by Linsey Hall
Thank gods he couldn’t die. She’d been too terrified and too stupid to aetherwalk them directly to the bedroom, so she took them there now, using a bit of levitation to get him up onto the bed.
With a wave of her hand and the thought of light, she lit the torches in the room. In too-bright detail, they revealed the extent of the damage to Warren’s flesh and bones, and she swallowed hard, trying to force down the fear and panic. This was far past her ability to heal, but she didn’t know any healers and she didn’t have enough power to aetherwalk all the way back to the university to get one.
“Gods, Chairman, what do we do?” She spun in a frustrated circle, then stopped.
She wasn’t alone and helpless.
Esha ran to her room and dug down into the bottom of her bag. Relief rushed through her as she yanked out a cylindrical cardboard container that had once held maps. She popped off the plastic cap and slid out Ana’s arrow. Thank gods Ana had repaired it, and she’d remembered to bring it. This would make two times in one month she’d used it, but then, these were extenuating circumstances.
“Here goes,” she said, then snapped the arrow in half.
Ana appeared immediately, this time in clothes. “Esha! What’s wrong?”
“Warren’s hurt.” Her voice broke. “Can you heal him?”
“Where is he?” Ana glanced around the room.
“Come on, he’s in the other room. My sister blasted him with something that broke his bones and burned his flesh. He’s in terrible shape.” She led Aurora down the short hall to Warren’s room.
“Holy cow,” Ana breathed.
“Can you do anything?”
“I can try funneling some of my power into him, see if that speeds up his natural healing process.”
“You’re a god—that should work, right? Try it.” And if it failed, Esha now had enough power from Ana that she could aetherwalk back to the university for a healer.
“Okay.” Ana removed Warren’s clothes to get a better look at the damage.
The sight of more burned skin and great purple bruises made Esha wince. A shuddery breath escaped her lungs as Ana sat on the side of the bed, laid her hands lightly on the broad expanse of Warren’s chest, and closed her eyes.
Esha watched as Ana tried to heal Warren’s various wounds. It didn’t look like much, but as Ana removed her hand from each burn or broken bone, smooth, healed skin was revealed. It was working. The terrible tightness in Esha’s chest eased.
Eventually, Ana rose and turned to face her. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Esha rushed to Warren’s side and ran her fingertips gently over his chest. It rose, steady and even. Nearly all the bruising and burns were gone. His limbs were all straight and he slept peacefully.
“His body can take care of the rest.” She spun and threw her arms around Ana. “Thank you.”
“’Course. What happened?”
They walked over to the doorway so that they could talk without waking Warren. In a hushed whisper, Esha told her all about Aurora and Warren.
“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. Maybe he wasn’t trying to kill her. Just trying to protect himself,” Ana said.
“I guess it’s possible.” Gods, she’d been scared when she’d seen Aurora blast Warren. She’d worried initially that Aurora might use her love for Warren against her, but never that she’d actually try to kill him.
Esha’s mind skidded to a halt. Love? Did I just think the word love? She swallowed hard, her head reeling. She scrubbed a hand over her face. Gods, she was a mess. She couldn’t actually love Warren, she just liked him a lot. Less now that he’d tried to kill her sister. But then, Aurora wasn’t innocent herself. There was no question now that Warren was right and she’d been blinded by her desire for a sister. Aurora was too dangerous.
“Are you okay?” Ana asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just—”
Warren shifted, and her eyes locked on him.
“I think he’s waking,” Ana said. “I’m going to go explore. I’ve never been to a place so weird. I’ll be back in a while.”
“Thank you again.” Esha hugged her friend, so desperately grateful.
“Esha.” Warren’s scratchy voice made her let go of Ana and run to his side.
She dropped to her knees next to the bed. “Hey.”
He sat up on the bed and said, “What the hell happened?”
“You and Aurora tried to kill each other.” The boiling tar of anger surged within her at the memory, spurred on by the stress and frustration over everything that she couldn’t control. “You faced her alone, when she’s insanely powerful and could take you out. She could take anyone out!”
“Hey, hey.” He reached out and gripped her arms, trying to calm her. “I wasn’t trying to kill her. And hell, Esha, you did the same damn thing! You went there alone.”
“Don’t turn this around on me. And what the hell do you mean, you weren’t trying to kill her?”
Warren glanced over the bed and the floor as though he was searching for something. “I was no’. Where’s the dagger I had in my hand?”
“Um, I don’t know.” She searched her memory. “I think it’s on the floor downstairs in the foyer. Why the hell does it matter?”
“It’s a soulceress weapon that I found in that museum. The painting on the wall of the temple says that dagger will remove the stolen souls from a soulceress, but it won’t kill her.”
Shock left Esha temporarily speechless. He hadn’t been trying to kill Aurora? Finally, she said, “What?”
“The shade who’s been following us helped me get to the temple, then showed me the painting.”
“That’s how you navigated.”
“Aye, without it, I never would have made it. The soul wants to be set free. It’s trapped here until the temple is destroyed.”
Understanding dawned. “Oh, crap. I’ve heard of souls like that, but only briefly and I didn’t make the connection. When soulceresses who steal souls die, their own souls can’t pass on to their afterworld because the stolen souls are tangled up with their own. It pulls them in so many different directions that they can’t leave earth. So they come here.”
“If we destroy the temple, they’ll be freed.”
“I guess so, if that’s what the painting says. But first we have to deal with Aurora. You really think that dagger will work?” Hope was a bright light in her chest, beating back the despair that there was no way to help both her sister and Warren.
“Aye, according to soulceress lore. It’s our only choice.”
It really was. Esha stood no chance of convincing Aurora to release his soul, and Warren had two days left at most before the medicine stopped working and he was entirely incapacitated.
“How the hell are we going to manage this, though? When she’s enraged, her power is immeasurable—and right now she’s out of control,” Esha said.
“We should wait a bit. Give her a few hours to calm down and for me to heal up. Then I’ll go back.”
Esha glared at him. “I’m going too.”
He stared at her for a moment, no doubt trying to think of a way to keep her safe, then nodded. “Aye. It’s your fight.”
“Good. We only stand a chance if there are two of us.” She frowned, recalling the sheer strength of Aurora’s power when she was in the grip of her madness. “Maybe not even then.”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
A few hours later, the creaking of the foyer door pulled Esha out of her doze. She untangled her limbs from Warren’s and slid out of bed, the cold of the room immediately reminding her how warm he’d been. He was sleeping more heavily than normal, no doubt still recovering from his injuries. She threw on her clothes and met Ana in the foyer. She’d just returned from her exploration of the city.
“This place is amazing!” Ana said. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and her eyes were bright with excitement.
A small laugh escaped Esha despite her stress. “It’s really not. You just like a
nything that isn’t Otherworld.”
Ana shrugged. “True.”
“Can I ask you for another favor? A dangerous one?”
“My favorite kind.” Ana’s hand went to the bow strapped to her back and her eyes hardened. “We’re going after Aurora, aren’t we?”
Esha nodded. “Come into the kitchen. We’ll talk about it there and grab a quick bite. We should go after her soon.”
“Okay. I’ll have to be back in Otherworld before the other gods know I’m gone.”
“Of course.”
Esha cobbled together sandwiches from their supplies and sat with Ana just as Warren arrived, clean from a bath in the hot springs. She nodded to a plate next to hers. “That one’s yours.”
“Thanks.” He sat and reached for the plate.
“Tell me what we’re up against.” Ana bit into her sandwich.
“Aurora has created a world in the aether. It’s a huge Mediterranean-style mansion on a tropical beach.”
Ana shrugged. “Makes sense, considering the prison the witches had her in. She must have envisioned a luxurious place that’s the opposite of where she’s been. No surprise she ended up in a villa in the Med.”
“Wait, what do you mean? She’s in the aether, no’ the Mediterranean,” Warren said.
“Sort of.” Ana spoke around her bite of sandwich, then swallowed. “She’s in the aether, but she needed something to work with as a starter. There’s got to be a real island with a real house on it that she’s using as a base for her world. That’s just how the aether works—even with all her souls, she’s no’ powerful enough to create a whole new world. If we could find the island, we’d find a house in the real world. But she wouldn’t be there. It’s sort of like another dimension, a construct of her mind that she’s made real within the aether, yet it’s partially based in the real world in a place that suited her specifications. She’s in the aether like you think, just not entirely.”
“Of course. That’s why there are so many appliances and modern conveniences there that she didn’t recognize. And probably how she got the mortals there for her party,” Esha said.
“Exactly.” Ana popped the last bite of sandwich into her mouth. “What else do I need to know?”
“She’s pissed as hell and nearly invincible. When I left her, she was tearing her house down around her,” Esha said. “She has complete control over her environment when she’s in her world. We’ve got to drag her out if we’re going to have any chance against her, but I don’t know how we’ll get close to her.”
Ana frowned thoughtfully. “I think I can help with that. We’ve got to destroy her world. My arrows can tear through the aether.”
“Really?” Esha asked.
Ana shrugged. “I am a god. There’s got to be some perks. That’s one of them, though it took me a few centuries to figure it out. I can’t completely destroy the aether, of course. It’s too big. But her world is so small. If I fire into it—like the walls of her house—I bet I can get her illusion to collapse. I’ll break apart her reality until she’s in the normal world.”
Esha finally felt something a bit like hope. “That’s really good. Get her in the real world where we’re on a more even playing field.”
“In the real world?” Warren asked. “What about the mortals?”
“It’s unlikely that her island is inhabited in the real world. If there were people using the same space, it would take an unbelievable amount of power to maintain her world. Dollars to donuts that it’s been abandoned by people.”
“It was a tiny island,” Esha said. “No other houses on it that I saw.”
“Then we’ll hope for the best,” Warren said.
~~~
Half an hour later, after the last of Warren’s injuries had fully healed and they’d collected their weapons, they reconvened in the kitchen. It was nearing dusk, and they hoped to hell that Aurora had calmed down some.
“Ready?” Warren asked as he checked his weapons. Knives in his boots, sword at his hip, and the soulceress dagger in his right hand. Practice weapons for so long, they’d now go into true use.
“Looking forward to it,” Ana said.
Esha nodded, her jaw tight, then held out her hands for both of theirs. Though Ana could aetherwalk, she didn’t know the location of Aurora’s aether hideaway. Esha would lead her, and as usual, she’d bring Warren along because he couldn’t travel in this damn soulceress world.
He reached out for her hand. Within seconds of contact, he was sucked through space until he stood on the dark night beach of Aurora’s island home. Ana split off immediately, but Warren pulled Esha close until her face was inches from his.
“You mean a hell of a lot to me.” Worry roughened his voice. “If it comes down to my soul or your life, take your life, damn it.”
“Fuck you, Warren. I’m not leaving you behind.” She kissed him hard and fast and then spun to join Ana. The Chairman trotted after her.
They made their way quickly up to the patio, ghosts in the dark night. A raging party spilled out of house, the music manic and tension hanging over the crowd that danced and drank as if they were under a spell. Even the night breeze that drifted across the palms vibrated with an otherworldly energy.
“Aurora’s trying to make it normal,” Esha whispered.
“But her shell’s cracking,” Ana said, then skirted around the side of the crowd.
They followed, scanning the writhing bodies for Aurora. A great booming noise shook the ground and a bright light flashed from the left side of the house. The light faded to reveal a smoking black crater and a shriek of rage rent the night.
Ana had started firing.
And Aurora had figured out they’d arrived.
Warren and Esha took up posts behind Ana as she raced around the front of the house, firing her arrows into the walls and tearing apart the reality of Aurora’s world. Aurora’s shrieks of rage competed with the booms of Ana’s arrows and drew Warren’s eye to the window. Within, Aurora shot blasts of light from her hands at the holes that Ana had created, no doubt trying to repair them.
Her black gaze met his through the window. The rage in her eyes flared as she waved a hand at him and Esha. He threw himself in front of Esha to protect her from the blow, but none came.
What the hell had—
A wave of bodies poured from the doors and crashed through the windows, heading straight for them. Fuck. This was what Aurora had sent. She’d turned the partiers to monsters, shells of their former selves propelled by her will. Their skin had become pasty white, and their eyes great gaping holes of black.
He drew his sword as Esha threw a huge blast of earth at the advancing figures. The great wave that she’d drawn from the earth bowled over a dozen. The Chairman fought at her side, a blur of fur and fangs that bowled over monsters and tore at their throats. He was still no larger than a housecat, but he was fierce as a lion and nearly as strong. Warren clashed with others, swiping his blade against necks and bellies until blood ran red in the grass.
Bile rose in his throat at the sight. It reminded him of that night so long ago when he’d slain his kin and why he’d vowed never to take another life, but he tightened his grip and continued to hack at them. There was no other way. If he didn’t cut them down, Esha and Ana would be swallowed by the mob. They surged toward them in waves, too fast and too strong to be natural, and soon his skin ran with blood from their teeth and nails. He’d lost sight of Esha, and fear tightened his skin. She could take care of herself, but it didn’t mean it didn’t scare the hell out of him when she was up against a mob.
“I’m close!” Ana screamed. The light of her arrows brightened the night, the booms a cacophony like thunder. “The walls of her world are falling!”
Warren fought his way toward Esha, who stood at Ana’s back deflecting the monsters that clawed to reach her. His chest loosened when he saw her safe and sending another blast of earth that buried a wave of Aurora’s creatures.
Together, they
fought their way toward the side of the house, protecting Ana from the crush of bodies. They rounded the corner, and an explosion from the side of the house rent the night. When the dust settled, Aurora stood framed in a gaping hole in the wall, her arms stretched out at the ground beneath their feet.
The earth shook, then rose up, a mountain carrying him and Esha toward the sky. The Chairman yowled from below, where he’d been left on solid ground. Ana slid on nimble feet down the far side toward the patio, shooting arrows as she went. He jumped away as the ground split between them.
Esha fought a small horde of the ghostly pale former revelers, unaware of the three approaching from behind. Warren leapt across the chasm in the dirt, reaching them in time to take the head off one and fell the other two with swipes across the abdomen.
“The dagger, Warren!” Esha screamed. “I’ll aetherwalk.”
He nodded, and knowing that she’d get to safety away from the rising earth, he turned to Aurora and flung the dagger at her chest. She disappeared and it flew through. When it thudded into the wall behind her, Warren was sucked through space to join it.
He arrived with his fist gripping the hilt and pulled it free. From within the house, the damage was illuminated. It was a mess. The walls wavered like the apparition they were, great holes to the real world blasted into them. His gaze raced around the destroyed living room, hunting Aurora.
Nowhere to be seen. He sprinted out onto the back patio, just in time to see Aurora shoot a jet of the pool water at Esha. Thousands of gallons bowled her over, and he roared, charging Aurora.
A crash of thunder and a flash of light, and the world went black. He stumbled, then righted himself as the light of the true moon illuminated the scene before him. Aurora’s world had melted, leaving behind a destroyed mansion and a dried-out pool. Esha was rising from the giant puddle on the beach, and Ana was running to her, no doubt to ensure that Esha benefited from the power of her soul rather than Aurora. Both soulceresses would need a power boost after what had just gone down.
