I froze, unable to act. Because he wouldn’t kill her. He’d been protecting me. All this time he’d taken hits for me, stopped Ravana from killing me, lied for me. He wouldn’t kill her.

  Ellison ran at her. Tytan lunged but Ellison caught her up first by the neck and that poor, sweet girl dangled from his hand. “Would you kill her, Tytan? If I end your soul’s life, would you have the balls to kill our Originator?”

  Cyres’ hands went to Ellison’s, clawing at him, her feet kicking.

  Tytan didn’t speak, his gaze fixed on his soul.

  “Let her go. Take me instead,” Jasper shouted. He, too, went for her but I caught his arm.

  “No. I’ll save her.” I had to save her. I walked forward, my hands out to either side as if to say, ‘See? I’m not a threat.’ “Ellison, put her down. Let me prove to you that I am different.”

  “You aren’t different. It won’t be different. And when I kill Tytan’s soul and he fails to kill you out of some sort of misguided infatuation, I will kill my own soul and destroy you.”

  “Please.”

  Cyres’ face was purple. I geared up my power, focusing it like a laser beam on the center of his forehead, ready to blast him to tomorrow. But he set her down. She sucked at the air in big, whooping gasps, her fingers working at her throat as if Ellison had broken something inside her.

  “Thank you.” Relief made my muscles sag and I let go of the power I held.

  He swung the sword and brought it down on the back of Cyres’ neck. The bite of steel against bone sent me to my knees. The world went silent but for the songs, one harmonious and one discordant, and that one abruptly ended. It was in silence that I watched Cyres’ savior Pardus attack Ellison, latching onto the Skriven’s leg until Ellison kicked him free. The beast went flying.

  A beautiful light freed itself from the girl’s broken body, lifting upwards as if on a draft. Then Ellison reached into that perfect moment and ripped it apart. Cyres scattered like leaves on the wind.

  I heard Jasper cry out but my eyes were on Tytan.

  Shadows gathered around his feet, licking at him like black fire. His eyes met mine, and there was horror in them. “Devany I—”

  Darkness calling. I could see the drain of the Tytan I knew. He no longer had a soul and he was becoming the monster Ravana had set out to make him. When the shadows completely consumed him, he would challenge me in the arena. And I would probably die.

  There was the sound of shattering magic behind me. I whirled, too late. Ellison had Jasper in his grip, sword at Jasper’s neck. Jasper’s face was calm, Ellison’s the mask of anguish. “Please don’t do this, Ellison.” I looked back at Tytan. His entire lower body was now obscured by a darkness so complete it was sucking in the light from the area around it, smearing the lines of reality.

  “Why not? Why not?” His voice held an hysterical edge. He jerked and the blade cut into Jasper’s neck.

  “Because Jasper is an amazing man. He’s kind and honorable and he saved my life.”

  “This is a construct. He is my soul in a vessel. This physical shell is not my soul.” The sword bit deeper. My stomach lurched. I would lose Jasper too. I would lose Jasper and Ty and Cyres and then myself. Because I saw my death spilling out before me.

  “Don’t, Ellison.”

  “My brother is almost dead. He will become Originator and take Ravana’s place.” His words flattened, taking on the cadence of a person in a deep trance.

  “You mean my place.”

  His dead eyes fell on me. “Ravana’s legacy.” We both looked at Ty. The blackness had consumed his midsection and was gobbling its way up his chest. His expression didn’t hold horror anymore but a strange sort of excitement, an emotionless curiosity that you might find in a serial killer as he watched his victims die.

  “Please. Let him go.” My last words were strangled in tears and pain. I saw his decision and thrust power at him, too late.

  “I can’t.” Ellison drew the sword across Jasper’s neck. His flesh unzipped. I screamed. I think I screamed. I may have just opened my mouth without remembering what was the appropriate reaction to watching yet another human being I loved die in front of me.

  Ellison did not let Jasper’s body drop. He swung the body around once, twice, then flung him hard at Tytan.

  The darkness swallowed my friend.

  Then Tytan began to beat at himself as if the blackness had become flames in truth. A golden glow spread around his body, driving back the black. Tytan opened his mouth and tendrils of golden light entered him, threaded into his nose and ears, soaking into his skin.

  Jasper.

  Ellison dropped to his knees as he watched the better half of him enter Tytan’s body.

  The second the glow vanished, the blackness exploded outward. Shadows thickened and shivered all around us as the ick fled. It blew away the last protections Amara had placed around the outer rim of the blast circle but no one made a move to get closer to those of us in the center.

  Tytan stood still. Ellison wept. Tears were running down my face too. Tytan lifted his hands and stared at them, turning them over and back again. Then his gaze hit Cyres’ broken form in the wreckage and he howled his anguish.

  “Why?” I asked Ellison, feeling shredded inside.

  “He’s whole now.”

  Tytan picked up her body, her nearly severed head hanging by the skin on her neck. He brought her close and lowered his head.

  “What does that mean? And what about you?”

  Pain flashed across his face. “Tytan is the vessel for my soul now. As for him.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. No Skriven has ever reunited with his soul.”

  What would it feel like, I wondered, to live life without consequences only to have a conscience, shiny and new, dumped inside you?

  If it didn’t rip you apart, it might end up making you a better person.

  Was he a person, though? Or a different type of monster?

  In my mind’s eye, Ellison killed Cyres all over again. My mind kept replaying that part of it, the part where the sword had bit deep into her neck.

  I was aware of people now, walking toward us, talking in low voices as they
ventured closer. Kroshtuka put a big hand on my shoulder but didn’t pull me close to him for comfort, didn’t presume at that moment to know what I needed.

  Oh god, what did I need?

  Did they have Skriven jail? Skriven shrinks? Surely both would be needed on a regular basis, though what Skrivens would get put in jail for in the Slip I wasn’t sure.

  Tytan stepped out of the rubble.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To bury her.” He walked through the staring, silent crowd and no one stopped him. Maybe no one wanted to or they were afraid of what he might do. When he drew close, his eyes flicked to mine and my breath caught in my throat. His eyes weren’t Tytan’s familiar reddish brown but Jasper’s grey. Time stretched between us, a length of space wherein I could have made everything right if only I’d known what to do. But I couldn’t speak to him because I’d watched his soul die and I still didn’t know how he could have survived something so terrible.

  So I let him walk away without saying anything and had no idea why I felt so damn guilty. Maybe I could go back again. I could visit Amara in the Rend and go back, fix things. Hook Cyres to safety before Ellison could see her, keep Jasper safe. Save everyone. Yet even as I thought it, I realized I didn’t want to try again. What if the next time around Amara killed my kids? Or Ellison did? Or maybe next time around Queen Anyang would kill me.

  I couldn’t risk it. But oh how I wanted to.

  Looking around at the destruction and the shocked faces that were slowly morphing toward anger and a need to blame, Kroshtuka said, “Perhaps we should leave this place.”

  I nodded. I knew I never wanted to come back. But I hadn’t stopped the Theleoni taking humans from Earth and murdering them so I knew I would have to return here and places like it to avenge those deaths. “I want to go home.” But I couldn’t do that, either. I had to find out if Amara would come after me and stop her. Her plan had failed; perhaps she would leave me be.

  Ellison hadn’t left yet and when I turned on him, he bowed his head. “Now you will end me.”